| Octavia Minor | |
|---|---|
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| Born | c. 69 BC Nola,Italy,Roman Republic |
| Died | 11 BC (aged c. 58) Rome,Italy,Roman Empire |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| Dynasty | Julio-Claudian |
| Father | Gaius Octavius |
| Mother | Atia |
Octavia the Younger (Latin:Octavia Minor ;c. 69 BC – 11 BC) was the elder sister of the firstRoman emperor,Augustus (known also as Octavian), the half-sister ofOctavia the Elder, and the fourth wife ofMark Antony. She was also the great-grandmother of the EmperorCaligula and EmpressAgrippina the Younger, maternal grandmother of the EmperorClaudius, and paternal great-grandmother and maternal great-great-grandmother of the EmperorNero.
One of the most prominent women in Roman history, Octavia was respected and admired by contemporaries for her loyalty, nobility and humanity, as well as for maintaining traditional Roman feminine virtues.
Octavia was born around 69 BC.[1] Full sister toAugustus, Octavia was the only daughter born ofGaius Octavius' second marriage toAtia, niece ofJulius Caesar.[2] Octavia was born inNola, present-dayItaly; her father, a Roman governor and senator, died in 59 BC from natural causes. Her mother later remarried, to the consulLucius Marcius Philippus. Octavia spent much of her childhood travelling with her parents. Marcius was in charge of educating Octavia and her brother Octavian, later known as Augustus.[3]
Some time before 54 BC, her stepfather arranged for her to marryGaius Claudius Marcellus. He was a member of the influential plebeian branch of theClaudian family and descended fromMarcus Claudius Marcellus, a famous general in theSecond Punic War. In 54 BC, Octavia's great-uncle Julius Caesar is said to have been anxious for her to divorce her husband so that she could marryPompey, who had just lost his wifeJulia (Caesar's daughter, and thus Octavia's cousin once removed). The couple did not want to get a divorce, so instead[3] Pompey declined the proposal[4] and marriedCornelia Metella. Thus, Octavia's husband continued to oppose Julius Caesar, including in the crucial year of his consulship, 50 BC. Civil war broke out when Caesar invaded Italy from Gaul in 49 BC.[3]
Marcellus, a friend ofCicero, was an initial opponent of Julius Caesar when Caesar invaded Italy, but did not take up arms against his wife's great uncle at theBattle of Pharsalus, and was eventually pardoned by him. In 47 BC he was able to intercede with Caesar for his cousin and namesake, also a former consul, then living in exile. Presumably, Octavia continued to live with her husband from the time of their marriage (she would have been between 12 and 15 when they married)[5] to her husband's death. They had three surviving children:Claudia Marcella Major,Claudia Marcella Minor andMarcus Claudius Marcellus.[6] All three were born in Italy. However, according to the anonymousΠερὶ τοῦ καισαρείου γένους Octavia bore Marcellus four sons and four daughters.[7][8] Her husband Marcellus died in May 40 BC.
By aSenatorial decree, Octavia marriedMark Antony in October 40 BC, as his fourth wife (his third wifeFulvia having died shortly before). This marriage had to be approved by the Senate, as she was pregnant with her first husband's child, and was a politically motivated attempt to cement the uneasy alliance between her brother Octavian andMark Antony; however, Octavia does appear to have been a loyal and faithful wife to Antony.[9] Between 40 and 36 BC, she travelled with Antony to various provinces and lived with him in hisAthenian mansion.[10] There she raised her children by Marcellus as well as Antony's two sons;Antyllus andIullus, as well as the two daughters of her marriage to Antony,Antonia Major andAntonia Minor who were born there. During this period, she became the first (or second) Roman woman to have coins minted bearing her image; only Antony's previous wife Fulvia may have pre-empted her.[11][12]
The alliance was severely tested by Antony's abandonment of Octavia and their children in favor of his former lover QueenCleopatra VII of Egypt (Antony and Cleopatra had met in 41 BC, an interaction that resulted in Cleopatra bearing twins,Alexander Helios, a boy, andCleopatra Selene, a girl). After 36 BC, Octavia returned to Rome with the daughters of her second marriage. On several occasions she acted as a political advisor and negotiator between her husband and brother.[13] For example, in the spring of 37 BC, while pregnant with her daughter Antonia Minor, she was considered essential to an arms deal held at Tarentum, in which Antony and Augustus agreed to aid each other in their Parthian and Sicilian campaigns. She had won over her brother's advisers Agrippa and Maecenas and convinced him to renew their alliance.[14] She was hailed as a "marvel of womankind".[15] In 35 BC, after Antony suffered a disastrous campaign in Parthia, she brought fresh troops, provisions, and funds to Athens. There Antony had left a letter for her, instructing her to go no further.[16] Mark Antony divorced Octavia in late 33 BC.[17] In 33, Antony sent men to eject her from his house in Rome. She became sole caretaker of their children,[18] except for Antyllus who was already with his father in the East. After Antony's suicide in 30 BC, her brother executed Antyllus but allowed Octavia to raise Antony's younger son Iullus by Fulvia as well as his children by Cleopatra (the two sonsAlexander Helios andPtolemy Philadelphus, and one daughter,Cleopatra Selene II).
