Gaius Octavius (about 100 – 59 BC) was an ancestor to the
Roman Emperors of the
Julio-Claudian dynasty. He is the father of the Emperor
Augustus, step-grandfather of the Emperor
Tiberius, great-grandfather of the Emperor
Claudius, great-great grandfather of the Emperor
Caligula, and great-great-great grandfather of the Emperor
Nero. He descended from an old, wealthy equestrian branch of the
gens Octavia. Despite being from a wealthy family, his family was plebeian, rather than patrician. As a
novus homo ("new man"), he would not be of a senatorial family.