Augustus and Related Topics

Mark Antony

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Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autocratic Roman Empire.

Antony's brother Lucius, on a coin issued at Ephesus during his consulship in 41 BC

Hellenistic bust of Pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes.

The ancient Mediterranean in 50 BC at the end of Caesar's Gallic Wars, with the territory of Rome in yellow.

Cato the Younger, a member of the Optimates faction, was one of the chief architects of the decree which provoked Caesar into civil war.

The Battle of Pharsalus: the decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War. Antony commanded the left wing of Caesar's army.

The Death of Julius Caesar, as depicted by Vincenzo Camuccini. Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC.

"Marc Antony's Oration at Caesar's Funeral" as depicted by George Edward Robertson

Octavian, Julius Caesar's adopted son. Antony would struggle with Octavian for leadership of the Caesarian party following Caesar's assassination.

A denarius of Marcus Antonius struck in 42 BC

Denarius struck at Ephesus in 41 B.C. commemorating the Second Triumvirate. One on side is Octavian, later Caesar Augustus, and on the other is Antony

The vengeance of Fulvia by Francisco Maura Y Montaner, 1888, depicting Fulvia, Antony's wife, inspecting the severed head of Cicero

First Battle of Philippi – 3 October 42 BC

Second Battle of Philippi – 23 October 42 BC

Antony and Cleopatra (1883) by Lawrence Alma-Tadema depicting Antony's meeting with Cleopatra in 41 BC.

A map of the Parthian Empire. Parthia shared its western border along the Euphrates River with Rome.

Roman aureus bearing the portraits of Marcus Antonius (left) and Octavianus (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the Second Triumvirate by Octavianus, Antonius and Marcus Lepidus in 43 BC.

A denarius of both Octavianus and Marcus Antonius struck in 41 BC

Antony and Octavia on the obverse of a tetradrachm issued at Ephesus in 39 BC. Antony and his brother-in-law, Octavian, enacted a new treaty that year which redivided control over the Roman world.

A Roman bust of Mark Antony, late 1st century AD, Vatican Museums

A late Ptolemaic or Roman sculpted head of an Alexandrian nobleman, perhaps a depiction of Mark Antony, Brooklyn Museum

A map of the Donations of Alexandria (by Mark Antony to Cleopatra and her children) in 34 BC.

The Battle of Actium (1672) by Laureys a Castro (National Maritime Museum, London)

This mid-1st-century-BC Roman wall painting in Pompeii, Italy, showing Venus holding a cupid is most likely a depiction of Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt as Venus Genetrix, with her son Caesarion as the cupid, similar in appearance to the now lost statue of Cleopatra erected by Julius Caesar in the Temple of Venus Genetrix (within the Forum of Caesar). The owner of the House of Marcus Fabius Rufus at Pompeii walled off the room with this painting, most likely in immediate reaction to the execution of Caesarion on orders of Augustus in 30 BC, when artistic depictions of Caesarion would have been considered a sensitive issue for the ruling regime.

Fragmentary portrait bust from Smyrna thought to depict Octavia, sister of Octavian and Antony's wife

A tetradrachm of Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt

Antony (George Coulouris) addresses the crowd in the Mercury Theatre production of Caesar (1937), Orson Welles's modern-dress adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy

Map of the Roman Republic in 43 BC after the establishment of the Second Triumvirate:
AntonyLepidusOctavianTriumvirs collectively
Sextus PompeyThe LiberatorsRome's client kingdomsPtolemaic Egypt

Map of the Roman Republic in 42 BC after the Battle of Philippi:
AntonyLepidusOctavianTriumvirs collectively
Sextus PompeyParthian EmpireRome's client kingdomsPtolemaic Egypt

Map of the Roman Republic in 39 BC after the Treaty of Brundisium and the Treaty of Misenum:
AntonyLepidusOctavianTriumvirs collectively
Sextus PompeyParthian EmpireRome's client kingdomsPtolemaic Egypt

After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, Antony joined forces with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, another of Caesar's generals, and Octavian, Caesar's great-nephew and adopted son, forming a three-man dictatorship known to historians as the Second Triumvirate.

