The story
Rome, 45 BC.
The Republic is tearing itself apart and Julius Caesar is winning its last civil war. His great-nephew Octavius is seventeen, thin, often sick, and written off by everyone except his mother.
Over five episodes he goes from a boy shipwrecked trying to reach Caesar, to Caesar's heir, to a nineteen-year-old consul with an army, to the man who defeats Antony and Cleopatra and becomes Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. It is a story about power: how a young man nobody feared took it, and what it cost him and everyone around him.
Season 1
5 episodes · 110 minutes
The Road to Caesar
Caesar sends word that Octavius would only slow him down. Octavius goes to Spain anyway, with his friends Agrippa and Lucius. A storm sinks their ship, and Lucius is lost.
The Gift from Caesar
On the Ides of March, Caesar is murdered. Octavius crosses home in secret and hears the will read: Caesar has adopted him and left him his name.
The Revenge
Rome laughs at the eighteen-year-old heir. At nineteen he marches eight legions on Rome and takes the consulship.
The Hunger and the Sea
Rome is starving under Sextus Pompey's blockade. Agrippa builds a navy that can win at sea, and Rome declares war on Cleopatra.
Augustus
Actium. Agrippa's fast ships break Antony's fleet and Cleopatra runs. The Senate gives Octavian a new name: Augustus.
