Gaius Octavian (Rome Character) - Comparison To The Historical Octavian

Comparison To The Historical Octavian

The future Augustus was born Gaius Octavius in 63 BC, son of the elder Gaius Octavius, a Senator of obscure provincial origins, and Atia, niece of Julius Caesar. In 44 BC he learned that Caesar had named him in his will as his adopted son and heir, at which point he took the name Gaius Julius Caesar. He would have been expected to add the surname Octavianus to indicate his family of origin, although there is no evidence he himself ever used this name; but from this he is conventionally known as "Octavian" in English. In fact, the historical Caesar Augustus avoided the use of the name "Octavian" as it pointed to him having been born a plebian rather than a Patrician, and it is for this reason that Cicero amused himself by continually addressing him as such.

Little is recorded of his childhood, so his trip to Gaul in "The Stolen Eagle" is entirely fictional. His appointment to the College of Pontiffs at the age of 15, however, is accurate. Suetonius reports that he was accused by Mark Antony of having a homosexual relationship with Caesar (dramatised in the series as a misunderstanding following Caesar's epileptic seizure), but dismisses the accusation as political slander.

In 47 BC, on his return from Egypt, Caesar asked the now 16-year-old Octavian to join his staff for his campaign against Cato and Scipio in Africa, but his mother refused to let him go. Even so, Caesar presented him with military honours after his victory at the Battle of Thapsus, and allowed him take part in his Triumph.

The following year he obtained Atia's permission for Octavian to join him in Spain for his campaign against Pompey's sons, but Octavian fell ill and was unable to travel. He eventually set out for the field, but was shipwrecked. Washed up on a beach with a handful of soldiers, Octavian managed to make it through enemy territory to Caesar's camp. After Caesar's victory in the Battle of Munda, Octavian travelled back to Rome in Caesar's carriage.

It was after this campaign that Caesar secretly changed his will, naming Octavian as his heir. He officially enrolled the boy as a Patrician, and sent him to Macedonia to study rhetoric under Apollodorus of Pergamon. When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Octavian was in Apollonia, Illyria, studying and undergoing military training. Rejecting the advice of some army officers to take refuge with the troops in Macedonia, he sailed to Italia. After landing at Lupiae near Brundisium, he learned of the contents of Caesar's will. In the series, Octavian is in Rome when Caesar is killed, and convinces his mother and Mark Antony not to flee the city; they hear the contents of Caesar's will soon after.

In 'Rome', Octavian becomes known as Gaius Octavian Caesar after Caesar's death. The real Octavian became known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (except by Cicero, who continued to address him as Octavian in order to amuse himself and dent Octavian's ego).

In Philippi Octavian does not object to Mark Antony's desire to proscribe and kill Cicero whereas historical sources indicate that Octavian only very reluctantly went along with Antony's wishes after two days of arguments and objections.

In A Necessary Fiction, Octavian meets and plans to marry his first wife, Livia; historically, Octavian had already been married to and divorced Clodia Pulchra (daughter of Fulvia, wife of Mark Antony before Octavia) by this time. Furthermore, when Octavian met future wife Livia he was married to Scribonia, whom he divorced the same day she gave birth to his only child, Julia the Elder. Rome ignores these former relationships, but does acknowledge the existence of Livia's child, Tiberius Nero, by her first husband Tiberius Claudius Nero. Historically, Livia was pregnant with her second child Nero Claudius Drusus when she met Octavian, whom she married mere days after giving birth to her son.

The personality of Octavian as presented in the show is different from that presented in the sources. Rome presents Octavian as an emotionless and openly calculating member of the elite, while Suetonius presents him as more of a home-spun populist and a lover of other men's wives (including the wife of Maecenas, which led to their falling out). It is possible that both these portrayals are true to some extent, reflecting different facets of his persona. The eminent classicist Ronald Syme, whose work The Roman Revolution has been highly influential in the English-speaking world, famously called Octavian a 'chill terrorist'. But the position he put himself in, as Augustus, rebuilding Rome from deep division and near-catastrophe to peace and stability, necessitated the subtle and complex portrayal of a wide range of facets of personality, real and simulated. In the words of Julius Caesar's biographer, Christian Meier, Octavian "had to be an actor, and he knew this". Suetonius reports that on his deathbed, Augustus summoned his friends and asked them, "Did you like the performance?", referring to the play-acting and regal authority that he had put on as emperor. They assured him that they had and he replied, "Since I've played my part well, all clap your hands, and from the stage dismiss me with applause."