Roman Empire

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The post-Republican period of ancient Rome.

The Roman Empire in AD 117 at its greatest extent, at the time of Trajan's death (with its vassals in pink)

The Augustus of Prima Porta
(early 1st century AD)

The Barbarian Invasions consisted of the movement of (mainly) ancient Germanic peoples into Roman territory. Even though northern invasions took place throughout the life of the Empire, this period officially began in the 4th century and lasted for many centuries, during which the western territory was under the dominion of foreign northern rulers, a notable one being Charlemagne. Historically, this event marked the transition between classical antiquity and the Middle Ages.

The cities of the Roman world in the Imperial Period. Data source: Hanson, J. W. (2016), Cities database, (OXREP databases). Version 1.0. (link).

A segment of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, overlooking Crag Lough

A 5th-century papyrus showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by Cicero

Bilingual Latin-Punic inscription at the theatre in Leptis Magna, Roman Africa (present-day Libya)

A multigenerational banquet depicted on a wall painting from Pompeii (1st century AD)

Citizen of Roman Egypt (Fayum mummy portrait)

Dressing of a priestess or bride, Roman fresco from Herculaneum, Italy (30–40 AD)

Slave holding writing tablets for his master (relief from a 4th-century sarcophagus)

Cinerary urn for the freedman Tiberius Claudius Chryseros and two women, probably his wife and daughter

Fragment of a sarcophagus depicting Gordian III and senators (3rd century)

Condemned man attacked by a leopard in the arena (3rd-century mosaic from Tunisia)

Forum of Gerasa (Jerash in present-day Jordan), with columns marking a covered walkway (stoa) for vendor stalls, and a semicircular space for public speaking

Reconstructed statue of Augustus as Jove, holding scepter and orb (first half of 1st century AD).

Antoninus Pius (reigned 138–161), wearing a toga (Hermitage Museum)

The Roman empire under Hadrian (ruled 117–138) showing the location of the Roman legions deployed in 125 AD

Relief panel from Trajan's Column in Rome, showing the building of a fort and the reception of a Dacian embassy

The Pula Arena in Croatia is one of the largest and most intact of the remaining Roman amphitheatres.

Personification of the River Nile and his children, from the Temple of Serapis and Isis in Rome (1st century AD)

A green Roman glass cup unearthed from an Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD) tomb in Guangxi, southern China; the earliest Roman glassware found in China was discovered in a Western Han tomb in Guangzhou, dated to the early 1st century BC, and ostensibly came via the maritime route through the South China Sea

Solidus issued under Constantine II, and on the reverse Victoria, one of the last deities to appear on Roman coins, gradually transforming into an angel under Christian rule

Landscape resulting from the ruina montium mining technique at Las Médulas, Spain, one of the most important gold mines in the Roman Empire

The Tabula Peutingeriana (Latin for "The Peutinger Map") an Itinerarium, often assumed to be based on the Roman cursus publicus, the network of state-maintained roads.

A map of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a Greco-Roman Periplus

Workers at a cloth-processing shop, in a painting from the fullonica of Veranius Hypsaeus in Pompeii

Roman hunters during the preparations, set-up of traps, and in-action hunting near Tarraco

Construction on the Flavian Amphitheatre, more commonly known as the Colosseum (Italy), began during the reign of Vespasian.

The Pont du Gard aqueduct, which crosses the river Gardon in southern France, is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

Cityscape from the Villa Boscoreale (60s AD)

Aquae Sulis in Bath, England: architectural features above the level of the pillar bases are a later reconstruction.

Public toilets (latrinae) from Ostia Antica

Reconstructed peristyle garden based on the House of the Vettii

Birds and fountain within a garden setting, with oscilla (hanging masks) above, in a painting from Pompeii

Bread stall, from a Pompeiian wall painting

An Ostian taberna for eating and drinking; the faded painting over the counter pictured eggs, olives, fruit and radishes.

