OK. OK. So it’s been a while. . . But trivia, like rock ‘n roll, never dies. So back in August, we asked a number of trivia questions about Augustus Caesar. As you will see below, only one person got the answers all correct and so here is what he told us – embellished a bit by yours truly.
First (and easiest) the name of the month in the Roman calendar before it was called August was Sextilis. Next, Augustus Caesar was actually born Gaius Octavius Thurinus on September 23, 63 BCE. He was referred to as Octavius, but after being adopted by Julius Caesar, he was called Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius. Octavius’ mother was Atia Balba Caesonia, a niece of Julius Caesar and thus Octavius was the grandson of Julius Caesar’s sister. When Octavius’ father died, Julius Caesar adopted Octavius and changed his name. You never learned this in Shakespearean English classes did you?
Subsequently, when the Roman Senate conferred the title of ‘Augustus’ upon him, he was known as Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus. Although Augustus was never crowned as Emperor, the Roman Senate did bestow a permanent title of ‘Imperatur’ or Commander-in-Chief upon him. Although ruthless to his enemies (and suspected enemies), Augustus is widely regarded as the leader who gave Rome its Golden Age, but heralded the onset of a long period of internal peace in the Roman Empire – sometimes called Pax Romana or Pax Augusta – lasting more than 200 years and ending with the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 CE.
The winner of our August contents is our very own GALA member, colleague and friend from Australia, Peter Le Guay, partner at Thomsons Lawyers, who got every single part of the answer correct – ok, I had to prod a little, but he did. Congratulations Peter!