Person Page 26

Potitus was born about 020 in Armorica, France. He died.

Born Abt. 20 AD. Potitus had person sources.¹

Cartismandua was born about 050 in Trevan, Llanilid, Glamorganshire, Wales. She died.

Togodumnus ("King of the Catuvellauni") Guiderius King of the Catuvellauni was born about 010 in Verulamium (Hertfordshire), Britain. He died in 043, at age ~33, in Camulodunum (Colchester, Essex), Britain.

Togodumnus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Togodumnus (d. AD 43) was a historical king of the British Catuvellauni tribe at the time of the Roman conquest. He can probably be identified with the legendary British king Guiderius.

Togodumnus is known only from Dio Cassius's Roman History, according to which he was a son of Cunobelinus. He probably succeeded his father to the kingship of the Catuvellauni, who were the dominant kingdom in the south-east of Britain at this time. Their territory took in the lands of several other nations, including their neighbours the Trinovantes, and possibly the Dobunni further west.

He had two notable brothers, Adminius and Caratacus. In Cunobelinus's later days Adminius gained control of Kent, but was driven from Britain in 40 AD, seeking refuge with the Roman emperor Caligula.Caligula planned an invasion of Britain in response, but called it off at the last minute.

Based on coin distribution it appears that Caratacus, following in the footsteps of his uncle Epaticcus, completed the conquest of the Atrebates, the main rival to the Catuvellauni, in the early 40s.The Atrebatian king, Verica, fled to Rome and gave the new emperor, Claudius, a pretext to conquer Britain in 43.

According to Dio's account, Togodumnus led the initial resistance to the invasion, but was killed after the battle on the Thames. The Roman commander Aulus Plautius then dug in at the Thames and sentword for Claudius to join him for the final march on the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester). Dio says that this was because the resistance became fiercer as the Britons tried to avenge Togodumnus, and Plautius needed the emperor's help to complete the conquest; however, as Claudius was no military man and in the end spent only sixteen days in Britain, it is likely the Britons were already as good as beaten. Leadership passed to Caratacus, who took the fight outside Roman-controlled territory and remained at large until 51.

Togodumnus is nearly contemporary with Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus (or Togidubnus), a pro-Roman king of the Regnenses in the period after the Roman conquest, who is known from Tacitus's Agricola andan inscription found in Chichester. The similarity of their names has led some, including the distinguished archaeologist Barry Cunliffe, to suggest that they may be one and the same. However the sources do not support this: according to Dio, Togodumnus was killed in 43, while Tacitus says that Cogidubnus remained loyal to Rome into the later part of the 1st century, and his inscription dates after 79. It is of course not unusual in historical records for two people to have similar names (cf. Dubnovellaunus). As the Chichester inscription supports Tacitus, Cunliffe's interpretation would appear to imply an error in Dio's Roman History or in its transmission.

Penardum verch Bran Fendigaid was born about 058 in Trevan, Llanilid, Glamorganshire, Wales. She died.

Marius Adminius was born about 014 in Verulamium (Hertfordshire), Britain. He died about 045, at age ~31, in Rome, Italy.

Adminius
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Adminius or Amminius was a son of Cunobelinus, ruler of the Catuvellauni, a tribe of Iron Age Britain. His name can be interpreted as Celtic *ad-mindios, "to be crowned".

Based on coin distribution it appears that, in the early to mid 1st century AD, Adminius was ruler of the Cantiaci of eastern Kent, a kingdom which presumably fell within his father's sphere of influence. Suetonius tells us he was deposed and exiled by his father ca. AD 39 or 40. Cunobelinus had maintained friendly relations with the Roman Empire, and it has been speculated that the elderly king had lost control to an anti-Roman faction led by his other sons, Togodumnus and Caratacus, who may have been instrumental in forcing Adminius out of power. Alternatively, his fall may have been the result of a revolt of the Cantiaci against Catuvellaunian rule. Adminius fled to continental Europe with a small group of followers and surrendered to the Romans. The emperor at the time, Caligula, presented this relatively minor event as a great victory over the foreign tribes of Britain and even penned an extravagant report which he insisted was read to the Roman senate.

Adminius appears to have persuaded Caligula that Britain was vulnerable to attack and that an invasion would be an even more famous victory for him. It is likely that the capture of the British princewas the germ of Caligula's initiative to launch an invasion of Britain. The invasion never happened either because of Caligula's famous eccentricity which Roman historians record led him to order hisarmy to collect seashells from Gaulish beaches as war trophies, or because of a mutiny in the invasion force assembled at Boulogne.

In any case, Rome's refusal to return the fugitive Adminius to his father was one of the contributary factors to growing anti-Roman sentiment in Britain which necessitated Claudius' successful invasion in AD 43.

Caradoc ("King of the Catuvellauni") Caratacus King of the Catuvellauni was born about 049 in Verulamium (Hertfordshire), Britain. He died about 112, at age ~63, in Rome, Italy.

