"Did I play my role well? Then applaud!" With these words, Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, bid farewell to the world exactly 2000 years ago. It was a world that he had reshaped as magnificently as it was violently. This richly illustrated volume offers more than a typical biography: Ralf von den Hoff (Classical Archaeology), Wilfried Stroh (Classical Philology), and Martin Zimmermann (Ancient History), three distinguished representatives of their fields, trace the marks that Augustus left on the world—in history, art, and literature. Thus, the volume can be read as a description of the life and times of a Roman aristocrat who fought his way to the top of the state through bloody civil wars, dealt a fatal blow to the Republic, and created a constitution that was entirely centered around him. At the same time, it becomes clear.