The Roman Empire and all that it achieved in the years following the Republic would never have been possible if Caesar Augustus had not ruled at the time he did. Augustus was the perfect emperor and came at the perfect time. The empire was in chaos in the midst of another civil war and could have gone one of two directions: more chaos or unprecedented peace and prosperity. Chaos was undoubtedly what the Romans of the time thought would happen, but Augustus turned the tide of history and ushered in a period of peace in the Roman Empire that has arguably not been replicated by any major civilization since. The people living in the empire at that time realized how great Augustus was, the senators of Rome realized this, but most of all Augustus himself realized how incredible he was and what he had done during his reign. Augustus' recognition of this can be seen nowhere better than in his work The Deeds of the Divine Augustus which recounts all the positive aspects of Augustus' reign. Augustus had this work distributed throughout the empire to show people how great his kingdom truly was, however, for multiple reasons.