Biographical and/or anecdotal:
King of Siluria (now Monmouthshire, etc.), where he died. He was born at Trevan, Llanilid, in Glamorganshire. His valiant services to his country have been told in connection with the attempted invasions of the island. The Bards record his wise saying: "Oppression persisted in brings on death."

notes or source: ancestry.com & HBJ
King Caradoc's birth-book (pedigree register) records his own as well as others' descent from illustrious ancestors, through thirty-six generations from *Aedd Mawr

Caratacus, the First British Hero

An historical person with some legendary accretions, Caratacus (also spelled Caractacus) was the king of the Catuvellauni at the time of the Roman invasion under their commander, Aulus Plautius. Caratacus emerges from history as one of the few early Britons with a distinct personality, thanks in large part to the accounts of Tacitus and Cassius Dio. He and his brother, Togodumnus, were said to besons of the British king, Cunobelinus, and, after the king's death, became the leaders of the anti-Roman campaign that managed to resist the invaders for a period of nearly nine years.*

After some early defeats in the east, Caratacus moved west into more rugged territories that would be easier to defend. His numerically inferior forces survived an indecisive engagement with the Romans in the land of the Silures (modern-day Glamorgan in Wales) and so Caratacus moved north, to the land of the Ordovices (central Gwynedd, southern Clwyd, northern Powys) to find the ideal location fora battle which he intended to be decisive.

Caratacus' final defeat came at the hands of the Roman governor, Ostorious Scapula, in 51 AD. Although his forces were defeated, Caratacus was not killed in the battle and managed to escape to the land of the Brigantes in northern Britain, where he hoped to find safety and a base for future resistance to the Romans. Unfortunately for him, Cartimandua, the Queen of the Brigantes, was bound by a client-ruler relationship with the Romans, so she handed Caratacus over to them.

He was sent to Rome along with other captives, where he came to Claudius' attention for his courtesy and bearing and so was pardoned. He and his family were permitted to live out their lives in peacein Italy, but the date of his death is unknown.

The account of these events is taken from Tacitus' "Annals," Book XII (translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb):
The army then marched against the Silures, a naturally fierce people and now full of confidence in the might of Caratacus, who by many an indecisive and many a successful battle had raised himself farabove all the other generals of the Britons. Inferior in military strength, but deriving an advantage from the deceptiveness of the country, he at once shifted the war by a stratagem into the territory of the Ordovices, where, joined by all who dreaded peace with us, he resolved on a final struggle. He selected a position for the engagement in which advance and retreat alike would be difficult for our men and comparatively easy for his own, and then on some lofty hills, wherever their sides could be approached by a gentle slope, he piled up stones to serve as a rampart. A river too of varyingdepth was in his front, and his armed bands were drawn up before his defences.

Then too the chieftains of the several tribes went from rank to rank, encouraging and confirming the spirit of their men by making light of their fears, kindling their hopes, and by every other warlike incitement. As for Caratacus, he flew hither and thither, protesting that that day and that battle would be the beginning of the recovery of their freedom, or of everlasting bondage. He appealed, byname, to their forefathers who had driven back the dictator Caesar, by whose valour they were free from the Roman axe and tribute, and still preserved inviolate the persons of their wives and of their children. While he was thus speaking, the host shouted applause; every warrior bound himself by his national oath not to shrink from weapons or wounds.

Such enthusiasm confounded the Roman general. The river too in his face, the rampart they had added to it, the frowning hilltops, the stern resistance and masses of fighting men everywhere apparent, daunted him. But his soldiers insisted on battle, exclaiming that valour could overcome all things; and the prefects and tribunes, with similar language, stimulated the ardour of the troops. Ostorius having ascertained by a survey the inaccessible and the assailable points of the position, led on his furious men, and crossed the river without difficulty. When he reached the barrier, as long as it was a fight with missiles, the wounds and the slaughter fell chiefly on our soldiers; but when he had formed the military testudo, and the rude, ill-compacted fence of stones was torn down, and it wasan equal hand-to-hand engagement, the barbarians retired to the heights. Yet even there, both light and heavy-armed soldiers rushed to the attack; the first harassed the foe with missiles, while the latter closed with them, and the opposing ranks of the Britons were broken, destitute as they were of the defence of breast-plates or helmets. When they faced the auxiliaries, they were felled by the swords and javelins of our legionaries; if they wheeled round, they were again met by the sabres and spears of the auxiliaries. It was a glorious victory; the wife and daughter of Caratacus were captured, and his brothers too were admitted to surrender.

