Augustus
Octavian, Caesar's heir, who won the civil wars and ruled as Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE), the first Roman emperor.
Category: Figures
- September 23, 63 BCEOctavian, the future Augustus, is born
Gaius Octavius is born in Rome on 23 September 63 BCE, the year of Cicero's consulship. He will become Caesar's heir and the first emperor.
- May 8, 44 BCEOctavian accepts Caesar's inheritance
Octavian reaches Rome on 6 May 44 BCE. Two days later he accepts Caesar's will, which names him main heir on condition that he takes Caesar's name.
- April 21, 43 BCEBattle of Mutina
Mark Antony, besieging Decimus Brutus at Mutina, is beaten at Forum Gallorum and Mutina in April 43 BCE, though sources differ on how decisive the second was. Consul Hirtius is killed and Pansa dies of wounds. Octavian is left in sole command.
- August 19, 43 BCEOctavian becomes consul at nineteen
On 19 August 43 BCE, at the age of 19, Octavian takes the consulship.
- November 27, 43 BCESecond Triumvirate
Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus form a triumvirate in October 43 BCE. Unlike the First, it is legal: the Lex Titia of 27 November gives them five years of near-absolute power.
- October 42 BCEBattles of Philippi
On 3 and 23 October 42 BCE Antony and Octavian fight Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in Macedonia. Cassius dies after the first battle and Brutus kills himself after the second, ending the conspirators' cause.
- 41 BCEPerusine War
Octavian fights Lucius Antonius, Mark Antony's brother, in 41 and 40 BCE. Lucius occupies Rome in the summer of 41.
- September 40 BCETreaty of Brundisium
In September 40 BCE Octavian and Antony divide the Roman world: Antony takes the east, Octavian keeps the west and gets Illyricum, and Lepidus keeps Africa. Antony marries Octavian's sister Octavia to seal it.
- 39 BCETreaty of Misenum
In 39 BCE the triumvirs make peace with Sextus Pompey, who keeps Sicily and Sardinia and gains Corsica and the Peloponnese in return for lifting his blockade of Italy. The pact collapses when Antony refuses to give up Achaea.
- September 3, 36 BCEBattle of Naulochus
On 3 September 36 BCE Agrippa, Octavian's admiral, destroys the fleet of Sextus Pompey off Sicily. Octavian then strips Lepidus of his power and becomes sole ruler of the west.
- 34 BCEDonations of Alexandria
In autumn 34 BCE Antony proclaims Cleopatra queen of kings and Caesarion Caesar's legitimate heir, and gives lands to his children with Cleopatra. The Senate rejects the grants and Octavian intensifies his attacks on Antony.
- c. 31 BCEHerod switches sides to Octavian
Herod had backed Antony. After Actium in 31 BCE he meets Octavian at Rhodes (31 or 30, by source) and is confirmed as king by Octavian, soon Augustus.
- September 2, 31 BCEBattle of Actium
On 2 September 31 BCE Agrippa's fleet routs Antony's and Cleopatra's off Actium on the Ionian Sea. Antony escapes with a few ships and his army later deserts.
- August 30 BCEAlexandria falls; Antony and Cleopatra die
Octavian takes Alexandria on 1 August 30 BCE. Antony stabs himself and Cleopatra kills herself on 12 August. Caesarion is put to death and Egypt ends as a kingdom, becoming Octavian's personal possession.
- January 16, 27 BCEThe settlement of 27 BCE; Octavian becomes Augustus
On 13 January 27 BCE Octavian formally returns power to the Senate. On 16 January he accepts a ten-year charge over key provinces, including Hispania, Gaul, Syria and Egypt, which gives him most of the legions. The Senate gives him the title Augustus.
- c. 25 BCEHerod builds Caesarea Maritima
Between about 25 and 9 BCE Herod builds the port city of Caesarea Maritima, inaugurated in 9 BCE. When Judea becomes a province in 6 CE it is the seat of the Roman governor, and the Pilate Stone was found there.
- July 1, 23 BCEThe second settlement of 23 BCE
After a severe illness Augustus resigns the consulship on 1 July 23 BCE. In a new deal with the Senate he keeps his imperium across the empire and receives tribunician power for life.
- 4 BCEHerod the Great dies
Herod dies in 4 BCE by most scholars' reckoning (1 BCE by another school). Augustus honors his will: Archelaus gets Judea, Samaria and Idumea, Antipas Galilee and Perea, Philip lands to the north-east. The Massacre of the Innocents appears only in Matthew.
- 6Judea becomes a Roman province
In 6 CE Augustus deposes Herod Archelaus, ethnarch of Judea, Samaria and Idumea, and turns Judea into a Roman province under a prefect, the first being Coponius. The capital moves from Jerusalem to Caesarea. Syria's legate Quirinius takes a census for taxes.
- September 17, 14Tiberius becomes emperor
Augustus dies on 19 August 14 CE. On 17 September the Senate confirms Tiberius as princeps. He rules until 16 March 37, a span that covers the ministry and death of Jesus and Pilate's time in Judea. In 26 he leaves Rome for Capri.