Quick questions on Succession and the death of Augustus: HSC Ancient History

Augustus had no biological son. His only biological child was Julia (born 39 BC, by his first wife Scribonia). The principate had no formal hereditary basis: the title "princeps" was personal, not hereditary, and Augustus's accumulated constitutional powers (tribunicia potestas, maius imperium proconsulare, the auctoritas) were granted to him individually by the senate.

Marcus Claudius Marcellus, son of Augustus's sister Octavia. Married Julia in 25 BC. Held the aedileship in 23 BC. Augustus appeared to prepare him for the succession.

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Augustus's closest associate from his earliest days. Admiral at Actium (31 BC), architect of the Pantheon (25 BC), and builder of much of Augustan Rome. Married to Julia after Marcellus's death (in 21 BC).

Augustus adopted his two eldest grandsons (sons of Agrippa and Julia) as his own sons in 17 BC. The adoption made them Gaius Julius Caesar and Lucius Julius Caesar, principes iuventutis ("leaders of the youth").

Tiberius Claudius Nero, Augustus's stepson, son of Livia by her first husband (Tiberius Claudius Nero the Elder). A successful general in Germany and the Balkans. Married Julia after Agrippa's death (an unhappy match). The marriage produced one child, a son who died in infancy.

The youngest son of Agrippa and Julia, born after his father's death in 12 BC. Adopted by Augustus alongside Tiberius in AD 4. The two adoptions, taken together, were a hedge: Tiberius as adult heir, Agrippa Postumus as eventual successor or backup.

Livia Drusilla (later Julia Augusta) was Augustus's second wife from 38 BC. Her two sons by her first husband (Tiberius and Drusus the Elder) became important figures.

Augustus died at Nola in Campania on 19 August AD 14, aged 75. He had been ill for some time. His last words, according to Suetonius (Divus Augustus 99), were a request to those at his deathbed to "applaud, since I have played my part well in the comedy of life" (a quotation from Greek theatre).

Augustus was declared divus (a god) by the senate. Livia (now Julia Augusta) and her grandson Drusus the Younger oversaw the funeral. The Mausoleum of Augustus received his ashes. The Res Gestae was inscribed at the entrance.

Adrian Goldsworthy (Augustus, 2014) treats the succession as the unresolved problem of the reign: Augustus tried multiple candidates and settled on Tiberius only by default.

Tacitus is rhetorical. Barrett's rehabilitation is now the more careful view.

He was a serious co-ruler in the late 20s and 10s BC.

It is the first political act of Tiberius's reign and routinely tested.

Drusus the Elder (Tiberius's brother, died 9 BC in Germany). Drusus the Younger (Tiberius's son).