Читать книгу World History For Dummies - Peter Haugen - Страница 89

Like his predecessor, Octavian didn’t call himself a king or emperor, although that’s what he was — the undisputed ruler of the Roman world. Instead, he took the relatively modest title principate (first citizen). His modesty would have seemed sincere if he hadn’t also gotten the Senate to rename him Augustus, which means exalted. Augustus already bore the family name Caesar. Both Augustus and Caesar became titles handed down to successive Roman emperors.

Augustus cut back the unbridled expansionism of late-republican days and set territorial limits: the Rhine and Danube rivers in Europe and the Euphrates River in Asia. The empire was stable. It annexed no territory until it conquered Britain in 44 AD. Then, in 106 AD, Emperor Trajan took Dacia (modern Romania) and Arabia. Figure 5-1 shows the expanse of the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan.

Tataryn / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY SA 3.0

FIGURE 5-1: The Roman Empire at its height under the Emperor Trajan. 117 AD.