Augustus' use of literature, propaganda, coins and buildings to maintain his image as Princeps was highly successful. One of the most influential rulers in ancient history. Gaius Octavius was a talented 18 year old when he was adopted by his great-uncle ,Julius Caesar and officially renamed Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. When Caesar was assassinated less than a year later, Octavian won enough popular, military & senatorial support to be appointed consul of Rome at the age of 19. Through the use of literature, propaganda, coins and buildings, Augustus carefully weaved his image as Princeps, of power and divinity, maintaining it throughout his reign to a point where he was treated as a god by provincials in the east and eventually deified in Rome after his death. Princeps, short for "princeps civitis" had been used to describe leading men of the republic, and implied authority but not power and mean " first citizen". "While I was the leading citizen, the senate resolved that it should be shut on three occasions" – Suetonius.
             Augustus' image was important, that is, if he had not taken much care into his image as Princeps, he would not have become as successful as he was. The "Res Gestae" was a form of literature but most significantly it was a form of propaganda. It was a book, composed by Augustus, compromising of his achievements and contributions to Rome during his incredible reign. As Augustus aimed to maintain his image as Princeps, the "Res Gestae" become an important document, not only to Augustus himself, but to historians as a significant source. "Four times I assisted the treasury with my own money, so that I transferred to the administrators of the treasury 150,000,000 sesterces. In the consulship of Marcus Lepidus and Lucius Arruntius [AD 6], when the military treasury was founded by my advice for the purpose of paying rewards to soldiers who had serve...