La dernière époque augustéenne

The chronological subdivision of the Augustan principate has always been a complex issue. We are heirs to the approach of ancient sources which, starting from the observation of the survival of the regime and the success of Augustus’ political programme, apply a kind of retrospective determinism in their overall presentation of the reign. Historians, though, must always be wary of such teleological perspective, which would suggest that everything had to happen as it did and that the Augustan principate was established once and for all in 27 BC. Too often, the Augustan principate is seen as a single period, characterised by the presence of the same person at the apex of the res publica and by the introduction of numerous reforms designed to lay the foundations of the institutions of the Early Roman Empire. We usually refer to this period as the Augustan Age. However, this approach has the disadvantage of concealing the fact that the forty years during which Augustus remained in power were divided into several phases and that the establishment of the regime, with its empiricism and trial and error, lasted until the death of Caesar's heir in 14 AD.

This volume sets out to show that the last years of Augustus’ principate were rich in change and reform, marking a fundamental turning point. Eighteen chapters are divided into three main sections. The first is devoted to the leading figures of the last Augustan period: Augustus, Tiberius, Livia and the other members of the family. The second brings together the studies devoted to the various reforms that followed one another throughout Augustus’ principate, focusing the debate on the final years. The third and final part examines the attitudes of the various political players who gravitated around the prince and his dynasty (senators, knights, soldiers, people), and whose support was necessary in the new regime's search for a consensus universorum.