Rebekah George Assignment 7

On September 23^rd, 63 BC, Gaius Octavian (Caesar Augustus) was born. I have a tiny obsession with the Roman Empire—well, primarly Julius Caesar, but the other Romans were cool too, I guess. I find the birth of Caesar Augustus to be particularly interesting not because he was the most beautiful baby boy to ever grace planet earth though, I mean, there isn’t exactly proof that this isn’t true. Beauty, however, is in the eye of the beholder; he may have seemed that way to someone, perhaps. His mother? Sure, but I digress. I find him to be an interesting figure in history because he was the first—and arguably best—emperor of Rome. He inherited the entirety of the empire after his father by adoption, Julius Caesar, was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate on the Ides of March. Julius was actually his great-uncle, but after his murder, Augustus discovered that he was the heir to the throne (which is kind of adorable, if you ask me…not the murder part, but the fact that his great-uncle trusted him that much).

Caesar Augustus ruled from 31 BC to 41 AD. After he was adopted by his great-uncle, he immediately raised an army and went to war with Mark Antony, Caesar’s former deputy who considered himself Julius’s political heir. After he won the first battle, he marched on Rome and was “elected” consul, the highest office in the Roman Republic. After assuming control of the Roman “Republic”, he entered into the Second Triumvirate with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus (a hella crooked arsonist—I mean— “fireman”). They teamed up as buddies and defeated (probably murdered) Caesars’ assassins. Stuff happened. Blah. Blah. Blah. In 32 BC, Augustus straight up murdered Antony and his mistress, Cleopatra, by forcing them to commit suicide. In that spree of bloodshed, Augustus also had Antony’s poor, most likely innocent heir killed along with his half-brother by adoption (the child that Cleopatra had with Caesar).

So, maybe he wasn’t the nicest…or most loyal person to walk the earth, but he nearly doubled the size of the empire. He also added July (in honor of his papi, aww) and August (for himself, obviously) to the calendar, which is cool.

Side note: he banished his own daughter for sleeping around with numerous influential men, including Mark Antony’s son and never saw her again. He also banished is granddaughter for alleged adultery, but historians figure additional factors may have been in play. I find this to be both unfortunate and absolutely hilarious.

The next five emperors were all his relatives, which is fun. It ended with Nero, who was the last of the Julian-Claudio dynasty to grace the throne. Also, Augustus ushered in Pax Romana or Roman Peace. Everyone loves peace, so yay him. And lastly, the empire that he started (with help from his papi) survived in one form or another until the 15^th century. The longevity of it was actually quite ridiculous, but an accomplishment in and of itself.