Correction of morals under Augustus

Octavian Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire (27 BCE – 14 CE), from the beginning of his office, proclaimed the need to correct morals, criticizing promiscuity and a taste for luxury. As it turned out, he had to start repairing Roman society from his own home.

For there his own daughter, Julia was “dishonoured by all kinds of debauchery”. Despite her marriage, she had many lovers, which was shameful in Roman culture. Octavian Augustus had to react and show a strong pater familiae hand. Upon learning of his daughter’s misbehaviour, he became enraged and disowned his only child. Julia’s lovers, headed by Antonius Jullus (younger son of the triumvir Mark Antony), were executed.

She herself was exiled to the island of Pandeteria (now Ventotene), where she had to live in poverty. Under no circumstances did the emperor agree to her burial in the family mausoleum. The indignation of the ruler was so great that her daughter, Julia the Younger, shared her fate. To make matters worse, her daughter was abandoned by the order of the emperor and died. It is also worth mentioning the frivolous Roman poet Ovid, who for his reprehensible behaviour had to go into an indefinite relegation to Tomis on the Black Sea.