Ancient Rome and Julius Caesar.

Now we are heading to Ancient Rome for the final journey, Bob Jones University World History.  Again, this is a topic with no ending so I am breaking it up into chunks.

Who was Julius Caesar? Or who was Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius?

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius

*Julius Caesar was born in Lazio, Italy on September 23, 63 BC, and he died in Nola, Italy on August 19, AD 14 (75).

*His name at birth was Gaius Octavius Thurinus (all of his name changes are confusing).

*His father was also Gaius Octavius and was the governor of Macedonia.  His father died when he was 4 years old.

*His mother, Atia Balba Caesonia, was from a prominent family, and she was the niece of Julius Caesar (Don't get lost here- This Julius Caesar was his great uncle).  Great uncle Julius Caesar acted as an adoptive father figure for young Gaius.  He began to call himself Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius, but later on he changed that to Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar.  Got that?  Oh, let me add that the word Augustus is a title rather than a name, and it means majestic or illustrious one (venerable).  And after all of that, he went by Octavian for most of his life and in old age.

*Octavian was unlucky in love.  He married three times.  His first wife was the stepdaughter of Marc Antony, Clodia Pulchra (more about Marc Antony below).  Then he wed Scribonia who gave birth to his only child, Julia the Elder.  Then he took up with Livia Drusilla who already had two sons of her own, Tiberius and Drusus.

*I guess every family is different.  Octavian had his stepson Tiberius, by wife Livia, marry his own daughter Julia and then he went and adopted Tiberius and made him his successor.

*In 43 (or 44) BC, great uncle Julius Caesar was murdered, and he named Gaius Octavius Thurinus as his heir (lucky).

*Gaius aka Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar (18) was the first Roman Emperor, and he created the Roman Empire.  He was the greatest Emperor of Rome ever had.

*Caesar ruled the Roman Empire from 27 BC to 14 AD.

image from this link

*After Uncle Caesar was assassinated, Marc Antony (relative of Caesar) decided he should be the new dictator of Rome.  Octavian did not agree so after going around in a few circles about this, it was decided that Octavian, Marc Antony, and another powerful Roman named Marcus Lepidus would join together and formed what is known as the Second Triumvirate.  This basically just means the three men would share equal power in Rome, right! Three men all trying to be in charge.

*Side note about Marcus Lepidus.  Marcus decided to marry Octavian's sister, Octavia the Younger, and even though he was married to Octavia, he was romantically linked to Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt (nice!).  What a mess but it gets better.  Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra in the naval Battle of Actium and was then the absolute power in Rome.  It is alleged that Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide after the lost.

*This restored all the power back to Octavian.  This is when the Senate decided to give Octavian the title of Augustus.

*With the passing of Octavian in 14 A.D., his stepson/son-in-law, Tiberius, became the second emperor of Rome, and with that, I will stop here for now.

Timeline
National Geographic Kids
History.com