Augustus Political And Social Reforms

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"Evaluate the political and social reforms of Augustus.” Augustus’ political and social reforms were drastic and represented a whole new era within ancient Roman society. His reforms comprised of traditional Roman values intertwined with new political and social legislations, and although most of his reforms were successful, some also represented weaknesses, such as the moral legislations which were unaccepted across wide parts of the empire. Although Augustus’ political and social reforms were generally well-accepted and effective, a minority were quite unpopular thus limiting their success in some aspects. The first reforms of Augustus began with the Settlement of 27 BC and proved to be quite successful, although they did caused some…show more content…
Augustus introduced Sumptuary Laws which curbed the extremely decadent behavior of the upper class minority, ensuring Rome’s growing prosperity did not undermine traditional values. Jones approves of these laws, stating that “the Roman people… were in dire need of reform”. Augustus also believed religion was crucial in returning to Rome’s former traditional values and wanted to revive the belief that ‘pietas’ would maintain Rome’s success, as supported by Galinsky who believes the core of the social reforms was the revitalization of religion. His main moral legislation, however, aimed at limiting wrongful behaviors including adultery, divorce, and a lack of marriage and child-bearing. The Lex Iulia de Adulteriis Coercendis focused on punishing the crime of adultery, for which people could be exiled or even killed. Another legislation, Lex Iulia de Maritandis Ordinibus, aimed to encourage marriage and having children. Unmarried and childless people were penalized, with any unmarried man over the age of 38 being forced to pay an extra tax. Those married with children gained political and financial privileges, and divorces weren’t deemed valid unless witnessed by seven people. These laws proved to be highly unsuccessful and caused resentment towards Augustus, forcing him to revise them in AD 9 through the Lex Papia Poppaea. This amendment reduced penalties against unmarried and childless people, whilst increasing rewards for those married with children. Overall, Augustus’ social reforms were definitely not as successful as his political ones due to the unpopularity and resentment they created. Conclusively, it is evident that Augustus introduced many new political and social reforms and managed to create a whole new system of government through the Principate. Augustus was clearly more successful with his political reforms
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