The Roman Empire conjures images of emperors draped in purple, legions marching beneath eagle standards, and a state that once ruled the Mediterranean. Because the names Caesar and emperor have become almost interchangeable, many people assume that Gaius Julius Caesar, the famous dictator of the late Roman Republic, was Rome’s first sovereign.
Historians disagree. Caesar’s life and death did mark a turning point, but the first emperor of Rome was Augustus, not Julius Caesar. In this in-depth research, we will trace the political evolution from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire and explain why historians do not regard Julius Caesar as Rome’s first emperor.
To understand why Julius Caesar is not the first emperor of Rome, one must know how Romans understood authority. The city started as a kingdom and then expelled its last king in 509 BC, creating the Roman Republic.
In this new system, power rested in magistrates elected by the Roman people, guided by a Roman Senate of aristocrats. Romans distrusted kings and imperial titles. When generals won battles, their soldiers hailed them as imperator—a Latin word meaning commander—but this was a military honor, not a royal rank.
The beginnings of Rome’s political journey
In the last century of the republic, ambitious generals like Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Pompey used their armies to seize power. Their success weakened republican norms and paved the way for a single ruler.
An emperor of Rome would eventually combine the powers of several republican offices into one person, ruling as “first among equals” over the Roman state. Yet the republic had no office called emperor.
The title developed gradually as Romans adapted to one-man rule. This nuance is crucial when asking whether Julius Caesar was the first Roman emperor. Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC to a patrician family that claimed descent from the Trojan hero Aeneas and the goddess Venus.
He began his career by climbing the cursus honorum, the sequence of Roman offices. Caesar joined forces with Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey in 60 BC to form an informal alliance commonly called the First Triumvirate.
This partnership allowed the three men to dominate Roman politics and secure appointments and legislation favorable to their interests. During the 50s BC, Caesar won fame by conquering Gaul and even ventured into Britain.
The early life and rise of Caesar
Caesar’s victories earned him enormous prestige, loyal soldiers, and wealth. The alliance with Pompey and Crassus crumbled as Caesar’s power grew. Fearing his rival’s intentions, the Senate ordered him to lay down his command.
Caesar chose to keep his army and, in January 49 BC, crossed the Rubicon River, famously declaring that “the die is cast.” By marching into Rome with his army, he violated republican law. The ensuing civil war ended when he defeated Pompey at Pharsalus and other battles.
With his enemies defeated, Caesar assumed control of the government. He expanded the Senate, redistributed grain, granted citizenship to communities in Spain and northern Italy, settled veterans in colonies, and reformed the calendar into the Julian calendar.
In 46 BC, he was elected dictator for ten years; early in 44 BC, he was proclaimed “dictator for life.” This appointment removed the time limit that previous dictatorships had always had and elevated him to a rank more akin to the ancient Roman kings.
Contemporary sources record that he accumulated an extraordinary list of honors, and many Romans believed he sought regal or even divine status.
Dictatorship, reforms and assassination
Although Caesar consolidated unprecedented power, he refused to be called king. Aware of Roman hatred for monarchy, he turned down a crown offered at the Lupercalia festival and styled himself dictator rather than rex.
He trusted his genius to bring peace and prosperity, but his opponents viewed his refusal to restore republican government as proof of tyrannical ambition. Fearful of his domination of the state and the possibility that he might become king, a group of senators led by Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius conspired against him.
On 15 March 44 BC—the Ides of March—they assassinated Caesar. His murder plunged Rome into another series of civil wars, and the republican system never recovered. Caesar’s killers proclaimed themselves “liberators,” but their victory was short-lived.
Modern historians treat Caesar as the last dictator of the republic, not the first emperor of Rome. He lacked a clear, permanent office equivalent to emperor, and his reforms did not survive him.
At the end of the republic, no new or singular title identified the individual who held supreme power. Although Caesar was hailed as imperator by his troops, many generals before him had held that title.
The ascent of Octavian and the Second Triumvirate
Caesar accumulated offices—consul, pontifex maximus, and dictator—but he did not establish a stable succession. After his death, his supporters quickly set up another dictatorship, suggesting that his regime was a transitional phase rather than the start of an imperial system.
One reason people today view Caesar as an emperor is that his cognomen became associated with the imperial title. The term “Caesar” was adopted by later rulers, eventually giving rise to modern terms like Kaiser and Tsar.
However, using Caesar’s name as a title does not make him an emperor; it reflects how successors capitalized on his legacy. Caesar named his great-nephew Gaius Octavius—commonly known as Octavian—as his son and heir.
The eighteen‑year‑old was adopted into the Julian family and took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. This adoption positioned him as Caesar’s political successor and allowed him to inherit Caesar’s property, alliances, and loyal soldiers.
After the assassination, Octavian returned to Rome to claim his inheritance and forced the Senate to elect him consul in August 43 BC.
The formation of the Roman Empire
Octavian formed a new alliance with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, known as the Second Triumvirate. Unlike the First Triumvirate, this partnership had official recognition and broad powers to make laws and appoint magistrates.
The triumvirs divided the Roman world among themselves and embarked on proscriptions against their enemies. Lepidus was soon marginalized, and the rivalry between Octavian and Antony grew.
