On his mother's side, he was the oldest grandson of emperor Augustus. He was a part of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, and was related to all the Julio-Claudian emperors. Gaius was born in Rome in 20 BC to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder. Agrippa acted as tribune in the Senate to pass important legislation and, though he lacked some of the emperor's power and authority, he was approaching the position of co-regent. The tribunician power allowed him to control the Senate. Agrippa was given tribunicia potestas ("the tribunician power") in 18 BC, a power that Augustus received in 23 BC, and later on was exercised only by the emperor and shared with some heirs (Agrippa, Tiberius). With Marcellus gone, Augustus arranged for the marriage of Agrippa to his daughter Julia the Elder, who was previously the wife of Marcellus. However, Marcellus died of an illness that had spread throughout the city of Rome that year. However, as soon as he recovered, Augustus began to show he favored his nephew, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, then just 19. From early on, Agrippa was trusted to handle affairs in the eastern provinces and was even given the signet ring of Augustus, who was seemingly on his deathbed in 23 BC, a sign that he would become princeps were Augustus to die. His father was a key general in Augustus' armies, commanding troops in pivotal battles against Mark Antony and Sextus Pompeius. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was an early supporter of Augustus (then "Octavius") during the Final War of the Roman Republic that ensued as a result of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. In 4 AD, following the deaths of Gaius and Lucius, Augustus adopted his stepson, Tiberius, as well as his sole-surviving grandson, Agrippa Postumus.īust of Gaius' father, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa He was married to his second cousin Livilla but they did not have children. Approximately eighteen months later, Gaius died of an illness in Lycia. The year after Gaius' consulship, Lucius died at Massilia in the month of August. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed to the office of consul for the following year, 1 AD. In 1 BC, Gaius was given command of the eastern provinces, after which he concluded a peace treaty with King Phraates V of Parthia on an island in the Euphrates. He would experience an accelerated political career befitting a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, with the Roman Senate allowing him to advance his career without first holding a quaestorship or praetorship, offices that ordinary senators were required to hold as part of the cursus honorum. Although he was born to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, Augustus' only daughter, Gaius and his younger brother, Lucius Caesar, were raised by their grandfather as his adopted sons and joint-heirs to the empire. Gaius Caesar ( / ˈ s iː z ər/ 20 BC – 21 February 4 AD) was the grandson and heir to the throne of Roman emperor Augustus, alongside his younger brother Lucius Caesar.
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