Vox celebrates with 40 annotated images (mostly maps) of the Roman Empire. According to the economic historian Peter Temin, “The quality of life for ordinary Roman citizens at the height of the Roman Empire probably was better than that of any other large group of people living before the Industrial Revolution.”
Enjoy.
Nitpick: It’s the anniversary of the death of Augustus, not Julius Caesar (who is what most people think of when you mention Caesar).
I thought Caesar died on the Ides of March? I know there’s been fiddling around with the calendar, but do the Ides of March now occur in August?
Julius Caesar also died in 44 BC, so we already celebrated that anniversary back in 1956. Sorry to anyone who weren’t here for that one, but I think there’s still some cake left. It might be a bit stale, though.
Sheesh, and I confess I didn’t think about this long enough. Anyway, the link is nice. At least I didn’t make any Shakespearean references.
Julius Caesar (July 100 BCE – 15 March 44 BCE): Julius Caesar - Wikipedia
Augustus Caesar (23 September 63 BCE – 19 August 14 CE): Augustus - Wikipedia [INDENT]On 19 August AD 14, Augustus died while visiting the place of his birth father’s death at Nola. Both Tacitus and Cassius Dio wrote that Livia brought about Augustus’ death by poisoning fresh figs, though this allegation remains unproven.[188][189] Tiberius, who was present alongside Livia at Augustus’ deathbed, was named his heir.[190] Augustus’ famous last words were, “Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit”—referring to the play-acting and regal authority that he had put on as emperor. Publicly, though, his last words were, “Behold, I found Rome of clay, and leave her to you of marble.” [/INDENT]
Livia is basically my go-to suspect for any suspicious death these days, as well as the non-suspicious ones. Kennedy assassination? Livia did it. Michael Jackson? Livia did it. Your grampa died peacefully in his bed, at age 90? Nah, Livia did it.
Nitpick: the bimillennial was in 1957, since there was no year between 1 BC and 1 AD.
Curses! I didn’t think of that. No wonder I was the only one who showed up at the party.
And what about the Julian/Gregorian thing? Anyone gonna pick that nit?
I was using the Proleptic Gregorian calender, in accordance with ISO 8601:2004 (clause 4.3.2.1 The Gregorian calendar). Or something like that. Assuming Vox shares my respect for 8601:2004, we are celebrating on the correct day. Otherwise, consider the Gregorian ahead by -2 days, which means it’s behind by two days, which means we can celebrate on Aug 21st as well.
Salut!
(Oh and cite.)
Now that everyone’s done the nitpicking for me, thanks for mentioning this historic date. HAIL, (Augustus) CAESAR!
I’m sure if Augustus were alive today he’d be disappointed in the relative short length of this thread, plus the fact that most of it was clearing up the confusion between him and his adopted pop and calendar trivia. 
That and being remembered mainly as Brian Blessed.
Well it is August, so we might as well celebrate Augustus’ death.
Technically, it’s more of a sleet, or perhaps a freezing rain, not hail.
Don’t know why we’re celebrating his death, really. We should be sorry he died. The next few emperors were absolute crap. Well, they were good for entertainment, but still mostly murderous lunatics.
And Siân Phillips was the only woman scary enough to kill him, even if he deafened her in the process.
“Augustus LIVES!”
I suppose this thread is as dead as Augustus now… but what the heck, I’ll just make this remark anyway, because it has stuck in my mind for some reason:
1957? I mean, that’s back in grandpa’s day.Was it really that long between the deaths of Julius Caesar and Augustus?
But, yeah, it was. Augustus came on the scene as the snot-nosed nineteen year old we know as Octavian. Then we had some seventeen years of civil wars and uneasy power sharing, followed by forty-freaking-one years of the guy being emperor.
The dude sure started early and went out late. So I just want to say: Way to go, Augustus.