![]() ![]() ![]() He pursued them, and after another defeat, Antony committed suicide. Octavian defeated his rivals who then fled to Egypt. It was quickly decided: in the bay of Actium on the western coast of Greece, after Antony's men began deserting, the fleets met in a great battle in which many ships burned and thousands on both sides lost their lives. The situation grew more and more tense, and finally, in 32 BC, Octavian declared war. The Roman dominions were then divided between Octavian in the west and Antony in the east.Īntony occupied himself with military campaigns in the east and a romantic affair with Cleopatra Octavian built a network of allies in Rome, consolidated his power, and spread propaganda implying that Antony was becoming less than Roman because of his preoccupation with Egyptian affairs and traditions. In 37 BC Antony deserted Octavia and went back to Egypt to be with Cleopatra. During their marriage Octavia gave birth to two daughters, that were both named Antonia. Antony later left Cleopatra to make a strategic marriage with Octavian's sister, Octavia in 40 BC. While in Egypt, Antony had an affair with Cleopatra that resulted in the birth of three children, Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene, and Ptolemy Philadelphus. While Octavian returned to Rome, Antony, went to Egypt where he allied himself with Queen Cleopatra, the ex-lover of Julius Caesar and mother of Caesar's infant son, Caesarion. ![]() At Philippi in Macedonia, the Caesarian army was victorious and Brutus and Cassius committed suicide (42 BC). The triumvirs then set in motion proscriptions in which three hundred senators and two thousand equites were deprived of their property and, for those who failed to escape, their lives, going beyond a simple purge of those allied with the assassins, and probably motivated by a need to raise money to pay their troops.Īntony and Octavian then marched against Brutus and Cassius, who had fled to the east. The three formed a junta called the Second Triumvirate, an explicit grant of special powers lasting five years and supported by law, unlike the unofficial First Triumvirate of Pompey, Caesar and Crassus. After a tense standoff, he formed an uneasy alliance with Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) and Marcus Lepidus, Caesar's principal colleagues. In Rome, he found Caesar's republican assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius, in control. He crossed over to Italy and recruited an army from among Caesar's veterans. He gathered support by emphasizing his status as heir to Caesar and took the name Gaius Julius Caesar. At the time, he was only eighteen years old, and was consistently underestimated by his rivals for power. When Caesar was assassinated in March 44 BC, his young heir was with the army at Apollonia, in what is now Albania. Roman tradition dictated that he also append the surname Octavianus to indicate his biological family, from which historians derive the name Octavian no evidence exists that he ever used the name Octavianus, however. By virtue of his adoption, Octavius assumed the name Gaius Julius Caesar. Mark Antony charged that he had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favors, though Suetonius described Antony's accusation as political slander. In 46 BC Caesar, who had no legitimate children, took his great-nephew soldiering in Hispania, and adopted him as his heir. More importantly, his mother Atia Balba Caesonia was the niece of Rome's greatest general and de facto ruler, Julius Caesar. His father, also Gaius Octavius, came from a respectable but undistinguished family of the equestrian order and was governor of Macedonia before his death in 58 BC. He ended a century of civil wars and gave Rome an era of peace, prosperity, and imperial greatness.Īugustus was born in Rome with the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus. Although he preserved the outward form of the Roman Republic, he ruled as an autocrat for more than 40 years. F♺VGVSTVS) ¹ (23 September 63 BC 19 August AD 14), known to modern historians as Octavian for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, is considered the first and one of the most important Roman Emperors, though he downplayed his own position by preferring the traditional Republic title of princeps, usually translated as "first citizen".For the honorific title see Augustus (honorific)Ĭaesar Augustus (Latin:IMP♼AESAR♽IVI Notes about Gaius Julius Caesar "Augustus" Octavianus Augustus Roman Emperor Name Prefix: Emperor Name Suffix: Of Rome Caesar Augustusīust of Augustus Caesar"Augustus" redirects here. ![]()
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