The rise of octavian

Ritika kolan, quila welch, emily christenson,

and simone Anguera
 Timeline (133 BCE-30 BCE)
Demise of the Republic

Sulla marches on Rise of the First Assassination of Augustus becomes

Jugurthine War Rome, becomes Triumvirate Caesar the first Roman
dictator emperor
133,121 90-88 BCE 63 BCE 49 BCE 31 BCE
BCE

112-105 88,82 59 BCE 44 BCE 27 BCE

BCE BCE
Assassination of Social War Catiline vs. Optimates, Civil war between Battle of Actium:
Tiberius & Pompey defeats Pompey and Caesar, Antony vs. Octavian
Gaius Gracchus Mithridates Caesar becomes
dictator

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 Timeline (44 BCE-30 BCE)
Rise of Octavian

Battle of Mutina & Octavian’s forces

Formation of the Second Treaty of defeat Sextus Pompey
Triumvirate Brundisium at Naulochus Battle of Actium

44 BCE 42 BCE 37 BCE 34 BCE 30 BCE

43 BCE 40 BCE 36 BCE 31 BCE

Assassination Battle of Treaty of Antony’s military Antony & Cleopatra

of Julius Philippi Tarentum triumph in commit suicide
Caesar Alexandria

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 Post-Assassination Chaos
(44 BCE)
✣ Rioting, conspirators fortify themselves on the Capitoline
Hill with hired gladiators
✣ Lepidus uses his legion of Caesarian soldiers to take the
Forum
✣ Brutus and Antony move with more subtlety
⨳ Brutus addresses the crowds, Antony holds a
meeting of Caesarian supporters
✣ Antony decides to advocate in the Senate for the
ratification of Caesar’s acts as dictator and extend amnesty Brutus and Cassius
to the conspirators
✣ The Senate agreed that Caesar’s will would be read aloud
and that he would have a public funeral
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 Caesar’s will and Funeral
(44 BCE)

✣ 18 year-old Octavian named as Caesar’s heir

✣ Decimus Brutus, among other conspirators, also named
as main beneficiaries
✣ At Caesar’s funeral, Caesar’s bloodied body and Antony’s
speech turn the masses against the conspirators
⨳ Riots, senate chamber burned, mobs attack homes
of the conspirators, making many of them flee the
city “Marc Antony’s Oration at
✣ Cicero emerges as a leader in the Senate Caesar’s Funeral”

✣ Antony gains power and assembles a bodyguard of six

thousand former centurions

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 Background and Appeal as
successor

Antony Octavian

✣ Loved by the soldiers under ✣ 18, sickly, unknown to the wider

him for his friendliness and public - underestimated
humor ✣ Incredibly politically astute
✣ Consul of 44, close associate of ✣ Drew on ties with Caesar’s
Caesar soldiers, changed his name
✣ Rival of Octavian for claim to ⨳ “You, boy, owe everything
Caesar’s legacy to your name” -Antony

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 Antony vs. octavian + Senate
(44 BCE-43 BCE)

✣ Antony’s fight for power and political prowess

✣ Octavian’s arrival
⨳ Publicly claimed his inheritance, but his adoption was blocked by Antony
✣ Antony’s obstruction backfires
⨳ Blamed for Octavian’s failures
⨳ Manufactured assassination charge against Octavian
✣ Battle of Mutina
⨳ Octavian uses private troops
⨳ Consuls of 43 BCE die in battle
⨳ Octavian seizes consulship upon Senate arrogance, legalizes adoption, and
rescinds amnesty granted to conspirators

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Second triumvirate
(43 BCE-33 BCE)

✣ Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus

⨳ Held consular imperium and appointed magistrates for five years
✣ Divided western provinces among them
✣ Allotted land to soldiers in 18 Italian cities
✣ Prescribed a list of rivals whose heads were worth 25,000 denarii each
⨳ Cicero’s murderer was given 10x the promised bounty
⨳ Lack of money lead to expansion of list and taxation of rich women
■ Resulted in public outcry for the latter
✣ Moved towards autocratic ruling

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Division of land after the forming of
the second triumvirate

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 Brutus and Cassius in the East
(44 BCE-42 BCE)

✣ Cassius
⨳ Extorted talents of silver, sold towns
into slavery, and gave unreasonable
fines.
⨳ Attacked Rhodes
✣ Brutus
⨳ Took property, seized money, and
executed those who refused
✣ The bullion they seized were made into coins
that featured them
✣ The “liberators” were indistinguishable from
the autocrats
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 Battle of Philippi:
Triumvirs vs. liberators (October, 42 BCE)

