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.