There is seldom safety for the unfortunate, and Caratacus, seeking the protection of Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes, was put in chains and delivered up to the conquerors, nine years after the beginning of the war in Britain. His fame had spread thence, and travelled to the neighbouring islands and provinces, and was actually celebrated in Italy. All were eager to see the great man, who for somany years had defied our power. Even at Rome the name of Caratacus was no obscure one; and the emperor, while he exalted his own glory, enhanced the renown of the vanquished. The people were summoned as to a grand spectacle; the praetorian cohorts were drawn up under arms in the plain in front of their camp; then came a procession of the royal vassals, and the ornaments and neck-chains and the spoils which the king had won in wars with other tribes, were displayed. Next were to be seen his brothers, his wife and daughter; last of all, Caratacus himself. All the rest stooped in their fear toabject supplication; not so the king, who neither by humble look nor speech sought compassion.

When he was set before the emperor's tribunal, he spoke as follows: "Had my moderation in prosperity been equal to my noble birth and fortune, I should have entered this city as your friend rather than as your captive; and you would not have disdained to receive, under a treaty of peace, a king descended from illustrious ancestors and ruling many nations. My present lot is as glorious to you as itis degrading to myself. I had men and horses, arms and wealth. What wonder if I parted with them reluctantly? If you Romans choose to lord it over the world, does it follow that the world is to accept slavery? Were I to have been at once delivered up as a prisoner, neither my fall nor your triumph would have become famous. My punishment would be followed by oblivion, whereas, if you save my life,I shall be an everlasting memorial of your clemency."

Upon this the emperor granted pardon to Caratacus, to his wife, and to his brothers. Released from their bonds, they did homage also to Agrippina who sat near, conspicuous on another throne, in the same language of praise and gratitude.
Tacitus, in his account, gives us all the other details but fails to name the location of Caratacus' final battle. "One particular problem that has prompted much debate centres on locating the so-called last stand of Caratacus - who had strategically chosen to move the scene of his activities from the territory of the Silures to that of the Ordovices. Folk memory or antiquarianism has given the name Caer Caradog (Caratacus' fort) to three hillforts, one dominating the Church Stretton gap, another south of Clun and the third in Clwyd. Although the second is relatively close to known Roman marching camps around Leintwardine, none have produced and evidence of investment. Moreover, all lack the nearby river required by the Tacitean narrative. . ."A more likely possibility is offered by the massive limestone spur of Llanymynech which dominates the western edge of the north Shropshire plain. Evidence of a Roman campaign base has now emerged at the western foot of the massif close to a newlydiscovered Julio-Claudian fort at Llansantffraid to make Llanymynech a strong candidate for identification as Caratacus' chosen position." **

Excavations done at the above-mentioned locales have failed to produce any conclusive archaeological fruit. So, it would seem that any location that one chooses as one's favourite candidate for Caratacus' "last stand," so long as it meets Tacitus' topographical qualifications and is found in northeastern Wales or western Shropshire, is as valid a place as any.

Some investigators have come to the conclusion that Caratacus is the historic original for King Arthur, while others insist that he and Arviragus, another early British figure in the anti-Roman resistance, are one and the same.

....................................................

* Cottrell, Leonard, "The Roman Invasion of Britain," Barnes & Noble, New York, 1992, p.91
** Jones, Barri and David Mattingly, "An Atlas of Roman Britain," Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, 1990. p. 66-7.

Ancharia of Rome was born about 155 BCE. He died.

Claudia Marcella Minor was born in 062 BCE. She died.

Lucius Aemilius ("Censor of Rome") Paullus Censor of Rome was born about 025 BCE. He died.

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa General and Governor of Syria was born in 063 BCE. He and Julia Caesaris Augusta were married in 23 BC in Rome. He died in 012 BCE, at age ~51.

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (63 BC-12 BC) was a Roman statesman and general. He was close friend, son-in-law and minister to Octavian, the future emperor Caesar Augustus. He was responsible for most of Octavian?s military triumphs, most notably the winning the naval Battle of Actium against the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

Early Life
Agrippa was of humble birth, being born in the countryside outside of Rome. He was of the same age as Octavian and the two were close childhood friends. Octavian and Agrippa served as cavalry officersunder Julius Caesar in the Battle of Munda in 45 BC. After the battle and return to Rome, Caesar adopted Octavian as his legal heir. As the senatorial factions within Rome grew more fierce, Caesar sent Octavian and Agrippa to study in Apollonia with the Macedonian legions. Caesar also sent the son of one of his friends, Gaius Maecenas, to study with them.

The three (Octavian, Agrippa, and Maecenas) developed a close friendship while away from Rome under Caesar?s orders. Agrippa quickly rose in favor within the Macedonian legions, the commanders takingnote of his amazing leadership abilities. He also learned of architecture, learning the skills he would use later in his life. It was while studying at Apollonia when the news of Julius Caesar?s assassination in 44 BC reached them. By his and Maecenas?s advice, Octavian at once set out for Rome.

[edit]
Rise in Power
After Octavian?s return to Rome, the three realized they needed the support of legions. Agrippa returned to Greece where he asumed command of the Macedonian legions (most notebly the Legio IV Macedonica) and marched them to Rome. Once Octavian had his legions, he made a pact with Mark Antony and Lepidus as the Second Triumvirate to handle the murders of Caesar. Agrippa fought alongside Octavian and Antony as Octavian's most senior general in the Battle of Philippi.