The conflict culminated in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, where Octavian’s navy defeated Antony and Cleopatra, leaving him the sole ruler of the Roman world. After his victory, Octavian sought to legitimize his authority.
On January 27 BC, he presented himself to the Senate and ostensibly returned power to the Senate and the Roman people. This gesture, known by historians as the First Settlement, was largely symbolic.
The Senate responded by granting him control of nearly all the provinces for ten years and bestowing on him the honorific title Augustus, meaning “the illustrious one.” Although the title carried no legal weight, it signaled his near-divine status and soon became the de facto title of a Roman emperor.
Reforms and the golden age of Augustus
At the same time, Octavian adopted the modest title princeps, meaning “first citizen” or “first in the senate.” He presented himself as the restorer of the republic, even though he maintained supreme control over the state.
This approach allowed him to avoid the hated labels of king or dictator while exercising imperial authority. In the year 19 BC, the Senate granted Augustus imperium maius, or supreme power, over all provinces. From that moment, he ruled supremely.
Augustus maintained republican institutions on the surface, but behind the façade, he controlled the army, treasury, and provincial administration. This period, known as the Principate, masked autocratic rule behind republican traditions.
The early emperors cultivated the image of being first among equals while holding immense discretionary power. For example, Tiberius emphasized his place as first citizen and said that a good princeps should serve the Senate and the citizen body.
Augustus’ long reign brought stability after decades of civil wars. He initiated building projects, reformed the army, established a standing navy, and created the Praetorian Guard. The era of Augustus was a golden age; he restored peace and prosperity, launched an ambitious building program, and saw the arts flourish.
Comparing Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus
In his inscription Res Gestae Divi Augusti, Augustus claimed to have restored or built 82 temples in one year. He also passed laws promoting marriage and increasing birth rates, banishing even his own daughter for adultery when she violated these laws.
His reign inaugurated the Pax Romana, a period of relative peace that lasted about two centuries. Historians often use 27 BC—the date of the First Settlement—as the symbolic start of the Roman Empire, even though the republic had effectively died earlier.
Augustus’ death in 14 AD marked the end of his rule; the Senate then proclaimed him a god and confirmed his adopted son Tiberius Julius Caesar as the next emperor.
This smooth succession demonstrated that Augustus had successfully created a lasting system. Modern scholarship distinguishes sharply between Julius Caesar and Augustus. Caesar wielded enormous power as dictator, but his regime depended entirely on his person. When he died, his political structure collapsed.
Augustus, in contrast, developed durable institutions and a succession mechanism that allowed the Roman Empire to persist. Historians such as Plutarch, Tacitus, and Cassius Dio classify Caesar as the last dictator, whereas Augustus is viewed as the first emperor.
Lasting legacies
Though many Roman writers and ordinary people thought of Julius Caesar as the first emperor, modern historians emphasize the legal and constitutional differences.
The term “emperor” is derived from the Latin imperator, but in the republic, it simply meant victorious general. Caesar’s soldiers hailed him as imperator, yet he never translated that acclamation into a permanent office.
Octavian deliberately amassed titles such as imperator, Augustus, princeps, and pontifex maximus to legitimize his authority. The Senate granted him tribunician power (tribunicia potestas) in 23 BC, confirming his ability to propose legislation and veto measures across Rome and the provinces.
These overlapping titles formed the foundation of the imperial office. Later emperors adopted the title Caesar to designate an heir; it eventually became synonymous with ruler. Both Caesar and Augustus understood the value of public perception.
Caesar accepted honors that hinted at kingship, such as a permanent dictatorship and the right to sit on a gilded chair. Yet he refused to wear a crown, and his actions aroused suspicion and fear among the Senate. Augustus learned from his adoptive father’s fate and avoided overtly royal trappings.
Bringing it all together
He called himself the first citizen and allowed the Senate and other magistracies to continue. At the same time, he ensured that all important powers flowed through him. By maintaining the illusion of shared governance, Augustus made his rule palatable to Romans who still revered the Roman Republic.
The early emperors preserved republican forms while exercising near-absolute authority. After Augustus and Tiberius, the role of princeps became institutionalized; later emperors accepted honors that Augustus had initially refused.
Over time, the façade of republicanism eroded. By the reign of Diocletian in the late third century, emperors adopted openly monarchic styles and the title dominus (“lord”), replacing the earlier notion of first among equals.
Nevertheless, the imperial office created by Augustus endured until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD and, in the Eastern Roman Empire (or Byzantine Empire), until 1453. Julius Caesar’s actions profoundly affected Roman history.
He expanded the republic’s territories, reformed its calendar, and displayed bold military leadership. His crossing of the Rubicon marked the point of no return for the Roman Republic. His dictatorship and assassination set the stage for the end of the republican system and for the emergence of the Roman Empire.
Caesar did not live long enough to institutionalize one‑man rule. Yet Augustus built a system that endured for centuries. Understanding this distinction clarifies the political development of ancient Rome and the origins of the Roman Empire, reminding us that titles and institutions matter as much as personalities in the interpretation of Roman history.
