Augustus at War: The Struggle for the Pax Augusta

by Lindsay Powell, Karl Galinsky (Foreword by)

Overview

A penetrating assessment of Augustus as ancient Rome’s military commander-in-chief.
 
The words Pax Augusta—or Pax Romana—evoke a period of uninterrupted peace across the vast Roman Empire. Lindsay Powell exposes this as a fallacy. Almost every year between 31 BC and AD 14 the Roman Army was in action somewhere, either fighting enemies beyond the frontier in punitive raids or for outright conquest; or suppressing banditry or rebellions within the borders.
 
Remarkably, over the same period, Augustus succeeded in nearly doubling the size of the Empire. How did this second-rate field commander, known to become physically ill before and during battle, achieve such extraordinary success? Did he, in fact, have a grand strategy?
 
Powell reveals Augustus as a brilliant strategist and manager of war. As commander-in-chief (imperator) he made changes to the political and military institutions to keep the empire together, and to hold on to power himself. His genius was to build a team of loyal but semi-autonomous deputies (legati) to ensure internal security and to fight his wars for him, while claiming their achievements as his own. The book profiles more than 90 of these men, as well as the military units under their command, and the campaigns they fought.
 
The book is lavishly illustrated with 23 maps, 42 color plates, 13 black-and-white figures and five order of battle schematics. With a foreword by Karl Galinsky, this book breaks new ground in explaining the extraordinary achievement of Caesar Augustus.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473890053
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	02/20/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	496
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Lindsay Powell is a historian and writer who has a passion for the military history of the Roman Empire. He is a contributor to Ancient Warfare and his articles have also appeared in Military Heritage and Strategy and Tactics magazines and The History Network. His books include EAGER FOR GLORY, GERMANICUS and MARCUS AGRIPPA for Pen and Sword Books. A graduate of the University of Aston in Birmingham, he is a veteran of The Ermine Street Guard re-enactment society. He divides his time between Austin, Texas, and Wokingham, England.

Table of Contents

Foreword Karl Galinsky ix

Preface xii

Acknowledgements xxi

List of Illustrations xxiii

Key to Military Symbols xxv

List of Tables xxvi

List of Plates xxvii

Chronology xxix

Roman Names xxxix

1 Seek and Destroy, 31-28 BCE 1

2 Command and Conquer, 27-19 BCE 36

3 On the Offensive, 18-14 BCE 69

4 Into the Unknown, 13 BCE-9 BCE 85

5 Trouble in the East, R BCE-2CE 105

6 World in Tumult, 3-12 CE 124

7 Toeing the Line, 13-14 CE 162

8 Assessment 171

Appendix 1 In His Own Words: Res Gestae Divi Augusti 221

Appendix 2 Family and Friends: The Men Who Served Augustus 236

Appendix 3 Order of Battle: The Army of Augustus 286

Appendix 4 Propaganda Wars: The Coins of Augustus 314

Glossary 325

Place Names 331

Notes 335

Bibliography 396

Index 426

Editorial Reviews

"A key period of great interest in the history of the Roman Empire."

Miniaturas JM

Lucidly written by the author of the acclaimed biographies Marcus Agrippa and Germanicus, and drawing upon archaeology, art, coins, inscriptions and documents of the period, Lindsay Powell with Augustus at War presents a new and provocative assessment of the men and events shaping a crucial period in world history, which still reverberates down to our own time.

Midwest Book Review