Augustus and the Censorship: Morality Laws and Social Engineering

In 18 BCE, Augustus Caesar, Rome's first emperor, pushed through the Lex Julia de adulteriis coercendis and the Lex Julia de maritandis ordinibus — laws that criminalized adultery, penalized the unmarried, and tried to force the Roman elite to marry and reproduce. Lucas and Luna explore how these moral reforms fit into Augustus's broader project of restoring tradition after civil war, the backlash from the senatorial class, and the ironies of enforcing family values when the emperor's own household was rife with scandal. They discuss the role of the censors, the use of sumptuary laws, the exile of Ovid, and the practical failures of Augustus's attempt to legislate virtue. The conversation also touches on how these laws shaped Roman law for centuries and what modern parallels might look like. A fresh look at the intersection of power, morality, and social control in the early empire. #Augustus #RomanLaw #LexJulia #MoralityLaws #RomanCensors #Adultery #Ovid #SocialEngineering #PaxRomana #RomanEmpire #LexPapiaPoppaea #SumptuaryLaw #JuliaTheElder #RomanWomen #AugustanReforms #AncientHistory #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo