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Individual:
Sources: Blount; Kraentzler 1826; Royal Genealogies; Ancient History by
Charles Alexander Robinson; "On This Date" from S.L. Tribune.
Blount says he was Gaius Octavius and later known as Octavius before
becoming Emperor Augustus of the Roman Empire.
K: Caius Octavius Augustus.
Robinson: Married Livia and had Julia. Chart, page 702.
In This Date: Caesar Augustus, born 23 Sept. 63 B.C. in Rome.
Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus (63 BC to 14 AD) the first Roman
emperor, the son of Gaius Octavius, senator and praetor, and Atia, Julius Caesar's niece. He became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus through adoptionby Caesar in his will (44 BC), and later received the name Augustus,meaning sacred or venerable, in recognition of his services and position(27 BC). At the time of Caesar's assassination (March 44 BC), Augustuswas a student at Apollonia in Illyricum, but returned at once to Italy toclaim his inheritance. Marcus Antonius refused at first to surrenderCaesar's property, but Augustus out-maneuvered him in the campaign ofMutina, gained the consulship, and carried out Caesar's will (43 BC).
When Antony returned from Gaul with Lepidus, Augustus changed sides and joined them in forming a triumvirate. He obtained Africa, Sardinia andSicily; Antony, Gaul; and Lepidus, Spain. Their power was soon madeabsolute by the massacre of their opponents in Italy, and by the victoryat Philippi over the
republicans under Brutus and Cassius (42 BC). Difficulties between Augustus and Antony, caused by Antony's wife Fulvia, were removed by herdeath and Antony's marriage to Octavia, sister of Augustus. The Romanworld was divided again, Augustus taking the western half and Antony theeastern, while Lepidus had to be content with Africa. Augustus graduallybuilt up his position in Italy and the west, eliminating the treat ofPompey's son, Sextus, in Sicily, and forcing Lepidus to retire frompublic life (36 BC). He ingratiated himself with the Roman people andmisrepresented the actions of Antony in the east. At length, war wasdeclared against Cleopatra, whom had joined in 37 BC, and by the navalvictory in Actium (31 BC) Augustus became the sole ruler of the Romanworld.
Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide; Antony's son by Fulvia, and Caesarion (allegedly the son of Caesar and Cleopatra), were put to death.In 29 BC, after regulating affairs in Egypt, Greece, Syria, and AsiaMinor, Augustus returned to Rome in triumph, and closing the temple inJanus, proclaimed universal peace. Henceforward, Augustus was in all butname the sole ruler of the Roman empire, though his rule had to bedisguised in republican forms, and the search for an acceptableconstitutional formula to clothe his autocracy took nearly a decade andseveral settlements (27, 23, 19 BC). At home and abroad his declaredpolicy was one of national revival and restoration of traditional Romanvalues. He legislated to mould the fabric of Roman society and beautifiedthe city of Rome; it was his proud boast that he had found the city builtof brick and left it built of marble. Abroad, he pursued a policy ofcalculated imperial conquest, and vastly enlarged the territory of theRoman empire in central and northern Europe, though his policy had to bebrought to a halt when disaster struck in his later years, with therevolt of Pannonia (6 AD) and the loss of three entire legions in Germanyunder Varus (9 AD).
His domestic life was clouded with setbacks and disasters, though he eventually achieved an acceptable succession with his stepson Tiberius,whom he adopted in 4 AD. A statesman of exceptional skill, he broughtabout the difficult transition from republic to empire and provided theRoman world with viable institutions and a lasting period of peace.Though not a charismatic figure, he had a gift for using the talents ofothers, both in public life and in the cultural sphere. Horace, Virgil,Ovid, Propertius, Tibullus, and Livy were the glories the Augustan Age, aname given in France to the reign of Louis XIV, in England to that ofQueen Anne. Augustus' Autobiography is lost, but a record of his publicachievements written by himself and originally inscribed on bronzepillars, in front of his Mausoleum in Rome--the Res Gestae DiviAugusti--is extant in several copies in Greek and Latin from Asia Minor.(Larousse Biographical Dictionary)
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