The Roman emperor in whose reign Jesus was born and lived till his late teens, and whose accomplishments ushered in a 200-year period of peace (known as the Pax Romana) that so facilitated the progress of the gospel.
Octavian was the grand-nephew of Julius Caesar through his mother Atia. Julius Caesar named him his heir in his will, but Octavian was too young and politically inmature to assume power when Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 BC. Though there were those who wished that Rome would return to being a republic, everyone knew that the Empire was here to stay; the only question was who should wield the power. Mark Anthony, by virtue of being Julius Caesar's protégé and his efforts in harassing Caesar's assissins out of Rome, largely held the power of the empire in his hands.
By about 40 BC, however, the three most powerful of the leaders, Mark Anthony, Marcus Lepidus, and Octavian settled their differences and formed a political pact—known as "the Second Triumvirate"—to split up control of the empire among themselves. In 36 Lepidus was forced out of the triumvirate. Four years later war broke out between Octavian and Mark Anthony; while Anthony's affair with Cleopatra and then divorce of his wife Octavia (Octavian's sister) was not the cause, it certainly added to the insult.
In Feb 32 Octavian decided to act; he marched into the senate house and claimed authority as head of state. Shortly afterwards he produced a letter, purported to be Anthony's will, in which Anthony had declared his intention to move the capital to Alexandria. Anticipating the trouble that was coming his way, Mark Anthony assembled a huge force—with Cleopatra joining him—with the intention of invading Italy. Octavian, with consummate skill, cut off Anthony's and Cleopatra's supply line. Blockading the rest of their forces in the Bay of Actium on the west coast of Greece, Octavian routed them at the famous Battle of Atium on 2 Sept 31. Cleopatra fled, followed by Mark Anthony, back to Alexandria, where they soon committed suicide. Thus did Octavian become the sole power of the Roman Empire.
Many feared that his return to Rome would usher in a period of terrifying dictatorship. Instead, at a meeting of the senate in 27, Octavian renounced the power that had been granted him to fight Anthony. Fearing that they might lose Octavian's wise leadership, the senate rewarded him with the honour of the name Augustus, "revered person." Octavian followed this triumph with extensive reforms in the way the empire was run. Thus did the pax Romana, "the peace of Rome," settle upon the empire.
He died in 14 AD, naming Tiberius, a stepson from his last marriage to Livia Drusilla, whom he had adopted, as heir. (Rumours have it that he was poisoned by his wife.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
J. Edmondson, ed., Augustus. 2009.
K. Galinsky, Augustus. Introduction to the Life of an Emperor. 2012.
Adrian Goldsworthy, Augustus. From Revolutionary to Emperor. 2014. Published in as Augustus. The First Emperor.
J. Richardson, Augustan Rome 44 BC to AD 14. The Restoration of the Republic and the Establishment of the Empire. 2012.
©ALBERITH
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