After their return to Rome, Octavian send Agrippa in 41 BC to handle the war against Lucius Antonius and Fluvia Antonia, respectively the brother and wife of Mark Antony, which ended in the capture ofPerusia in 40 BC. Two years later, he put down a rising of the Aquitanians in Gaul, and crossed the Rhine to punish the aggressions of the Germanic tribes. On his return he refused a triumph offeredto him, but accepted his first consulship in 37 BC.

At this time Sextus Pompeius, with whom war was imminent, had command of the sea on the coasts of Italy. Agrippa's first care was to provide a safe harbor for his ships, which he accomplished by cutting through the strips of land which separated the Lacus Lucrinus from the sea, thus forming an outer harbor and an inner one was also made by joining the lake Avernus to the Lucrinus. About this time,Agrippa married Pomponia, daughter of Cicero's friend Titus Pomponius Atticus.

Octavian himself tried to conquer Sicily from Sextus, but was defeated in the naval battle of Messina in 37 BC and again in August of 36 BC. Then Octavian sent Agrippa against Sextus Pompeius. Havingbeen appointed naval commander-in-chief, he put his crews through a course of training, until he felt in a position to meet the fleet of Pompeius. Then in 36 BC he was victorious at Mylae and Naucholus, and within a month, completely defeated Sextus?s naval force. Agrippa received the honor of a naval crown for his services in Sicily.

Life in Public Service
In 33 BC, he was elected aedile, where he used his knowledge of architecture to his advantage. He signalized his tenure of office by effecting great improvements in the city of Rome, restoring and building aqueducts, enlarging and cleansing the Cloaca Maxima, constructing baths and porticos, and laying out gardens. He also gave a stimulus to the public exhibition of works of art. As emperor, Augustus would later boast that "he had found the city of brick but left it of marble," thanks to the great services provided by Agrippa under his reign.

Agrippa was again called away to take command of the fleet when the war with Antony and Cleopatra broke out. Octavian?s victory at Actium in 31 BC, which gave the mastery of Rome and the empire of theworld to Octavian, was mainly due to Agrippa. As a token of signal regard, Octavian bestowed upon him the hand of his niece Marcella in 28 BC. He also served a second consulship with Octavian the same year. In 27 BC, Agrippa held a third consulship with Octavian, and in that year, the senate also bestowed upon Octavian the imperial title of Augustus.

In commemoration of the battle of Actium, Agrippa built and dedicated the building that served as the Roman Pantheon before it?s destruction in 80 AD. Emperor Hadrian used Agrippa?s design to build his own Pantheon, which survives in Rome. The inscription of the later building, which was built around 125, preserves the text of the inscription from Agrippa's building during his third consulship. The years following his third consulship, Agrippa spent in Gaul, reforming the provincial administration and taxation system, along with building an effective road system and aqueducts.

[edit]
Late Life
His friendship with Augustus seems to have been clouded by the jealousy of his brother-in-law Marcellus, which was probably fomented by the intrigues of Livia, the second wife of Augustus, who fearedhis influence over her husband. The result was that Agrippa left Rome, ostensibly to take over the governorship of Syria - a sort of honorable exile, but, he only sent his legate to the Syria, while he himself remained at Lesbos and governed by proxy. On the death of Marcellus, which took place within a year of his exile, he was recalled to Rome by Augustus, who found he could not dispense with his services.

It is said that Maecenas advised Augustus to attach Agrippa still more closely to him by making him his son-in- law. He accordingly induced him to divorce Marcella and marry his daughter Julia Caesaris by 21 BC, the widow of the late Marcellus, equally celebrated for her beauty, abilities, and her shameless profligacy. In 19 BC, Agrippa was employed in putting down a rising of the Cantabrians in Spain. He was appointed governor of Syria a second time in 17 BC, where his just and prudent administration won him the respect and good-will of the provincials, especially from the Hebrew population.Agrippa also restored effective Roman control over the Cimmerian Chersonnese (modern-day Crimea) during his governorship.

Agrippa?s last public service was his beginning of the conquest of the upper Danube River region, which would become the Roman province of Pannonia in 13 BC. He died at Campania in March of 12 BC at the age of 51. His posthumous son, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus, was named in his honor. Augustus honored his memory by a magnificent funeral. Augustus himself spent over a month in morning. Augustus personally over saw all of his children?s educations and even adopted Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar. It is believed that he do not adopt his youngest son, Agrippa Postumus, out of respect for hisold friend so that he would have a son to carry on the family name.

Legacy
Agrippa was also known as a writer, especially on the subject of geography. Under his supervision, Julius Caesar's dream of having a complete survey of the empire made was carried out. He constructeda circular chart, which was later engraved on marble by Augustus, and afterwards placed in the colonnade built by his sister Polla. Amongst his writings, an autobiography, now lost, is referred to.

