Julio-Claudian Emperors

The Empire in the East

Augustus was himself no great military commander. But he had a genius for attracting to himself men of brilliant ability. These men gave him victory after victory.

In the east, he extended the empire into Arabia, reaching the Red Sea. In Egypt, the empire extended to Ethiopia. In the northeast, the empire encompassed much of modern Turkey.

He avoided Parthia, a competing empire that would long cause trouble on Rome's eastern borders, but by negotiation he was able to retrieve the two Roman standards lost by Crassus at Carrhae.

Roman influence reached even further into the Near East. Augustus received embassies from as far away as India.

History of Western Civilization

E.L. Skip Knox
Boise State University

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