✣ Massive battle in northern Greece with each side

commanding > 100,000 troops
✣ First battle
⨳ Antony defeated Cassius’s forces, making him
commit suicide
⨳ Brutus captured Octavian’s camp
✣ Second battle
⨳ Triumvir victory, leading Brutus and a number of his
supporters to commit suicide
✣ Surviving troops joined the triumvirs
⨳ Loyalty remained with paymasters rather than with
the Republic
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Division of land After Philippi indicated a
Clear hierarchy among the triumvirs
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 Tensions in the Triumvirate
(41 BCE -40 BCE)
✣ Land seizures caused by the resettlement of Octavian’s veterans led to a
rebellion urged by Fulvia and Lucius Antonius
⨳ Octavian blockaded the rebels in Perusia until they surrendered from
starvation
✣ In preparation for war, Antony formed an alliance with Sextus Pompey who
blocked grain supplies from reaching Rome
✣ Antony besieged Brundisium, which was protected by some of Octavian’s
legions
⨳ Large-scale combat would have transpired if their soldiers had not
aggressively called for a compromise

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 “She [Fulvia] was a women who took no
thought for spinning or housekeeping, nor
would she design to bear sway over a man
of private station, but she wished to rule a
ruler and command a commander”
-Plutarch, Life of Antony

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 Temporary Reconciliation
(40 BCE-37 BCE)
✣ 40 BCE-Treaty of Brundisium
⨳ More equal redivision of the empire between Antony and
Octavian
⨳ Octavian was charged with taking Sicily back from Sextus
Pompey while Antony was to campaign in Parthia
⨳ Antony’s political marriage to Octavia
✣ 39 BCE-Treaty with Sextus following a famine in Rome until
Octavian renews conflict
✣ 37 BCE-Treaty of Tarentum
⨳ Antony supplies ships to Octavian for his campaign against
Octavia the Younger
Sextus Pompey
⨳ Five-year renewal of the Triumvirate until 33 BCE
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Redivision of the empire that marked
Antony and octavian as equals
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 A fool in love (36 BCE-33 BCE)
A✣ Romance with Cleopatra influenced poor strategic choices
N ⨳ 36 BCE-Failed invasion of Parthia Cleopatra and Antony
T
O ⨳ 35 BCE-Disrespected Octavia who Octavian granted legal immunity to insult
N ⨳ 34 BCE-Celebrated military triumph over Armenia in Alexandria rather than in
Y Rome

✣ 36 BCE-Destroyed much of Sextus Pompey’s fleet, seized Sicily,

O
and removed Lepidus from the Triumvirate Agrippa
C
T ⨳ 35 BCE- Sextus was captured and killed in the East
A✣ 33 BCE-Military success over Dalmatian barbarians
V
✣ 36-33 BCE-Served Roman citizens by:
I
A ⨳ Constructing stone amphitheater
N ⨳ Restoring temples and water infrastructure
⨳ Securing Rome’s food supply
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 Antony’s Will (32 BCE)
✣ Plancus and Titus told Octavian of Antony’s will hidden with
the Vestal Virgins
✣ Octavian reads the will publicly and its contents supported
previous propaganda painting Antony as un-Roman.
✣ The will:
(1) Proclaimed the legitimacy of Caesarion, the son of
Caesar and Cleopatra
(2) Named Antony’s children with Cleopatra as heir to his
assets
(3) Stated that Antony wished to be buried in Alexandria
alongside Cleopatra

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 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dFc-k6wC7I)

How Octavian Succeeded in Discrediting Antony

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 Civil War: Octavian vs. Antony
(32 BCE-30 BCE)
✣ 32 BCE-Octavian declared war on the hated Cleopatra rather than Antony
✣ Oath of Italy: People of Italy and its western provinces swore loyalty
directly to Octavian rather than to the Republic
✣ 31 BCE-Battle of Actium
⨳ Antony’s land forces were blockaded by Octavian’s
forces and afflicted with an outbreak of dysentery
⨳ Antony abandoned his flagship and sailed after
Cleopatra to Egypt
⨳ Rest of Antony’s fleets and army surrendered
✣ 30 BCE-Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide
✣ Egypt now belonged to Octavian and he would use the revenue he
obtained to construct a more stable political order around himself
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 Horace’s Epodes
Statue of Horace in
✣ Horace was a lyric poet and satirist during the time of Octavian Venosa, Italy
✣ Epodes appeared in 30 BCE (composed approximately in 42-30
BCE) and include poems about the civil wars of the decade
⨳ Epodes 1 and 9 are addressed to Maecenas, a political advisor
to Augustus, and concerns the battle at Actium
⨳ Epodes 7 and 16 reflect on the agony of the civil wars