Agrippa left several children; by Pomponia, a daughter Vispania, who became the first wife of the emperor Tiberius. By Claudia Marcella, Vispania Marcella. By Julia Caesaris, three sons, Gaius Caesar,Lucius Caesar, and Agrippa Postumus, and two daughters, Agrippina the Elder, future wife of Germanicus, and Vispania Julia, who married Lucius Aemilius Paullus.

Marcus Vispanius Agrippa, along with Gaius Maenases and Octavian, was a central person in the establishing of the principate system of emperors, which would govern the Roman Empire up until the Crisisof the Third Century and the birth of Dominate system.

Julia Caesaris Augusta was born in 039 BCE. She and Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa General and Governor of Syria were married in 23 BC in Rome. She died in 014, at age ~53.

Scribonia died.

Caius ("Governor of Macedonia") Octavius Governor of Macedonia was born about 095 BCE. He died in 020 BCE, at age ~75, in Campania, Italy.

Atia Major was born in 083 BCE in Rome. She died.

Caius ("Senator of Rome") Octavius Senator of Rome was born about 125 BCE. He died.

Marcus Atius Balbus was born about 110 BCE. He died.

Julia Minor was born about 095 BCE in Rome. She died about 052 BCE, at age ~43.

Vipsania Julia Agrippina was born in 019 BCE. She died in 028, at age ~47.

Aemilia I Lepida was born in 003 BCE. She died in 053, at age ~56.

Aemilia was the feminine gens for the Aemilius family. The Ancient Sources identify at least four of this name.

Aemilia Lepida I (4/3 BC - 53) was the eldest daughter to Vipsania Julia and her father Lucius Aemilius Paullus. She was the first great grand child of Caesar Augustus and a descendant of the triumvirMarcus Aemilius Lepidus. She had a younger brother named Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (6-39ad) who married Caligula's sister Drusilla.

In her younger years, she was betrothed to Claudius, but Aemilia's parents fell out of favour with Augustus, so Augustus broke it off. She married Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus, a member of the ancient Julian family. Their children were

Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus
Junia Calvina
Decimus Junius Silanus Torquatus
Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus
Junia Lepida.

Octavian Caesar ("Emperor of Rome") Augustus Emperor of Rome was born on 23 September 063 BCE. He died on 19 August 014, at age 76.

Augustus (63 BC-AD 14), first emperor of Rome (27 BC-AD 14), who restored unity and orderly government to the realm after nearly a century of civil wars. He presided over an era of peace, prosperity,and cultural achievement known as the Augustan Age. Originally named Gaius Octavius (and known as Octavian), Augustus was born in Rome; he was the grandnephew and adoptive heir of Julius Caesar.
Caesar's assassination in 44 BC plunged Rome into turmoil. Octavian vied with Mark Antony, Caesar's ambitious colleague, for power and honor. In 43 BC Octavian, Antony, and Roman general Marcus Aemilius Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to rule the Roman domains. After defeating the armies of Caesar's assassins, the three divided the Roman world among them. Octavian gave Antony his sister, Octavia, in marriage.
The triumvirate did not hold together for long. Octavian forced Lepidus from power while Antony was in the east fighting the Parthians. Having sent Octavia back to Rome, Antony married Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Octavian defeated the combined naval forces of Antony and Cleopatra in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC; Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide the following year. In 29 BC Octavian returnedto Rome in triumph, at age 34 the sole master of the Roman world.
In 27 BC the Roman Senate gave Octavian the title Augustus and bestowed on him many other titles and powers that had been held by different officials in the Republic. The Senate vested him with paramount authority throughout the empire. Despite all this, Augustus carefully avoided the appearance of monarchy, claiming that he had restored the Roman Republic. Augustus was succeeded by his stepson and son-in-law, Tiberius.

Encarta® 98 Desk Encyclopedia © & 1996-97 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.

Caesar Augustus (Latin: IMP·CAESAR·DIVI·F·AVGVSTVS)¹ (23 September 63 BC ? 19 August AD 14), known earlier in his life as Gaius Octavius or Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, was the first Roman Emperorand is traditionally considered the greatest. Although he preserved the outward form of the Roman Republic, he ruled as an autocrat for more than 40 years. He ended a century of civil wars and gave Rome an era of peace, prosperity, and imperial greatness. He is generally known to historians by the title "Augustus" (revered one), which he acquired in 27 BC and as "Octavian" before then.

Augustus's rise to power
Augustus was born at Rome with the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus. His father, also Gaius Octavius, came from a respectable but undistinguished family of the equestrian order and was governor of Macedonia before his death in 58 BC. More importantly, his mother Atia was the niece of Rome's greatest general and de facto in Spain, and adopted him by testament as his heir (see also adoption in Rome). Byvirtue of his adoption, following Roman custom, Octavius then assumed the name C. Julius Caesar Octavianus (hereafter "Octavian").

