-So now what? Everything was up in the air, and all eyes were on Octavian.
-First, he went and deleted Marc Antony's name from all records, histories, texts, statues, monuments, etc.
-Second, he declared that no one from the Antonia family (or "gens") could be named "Marcus" again (haha)!
-Also, many anti-Octavian allies and conspirators were either executed or exiled. However, some former enemies were shown mercy or incorporated into Octavian's administration, so it wasn't all just a brutal purge.
-29 BC- Octavian (and Gaius Maecenas, one of his closest political advisors) commissioned a bunch of poets to begin writing epic poems and shit glorifying Octavian and Rome, the ultimate work from this being Virgil's "The Aeneid", finally published c. 19 BC.
-"The Aeneid" attempted to link the Julii clan with the famed Aeneas (hero of the Trojan War) and how Octavian's rise to power was planned by the gods.
-When Octavian threw the inevitable triumph(s) upon his return to Rome, because Marc Antony's name had been erased from everything, only Cleopatra was referenced; this made it seem like it was only a war against a demonic foreign queen upstart.
-Octavian also forced Cleopatra and Antony's kids to join the parade in chains- absent was Caesarian, who had been executed back in Alexandria.
-After this, the children were raised by Octavia (the Younger, Octavian's sister), who later married off Cleopatra Selene to King Juba II of Numidia.
-Also seen at the triumphs were Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Octavian's nephew, son of Octavia) and Tiberius Claudius Nero (Octavian's stepson from Livia's first marriage and the future Emperor Tiberius).
-Octavian had begun to groom Marcellus to replace him as ruler. Of course, Tiberius was a back-up plan, but Livia pushed heavily for him to be the first choice. Unfortunately for her, Octavian DGAF and Marcellus remained his first choice.
-28 BC- Now both Octavian and Agrippa were consuls.
-One of the first things they did was annul all the laws made under the Second Triumvirate.
-Meanwhile, 60 legions were still mobilized...what to do with them all?
-Octavian decided to keep 28 legions on, and the rest were FINALLY able to retire.
-These 28 were posted mainly in Gaul, Hispania, and Syria.
-Octavian was able to finally pay for the legions to retire because he now had Egypt formally annexed as an official part of the Roman Empire, which meant lots of money coming in :D
-Octavian and Agrippa then reduced the size of the Senate from 1000 to 800 and brought in rich supporters from across the empire, although this kind of backfired and Octavian ended up allowing anyone who wanted to stay in the Senate to do so.
-During this time, two great temples were also built- the Temple of Apollo (that Octavian had vowed he would build if he were to defeat Sextus Pompey), where Octavian ordered the Sibylline Books (sacred texts that dated back to the time of the Roman kings!) transferred from the Temple of Jupiter in order to give it more legitimacy, and the Pantheon, a great temple dedicated to all the gods (commissioned by Agrippa).
-However, the Pantheon built at this time was destroyed in a fire in 80 AD, and so the Pantheon we know today is actually a remodel/remake commissioned by Emperor Hadrian around 126 AD. This remake included the dome, which was not included with the original Pantheon.
-27 BC- Octavian says he's going to step down and retire, but the Senate begs for him to stay. Why? Because Octavian at this point had stacked the Senate in his favor and he knew that they would continue to benefit from his rule. So, Octavian "realizes" that they want him to stay, so he appoints himself as proconsul of Hispania, Gaul, Cilicia, Syria, Cyprus, and Egypt.
-He wanted the provinces that had all the military stationed there, so after this 20 out of the 28 legions were now directly under his control.
-Also, because he was no longer a triumvirate butstill obviously a special and powerful dude, he was awarded a new title by the Senate for which he most well-known as today- "Augustus" ("Revered One"). However, Octavian (or Augustus, as we'll now refer to him as!) insisted that he be referred to simply as "Princeps" ("First Citizen"), which was much more humble.
-After establishing the terms with the Senate, he left Rome to go tour the empire, but also to give the Senate a breather and a (false) sense of independence.
-Augustus first went to Gaul, where he was able to calm down the local barbarian tribes that had been pissed off at the way Rome had been administering the region (which was bordering on anarchy and chaos).
-Then he traveled to Hispania, which was in a similar situation. However, the barbarian hordes there never really accepted Roman rule, so Augustus decided to put an end to any rebellious attitudes once and for all.
-It took him a few years of fighting guerrilla barbarian armies, but he finally got them to submit.
-During this time, Augustus also was frequently sick, so he often thought of his own death and succession- he still planned on Marcellus to succeed him, and he wanted to solidify Marcellus' legitimacy by having him marry Julia (the Elder, Augustus' own daughter, gross!).
-In order to kick off Marcellus' political career Augustus ordered a bunch of epic games to be held in Marcellus' name so that the people would like him.
-24 BC- Augustus returned to Rome, but immediately had a falling out with Maecenas.
-There had been an alleged plot to assassinate Augustus that may or may not have involved Maecenas' brother-in-law (on his sister's side), Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena.
-Because Maecenas didn't immediately go to Augustus first when he (Maecenas) learned of this plot and instead had talked to his wife about what was going on with her brother, Augustus was really pissed off.
-23 BC- just as Marcellus was about to take office (as an aedile) and kick off his political career for real, Augustus got super sick (probably typhoid fever).
-However, Augustus miraculously survived! Being sick had given him a lot of perspective, too (since it was expected that he was going to die), so he decided to step down as proconsul.
-He then appointed himself a special version of tribune as well as a "consul-at-large" or something, which granted him the power of having final say over everything.
-This helped give the illusion of control more to the Senate. He also held back more in meddling in a lot of the minor internal affairs, as well as avoiding public displays of power.
-Agrippa was also really popular with the Senate, especially more than Augustus.
-During this time, Agrippa relocated his home and office to the Greek island of Samos, off the coast of Asia Minor.
-Why he did this is kind of a mystery...
-Some have theorized that he was exiled by Augustus for getting too powerful, while others have proposed that he was sent by Augustus to look after the East.
-Anyway, by the end of 23 BC, Marcellus suddenly became sick and died!
-Octavia went into mourning for the rest of her life.
-Augustus needed a new heir, and quickly!
-Maybe Agrippa?
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