BC30-11 Octavian becomes Emperor Augustus

In my first twenty years, from 30-11 BC, Octavian (pictured) -- the adopted son of Julius Caesar -- transformed the Roman Republic into a despostic regime, the Roman Empire, with him as Emperor Augustus.

Octavian had bribed Antony's legions in Greece, Asia Minor, and Cyrenaica to his side and on his march towards Egypt received the submission of local kings and Roman governors along the way. He finally reached Egypt in 30 BC, but to avoid capture first Antony and then Cleopatra committed suicide.

On his triumphant return to Rome Octavian took control with the full consent of the Senate and citizens tired of never-ending civil wars and incompetent and unstable government.

He designated governors loyal to him to the dangerous "frontier" provinces -- where the majority of the legions were situated -- and purged the Senate, refilling it with his supporters from the provinces and outside the Roman aristocracy.

He was careful, however, to leave Republican institutions intact -- consuls continued to be elected, tribunes of the plebeians continued to offer legislation, and debate still resounded through the Roman Curia.

By 27 BC the transition was complete and in that year Octavian offered back all of his extraordinary powers to the Senate which it refused and titled him Octavian Augustus -- the revered one.

Augustus arranged for his 14 year old daughter to marry his 17 year old nephew in 24 BC, but the young man died and later he made her marry his step-son Tiberius.

Once Octavian named Tiberius as his heir, it was clear to everyone that the Republic was not going to be restored, and by the time Augustus died very few people existed who remembered a time before an Emperor ruled Rome.

BC50-31 Cleopatra, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony

In the twenty years from 50-31 BC Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 BC and the forces of Cleopatra (pictured) and Mark Antony were defeated in 31 BC.

Julius Caesar's governorship would expire at the end of 49 BC, and so would his immunity from trial (violations of the constitution stemming from his consulship of 59 BC, which could result in his political if not physical death). The key issue was whether or not Caesar could stand for the consulship of 48 BC in absentia, maintaining his immunity.

The optimates were opposed to Caesar's standing in absentia, and in 49 BC, passed a law declaring him a public enemy and demanding his return to Rome to stand trial. At the same time, Pompey was given absolute authority to defend the Roman Republic

When Julius Caesar received this news he proclaimed "alea iacta est" (the die is cast) and crossed the Rubicon River (the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Italy) with his army, precipitating another Civil war.

Julius Caesar took Rome without opposition, and then marched south to stop Pompey (who was trying to withdraw from Brundisium across the Adriatic Sea to Greece). Caesar came close, but Pompey and his armies were able to escape at the last minute.

In 48 BC Pompey controlled the seas -- and his legions heavily outnumbered Caesar's -- but Caesar's legions were experienced veterans and he was able to solidify control over the western Mediterranean, notably at Massilia and in Spain. Then he invaded Greece.

Caesar and Pompey first faced each other at the Battle of Dyrrhachium, where Pompey won but failed to follow up on his victory, allowing Caesar to regroup and win a decisive victory at the Battle of Pharsalus. Pompey fled to Egypt, where he hoped to find assistance.

Caesar, pursuing Pompey, arrived in Alexandria, capital of Ptolemaic Egypt, to find the breadbasket of the Mediterranean in a state of civil war. Agents of the young king, Ptolemy XIII, had assassinated Pompey and presented his head to Caesar, believing it would please him and that he would support Ptolemy against the ambitions of his sister, Cleopatra.

Caesar, however, began an affair with Cleopatra -- precipitating a dangerous battle -- but he triumphed and placed Cleopatra on the throne along with another brother, Ptolemy XIV.

Cleopatra later gave birth to Caesar's son, Caesarion, titled Ptolemy Caesar.

In 47 BC Caesar advanced to Asia Minor upon hearing of an invasion led by Pharnaces II of Pontus, the son of the old Roman enemy Mithridates. He won a quick victory at the Battle of Zela and it was then that Caesar famously said: "Veni, Vidi, Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered).

In 46 BC Caesar went to North Africa to deal with the pro-Pompeian forces under Cato the Younger and Titus Labienus. After a slight setback in the Battle of Ruspina he defeated them at the Battle of Thapsus. Cato committed suicide. In 45 BC, he went to Spain, and won the final victory over the pro-Pompeian forces at the Battle of Munda. He then returned to Rome.

Caesar launched many reforms in Rome. He regulated the distribution of free grain, reformed the calendar -- changing from a Lunar to a Solar calendar and giving his gens name to the 7th month (July) -- and reformed the debt problem. He accepted enormous honors from the Senate, being named Pater Patriae (Father of his Country) but when he began wearing the purple toga of the old Roman kings he alarmed the aristocratic republican Senators.

In 45 BC he was named dictator for ten years and in 44 BC he was appointed dictator for life, further alarming the aristocratic republican senators. A group of about 60 senators, led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, conspired to assassinate Caesar in order to save the republic. They carried out their deed on the Ides of March, 15 March 44 BC.

After Caesar's assassination, Marcus Antonius, incited the mob against the assassins who panicked and fled to Greece. In Caesar's will, his grand-nephew and adopted son Octavian was named as his political heir. Octavian raised a small army from among Caesar's veterans, and the Second Triumvirate was formed -- Antony, Octavian, and Antony's ally Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. In 42 BC, they followed the assassins into Greece and defeated them at the Battle of Philippi. To pay the troops, about 22 of the largest Italian cities suffered confiscations to provide land for the veterans. Proscriptions were declared against about 300 senators and 2000 equites, including Cicero, who was killed at his villa.

In 40 BC, Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus negotiated the Pact of Brundisium. Antony received all the richer provinces in the east, namely Achaea, Macedonia and Epirus (Greece), Bithynia, Pontus and Asia (Turkey), Syria, Cyprus and Cyrenaica. Octavian received the Roman provinces of the west -- Italy, Gaul (France), Gallia Belgica (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), and Hispania (Spain and Portugal). Lepidus was given the minor province of Africa (Tunisia) to govern.

In the west, Octavian and Lepidus had to deal with Sextus Pompeius, the surviving son of Pompey who had taken control of Sicily and was running pirate operations in the Mediterranean, endangering the flow of the crucial Egyptian grain to Rome. In 36 BC, Lepidus, while besieging Sextus forces in Sicily, ignored Octavian's orders that no surrender would be allowed. Octavian then bribed the legions of Lepidus, and they deserted to him. This stripped Lepidus of all power and the contest for supreme power was then between Antony and Octavian.

Antony, in the east, was very close to Ptolemaic Egypt, then the richest state of all and his romance with Cleopatra may not have been entirely a 'love match'. He was waging an unsuccessful war against the Parthians and when war finally broke out between Antony and Octavian in 31 BC, approximately 200 senators, one-third of the Senate, abandoned Octavian to support Antony and Cleopatra.
Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, was of Macedonian Greek ethnicity and had given birth to three children by Antony. In 34 BC, at the Donations of Alexandria, Antony bequeathed much of the eastern half of his empire to these children and asked to be buried in his beloved Alexandria. In Rome, this donation along with his divorce of Octavia Minor and his affair with Cleopatra was used by Octavian in a vicious propaganda war accusing Antony of deserting the cause of Rome. He was careful not to attack Antony directly. Instead, the entire blame was placed on Cleopatra.

The final confrontation of the Roman Republic occurred on 2 September 31 BC, at the naval Battle of Actium where the fleet of Octavian under the command of Agrippa defeated the combined fleet of Antony and Cleopatra and the two lovers fled to Egypt.

Before this, in 37BC, Herod had established a new Jewish dynasty to rule Judea.