Augustus and the divination, the prodigies of his born, life and death

Abstract

Within the different areas of divination in ancient Rome, the phenomenon of prodigy (miracle) plays a central role in the biographies of prominent figures, Augustus was no exception and both biographers and historians who wrote his life realize a kind of predestination to greatness through a large number of supernatural episodes that run along its entire life. In the Republican period, the Romans were usually reluctant to accept individual prodigy as something decisive for the state perhaps by linking the monarchical period, however, to the first century BC this trend will change and also notice in the different treatment that written sources make the phenomenon, Augusto take this trend to legitimize power from a symbolic and religious views, which starts a constant in the treatment of imperial mantic.