Still life on a 2nd-century Roman mosaic

Wall painting depicting a sports riot at the amphitheatre of Pompeii, which led to the banning of gladiator combat in the town

The Zliten mosaic, from a dining room in present-day Libya, depicts a series of arena scenes: from top, musicians playing a Roman tuba, a water pipe organ and two horns; six pairs of gladiators with two referees; four beast fighters; and three convicts condemned to the beasts

Boys and girls playing ball games (2nd-century relief from the Louvre)

So-called "bikini girls" mosaic from the Villa del Casale, Roman Sicily, 4th century

Stone game board from Aphrodisias: boards could also be made of wood, with deluxe versions in costly materials such as ivory; game pieces or counters were bone, glass, or polished stone, and might be coloured or have markings or images

Women from the wall painting at the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii

Claudius wearing an early Imperial toga (see a later, more structured toga above), and the pallium as worn by a priest of Serapis, sometimes identified as the emperor Julian

The Wedding of Zephyrus and Chloris (54–68 AD, Pompeian Fourth Style) within painted architectural panels from the Casa del Naviglio

The bronze Drunken Satyr, excavated at Herculaneum and exhibited in the 18th century, inspired an interest among later sculptors in similar "carefree" subjects.

On the Ludovisi sarcophagus, an example of the battle scenes favoured during the Crisis of the Third Century, the "writhing and highly emotive" Romans and Goths fill the surface in a packed, anti-classical composition

The Primavera of Stabiae, perhaps the goddess Flora

The Triumph of Neptune floor mosaic from Africa Proconsularis (present-day Tunisia), celebrating agricultural success with allegories of the Seasons, vegetation, workers and animals viewable from multiple perspectives in the room (latter 2nd century)

Actor dressed as a king and two muses. Fresco from Herculaneum, 30–40 AD

All-male theatrical troupe preparing for a masked performance, on a mosaic from the House of the Tragic Poet

Pride in literacy was displayed in portraiture through emblems of reading and writing, as in this example of a couple from Pompeii (Portrait of Paquius Proculo).

Reconstruction of a writing tablet: the stylus was used to inscribe letters into the wax surface for drafts, casual letterwriting, and schoolwork, while texts meant to be permanent were copied onto papyrus.

A teacher with two students, as a third arrives with his loculus, a writing case that would contain pens, ink pot, and a sponge to correct errors

Mosaic from Pompeii depicting the Academy of Plato

Portrait of a literary woman from Pompeii (ca. 50 AD)

A fresco in Pompeii depicting a poet (thought to be Euphorion) and a female reading a diptych

Statue in Constanța, Romania (the ancient colony Tomis), commemorating Ovid's exile

Brescia Casket, an ivory box with Biblical imagery (late 4th century)

Silver cup, from the Boscoreale Treasure (early 1st century AD)

Finely decorated Gallo-Roman terra sigillata bowl

Gold earrings with gemstones, 3rd century

Glass cage cup from the Rhineland, 4th century

Dionysus (Bacchus) with long torch sitting on a throne, with Helios (Sol), Aphrodite (Venus) and other gods. Fresco from Pompeii.

A Roman priest, his head ritually covered with a fold of his toga, extends a patera in a gesture of libation (2nd–3rd century)

Statuettes representing Roman and Gallic deities, for personal devotion at private shrines

thumb|upright=0.6|The Pompeii Lakshmi, an ivory statuette from the Indian subcontinent found in the ruins of Pompeii

Relief from the Arch of Titus in Rome depicting a menorah and other spoils from the Temple of Jerusalem carried in Roman triumph.

This funerary stele from the 3rd century is among the earliest Christian inscriptions, written in both Greek and Latin: the abbreviation D.M. at the top refers to the Di Manes, the traditional Roman spirits of the dead, but accompanies Christian fish symbolism.

The Pantheon in Rome, a Roman temple originally built under Augustus and later rebuilt under Hadrian in the 2nd century, dedicated to Rome's polytheistic religion before its conversion into a Catholic church in the 7th century

Civil wars and proscriptions continued, eventually culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesar's adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The following year, Octavian conquered the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt, ending the Hellenistic period that had begun with the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Octavian's power then became unassailable, and in 27 BC, the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power and the new title of Augustus, effectively making him the first Roman emperor.

