Italy: Icon of Augustus Caesar (63 BCE-14 CE),1st Roman Emperor, Antwerp, c.1645 (print)

Born Gaius Octavius, his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE, and Octavius, now calling himself Octavian, was named in Caesar's will as his adopted son and heir. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar. Following their victory at Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. Competing ambitions eventually tore the Triumvirate apart and engulfed the Republic into another civil war. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, while Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the Battle of Actium by Octavian in 31 BCE. From the book "Icones imperatorvm romanorvm" (Icons of Roman Emperors)