Gaius Octavius, who transformed the Roman Republic into an empire, died in the small Campanian town of Nola while traveling. His forty-year reign ended decades of civil war and inaugurated the Pax Romana. Power passed to his adopted son Tiberius, though the succession had been carefully, and ruthlessly, engineered for years beforehand.
Augustus had spent his final years obsessively managing his own legacy, even writing his own eulogy, the Res Gestae, to be read after death. According to Suetonius, as he lay dying he asked his attendants whether he had played his part well in the farce of life, then quoted a line used to close Roman comedies: 'if I have pleased you, kindly applaud.'
His wife Livia, who some ancient historians accused of hastening his death with poisoned figs, kept the news quiet until Tiberius could secure the throne. The Senate promptly voted to deify Augustus, and the month formerly called Sextilis had already been renamed in his honor. His death marked the true point of no return for republican Rome; every ruler for the next four centuries would claim to be his successor in spirit, if not blood.
Key people: Augustus, Tiberius, Livia