The gens Octavia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which was raised to patrician status by Caesar during the first century BC. The first member of the gens to achieve prominence was Gnaeus Octavius Rufus, quaestor about 230 BC. Over the following two centuries, the Octavii held many of the highest offices of the state; but the most celebrated of the family was Gaius Octavius, the grandnephew and adopted son of Caesar, who was proclaimed Augustus by the senate in 27 BC.[1]
There are many indications that the Octavian family was in days of old a distinguished one at Velitrae; for not only was a street in the most frequented part of town long ago called Octavian, but an altar was shown there besides, consecrated by an Octavius. This man was leader in a war with a neighbouring town, and when news of a sudden onset of the enemy was brought to him just as he chanced to be sacrificing to Mars, he snatched the entrails of the victim from the fire and offered them up half raw; and thus he went forth to battle, and returned victorious. There was, besides, a decree of the people on record, providing that for the future too the entrails should be offered to Mars in the same way, and the rest of the victims be handed over to the Octavii.[2]
Towards the end of the Republic, it became fashionable for noble families to trace their origin to the gods and heroes of olden time, and accordingly in Suetonius we also read that the Octavii received the franchise from Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth King of Rome, and were enrolled among the patricians by his successor, Servius Tullius. They afterwards passed over to the plebeians, until the patrician rank was again conferred upon them by Caesar.[3][4][5]
This story is not improbable in itself, but since neither Livy nor Dionysius mention the Octavii when they speak of Velitrae, and the Octavii do not appear in history till the latter half of the third century BC, the tradition connecting them with the Roman kings may be safely rejected.[1] Augustus, in his memoirs, mentioned that his father was a novus homo with no senatorial background.[3]
Most of the Octavii of the Republic were descended from Gnaeus Octavius Rufus, who had two sons, Gnaeus and Gaius. The descendants of the younger Gnaeus held many of the higher magistracies, but the descendants of Gaius remained simple equites, who did not rise to any importance. The great-grandfather of Augustus served as a military tribune during the Second Punic War, and survived the Battle of Cannae; however, when Marcus Antonius wished to throw contempt upon Augustus, he called this Gaius Octavius a freedman and a restio, or rope-maker. The first of this family who was enrolled among the senators was Gaius Octavius, the father of Augustus.[1][3] It is quite uncertain whether the ancestors of Augustus had anything to do with rope-making. During the Republic, none of the Octavii of this stirps bore any cognomen other than Rufus, and even this is rarely mentioned. The surname, which means "red," may have been obtained by one of the Octavii because he had red hair.[7][8]
A few other persons named Octavius were not descended from Gnaeus Octavius Rufus, or whose descent cannot be traced. They bore cognomina such as Balbus, Ligur, Marsus, and Naso.[1]Balbus was a common surname, referring to one who stammers, while Naso is thought to refer to someone with a prominent nose.[9]Ligur refers to one of the Ligures, the aboriginal people of Liguria, while Marsus refers to one of the Marsi, an ancient people of central Italy, who later allied with the Samnites.[10][11]
Members
This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.
Gnaeus Octavius Cn. f. Cn. n., commanded the Roman fleet during the war against Perseus, over whom he triumphed. He was consul in 165 BC, and erected the Porticus Octavia. He was assassinated at Laodiceia while on an embassy in 162.
Gnaeus Octavius Cn. f. Cn. n., consul in 128 BC; according to Cicero, he was accustomed to speaking in the courts of justice.[13]
Gaius Octavius C. f. C. n., the grandfather of Augustus, possessed considerable property, and lived quietly in his villa at Velitrae. He probably augmented his income by money-lending, for both Mark Antony and Cassius Parmensis called Augustus the grandson of a money-lender.[14]
Marcus Octavius Cn. f. Cn. n., tribune of the plebs in an uncertain year, brought forward a law raising the price at which corn was sold to the people.[15]
Gaius Octavius C. f. C. n., the father of Augustus, was praetor in 61 BC. Subsequently proconsul of Macedonia, he defeated several Thracian tribes, and was saluted imperator by his troops. He died suddenly in 59.
Marcus Octavius Ligur, father-in-law of Publius Luicus Gamala.[25]
Marcus Octavius Ligur, a senator, and tribune of the plebs with his brother, Lucius, in 82 BC. Verres compelled him to come to Rome in 74 in order to defend his rights respecting an estate that he had inherited in Sicily, and then charged him the costs of the trial.[26][27]
Lucius Octavius Ligur, tribune of the plebs with his brother, Marcus, in 82 BC, he defended his brother's interests in Sicily from Verres during Marcus' absence. Perhaps the same person mentioned in one of Cicero's letters to Atticus.[28]
Publius Octavius Balbus, juror in the trial of Oppianicus, possibly identical with Lucius Balbus.[31]
Gaius Octavius Balbus, was proscribed by the triumvirs in 42 BC. Although he had escaped his house, he went to his son's house when he heard that his son was to be slain, and there met his death after discovering the ruse.[32][33][34]
Octavius C. f. Balbus, the son of the proscribed Gaius Octavius Balbus, who rushed to his house when he heard that his son was to be put to death.[35]
Octavii Laenates
Marcus Octavius Laenas Curtianus, one of the distinguished men who supplicated the judges on behalf of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, in 54 BC.[36]
Marcus Octavius, commanded the center of Marc Antony's fleet at the Battle of Actium. Possibly identical with the aedile of 50 BC, or with Ligur, or Marsus.[53]
Gaius Octavius Lampadio, a grammarian, who divided the poem of Naevius on the First Punic War into seven books.[58]
Octavius C. f. Fronto, a contemporary of Tiberius, he had been praetor, and in AD 16 spoke in the senate against the great luxury then prevailing.[59]
Publius Octavius, a noted epicurean during the reign of Tiberius.[60]
Octavius Sagitta, tribune of the plebs in AD 58, he murdered his mistress, Pontia Postumia, because she refused to marry him after promising to do so. He was condemned and exiled to an island, but returned to Rome following the death of Nero. In AD 70 the senate again condemned him and reinstated his punishment.[61]
Octavius Horatianus, a name sometimes assigned to the author of the Rerum Medicarum Libri Quatuor, usually attributed to the physician Theodorus Priscianus, who lived at Constantinople during the 4th century.
Christian Settipani, Continuité gentilice et continuité familiale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale: mythe et réalité, Unit for Prosopographical Research, Linacre College, University of Oxford (2000) ISBN9781900934022.
Anthony R. Birley, The Roman Government of Britain, Oxford University Press (2005).