The rise of Octavian after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, the ‘civil’ war between Octavian and Mark Antony, Octavian’s metamorphosis into ‘Augustus’, and the political, constitutional, and military developments, the social laws (on marriage, divorce, adultery, the procreation of children, and the manumission of slaves), and the cultural, literary, artistic, and architectural achievements of his 40-year rule (27 BC – AD 14) as the first Princeps - all form the basis of our course. We then look at how the other members of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty (Tiberius, ‘Caligula’, Claudius, and Nero) managed the Roman state – with the back-stabbing and manoeuvring at ‘Court’ over ‘the succession’. With the end of the dynasty when Nero committed suicide, we turn to the short civil war of AD 68-69 and the establishment of the new Flavian Dynasty under Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian (to AD 96). A modest charge for ‘transcripts’ of the illustrated talks.