Octavia

Abstract

Octavia (ca. 69-11 BCE; RE 96), daughter of Gaius Octavius and Atia, was the great-niece of Julius Caesar and sister of Augustus. Married by 54 to C. Claudius Marcellus (RE 216; Cass. Dio 40.59.4; died 40 BCE), the pro-senatorial consul of 50 BCE, Octavia produced three children: Claudia Marcella Maior and Minor and M. Claudius Marcellus. In 42, as the sister of a triumvir, Octavia received petitions from the 'ordo matronarum' for assistance with a triumviral tax (App. B Civ. 4.32) and a case of proscription (Cass. Dio 47.7.4-5). In 39 she became the wife of Antony as a consequence of the latter's pact with her brother agreed at Brundisium the previous year (Plut. Ant. 31; App. B Civ. 5.64; Cass. Dio 48.31.3-4). Octavia resided in Athens until 37 (App. B Civ. 5.76), and bore Antony daughters: Antonia Maior and Minor.