The Tusculum portrait, possibly the only surviving sculpture of Caesar made during his lifetime. Archaeological Museum, Turin, Italy.

Julius Caesar

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Roman general and statesman.

Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla stripped Caesar of the priesthood.

A denarius depicting Julius Caesar, dated to February–March 44 BC—the goddess Venus is shown on the reverse, holding Victoria and a scepter. Caption: CAESAR IMP. M. / L. AEMILIVS BVCA

The extent of the Roman Republic in 40 BC after Caesar's conquests

Vercingetorix throws down his arms at the feet of Julius Caesar, painting by Lionel Royer. Musée Crozatier, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.

A Roman bust of Pompey the Great made during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), a copy of an original bust from 70 to 60 BC, Venice National Archaeological Museum, Italy.

Cleopatra and Caesar, 1866 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme

This mid-1st-century-BC Roman wall painting in Pompeii is probably a depiction of Cleopatra VII as Venus Genetrix, with her son Caesarion as Cupid. Its owner Marcus Fabius Rufus most likely ordered its concealment behind a wall in reaction to the execution of Caesarion on orders of Octavian in 30 BC.

Green Caesar, posthumous portrait of the 1st century AD, Altes Museum, Berlin

Statue of Julius Caesar, Via dei Fori Imperiali, Rome

La clémence de César, Abel de Pujol, 1808

Denarius (42 BC) issued by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Lentulus Spinther, depicting the crowned head of Liberty and on the reverse a sacrificial jug and lituus, from the military mint in Smyrna. Caption: C. CASSI. IMP. LEIBERTAS / LENTVLVS SPINT.

The senators encircle Caesar, a 19th-century interpretation of the event by Carl Theodor von Piloty

The Death of Caesar, Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1867

Bust of Mark Antony made during the Flavian dynasty (69–96 AD)

Marc Antony's Oration at Caesar's Funeral by George Edward Robertson

Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Caesar's adopted heir

The Chiaramonti Caesar bust, a posthumous portrait in marble, 44–30 BC, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museums

Reliefs of Cleopatra and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, at the Temple of Dendera

Roman painting from the House of Giuseppe II, Pompeii, early 1st century AD, most likely depicting Cleopatra VII, wearing her royal diadem, consuming poison in an act of suicide, while her son Caesarion, also wearing a royal diadem, stands behind her

Bust in Naples National Archaeological Museum, photograph published in 1902

Bust in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples

Bust of Julius Caesar from the British Museum

Modern bronze statue of Julius Caesar, Rimini, Italy

Flowers placed on the remains of the altar of Caesar in the Roman Forum of Rome, Italy

Portrait at the Archaeological Museum of Sparta

Bronze statue at the Porta Palatina in Turin

Bust in the Archaeological Museum of Corinth

Caesar's great-nephew and adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to sole power after defeating his opponents in the last civil war of the Roman Republic.

Roman provinces on the eve of the assassination of Julius Caesar, 44 BC

Roman Republic

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State of the classical Roman civilization, run through public representation of the Roman people.

The "Capitoline Brutus", a bust possibly depicting Lucius Junius Brutus, who led the revolt against Rome's last king and was a founder of the Republic.

The Temple of Hercules Victor, Rome, built in the mid 2nd century BC, most likely by Lucius Mummius Achaicus, who won the Achaean War.

Bust of Pyrrhus, found in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, now in the Naples Archaeological Museum. Pyrrhus was a brave and chivalrous general who fascinated the Romans, explaining his presence in a Roman house.

The Roman Republic before the First Punic War.

Denarius of C. Caecilius Metellus Caprarius, 125 BC. The reverse depicts the triumph of his great-grandfather Lucius, with the elephants he had captured at Panormos. The elephant had thence become the emblem of the powerful Caecilii Metelli.

Principal offensives of the war: Rome (red), Hannibal (green), Hasdrubal (purple).