When Caesar was assassinated in March 44 BC, his young heir was with the army at Apollonia, in what is now Albania. At the time, he was only eighteen years old, and was consistently underestimated byhis rivals for power. However, he culled support by emphasizing his status as heir to Caesar and took the name Gaius Julius Caesar (probably omitting the customary Octavianus; he is called "Octavian"by historians nonetheless). He crossed over to Italy and recruited an army from among Caesar's veterans. At Rome, he found Caesar's republican assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius, in control. After a tense standoff, he formed an uneasy alliance with Marcus Antonius and Marcus Lepidus, Caesar's principal colleagues. The three formed a junta called the Second Triumvirate, and launcheda purge of those allied with the assassins.

Antony and Octavian then marched against Brutus and Cassius, who had fled to the east. At Philippi in Macedonia the Caesarian army was victorious and Brutus and Cassius committed suicide (42 BC). Octavian then returned to Rome, while Antony went to Egypt, where he allied himself with Queen Cleopatra, the ex-lover of Julius Caesar and mother of Caesar's infant son Caesarion. The Roman dominions were then divided between Octavian in the west and Antony in the east.

Antony occupied himself with military campaigns in the east and a romantic affair with Cleopatra; Octavian built a network of allies in Rome, consolidated his power, and spread propaganda implying that Antony was becoming less than Roman because of his preoccupation with Egyptian affairs and traditions. The situation grew more and more tense, and finally, in 32 BC, Octavian declared war. It was quickly decided: in the bay of Actium on the western coast of Greece, the fleets met in a great battle in which many ships burned and thousands on both sides lost their lives Octavian defeated his rivals, who then fled to Egypt. He pursued them there, and after another defeat, Cleopatra and Antony committed suicide.

Octavian becomes Augustus
After Actium, Octavian had his work cut out for him; years of civil war had left Rome in a state of near-lawlessness. Moreover, Rome was not prepared to accept the control of a despot. Octavian was clever. First, he disbanded his armies, and held elections. Octavian was chosen for the powerful position of consul, the highest executive office of the Republic. In 27 BC, he officially returned powerto the Senate of Rome, and offered to relinquish his own military supremacy and hegemony over Egypt. Not only did the Senate turn him down, he was also given control of Hispania, Gaul, and Syria ? theprovinces with the greatest number of troops. Shortly thereafter, the Senate gave him the name "Augustus". The title was associated with a religious ring in antiquity and is believed to be derived from auctoritas and the practises of augurs. In the mindset of contemporary religious beliefs, it would have cleverly symbolized a stamp of authority over humanity that went beyond any constitutional definition of his status. Additionally, the harsh methods employed in consolidating his control meant that the change in name would also serve to separate his benign reign as emperor from his reign of terror as Octavian.

These actions were highly abnormal from the Roman Senate, but this was not the same body of patricians that had murdered Caesar. Both Antony and Octavian had purged the Senate of suspect elements andplanted it with their loyal partisans. How free a hand the Senate had in these transactions, and what backroom deals were made, remain unknown.

Augustus knew that the power he needed to rule absolutely could not be derived from his Consulship, however. In 23 BC, he renounced this office in favor of two other powers. First, he was granted thepower of a tribune (tribunicia potestas), which allowed him to convene the Senate at will and lay business before it. Since the tribuneship was an office traditionally associated with the common people, this consolidated his power further. Second, he received new authority in the form of an "Imperial" power (imperium proconsulare maius, or power greater than any governor), which gave him supreme authority in all matters pertaining to territorial governance. 23 BC is the date on which Augustus is usually said to have assumed the mantle of Emperor of Rome. He more typically used a civilian title, however, Princeps, or "First Citizen". After the death of Lepidus in 13 BC he added the title of pontifex maximus.

Reign
Having gained power by means of great audacity, Augustus ruled with great prudence. In exchange for near absolute power, he gave Rome 40 years of civic peace and increasing prosperity, celebrated in history as the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace. He created Rome's first permanent army and navy and stationed the legions along the Empire's borders, where they could not meddle in politics. A special unit,the Praetorian Guard, garrisoned Rome and protected the Emperor's person. He also reformed Rome's finance and tax systems.

Augustus waged no major wars. A war in the mountains of northern Spain from 26 BC to 19 BC finally resulted in that territory's conquest. After Gallic raids, the Alpine territories were conquered. Rome's borders were advanced to the natural frontier of the Danube, and the province of Galatia was occupied. Further west, an attempt to advance into Germany ended in defeat at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. Thereafter he accepted the Rhine as the Empire's permanent border. In the east, he satisfied himself with establishing Roman control over Armenia and the Transcaucasus. He left theParthian Empire alone.

