A Nobody Became Rome’s Most Powerful Figure and First Emperor
Gaius Octavius (63 BC – 14 AD), better known to history as Augustus Caesar or just plain Augustus, was Rome’s first emperor. He was born to an affluent plebian family on his father’s side, while his mother was of the patrician Julii lineage, and a niece of Julius Caesar. Octavius’ famous grand uncle launched his grandnephew into public life, and groomed him to be his heir. Octavius was in Albania, completing his military and academic studies, when his grand uncle was assassinated in 44 BC.
When he returned to Italy, Octavius learned that Caesar had adopted him as his son in his will, and made him his chief heir. He was advised to decline the dangerous inheritance, but he ignored the advice and went to Rome. There, Caesar’s lieutenant, Mark Antony, refused to honor the will. Caesar’s assassins ignored the teenager, and Cicero, one of Rome’s chief elder statesmen and a key figure of a politically powerful but militarily weak faction, sought to manipulate him. As he quipped, he would “raise, praise, then erase” the young man. As seen below, things did not go how Cicero thought they would.