Volta
Person63 BC – AD 14

Augustus

Also called: Octavian

First Roman emperor (r. 27 BC – AD 14); as Octavian, Caesar’s adopted heir, he won at Actium and founded the principate

The great-nephew of Caesar, he was adopted as his son in Caesar’s will. After the Second Triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus, he defeated Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 BC. Receiving the title Augustus (“revered one”) from the Senate and calling himself “first citizen” (princeps), he held real power while keeping the forms of the republic. He organised a standing army and the provinces, rebuilt Rome in marble and laid the foundations of the Pax Romana. The month of August is named after him.

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2 related events

  1. 1
    60 BC – 44 BCCaesar’s Rise and Assassinationrelated figure

    Having conquered Gaul, Caesar won a civil war and became dictator for life, but was assassinated in a meeting of the Senate on 15 March 44 BC by Brutus and others who sought to save the republic.

  2. 2
    AD 96 – AD 180Pax Romana and the Five Good Emperorsrelated figure

    For about two centuries from Augustus the Roman Empire enjoyed peace without major wars. It reached its height under the Five Good Emperors, and its greatest extent under Trajan.

Related works

  • TV drama: RomeDramatizedTV drama · 2005 · Bruno Heller, John Milius, William J. MacDonald · HBO, BBC

Dramatized works (films, dramas, novels) may differ from the historical record.

People who appear alongside

  • Julius Caesar100 BC – 44 BC

    Statesman and general of the late Roman Republic who conquered Gaul, won the civil war and became dictator for life, and was assassinated in 44 BC

  • TrajanAD 53 – AD 117

    Second of the Five Good Emperors (r. 98–117) whose conquests of Dacia and Mesopotamia brought the empire to its greatest extent

  • Marcus AureliusAD 121 – AD 180

    Last of the Five Good Emperors (r. 161–180), a Stoic philosopher who wrote the Meditations and fought the Germanic peoples on the Danube

Themes this person appears in

  • Greece and Rome2000 BC – AD 476

    From the Aegean civilisation to the fall of the Western Roman Empire — the classical civilisation built by the democracy of the polis and the Roman republic and empire