In 35 BC, Augustus accorded a number of honours and privileges to Octavia, and also to his wife,Livia – previously unheard of for women in Rome. They were grantedsacrosanctitas, meaning it was illegal to verbally insult them. Previously, this had only been granted to tribunes. Livia and Octavia were made immune fromtutela, the male guardianship which all women in Rome except for theVestal Virgins were required to have. This meant they could freely manage their own finances. Finally, they were the first women in Rome to have statues and portraits displayed en masse in public places. Previously, only one woman, Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, had been part of the public statues displayed in Rome. In Augustus' rebuilding of Rome as a city of marble, Octavia was featured. In all her representations, she wore the "nodus" hairstyle, which at the time was considered conservative and dignified, and worn by women from many classes.[19]
Augustus adored, but never adopted, her sonMarcellus. When Marcellus died of illness in 23 BC unexpectedly, Augustus was thunderstruck and Octavia disconsolate almost beyond recovery.
Aelius Donatus, in his Life of Vergil, states thatVirgil
recited three whole books [of hisAeneid] for Augustus: the second, fourth, and sixth—this last out of his well-known affection for Octavia, who (being present at the recitation) is said to have fainted at the lines about her son, "... You shall be Marcellus" [Aen. 6.884]. Revived only with difficulty, she sent Virgil ten thousandsesterces for each of the verses."[20]
She may have never fully recovered from the death of her son, and retired from public life,[21] except on important occasions. The major source that Octavia never recovered isSeneca (De Consolatione ad Marciam, II.) but Seneca may wish to show off his rhetorical skill with hyperbole, rather than adhere to fact.[citation needed] Some[who?] dispute Seneca's version, as Octavia publicly opened the Library of Marcellus, dedicated in his memory, while her brother completed the building ofMarcellus's theatre in his honor. Undoubtedly[citation needed] Octavia attended both ceremonies, as well as the Ara Pacis ceremony to welcome her brother's return in 13BC from the provinces. She was also consulted in regard to, and in some versions advised, that Augustus's daughterJulia marryAgrippa after her mourning for Marcellus ended. Agrippa had to divorce Octavia's daughterClaudia Marcella Major in order to marry Julia, so Augustus wanted Octavia's endorsement very much.
Octavia died of natural causes. Suetonius says she died in Augustus' 54th year, thus 11 BC with Roman inclusive counting.[22] Her funeral was a public one, with her sons-in-law (Drusus, Ahenobarbus, Iullus Antonius, and possibly Paullus Aemillius Lepidus) carrying her to the grave in the Mausoleum of Augustus. Drusus delivered one funeral oration from the rostra and Augustus gave her the highest posthumous honors (building the Gate of Octavia andPorticus Octaviae in her memory).[23] Augustus also had the Roman senate declare his sister to be a goddess.[24] Augustus declined some other honors decreed to her by the senate, for reasons unknown.[23]
Octavia and her first husband had one son and two daughters who survived to adulthood.
Octavia and Mark Antony had two surviving daughters by their marriage (her second, his fourth), and both were the ancestors of laterRoman emperors.
ThreeRomanemperors,Caligula,Claudius andNero, were amongst the most famous of her descendants.
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus) (37 AD – 68 AD)Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula) (12 AD – 41 AD)TiberiusClaudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (10 BC – 54 AD)A famous anecdote, recorded in the late fourth-centuryvita ofVirgil byAelius Donatus, in which the poet read the passage in Book VI in praise of Octavia's late son Marcellus and Octavia fainted with grief, has inspired several works of art. The most famous example isJean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's 1812 paintingVirgil reading The Aeneid before Augustus, Livia and Octavia but other artists, includingJean-Joseph Taillasson,Antonio Zucchi,Jean-Baptiste Wicar,Jean-Bruno Gassies andAngelica Kaufmann, have also been inspired to depict this scene.
InRojas Zorilla's 17th century Spanish play,Cleopatra's Asps (Los Aspides de Cleopatra in Spanish), wherein she is given the name Irene, Octavia is depicted as the slighted and vengeful wife of Marc Antony. InWilliam Shakespeare's play,Antony and Cleopatra, Octavia is described as a homely and frumpish woman.
Octavia's later life, around the time of the death of Marcellus, is depicted in the 1976 television adaptation ofRobert Graves's novelI, Claudius. The role was played by Angela Morant, and should not be confused with her great-granddaughterClaudia Octavia (also referred to as "Octavia" in the series),Claudius's daughter and wife of the future emperorNero, who was played by Cheryl Johnson.
In the1963 filmCleopatra, she is played byJean Marsh in an uncredited role.[30]
A highly fictionalized version of Octavia's early life is depicted in the 2005 television seriesRome, in which Octavia of the Julii (Kerry Condon) seduces and sleeps with her younger brother,Gaius Octavian, has a lesbian affair withServilia of the Junii (the series' version ofServilia) and a romantic relationship withMarcus Agrippa (based on the historicalMarcus Vipsanius Agrippa), none of which has any historical basis.
In the TV seriesDomina (2021), Octavia was played by Alexandra Moloney andClaire Forlani.[31]
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