Question

What changes did Augustus make in Rome’s political, military, and social institutions?

Answer 1

Answer:

Political Institution: Augustus changed the Roman government from an ineffective republic to the principate, by retaining the important powers that were invested in him by the senate during his war with Antony. They saw a threat to Roman power in their refusal to worship Roman gods and as a force of social division.

Military Institution: In regards to the common Roman, Augustus made some rather large and important changes to the military. Previously, the Roman army was an Greek/Italian style army made up by the common man. The average Roman soldier would be a volunteer who might have been a farmer or artisan in everyday life, was untrained, and would serve for around 10 years. Under Augustus, the Roman army was transformed into a true, professional army. Roman legionnaires were highly trained and served for closer to 20 years. Since the army is still made of volunteers, Augustus needed convince young Romans to dedicate their working life to the army. Thankfully for him, his entire reformation process was based around centralizing the Roman focus to the needs of the state, so he was already on his way to building a massively strong army. However on top of that he enacted a few laws that provided benefits for soldiers in the Roman army. For example, Augustus set aside a portion of the Roman treasury for the military treasury, which provided financial support such as pensions for the troops (“Augustan Army Reforms”). With more reason to join the army, Roman men jumped on the opportunity, and once again followed along with the visions of Augustus.

Social Institution: Augustus also enacted social reforms as a way to improve morality. He felt particularly strong about encouraging families to have children and discouraging adultery. As such, he politically and financially rewarded families with three or more children, especially sons. This incentive stemmed from his belief that there were too few legitimate children born from “proper marriages.” On the other hand, he penalized unmarried men older than 38 years old by imposing on them an additional tax that others did not have to pay. They were also debarred from receiving inheritances and attending public games. Augustus also felt that people should not interact with or, especially, marry those outside of their own social class. As such, he created laws that reinforced hierarchical seating in the theatre and amphitheatre. For instance, front row seats were reserved for Senators, the next rows for equestrians, then the rest divided up for young men, soldiers, and so on.

Caesar failed because he was too focused on himself, Augustus succeeded because he turned his focus to the empire despite his manipulation of power.

Explanation:

I hope this helps you in any shape or form.