Octavian's Journey to Become Augustus

Caesar soon became enemies against Pompey, Antony tried to defend Caesar and was kicked out of the senate. Antony soon fled with Caesar to get ready for battle. 	Antony commanded a wing of Caesar’s Legions at the battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC where Pompey was defeated. Following the battle in 44 BC, Antony became co-consul with Caesar. When Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 BC, Antony immediately took all of Caesar’s possessions including papers, residences, and other assets.

But he was now Julius Caesar's son. As Rome once again fell into devastation, they needed someone who could pull Rome back together and take control. This led to the second triumvirate. The three men who were running in this were Lepidus, Octavian, and Marc Anthony. After Lepidus retired from running for dictator, it left only Octavian and Marc Anthony.

It is known that Caesar was educated by a man named Marcus Antonius Gnipho. In his late adolescence, he took up a political position during the Roman Civil Wars. He quickly learned to associate himself with the most powerful people of Rome; he would only marry Cornelia, “the daughter of the most powerful Roman of the era, the consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna”. Shortly after that, Lucius was killed by Sulla, the future “dictator” of Rome. Sulla demanded that Caesar divorce Cornelia; he refused, so Sulla stripped him of his priesthood of Jupiter and extracted his dowry from his marriage to Cornelia.

However no evidence exists that he ever used the name Octavianus. When Julius Caesar was assassinated in March 44 BC, Octavius was with the army at Apollonian, in what is now Albania. At the time, he was only eighteen years old, and his power was always underestimated by his rivals. He gathered support by emphasizing his status as heir to Caesar and took the name Gaius Julius Caesar. In Rome, after Julius Caesars death Gaius meets with Antony in Horti Pompeii, Gaius attempted to collect his legacy from Antony, who stole Caesar's papers and fortune.

Carthaginian losses were about 6700 men. After the Battle of Cannae, the character of the war underwent a change. Hannibal needed reinforcements, which the Carthaginian government refused to give, and he also lacked weapons. He marched on Naples, but failed to take the city. The gates of Capua, one of the Italian cities that had fallen to Hannibal in consequence of his victory at Cannae, were opened to him.

Given Caesar’s family connections to Marius and his recent marriage to the daughter of Cinna (one of Marius’s allies), Sulla’s appointed dictatorship was a potential threat to the 18-year-old. In order to symbolically prove Caesar’s loyalty to the optimates, Sulla ordered him to divorce Cornelia. When Caesar refused and thus decisively identified with the popularis, Sulla pardoned him and supposedly predicted, “In this young man, there is more than one Marius.” Between the years 81 and 74 BC, Caesar avoided politics and instead served as a diplomat in Asia Minor and practiced criminal law in Italy after Sulla’s death in 78. The true birth of his political career would not come until 74 BC when Mithridates of Pontus attacked Asia Minor. Under his own initiative and expense... ... middle of paper ... ...nd, in a historic act of rebellion, crossed the Rubicon river into Rome, officially waging war against the City’s leaders.

The two later became estranged, due to their difference of opinion on the status of foreginers; Aristotle saw them as barbarians, while Alexander sought to merge Macedonians and foreigners. Tale of Bucephalus: At 14 Alexander surprised all including his father by mounting an untamable horse named Bucephalus. Alexander would later name a city after the site where his horse died in battle. 340 BC: Philip II traveled to Byzantium to battle rebels, leaving 16yr old Alexander in charge as Prince Regent. While away, the Maedi, a north Macedonia tribe, revolted.

Caesar's marriage in 84 BC to Cornelia, the daughter of Marius's associate was a political Match (Lindsay Salo). When Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Marius's enemy and leader of the Optimates, was made dictator in 82 BC, he issued a list of enemies to be executed. Caesar was not harmed but he was ordered by Sulla to divorce Cornelia. Caesar refused that order and left Rome to join the army (Lindsay Salo) (Comptons Encyclopedia). This was the beginning of an astonishing military career.

Caesar had started as a consul and had formed the first triumvirate with Crassus and Pompey. They had taken over the Roman civilization and had controlled for a while. When Crassus was killed and agreement was made. Pompey and Caesar were supposed to give up their military and enter the city of Rome to find a real ruler. Pompey was in on the deal and he was supposed to take over.

By 48 BC, he was in Greece as Caesar's second in command. In 44 BC, Caesar became consul for the final time with Antony as his co-consul. Mark Antony wasn't in Greece when he heard the rumor of the planned assassination of Julius Caesar. He traveled to Greece as fast as he could, but never did make it back in time to warn his friend. After Caesar's death, Octavian, Caesar's adopted son and Antony's main rival, took over the empire at age seventeen.