'Gaius Octavius' (d.
59 BC) was the biological father of
Augustus. He descended from an old, wealthy equestrian branch of the
Octavii family, of whom he was the first to enter the
Roman Senate.
His great-great-grandfather fought as a middle-ranking officer in the
Second Punic War. His father was a municipal magistrate who lived to an advanced age. Like his father, he bribed voters during
After his
praetorship, he subsequently became governor of
Macedonia. He was commissioned by the Senate on his way to Macedonia to disperse a rebellion of slaves who had previously taken part in the rebellions under
Spartacus and
Catiline. He proved a capable administrator in Macedonia, governing "courageously and justly", his deeds including victory in a battle against the
Thracian Bessian tribe.
Cicero had high regard for his diplomatic dealings.
Octavius died in
Nola on his way to stand for the
consulship in
Rome in
59 BC, supposedly in the same bedroom where
Augustus would later pass away. By his first wife,
Ancharia, he fathered
Octavia Major; by his second,
Atia Balba Caesonia, he fathered
Octavia Minor and Augustus.
Source
★
Suetonius, ''Augustus,'' vs. 1-8 (
Robert Graves translation)