Person63 BC – AD 14

Augustus

Also called: Octavian

First Roman emperor (r. 27 BC – AD 14); as Octavian, Caesar’s adopted heir, he won at Actium and founded the principate

The great-nephew of Caesar, he was adopted as his son in Caesar’s will. After the Second Triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus, he defeated Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 BC. Receiving the title Augustus (“revered one”) from the Senate and calling himself “first citizen” (princeps), he held real power while keeping the forms of the republic. He organised a standing army and the provinces, rebuilt Rome in marble and laid the foundations of the Pax Romana. The month of August is named after him.

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5 related events

1
60 BC – 44 BCCaesar’s Rise and Assassinationrelated figure
Having conquered Gaul, Caesar won a civil war and became dictator for life, but was assassinated in a meeting of the Senate on 15 March 44 BC by Brutus and others who sought to save the republic.
2
31 BCBattle of Actiumcommander
On 2 September 31 BC, off Actium in north-western Greece, Octavian’s fleet defeated the combined fleet of Antony and Cleopatra, deciding the last civil war of the Roman Republic.
3
30 BCDeath of Cleopatra and Roman Annexation of Egyptcommander
When Octavian entered Alexandria in 30 BC, Antony and Cleopatra took their own lives one after the other. The Ptolemaic dynasty, nearly three centuries old, came to an end and Egypt became a Roman province.
5 BCNativity of JesusScripturerelated figure
A story told in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament: the infant Jesus, conceived by Mary through the Holy Spirit, was born in a stable in Bethlehem, the town of David, and shepherds and wise men from the East came to worship him.
4
AD 96 – AD 180Pax Romana and the Five Good Emperorsrelated figure
For about two centuries from Augustus the Roman Empire enjoyed peace without major wars. It reached its height under the Five Good Emperors, and its greatest extent under Trajan.

Related works

TV drama: RomeDramatizedTV drama · 2005 · Bruno Heller, John Milius, William J. MacDonald · HBO, BBC
Book: Antony and CleopatraDramatizedBook · 1623 · William Shakespeare

Dramatized works (films, dramas, novels) may differ from the historical record.

People who appear alongside

Mark Antony83 BC – 30 BC
General and statesman of the late Roman Republic; Caesar’s lieutenant, he shared power with Octavian in the Second Triumvirate and ruled the East, but allied with Cleopatra and was defeated at Actium
Cleopatra VII69 BC – 30 BC
Last queen of Ptolemaic Egypt (r. 51–30 BC); she sought to preserve her kingdom through alliances with Caesar and Antony, but after defeat at Actium took her own life, and Egypt became a Roman province
Julius Caesar100 BC – 44 BC
Statesman and general of the late Roman Republic who conquered Gaul, won the civil war and became dictator for life, and was assassinated in 44 BC
Jesus4 BC – AD 30
The central figure of Christianity, who preached God’s love and salvation in Roman-ruled Palestine and was crucified in Jerusalem around AD 30
TrajanAD 53 – AD 117
Second of the Five Good Emperors (r. 98–117) whose conquests of Dacia and Mesopotamia brought the empire to its greatest extent
Marcus AureliusAD 121 – AD 180
Last of the Five Good Emperors (r. 161–180), a Stoic philosopher who wrote the Meditations and fought the Germanic peoples on the Danube

Themes this person appears in

Greece and Rome2000 BC – AD 476
From the Aegean civilisation to the fall of the Western Roman Empire — the classical civilisation built by the democracy of the polis and the Roman republic and empire