Introduction: • Gaius Octavius was born in 63BCE and was the great nephew of Julius Caesar. Caesar took Octavius under his wing, having him elected to the College of Pontiffs and enrolling him in to the Patrician Aristocracy. When Octavius learned Caesar had been assassinated he also found out that Caesar has adopted him and named him his heir. Octavius took on Caesar’s name and became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius but was known simply as Octavian. • The situation in Rome toward the end of the Republican period was that the country’s senate had lost majority of its power.
His great ancestor, Lucius Junius Brutus, is credited with founding the Republic in 509 BCE by deposing the last Tarquin king. Son to Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia Caepionis, Brutus lost his father at an early age. He was officially adopted by his uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio, whose name he took for an unspecified part of his life. Brutus’ formal education came under the tutelage of his mother’s half-brother, Cato the Younger. Cato, both a philosopher and politician of the time, was a Stoic who would be remembered for his unflinching resistance to corruption and support of Republican values.
Octavian’s father had died when he was only young, and Caesar willingly took on the role. Though Caesar had many relatives, his favour fell upon Octavian, whom he elected to the college of pontifices (a religious role of high status), and send to Macedonia to complete his education and his military apprenticeship. Octavian in turn found a role model in Caesar, a fact that would lead his moves as a future ruler of Rome in later years. After Caesar had been assassinated in 44BC, he officially adopted Octavian as his son, and therefore rightful heir, in his will. Octavian was also named to be given three quarters of Caesar’s wealth; however this money was take my Marc Antony, who refused to hand it over to Octavian over his irritation that Caesar had placed favouritism on an obscure relative.
He was exiled to Tomis in 8 AD where he wrote about his depression and desire to return to Rome (Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto). His wish was never fulfilled however, as he died in exile around 17 AD. Publius Vergilius Maro was born in October of 70 BC near Mantua in Cisalpine Gaul. Like Ovid, Vergil was born to an upper class family and he also studied rhetoric and law before delving into his love of poetry. Vergil’s family fled to Rome after they lost much of their property and wealth during Marc Antony’s civil war.
He restored confidence in the government, replenished the treasury, and introduced an efficient public works department, and promoted peace and prosperity. Tiberius At the death of Augustus his adopted son Tiberius was chosen to succeed him. The imperium or power that Augustus had received under constitutional regulations and for a limited period was conferred on Tiberius for life. He was fifty six years old at the time of his succession and had been engaged during most of his life in the service of the state, so that he was novice in politics. Augustus insisted that he divorce the wife whom he loved and that he marry Julia, Augustus daughter, a woman of openly profligate life.
Eventually his father was killed in action. And so Leonardo returned to Rome and stood for the office of consul. He won the election, but now used his standing to persuade the comitia tributa so elect him the new commander of the forces in Africa after removing Marius. His was a polytheistic and believed in gods and goddesses. He prayed for them and told them to guide his father in the afterlife.
Essay 1 – Marcus Aurelius BOOK ONE and BOOK TWO Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, more commonly known as Marcus Aurelius, was a Roman Emperor from 121 to 180 AD. During 161 to 169 he was a co-emperor with Lucius Verus. Marcus Aurelius was said to be the last of the five good emperors of Rome. In the fifty-nine years that he was an emperor, Marcus did many things with the best interests of Rome in mind. His empire defeated the Parthian Empire in the East, took over the capital of Ctesiphon, also won the Marcomannic War, and suppressed a revolt in the East that was led by Avidius Cassius.
Constantine was estimated to be born around AD272 with his father being Constantius, a senior army officer and later Augustus of the Roman Empire. Constantius died in AD306 and Constantine was proclaimed Augustus by his father’s troops. Under Diocletian, there was a divide of East and West with each having a respective leader. When the Battle of the Mivilian Bridge occurred between Maxentius and Constantine in which Constantine was victorious, Licinius, also in AD313 defeated Maximin and Banks informs us that “Licinius was now supreme in the East, as was Constantine in the West”. As Wand believed, “This battle marks an epoch, for it helped to make the first Christian Empire and so affected the history of European civilisation down to the present time”.
In the next twenty years it’s clear to see the effects of Augustus’s victory on Roman society. Through powerful propaganda Augustus attempted to restore the republic to its former glories. Promote an era of peace and return roman society to it’s earliest tradition. Roman society was to be affected, for the first time a line of kings had been founded and consequently society was at the mercy of one man’s monarch. A century of political upheaval, civil wars, proscriptions and economic devastation had come to an abrupt end.
Caesar would later destroy what was left of the republic. Over the years as an empire, the political system appeared to be a ball and chain to the public. “ The political office was seen as a hardship, not an asset to the public. There was nearly constant warfare among the Roman leaders themselves in the century leading up to 31 B.C., when the Roman Empire was established. One of the most difficult problems was choosing a new emperor.