General Notes

submitted by DEBORAH LYNNE FOX B.1-13-1960

ctavia (69?-11 BC), Roman matron, daughter of the Roman general Gaius
Octavius, grandniece of Julius Caesar, and sister of Octavian, who became
emperor as Augustus. Octavia was distinguished for her beauty and her
virtue. In 40 BC on the death of her first husband, the consul Gaius
Claudius Marcellus, she consented to marry Octavian's rival Mark Antony
to make secure the reconciliation between him and her brother. When
Antony deserted her for the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, Octavia remained
loyal to her husband, even providing him with reinforcements on occasion.
Octavian was indignant at the treatment she received and wished her to
leave her husband's house. When war broke out between Octavian and Antony
in 32 BC, Antony crowned his insults by sending Octavia a notice of
divorce. When he died in Egypt after being defeated by Octavian in 30,
Octavia brought up not only her own children but also Antony's children
by his first wife, Fulvia, and by Cleopatra. Octavia herself had five
children: two daughters by Antony, and a son and two daughters by her
first husband. Her son, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, was adopted by
Augustus and apparently intended to succeed the latter as emperor, but
died at the age of 19. Among the descendants of two of Octavia's
daughters, Antonia Major (flourished 1st century AD) and Antonia Minor,
were three rulers of the Roman Empire: the emperors Claudius I, Nero, and
Caligula.
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