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Section IV (Historical Periods): The Augustan Age 44 BC to AD 14
Quick questions on Octavian after the Ides of March: HSC Ancient History
15short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is the Ides of March (15 March 44 BC)?Show answer
Julius Caesar, dictator perpetuo, was assassinated in the Curia of Pompey by a group of senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The conspirators (the "Liberators") believed they were restoring the Republic.
What is caesar's will?Show answer
Caesar's will, read publicly in Rome shortly after his death, contained two crucial provisions.
What is octavian's arrival in Italy (April 44 BC)?Show answer
Octavian landed at Brundisium in April 44 BC and travelled to Rome. He was 18 years old. The political situation was fluid: Antony held the consulship (along with Dolabella) and effective control of Rome; the conspirators had fled to the East to raise armies; Caesar's veterans were unsettled.
What is cicero and the senatorial strategy?Show answer
Cicero, in retirement, came forward to defend the Republic against Antony. His Philippic orations (delivered September 44 BC to April 43 BC) attacked Antony as a would-be tyrant.
What is the Battle of Mutina (April 43 BC)?Show answer
Antony had marched north to take command of Cisalpine Gaul, then governed by Decimus Brutus (one of the assassins). Antony besieged Decimus at Mutina (modern Modena).
What is the march on Rome and the consulship (August 43 BC)?Show answer
Octavian demanded the consulship for himself. The senate refused, citing his youth (still 19) and the legal minimum age (43 BC). Octavian marched on Rome with his legions.
What is the formation of the Second Triumvirate (November 43 BC)?Show answer
With Antony having joined Lepidus in Gaul, the political situation required either war or alliance. Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus met at a small island near Bononia (Bologna) in late October 43 BC.
What is the Proscriptions?Show answer
The Triumvirate immediately proscribed political enemies. Around 300 senators and 2,000 equestrians were named for execution. Their property was confiscated to fund the legions.
What is historiography?Show answer
Adrian Goldsworthy (Augustus: First Emperor of Rome, 2014) treats the period as Octavian's formative political education.
What is adoption of Octavian?Show answer
Caesar's great-nephew Gaius Octavius (born 63 BC, then 18) was adopted as his son and heir. The adoption made Octavian Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. He received Caesar's name, his estate, and the right to claim the loyalty of Caesar's veterans.
What is bequests to the Roman people?Show answer
300 sestertii to every Roman citizen. This generosity boosted Caesar's posthumous popularity and complicated the position of the assassins.
What is treating Octavian as automatically Caesar's heir?Show answer
The adoption was contested. Antony initially refused to recognise it.
What is forgetting Cicero?Show answer
His Philippics shaped the political opportunity. His death by proscription is the moral pivot.
What is skipping Mutina?Show answer
The battle is central to Octavian's military emergence.
What is confusing the First and Second Triumvirates?Show answer
The First Triumvirate (60 BC) was informal: Caesar, Pompey, Crassus. The Second (43 BC) was legal: Octavian, Antony, Lepidus.