• General Notes

  BIOGRAPHY: 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 adoption by 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).
  
  BIOGRAPHY: At the time of Caesar's assassination (March 44 BC), Augustus was a student at Apollonia in Illyricum, but returned at once to Italy to claim his inheritance. Marcus Antonius refused at first to surrender Caesar's property, but Augustus out-maneuvered him in the campaign of Mutina, gained the consulship, and carried out Caesar's will (43 BC).
  
  BIOGRAPHY: When Antony returned from Gaul with Lepidus, Augustus changed sides and joined them in forming a triumvirate. He obtained Africa, Sardinia and Sicily; Antony, Gaul; and Lepidus, Spain. Their power was soon made absolute by the massacre of their opponents in Italy, and by the victory at Philippi over the republicans under Brutus and Cassius (42 BC). Difficulties between Augustus and Antony, caused by Antony's wife Fulvia, were removed by her death and Antony's marriage to Octavia, sister of Augustus. The Roman world was divided again, Augustus taking the western half and Antony the eastern, while Lepidus had to be content with Africa. Augustus gradually built up his position in Italy and the west, eliminating the treat of Pompey's son, Sextus, in Sicily, and forcing Lepidus to retire from public life (36 BC). He ingratiated himself with the Roman people and misrepresented the actions of Antony in the east. At length, war was declared against Cleopatra, whom had joined in 37 BC, and by the naval victory in Actium (31 BC) Augustus became the sole ruler of the Roman world. 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 Asia Minor, Augustus returned to Rome in triumph, and closing the temple in Janus, proclaimed universal peace. Henceforward, Augustus was in all but name the sole ruler of the Roman empire, though his rule had to be disguised in republican forms, and the search for an acceptable constitutional formula to clothe his autocracy took nearly a decade and several settlements (27, 23, 19 BC). At home and abroad his declared policy was one of national revival and restoration of traditional Roman values. He legislated to mould the fabric of Roman society and beautified the city of Rome; it was his proud boast that he had found the city built of brick and left it built of marble. Abroad, he pursued a policy of calculated imperial conquest, and vastly enlarged the territory of the Roman empire in central and northern Europe, though his policy had to be brought to a halt when disaster struck in his later years, with the revolt of Pannonia (6 AD) and the loss of three entire legions in Germany under Varus (9 AD).
  
  BIOGRAPHY: 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 brought about the difficult transition from republic to empire and provided the Roman world with viable institutions and a lasting period of peace. Though not a charismatic figure, he had a gift for using the talents of others, both in public life and in the cultural sphere. Horace, Virgil, Ovid, Propertius, Tibullus, and Livy were the glories the Augustan Age, a name given in France to the reign of Louis XIV, in England to that of Queen Anne. Augustus' Autobiography is lost, but a record of his public achievements written by himself and originally inscribed on bronze pillars, in front of his Mausoleum in Rome--the Res Gestae Divi Augusti-- is extant in several copies in Greek and Latin from Asia Minor. (Larousse Biographical Dictionary)

Details of Gaius Octavius Augustus 's family with Livia DRUSILLA