In domestic matters, Augustus channeled the enormous wealth brought in from the Empire to keeping the army happy with generous payments, and keeping the Romans happy by beautifying the capital and staging magnificent games. He famously boasted that he "found Rome brick and left it marble". He built the Senate a new home, the Curia, and built temples to Apollo and to the Divine Julius. He also built a shrine near the Circus Maximus. It is recorded that he built both the Capitoline Temple and the Theater of Pompey without putting his name on them. He founded a ministry of transport, which builtan extensive network of roads - enabling improved communication, trade, and mail. Augustus also founded the world's first fire brigade, and created a regular police force for Rome.

Roman rulers understood little about economics, and Augustus was no exception. Like all the Emperors, he over-taxed agriculture and spent the revenue on armies, temples, and games. Once the Empire stopped expanding, and had no more loot coming in from conquests, its economy began to stagnate and eventually decline. The reign of Augustus is thus seen in some ways as the high point of Rome's power and prosperity. Augustus settled retired soldiers on the land in an effort to revive agriculture, but the capital remained dependent on grain imports from Egypt.

Augustus also strongly supported worship of Roman gods, especially Apollo, and depicted Roman defeat of Egypt as Roman gods defeating Egypt's. He sponsored Vergil's Aeneid in the hopes that it would increase pride in Roman heritage. Augustus also launched a morality crusade, promoting marriage, family, and childbirth while discouraging luxury, "interbreeding", unrestrained sex (including prostitution and homosexuality), and adultery. It was largely unsuccessful (indeed, his own daughter was banished and subsequently perished due to it).

A patron of the arts, Augustus showered favors on poets, artists, sculptors, and architects, and his reign is considered the Golden Age of Roman literature. Horace, Livy, Ovid, and Vergil flourished under his protection, but in return, they had to pay due tribute to his genius and adhere to his standards. (Ovid was banished from Rome for violating Augustus's morality codes.) He eventually won overmost of the Roman intellectual class, although many still pined in private for the Republic. His use of games and special events to celebrate himself and his family cemented his popularity. However,by the time Augustus died, it was impossible to imagine a return to the old system. The only question was who would succeed him as sole ruler.

Succession
Augustus' control of power throughout the Empire was so absolute that it allowed him to name his successor, a custom that had been abandoned and derided in Rome since the foundation of the Republic. At first, indications pointed toward his sister's son Marcellus, who had been married to Augustus' daughter Julia Caesaris. However, Marcellus died of food poisoning in 23 BC. Reports of later historians that this poisoning, and other later deaths, were caused by Augustus' wife Livia Drusilla are inconclusive at best.

After the death of Marcellus, Augustus married his daughter to his right hand man, Marcus Agrippa. This union produced five children, three sons and two daughters: Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, Vipsania Julia, Agrippina the Elder, and Postumus Agrippa, so named because he was born after Marcus Agrippa died. Augustus' intent to make the first two children his heirs was apparent when he adopted themas his own children. Augustus also showed favor to his stepsons, Livia's children from her first marriage, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus and Tiberius Claudius, after they had conquered a large portion of Germany.

After Agrippa died in 12 BC, Livia's son Tiberius divorced his own wife and married Agrippa's widow. Tiberius shared in Augustus' tribune powers, but shortly thereafter went into retirement. After theearly deaths of both Gaius and Lucius in AD 4 and AD 2 respectively, and the earlier death of his brother Drusus (9 BC), Tiberius was recalled to Rome, where he was adopted by Augustus.

On August 19, AD 14, Augustus died. Postumus Agrippa and Tiberius had been named co-heirs. However, Postumus had been banished, and was put to death around the same time. Who ordered his death is unknown, but the way was clear for Tiberius to assume the same powers that his stepfather had.

Augustus's legacy
Augustus was deified soon after his death, and both his borrowed surname, Caesar, and his title, Augustus, became the permanent titles of the rulers of Rome for the next 400 years, and were still in use at Constantinople fourteen centuries after his death, (and the derived titles "Kaiser" and "Tsar" would be used until the early part of the 20th century). The cult of the Divine Augustus continueduntil Constantine the Great converted the State Religion of the Empire to Christianity in the 4th century. Consequently we have many excellent statues and busts of the first, and in some ways the greatest, of the Emperors. Augustus' mausoleum also originally contained bronze pillars inscribed with a record of his life, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti.

Many consider Augustus as Rome's greatest emperor; his policies certainly extended the empire's life span and initiated the celebrated "Pax Romana or Pax Augusta." He was handsome, intelligent, decisive, and a very shrewd politician, but he was not perhaps as charismatic as the earlier Caesar or his rival Antony; as a result, Augustus is not as renowned as either man, and is often confused with Julius Caesar. Nevertheless, his legacy has proved more enduring.

The month of August (Latin Augustus) is named after Augustus; until his time it was called Sextilis.