A Carthaginian quarter shekel, perhaps minted in Spain. The obverse may depict Hannibal under the traits of young Melqart. The reverse features one of his famous war elephants.

Roman marble bust of Scipio Africanus, found in the Tomb of the Scipios.

Scene of the Battle of Corinth (146 BC): last day before the Roman legions looted and burned the Greek city of Corinth. The last day on Corinth, Tony Robert-Fleury, 1870.

Bust, traditionally identified as Gaius Marius, instigator of the Marian reforms.

Denarius of Faustus Cornelius Sulla, 56 BC. It shows Diana on the obverse, while the reverse depicts Sulla being offered an olive branch by his ally Bocchus I. Jugurtha is shown captive on the right.

A Roman marble head of Pompey (now in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek)

The Tusculum portrait, a Roman sculpture of Julius Caesar, Archaeological Museum of Turin, Italy

The Curia Julia, the senate house started by Julius Caesar in 44 BC and completed by Octavian in 29 BC, replacing the Curia Cornelia as the meeting place of the Senate.

The Roman Forum, the commercial, cultural, religious, and political center of the city and the Republic which housed the various offices and meeting places of the government

Detail from the Ahenobarbus relief showing (centre-right) two Roman foot-soldiers c. 122 BC. Note the Montefortino-style helmets with horsehair plume, chain mail cuirasses with shoulder reinforcement, oval shields with calfskin covers, gladius and pilum.

Roman warrior, fresco in Pompeii, ca. 80—20 BC

A Roman naval bireme depicted in a relief from the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia in Praeneste, c. 120 BC; now in the Museo Pio-Clementino in the Vatican Museums

Temple of Janus as seen in the present church of San Nicola in Carcere, in the Forum Holitorium of Rome, Italy, dedicated by Gaius Duilius after his naval victory at the Battle of Mylae in 260 BC

An inscribed funerary relief of Aurelius Hermia and his wife Aurelia Philematum, former slaves who married after their manumission, 80 BC, from a tomb along the Via Nomentana in Rome

The "Togatus Barberini", depicting a Roman senator holding the imagines (effigies) of deceased ancestors in his hands; marble, late 1st century BC; head (not belonging): mid 1st century BC

Ruins of the Aqua Anio Vetus, a Roman aqueduct built in 272 BC

The Temple of Portunus, god of grain storage, keys, livestock and ports. Rome, built between 120 and 80 BC

The tomb of the Flavii, a necropolis outside the Nucerian gate (Porta Nocera) of Pompeii, Italy, constructed 50–30 BC

Denarius of Lucius Caesius, 112–111 BC. On the obverse is Apollo, as written on the monogram behind his head, who also wears the attributes of Vejovis, an obscure deity. The obverse depicts a group of statues representing the Lares Praestites, which was described by Ovid.

Inside the "Temple of Mercury" at Baiae, a swimming pool for a Roman bath, built during the late Roman Republic, and containing one of the largest domes in the world before the building of the Pantheon

Denarius of Caesar, minted just before his murder, in 44 BC. It was the first Roman coin bearing the portrait of a living person. The lituus and culullus depicted behind his head refer to his augurate and pontificate. The reverse with Venus alludes to his claimed descent from the goddess.

The ruins of the Servian Wall, built during the 4th century BC, one of the earliest ancient Roman defensive walls

The Orator, c. 100 BC, an Etrusco-Roman statue of a Republican senator, wearing toga praetexta and senatorial shoes; compared to the voluminous, costly, impractical togas of the Imperial era, the Republican-era type is frugal and "skimpy" (exigua).

Banquet scene, fresco, Herculaneum, Italy, c. 50 BC

The Amphitheatre of Pompeii, built around 70 BC and buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius 79 AD, once hosted spectacles with gladiators.

Despite his victory and appointment as dictator for life, Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Caesar's heir Octavian and lieutenant Mark Antony defeated Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius in 42 BC, but they eventually split up thereafter.

Cleopatra

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Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.

