CONT:
Daniel 11:38
But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
Herod is contemporaneous with Caesar (Augustus) in history and in Daniel 11:
- Augustus is declared a god.
- He amasses enormous military forces, and absolute power.
- the word augustus etymologically linked with auctoritas : power backed by military force
In the following year the balance of power began to change: whereas Antony’s eastern expedition failed, Octavian’s (AUGUSTUS) fleet—commanded by his former schoolmate Marcus Agrippa, who, although unpopular with the influential nobles, was an admiral of genius—totally defeated Sextus Pompeius off Cape Naulochus (Venetico) in Sicily.
At this point the third triumvir, Lepidus, seeking to contest Octavian’s supremacy in the west by force, was disarmed by Octavian, deprived of his triumviral office, and forced into retirement.
Ignoring Antony’s right to settle his own veterans in Italy and recruit fresh troops, Octavian discharged many legionaries and founded settlements for them.
His deliberate rivalry with Antony for the eventual mastership of the Roman world became increasingly apparent.
Octavian’s marriage two years earlier had begun to win over some of the nobles who had previously been Antony’s supporters.
Octavian also launched elaborate religious and patriotic publicity, centering on the classical god of order, Apollo, in contrast to Antony’s less Roman patron, Dionysus (Bacchus).
In addition, Octavian had started to prefix his name with the designation “Imperator,” to suggest that he was the commander par excellence; and now, although he continued to use his triumviral powers, he omitted all reference to them from his coins, gradually concentrating on the plain, emotive name “Caesar Son of a God.”
The seizure of Cleopatra’s treasure enabled him to pay off his veterans and made him finally master of the entire Greco-Roman world. From this point on, by a long and gradual series of tentative, patient measures, he established the Roman principate, a system of government that enabled him to maintain, in all essentials, absolute control. Gradually reducing his 60 legions to 28, he retained approximately 150,000 legionaries, mostly Italian, and supplemented them by about the same number of auxiliaries drawn from the provinces. A permanent bodyguard (the Praetorians), based on the bodyguards maintained by earlier generals, was stationed partly in Rome and partly in other Italian towns. A superb network of roads was created to maintain internal order and facilitate trade, and an efficient fleet was organized to police the Mediterranean. In 28 bce Octavian and Agrippa held a census of the civil population, the first of three during the reign. They also reduced the Senate from about 1,000 to 800 (later 600) compliant members, and Octavian was appointed its president.
...he was granted a 10-year tenure of an area of government (provincia) comprising Spain, Gaul, and Syria, the three regions containing the bulk of the army.
Four days after these measures,
his name Caesar, acquired through adoption in Julius’s will, was supplemented by
“Augustus,” an appellation with an antique religious ring, believed to be linked etymologically with auctoritas and with the ancient practice of augury.
The word augustus was often contrasted with humanus; its adoption as the title representing the new order cleverly indicated, in an extraconstitutional fashion,
his superiority over the rest of mankind.
https://www.coursehero.com/file/9801168/Augustus-Roman-emperor-Britannica-Online-Encyclopedia/
- Athena Poliouchos--Athena builder of fortresses? - a fav of Augustus
CONT...
