Western Civilization 10, Lesson 50 – Autobiography of Augustus

This week in class, one of my reading assignments was the autobiography of Augustus, also known as Octavian.  For those that do not recognize the name, Augustus was the great-nephew and successor of Julius Caesar.  In this essay, I’m going to briefly talk about the autobiography and what it contained.

If I had to describe the autobiography in one sentence: it is a list of his ‘divine’ doings.  The autobiography feels a little embellished.  The title, The Deeds of the Divine Augustus, already hints that the autobiography will not be objective.

While the autobiography is true, it feels fake.  Personally, I think Augustus wrote it to show off.  Maybe I am interpreting the autobiography incorrectly, and Augustus wrote it with good intentions.

Despite my slight aversion to the book, I cannot deny that Augustus did many impressive things in his life.  Besides him being named a god, he was consul thirteen times and he was not psychotic, which should be an accomplishment in itself considering Rome’s history with crazy politicians in the government.

As you can see, the autobiography is not horrible.  It is truthful, slightly embellished, but also very informative.  If you ever want to learn about Augustus in less than thirty minutes, I suggest skimming through the autobiography.

Thanks for reading!