Hellenistic Kingdoms that emerged after the death of Alexander the Great

Hellenistic portrait of Ptolemy XII Auletes, the father of Cleopatra, located in the Louvre, Paris

Most likely a posthumously painted portrait of Cleopatra with red hair and her distinct facial features, wearing a royal diadem and pearl-studded hairpins, from Roman Herculaneum, Italy, 1st century AD

The Roman Republic (green) and Ptolemaic Egypt (yellow) in 40 BC

A Roman portrait of Pompey made during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), a copy of an original from 70 to 60 BC, and located in the Venice National Archaeological Museum, Italy

The Tusculum portrait, a contemporary Roman sculpture of Julius Caesar located in the Archaeological Museum of Turin, Italy

Cleopatra and Caesar (1866), a painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme

Egyptian portrait of a Ptolemaic queen, possibly Cleopatra, c. 51–30 BC, located in the Brooklyn Museum

Cleopatra's Gate in Tarsos (now Tarsus, Mersin, Turkey), the site where she met Mark Antony in 41 BC

A Roman marble bust of the consul and triumvir Mark Antony, late 1st century AD, Vatican Museums

Roman aureus bearing the portraits of Mark Antony (left) and Octavian (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the Second Triumvirate by Octavian, Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in 43 BC

A denarius minted by Antony in 34 BC with his portrait on the obverse, which bears the inscription reading "ANTONIVS ARMENIA DEVICTA", alluding to his Armenian campaign. The reverse features Cleopatra, with the inscription "CLEOPATR[AE] REGINAE REGVM FILIORVM REGVM". The mention of her children on the reverse refers to the Donations of Alexandria.

A papyrus document dated February 33 BC granting tax exemptions to a person in Egypt and containing the signature of Cleopatra written by an official, but with "γινέσθωι" ( "make it happen" or "so be it") added in Greek, likely by the queen's own hand

A reconstructed statue of Augustus as a younger Octavian, dated c. 30 BC

A Roman painting from the House of Giuseppe II in Pompeii, early 1st century AD, most likely depicting Cleopatra, wearing her royal diadem and consuming poison in an act of suicide, while her son Caesarion, also wearing a royal diadem, stands behind her

The Death of Cleopatra (1658), by Guido Cagnacci

The Death of Cleopatra (1796–1797), by Jean-Baptiste Regnault

Cleopatra on a coin of 40 drachms from 51 to 30 BC, minted at Alexandria; on the obverse is a portrait of Cleopatra wearing a diadem, and on the reverse an inscription reading "ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ ΚΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑΣ" with an eagle standing on a thunderbolt.

Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Condemned Prisoners (1887), by Alexandre Cabanel

A restructured marble Roman statue of Cleopatra wearing a diadem and 'melon' hairstyle similar to coinage portraits, found along the Via Cassia near the, Rome, and now located in the Museo Pio-Clementino

a life-sized Roman-style statue of Cleopatra

Cleopatra and Mark Antony on the obverse and reverse, respectively, of a silver tetradrachm struck at the Antioch mint in 36 BC, with Greek legends: BACIΛΙCCA KΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑ ΘΕΑ ΝΕΩΤΕΡΑ, ANTΩNIOC AYTOKPATΩP TPITON TPIΩN ANΔPΩN.

Possible sculpted head of Cleopatra VII wearing an Egyptian-style vulture headdress, discovered in Rome, either Roman or Hellenistic Egyptian art, Parian marble, 1st century BC, from the Capitoline Museums{{sfnp|Fletcher|2008|pp=199–200}}{{sfnp|Ashton|2001a|p=217}}

the white skin of her face and neck set against a stark black background

A possible depiction of Mark Antony on the Portland Vase being lured by Cleopatra, straddling a serpent, while Anton, Antony's alleged ancestor, looks on and Eros flies above

Cleopatra and her son Caesarion at the Temple of Dendera

The Banquet of Cleopatra (1744), by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, now in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

The Triumph of Cleopatra (1821), by William Etty, now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, England

Cleopatra, mid-1st century BC, with a "melon" hairstyle and Hellenistic royal diadem worn over her head, now in the Vatican Museums{{sfnp|Raia|Sebesta|2017}}{{sfnp|Grout|2017b|}}{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=174–175}}

