Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Julio-Claudian dynasty)

Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Julio Claudian Dynasty)

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Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Julio-Claudian dynasty)

Marcus Claudius Marcellus (42-23 BC) was the eldest son of Octavia Minor

Octavia Minor

Octavia Minor , also known as Octavia the Younger or simply Octavia, was the sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus , half sister of Octavia Major, and fourth wife of Mark Antony....
, sister of Augustus, and Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor

Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor

Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor, was a member of the distinguished Claudius family and a direct descendant of the consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus....
, a former consul. He was descended through his father from Marcus Claudius Marcellus

Marcus Claudius Marcellus

Marcus Claudius Marcellus , five times elected as consul of the Roman Republic, was an important Roman military leader during the Gallic War of 225 BC and the Second Punic War....
, a famous general in the Second Punic War

Second Punic War

The Second Punic War lasted from 218 BC to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. It was the second of three major wars between Carthage and the Roman Republic....
.

e Augustus had no sons, Marcellus was one of his closest relatives - already at the age of three, when his uncle needed to make peace with Sextus Pompeius

Sextus Pompeius

Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius, in English Sextus Pompey , was a Ancient Rome general from the late Roman Republic . He was the last focus of opposition to the Second Triumvirate....
, Marcellus was engaged to a daughter of Sextus (though the engagement was forgotten when Sextus Pompeius was defeated).

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Marcus Claudius Marcellus (42-23 BC) was the eldest son of Octavia Minor

Octavia Minor

Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor

Marcus Claudius Marcellus

Second Punic War

Life

Advancement

Since Augustus had no sons, Marcellus was one of his closest relatives - already at the age of three, when his uncle needed to make peace with Sextus Pompeius

Sextus Pompeius

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Marc Antony, was a Roman Republic politician and General. He was an important supporter and the best friend of Julius Caesar as a military commander and administrator, being Caesar's second cousin, once removed, by his mother Julia Antonia....
and Ptolemaic

Ptolemaic dynasty

The Ptolemaic dynasty was a Hellenistic Macedonian royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt for nearly 300 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC....
Greek

Greeks

The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in Greek diaspora communities around the world....
Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
and a campaign against the Cantabri

Cantabri

The Cantabri were an ancient confederacy of eleven tribes, perhaps Celtic or Vasconic Neolithic Europe, that inhabited the north coast of Hispania in the whole modern province of Cantabria, the eastern third of Asturias and the nearby mountainous regions of modern Castile-Leon....
.

The succession

In 25 BC, Marcellus married Augustus' only daughter, Julia the Elder

Julia the Elder

Julia the Elder , known to her contemporaries as Julia Caesaris filia or Julia Augusti filia was the daughter and only natural child of Augustus....
, with Agrippa

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman statesman and general. He was a close friend, son-in-law, lieutenant and minister to Octavian, the future emperor Caesar Augustus....
officiating in Augustus's absence. On Augustus's falling ill at this period "all were expecting that Marcellus would be preferred for Augustus's successor", according to Dio.

Velleius, a pro-Augustan source, states that:

This passage supports the suggestion in Tacitus

Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman Senate and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories —examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those that reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors....
and other historians that other potential heirs such as Tiberius

Tiberius

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero , was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37....
and Agrippa felt threatened by Marcellus's rise. After the marriage Agrippa set out for Asia "on the pretext of commissions from the emperor, but, according to current gossip, was in fact withdrawing for the time being, on account of his secret animosity for Marcellus". In addition, Dio states that:

Aedileship

Augustus began to encourage Marcellus' political career, in 23 BC gaining him the right to be a senator among the ex-praetors, to stand for the consulship ten years earlier than was customary, and his election as aedile

Aedile

Aedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals....
that year. To celebrate, he gave what Velleius calls "a magnificent spectacle

Ludi

Ludi may refer to:* Ludo , board game called "Ludi" in the Caribbean* Ludi , in the Marvel Universe, a demon who has clashed with Doctor Strange....
" (with assistance from Augustus) and also funded the theatre that bears his name

Theatre of Marcellus

The Theatre of Marcellus is an ancient theatre built just before the Roman Empire. Its Roman architecture in the rioni of Rome of Sant'Angelo , Rome, provides one of the city's many popular spectacles or tourist sites....
.

Death

Marcellus did not live to see the theatre completed, however, becoming ill in the year of his aedileship, and soon dying in Baiae

Baiae

Baiae is a frazione of the comune of Bacoli, in the Campania region of Italy on the Bay of Naples. It was named after Baius, who was supposedly buried there....
. His death is ascribed by hearsay to Livia

Livia

Livia Drusilla, after 14 AD called Julia Augusta was the wife of Augustus and one of the most powerful women in the Roman Empire, being Augustus' faithful advisor....
, , the line which is also followed by the novel, I, Claudius.

Dio states:

Augustus also had funerary statues of Marcellus set up, such as the Marcellus as Hermes Logios
Marcellus as Hermes Logios

Marcellus as Hermes Logios, sculpture of Marcus Claudius Marcellus as Hermes#Logios, the god of eloquence. It was executed in marble circa 20 BC , and was signed by Cleomenes the Athenian....
.

Agrippa swiftly returned from Asia after Marcellus's death, and Marcellus's widow Julia was soon married to him. Marcellus was added by Virgil at the end of the list of illustrious future Romans whom Aeneas sees in the underworld in Book VI of the Aeneid

Aeneid

The Aeneid is a Latin Epic poetry written by Virgil in the late 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Rome....
. This passage - recounting Marcellus's life, connecting him to his illustrious ancestor Marcellus the Elder, and lamenting his tragically early death - is said to have caused Octavia to faint with grief when it was read to her and Augustus.