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A person is famous who has a town or a street named after him or her.
Will you ever do anything great enough to have even an alley named after you?
Just suppose a month, one of the twelve months of the year, was given your name!
Millions upon millions of people would then write and speak your name forever!
I’m going to tell you about a man who not only had a month named after him but who was made a god!
After Caesar had been killed, three men ruled the Roman Empire. One of these three men was Antony, the friend of Caesar, who made the famous speech over his dead body. The second was Caesar’s adopted son, who was named Octavius. The name of the third you don’t need to know, for Antony and Octavius soon got rid of him. Then no sooner had they forced him out than each of these two began to plot to get the share of the other.
Antony’s share, over which he ruled, was the eastern part of the empire. The capital of this part was Alexandria in Egypt, hence Antony went there to live.
In Egypt Antony fell in love with Cleopatra, as Caesar before him had done, and he finally married her.
Octavius, in the west, which was his share, then made war on Antony and Cleopatra together, and in the end beat them both. Antony felt so bad at being beaten by Octavius that he committed suicide.
His widow, Cleopatra, thereupon, flirted with Octavius as she had with Julius Caesar and Antony, hoping to make him also fall in love with her and so win him in that way.
It was no use. Octavius was a different kind of man from both Julius Caesar and Antony. He was cold-blooded and businesslike. He had no heart for love-making. He would not let a woman charm him or turn him aside from his plan, which was to be the greatest man in the world!
Cleopatra saw that it was no use trying to fool him. Then she heard that she was going to be taken back to Rome and paraded through the streets, as was done with any other prisoners taken in battle. She could not stand such a shame as that, and so she made up her mind she would not be taken back to Rome.
Now, in Egypt there is a kind of snake called an asp, which is deadly poisonous. Taking one of these asps in her hand, she uncovered her breast and let it bite her, and so she died.
Octavius was now ruler over all the countries that belonged to Rome, and when he returned home to that city, the people hailed him Emperor . He then gave up the name Octavius and had himself called Augustus Caesar , which is like saying, His Majesty, Caesar . This was in 27 B.C. The Romans had got rid of their kings in 509. From now on Rome had emperors, who were more than kings, for they ruled over many countries.
Octavius, now with his name changed to Augustus Caesar, was only thirty-six years old when he became sole master of the Roman world. Rome was the great capital of this vast empire.
Augustus set to work to make Rome a beautiful city. He tore down a great many of the old buildings made of brick and put up in their place a remarkable number of new and handsome buildings of marble. Augustus always bragged that he found Rome brick and left it marble.
Roman Pantheon
One of the finest buildings in Rome, the Pantheon was built. Pantheon means the temple of all the gods. Do not mix this with the Parthenon in Athens, for the two buildings are quite different, and though the names look something alike and sound something alike, they mean quite different things. Parthenon is from the goddess Athena Parthenos; Pantheon is from the two words Pan theon , which means all gods .
The Pantheon has a great dome made of brick and mortar. This dome is shaped like a bowl turned upside down, and in the very center of the top of the dome is a round opening called an eye. This open eye is the only “window” in the building, but through it, even on a cloudy day, enough light comes so that you can clearly see the whole handsome interior.
So magnificent did the city become with all these wonderful buildings, and so permanently did it seem to be built, that it was known as The Eternal City and is still so spoken of.
There was a public square in Rome called the Forum. Here markets were held and the people came together for all sorts of things. Around the Forum were erected temples to the gods, court-houses, and other public buildings. The court-houses were something like the temples that the Greeks built, only the columns were put on the inside of the building instead of on the outside.
Triumphal arches also were erected to celebrate great victories. When a conquering hero returned from the war, he and his army passed through such an arch in a triumphal parade.
There had been in Rome a great amphitheater that is supposed to have held more people than any structure that has ever been built—two hundred thousand, it is said, or more than all the people who live in some good-sized cities. This was called the Circus Maximus. It was at last torn down to make room for other buildings.
Another amphitheater was the Colosseum, but this was not built until some time after Augustus had died. It held about the same number as the largest stadium in this country does today. Here were held those fights between men, called gladiators, and wild animals that I have already told you about. It is still standing, and, though it is in ruins, you can sit in the same seats where the old Roman emperors did, see the dens where the wild animals were kept, the doors where they were let into the arena, and even bloody marks that are said to be the stains made by the slain men and beasts.
So many famous writers lived at the time of Augustus that this has been called the Augustan Age. Two of the best known Latin poets lived at this time. These poets were Virgil and Horace. Virgil wrote the Æneid , which told of the wanderings of Æneas, the Trojan, who settled in Italy, and was the great-great-great-grandfather of Romulus and Remus. Horace wrote many short poems called odes. They were long songs of shepherds and shepherdesses and songs of the farm and country life. People liked his songs, and many still name their sons after him.
When Augustus Caesar died, he was made a god because he had done so much for Rome; temples were built in which he was worshiped, and the month of August was named after him.