In looking back on the reign of Augustus and its legacy to the Roman world, its longevity ought not to be overlooked as a key factor in its success. People had been born and reached middle age withoutknowing any form of government other than the Principate. Had Augustus died earlier (in 23 BC, for instance), matters may have turned out very differently. The attrition of the civil wars on the oldRepublican oligarchy and the longevity of Augustus, therefore, must be seen as major contributing factors in the transformation of the Roman state into a monarchy in these years. Augustus's own experience, his patience, his tact, and his great political acumen also played their part. He directed the future of the empire down many lasting paths, from the existence of a standing professional army stationed at or near the frontiers, to the dynastic principle so often employed in the imperial succession, to the embellishment of the capital at the emperor's expense. Augustus's ultimate legacy, however, was the peace and prosperity the empire was to enjoy for the next two centuries under the system he initiated. His memory was enshrined in the political ethos of the Imperial age as a paradigm ofthe good emperor; although every emperor adopted his name, Caesar Augustus, only a handful earned genuine comparison with him (Fagan).

Source: Wikipedia.

Pomponia Caecilia Attica was born in 051 BCE. She died.

Pomponia Caecilia Attica (born around 51 BC) was the daughter of Cicero's friend and knignt Titus Pomponius Atticus. Her mother was a descendant of Marcus Licinius Crassus. Her father's sister marriedQuintus Tullius Cicero.

About 37 BC, she became the first wife of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Their daughter Vipsania Agrippina was born in 36 BC. She was the mother-in-law of Tiberius, Gaius Asinius Gallus and grandmother toDrusus Julius Caesar and his half-brothers.

In 28 BC Agrippa married for a second time to Augustus' niece Claudia Marcella Major in a political alliance. It's unknown whether that Agrippa divorced Attica or she died.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caecilia_Attica."

Vipsania Agrippina was born in 036 BCE. She died in 020, at age ~56.

Vipsania Marcella Agrippina was born in 027 BCE. She died.

Claudia Marcella Major was born in 044 BCE. She died.

Julia Vipsania Agrippina Major was born in 014 BCE. She died in 033, at age ~47.

Julia Vipsania Agrippina Major was born in Abt 14 BC. Julia Vipsania Agrippina (circa 14 BC? AD 33), known as Agrippina Major (Agrippina "the Elder"), was one of the most powerful women in the Roman Empire in the early 1st century AD. She was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa by his third wife Julia Caesaris, was grand-daughter of Augustus, wife of Germanicus, and the mother of Agrippina Minor and Caligula.

The place and date of her birth are unknown but by about 5 AD she had married Germanicus, the step-grandson of the Emperor Augustus. The well-regarded Germanicus was a candidate for the succession andhad won fame campaigning in Germania and Gaul, where he was accompanied by Agrippina. This was most unusual for Roman wives, as convention required them to stay at home, and earned her a reputation as a model for heroic womanhood. She bore him two daughters in Gaul, a boy and Agrippina Minor in the Rhine frontier.

Agrippina and Germanicus travelled to the Near East in AD 19, incurring the displeasure of the emperor Tiberius. He quarrelled with Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, the governor of Syria, and died in Antioch in mysterious circumstances. It was widely suspected that Germanicus had been poisoned ? perhaps on the orders of Tiberius himself ? and Agrippina returned to Rome to avenge his death. She boldly accused Piso of the murder of Germanicus. To avoid public infamy, Piso committed suicide.

From 19 to 29, Agrippina remained in Rome, becoming increasingly involved with a group of senators who opposed the growing power of Tiberius' favourite Sejanus. Her relations with the emperor became increasingly fraught as she made it clear that she believed that he was responsible for the death of Germanicus. Tiberius also evidently feared that she might seek to secure the throne for her own children. In 26, the emperor rejected her request that she be allowed to marry again.

Agrippina and her sons Drusus and Nero Caesar were arrested in 29 on the orders of Tiberius. They were tried by the Senate and Agrippina was banished to the island of Pandataria (now called Ventotene)in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Campania, where she died on October 18, 33 in suspicious circumstances. The official story was that she had starved herself to death, but it seems equally likely that she was starved on the orders of the emperor. After her death, Tiberius convinced the senate to revoke all her former privileges and declared her birthday to be a day of ill-omen.

Agrippina had nine children by Germanicus, several of whom died young. Drusus died of starvation after being imprisoned in Rome and Nero Caesar either committed suicide or was murdered after his trialin 29. Only two of her children are of historical importance: Agrippina Minor, also known as Agrippina the Younger, and Gaius Caesar, who succeeded Tiberius under the name of Caligula. Despite Tiberius' enmity towards Caligula's elder brothers, he nonetheless made Caligula and his cousin Tiberius Gemellus joint heirs to his property.

Agrippina was regarded by contemporaries as being a woman of the highest character and exemplary Roman morals. There is a portrait of her in the Capitoline Museums at Rome and a bronze medal in the British Museum showing her ashes being brought back to Rome by order of Caligula.

Source: Wikipedia.