Cleopatra, mid-1st century BC, showing Cleopatra with a "melon" hairstyle and Hellenistic royal diadem worn over the head, now in the Altes Museum{{sfnp|Raia|Sebesta|2017}}{{sfnp|Grout|2017b|}}{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=174–175}}

A granite Egyptian bust of Cleopatra from the Royal Ontario Museum, mid-1st century BC

A marble statue of Cleopatra with her cartouche inscribed on the upper right arm and wearing a diadem with a triple uraeus, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art{{sfnp|Ashton|2001b|p=165}}

In the Liberators' civil war of 43–42 BC, Cleopatra sided with the Roman Second Triumvirate formed by Caesar's grandnephew and heir Octavian, Mark Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.

First to command
Augustus
16 January 27 BC – 19 August AD 14

Roman emperor

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Statue of Augustus, c. 30 BC–20 BC; this statue is located in the Louvre

Cameo of Augustus in a quadriga drawn by tritons (Kunsthistorisches Museum)

Portrait of Constantius II in Filocalus's Chronograph of 354

1st-century Sardonyx cameo of an eagle, a symbol of Jupiter (Kunsthistorisches Museum)

Imaginary portrait of Constantine XI, the last Roman emperor of the Eastern Roman empire

Charles V was the last emperor of the Holy Roman Empire to receive a papal coronation

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period (starting with the granting of the title augustus to Octavian in 27 BC).

Second Triumvirate

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A Sextus Pompey denarius, minted for his victory over Octavian's fleet. On the obverse is the Pharus of Messina, on the reverse the monster Scylla.

Anthony and Cleopatra, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

The Second Triumvirate (43–32 BC) was a political alliance formed after the Roman dictator Julius Caesar's assassination, comprising Caesar's adopted son Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) and the dictator's two most important supporters, Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.

Tiberius

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The second Roman emperor.

Tiberius and his mother Livia, AD 14–19, from Paestum, National Archaeological Museum of Spain, Madrid

"Probable" portrait bust of Vipsania (recovered from Leptis Magna, near Khoms, Libya

The campaigns of Tiberius, Ahenobarbus, and Saturninus in Germania between 6 BC and 1 BC

In 1 AD Augustus sent his stepson Tiberius to subdue the Germanic tribes on the Rhine frontier. In his campaigns, Tiberius eventually extended the Roman border as far as the Elbe but was forced to cancel plans to conquer the Suevic Marcomanni when revolt broke out in Illyria in 6 AD.

Aureus of Tiberius, c. 27–30 AD. Caption: TI. CAESAR DIVI AVG. F. AVGVSTVS / MAXIM. PONTIF.

A bust of the adopted son of Tiberius, Germanicus, from the Louvre, Paris

Ruins from the Villa Jovis on the island of Capri, where Tiberius spent much of his final years, leaving control of the empire in the hands of the prefect Lucius Aelius Sejanus.

A denarius of Tiberius. Caption: TI. CAESAR DIVI AVG. F. AVGVSTVS

The Death of Tiberius by Jean Paul Laurens

Statue of Tiberius from Priverno, made shortly after 37 AD, now in the Museo Chiaramonti of the Vatican Museums

An example of Indo-Roman trade and relations during the period: silver denarius of Tiberius (14–37) found in India and Indian copy of the same, 1st-century coin of Kushan king Kujula Kadphises copying a coin of Augustus.

The tribute penny mentioned in the Bible is commonly believed to be a Roman denarius depicting the emperor Tiberius. Caption: TI. CAESAR DIVI AVG. F. AVGVSTVS / MAXIM. PONTIF.

Remnants of Tiberius' villa at Sperlonga, on the coast midway between Rome and Naples

He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus.

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

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The theatre at Merida, Spain; it was promoted by Agrippa, built between 16 and 15 BC.

The Maison Carrée at Nîmes, modern France, built in 19 BC; Agrippa was its patron.

An Audience at Agrippa's, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (c. 63 BC – 12 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law, and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus.

Cicero

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Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire.