Augustus impact and contributions
...ugustus himself and contains strong emotive language. Augustus also gave the equestrian class the chance for promotion, enabling them to have more status as well as controllers of the grain supply. He also allowed the promotion of equestrian into the Senate. By doing all this Augustus managed to please the classes, whilst maintaining his own personal safety and with it Roman stability. These changes in the structure of the Roman government show his impact and contribution as he maintained favour of the people unlike any previous ruler. Provincial administration was also greatly altered by Augustus throughout his reign. The most important thing to the provincials was their safety and Augustus was able to provide this with the army. Under Augustus provincial management was fair, stable and efficient. Tacitus who provides evidence that the provinces didn’t object to Augustus’ comments the highest praise given for Augustus’ provincial policy. This was a completely different structure to how Rome was normally governed thus showing the impact and contributions made by Augustus as he managed to establish the new form of government and maintain political stability in Rome and its provinces. Augustus also made significant changes in financial matters. Bradley states that ‘by the end of the civil war public finances were in chaos, the treasury was temporarily bankrupt and that there was no fair or efficient taxation system or state budget. According to Bradley Augustus’ aims were to ‘stabilize conditions after the civil war, to secure sufficient revenue to run the huge empire and to control and carefully scrutinize all sources of income. However the revenue needed to run this empire was of enormous proportions as there were many expenses. These expenses included the army, which was the biggest drain on public finance as not only did the many troops need to be paid, but also needed to be provided with a pension at the end of their service. Another huge financial drain was the provision of grain at reduced prices, or during times of economic recession. Augustus needed to develop a systematic regulation over revenue with direct and indirect control. Augustus managed to balance these financial problems by the ‘lavish use of his own personal wealth’ (Bradley). This can also be seen in sections 15-24 of the Res Gestae which outlines the detailed descriptions of donations made from his own personal wealth. This use of his own personal wealth reflects on Augustus himself and outlines the contributions and impacts he had over the Roman Empire. Augustus also made significant contributions to judicial changes through out the Roman Empire. His contributions are shown through his close personal supervisions of all areas of the judicial system and the impact is reflected through the minimized corruption and sped up justice for many. The main changes Augustus implicated were adding a court to deal with such cases as adultery, as well as increasing the number of jurymen available and paying greater attention to those selected on the panels. During Augustus reign, he also set about to restore religious prosperity among the Roman Empire. This worked hand in hand with his religious and social reforms. Augustus believed it was a necessity to return to old Roman virtues and aimed and restoring morals in order to ...