Augustus actively encouraged the flourishing of the arts during his reign,
as part of his vision of Rome as “the greatest empire and noblest city the
world had ever seen.” Through the circle of Maecenas, he personally
supported poets. These poems often served to paint the inner imperial
circle as cultured and benevolent and to advance the new Augustan
morals.
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 Significance and
Connection to themes

✣ Selfish ambitions of individual strongmen pursuing

glory lead to a series of civil wars until the masses
sought security in the last man standing
⨳ People consented to Octavian assuming power as
long as he was benevolent and maintained order
✣ Octavian established a cult of personality around
himself through his oration and military victories
⨳ His most notable act during this period was the
“I found Rome a city of clay,
Oath of Italy but left it a city of marble”
-Augustus

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Questions?
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 Discussion Questions
1. What do the lives of Fulvia, Octavia, and Cleopatra reveal about the

role/status/expectations of women in the Roman world during the early Octavian era?

2. How was the underestimation of Octavian advantageous in his rise to power?

3. In describing the chaos that ensued after Caesar’s assassination, Watts states “Perhaps

for the first time, Brutus realized that liberty cannot exist without security.” At what

point do we first see the Roman people prioritizing security over liberty? Why does

this transition happen?

4. How did Antony’s gifts to Alexandria contribute to his downfall? How effectively did

Octavian use Antony’s miscalculations to validate his own leadership?

BONUS: Reflect on the incidences of suicide amid the threat of tyranny and/or why Watts

portrays Cicero in a negative light

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 Bibliography
Images
✣ https://www.ancient.eu/image/486/augustus-as-pontifex-maximus-detail/
✣ https://www.ancient.eu/image/486/augustus-as-pontifex-maximus-detail/
✣ https://www.ancient.eu/image/4951/division-of-the-second-triumvirate/
✣ https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/whats-on/find-things-to-do/grays-exhibition-hartlepool-art-gallery-3664596
✣ https://www.historytoday.com/history-matters/woman-who-would-be-king
✣ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Antony#/media/File:Roman-Empire-42BC.png
✣ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fulvia-wife-of-Mark-Antony
✣ https://www.ancient.eu/image/317/bust-of-mark-antony/
✣ https://www.ancient.eu/image/8292/silver-tetradrachm-portraying-antony-and-cleopatra/
✣ https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Actium-ancient-Roman-history
✣ https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/07/10/octavia-minor-sister-of-augustus-wife-of-mark-antony-and-great-gra
ndmother-of-caligula/
✣ https://www.livius.org/pictures/a/roman-portraits/agrippa-2/
✣ https://brewminate.com/the-brothers-gracchi-populist-uprisings-and-enemies-of-the-state-in-ancient-rome/
✣ http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/braccio-nuovo/Augusto-di-Prima-Porta.ht
ml#&gid=1&pid=1
✣ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexilloid#/media/File:Vexilloid_of_the_Roman_Empire.svg
✣ https://nypost.com/2015/03/01/the-real-story-behind-the-assassination-of-julius-caesar/
✣ https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vxj9qZzan14/UpqNWAJW7cI/AAAAAAAAD9M/G5pYv3_uu_8/s1600/tri+3.jpg
✣ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gaius-Cassius-Longinus-Roman-quaestor
✣ http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/acans/caesar/CivilWars_Libertas.htm
✣ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0414fq4
✣ https://www.ancient.eu/image/5305/battle-of-actium-31-bce/
✣ https://www.ancient.eu/image/6660/horace/

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 Bibliography continued

Primary Sources
Horace. Odes and Epodes. Edited and translated by Niall Rudd. Loeb Classical Library 33. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2004.
Plutarch. Lives, Volume IX: Demetrius and Antony. Pyrrhus and Gaius Marius. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin.
Loeb Classical Library 101. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1920.

Secondary Sources
Beard, Mary. Women & Power: A Manifesto. First American ed. New York, N.Y.;London: Liveright Publishing
Corporation, a Division of W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.
Watts, Edward J. “The Republic of Octavian.” In Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny. New York: Basic
Books, 2018.

Video
Smithsonian Channel, “How Octavian Succeeded in Discrediting Marc Antony,” YouTube Video, 3:18, January
22, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=6dFc-k6wC7I

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