Gaius Octavius, great-nephew and heir of Julius Caesar, sole ruler of Rome from 27 BC to AD 14 and the first to hold the title Augustus, 'the revered one'. The peace he imposed after a century of civil war — the pax Romana — was proclaimed across the empire in language a first-century reader would have recognised instantly: an inscription from Priene calls his birthday 'the beginning of the GOOD NEWS for the world'. ⚠ Luke 2:1 puts him at the top of the chapter issuing a decree for 'all the inhabited world' — and then, thirteen verses later, has an army of heaven announce good news of peace over a feeding trough. Luke does not draw the comparison. He simply puts the two announcements in the same chapter and lets them sit.