Octavian and the Second Triumvirate
Caesar's assassination caused political and social turmoil in Rome;
without the dictator's leadership, the city was ruled by his friend and
colleague, Mark
Antony. Soon afterward, Octavius,
whom Caesar adopted through his will, arrived in Rome. Octavian
(historians regard Octavius as Octavian due to the Roman
naming conventions) tried to align himself with the Caesarian
faction. In 43 BC, along with Antony and Marcus
Aemilius Lepidus, Caesar's best friend,[57] he
legally established the Second
Triumvirate. This alliance would last for five years. Upon its
formation, 130–300 senators were executed, and their property was
confiscated, due to their supposed support for the Liberatores.[58]
In 42 BC, the Senate deified Caesar as Divus
Iulius, (note that Divusmeans
"deified", and not "god". The Latin word for god is Deus;
this word is used for real deities as Jupiter and Apollo.
However, a Divusis
not a deity, but a remarkable person who was as important to Rome asRomulus was.)
Octavian thus became Divi
filius,[59] the
son of the deified. In the same year, Octavian and Antony defeated both
Caesar's assassins and the leaders of the Liberatores, Marcus
Junius Brutus andGaius
Cassius Longinus, in the Battle
of Philippi.
The Second Triumvirate was marked by the proscriptions of many senators
and equites:
after a revolt led by Antony's brother Lucius
Antoniusmore than 300 senators and equites involved
were executed on the anniversary of the Ides
of March, although Lucius was spared.[60] The
Triumvirate proscribed several important men, including Cicero,
whom Antony hated;[61] Quintus
Tullius Cicero, the younger brother of the orator; and Lucius
Julius Caesar, cousin and friend of the acclaimed general, for his
support of Cicero. However, Lucius was pardoned, perhaps because his
sister Julia had intervened for him.[62]
The Triumvirate divided the Empire among the triumvirs: Lepidus was left
in charge of Africa,
Antony, the eastern provinces, and Octavian remained in Italia and
controlled Hispania and Gaul.
The Second Triumvirate expired in 38 BC but was renewed for five more
years. However, the relationship between Octavian and Antony had
deteriorated, and Lepidus was forced to retire in 36 BC after betraying
Octavian in Sicily.
By the end of the Triumvirate, Antony was living in Egypt, an
independent and rich kingdom ruled by Antony's lover,Cleopatra
VII. Antony's affair with Cleopatra was seen as an act of treason,
since she was queen of another country. Additionally, Antony adopted
lifestyle considered too extravagant and Hellenistic for a Roman
statesman.[63]
Following Antony's Donations
of Alexandria, which gave to Cleopatra the title of "Queen of
Kings", and to Antony's and Cleopatra's children the regal titles to the
newly conquered Eastern territories, the
war between Octavian and Antony broke out. Octavian annihilated
Egyptian forces in the Battle
of Actium in
31 BC. Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide. Now Egypt was conquered
by the Roman Empire, and for the Romans, a new era had begun.
Founding myth
Main article: Founding
of Rome
According to the founding
myth of
Rome, the city
was founded on
21 April 753 BC by twin brothers Romulus
and Remus, who descended from theTrojan prince Aeneas[14] and
who were grandsons of the Latin King, Numitorof Alba
Longa. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius,
while Numitor's daughter, Rhea
Silvia, gave birth to the twins.[15][16] Because
Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars,
the Roman god
of war, the twins were considered half-divine.
The new king feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, so he
ordered them to be drowned.[16] A
she-wolf (or a shepherd's wife in some accounts) saved and raised them,
and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to
Numitor.[17][18]
The twins then founded their own city, but Romulus killed Remus in a
quarrel over the location of the Roman
Kingdom, though some sources state the quarrel was about who was
going to rule or give his name to the city.[19] Romulus
became the source of the city's name.[20] In
order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the
indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which
had a large workforce but was bereft of women. Romulus traveled to the
neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights but
as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that
the Latins invited the Sabines to
a festival and stole
their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins
and the Sabines.[21]
Another legend, recorded by Greek historian Dionysius
of Halicarnassus, says that Prince Aeneas led a group of Trojans on
a sea voyage to found a new Troy, since the original was destroyed in
the outcome of theTrojan
War. After a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of
the Tiber
River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea
again, but the women who were traveling with them did not want to leave.
One woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at
sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with
Roma, but they soon realized that they were in the ideal place to
settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their
ships.[22]
The Roman poet Virgil recounted
this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid.
In the Aeneid,
the Trojan prince Aeneas is
destined by the gods in his enterprise of founding a new Troy. In the
epic, the women also refused to go back to the sea, but they were not
left on the Tiber. After reaching Italy, Aeneas, who wanted to marry Lavinia,
was forced to wage war with her former suitor, Turnus.
According to the poem, the Alban
kings were
descended from Aeneas, and thus, Romulus, the founder of Rome, was his
descendant.
Kingdom
Main article: Roman
Kingdom
Main article: Roman
Republic |
