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But after that, he suffered some sort of mysterious illness that apparently rendered him insane, and the list of Caligula's strange actions became quite lengthy in almost no time at all. The Romans had high hopes for him after he succeeded Tiberius in 37 CE, and by all accounts he was a noble and just ruler during his first few months in power. Given how bad some of Rome's emperors were, it's a testament to just how insane and reviled Caligula was that he is still remembered nearly 2,000 years later as the epitome of everything that could be wrong with a tyrant. All of Rome's poor rulers pale in comparison to Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, a young man remembered by posterity as Caligula. Partially due to this continual tension, Tiberius's life is enigmatic in many ways. Tiberius's life soon became caught up with Augustus's as the emperor worked to found and establish a dynasty, but it is unclear if Tiberius ever really wanted to be part of Augustus's plans or inherit imperial power - Tiberius was known as a man who schemed and planned, but he was also a scholar and showed a marked desire throughout his life to retreat and escape the demands of power. Tiberius was born in 42 BCE, just as the Roman Republic was dissolving and a new Roman imperial power structure emerged under Octavian, who became Rome's first emperor as Caesar Augustus.
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One of the most overlooked emperors was also one of the first, and he lived in chaotic times. Octavian's great-uncle (and adoptive father) Julius Caesar was a great general, and his rival Mark Antony was a great soldier, but as a politician Octavian outmatched them all.
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He was a canny strategist, an excellent orator, a fine writer, a generous patron of the arts and enthusiastic promoter of public works, but above all he was a master politician. Octavian was the first true Roman Emperor, and the first man since the Etruscan Tarquins five centuries earlier to establish a successful hereditary ruling dynasty in what had been a proud Republic for over half a millennium. His life, his rise to power, his political, and his social and military achievements all laid the foundations for the creation of an empire which would endure for almost five centuries, and whose traditions, laws, architecture and art continue to influence much of Europe and the world today. *Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading The importance of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (or as he was known from birth, Gaius Octavius "Octavian" Thurinus) to the course of Western history is hard to overstate.