Gnaeus Octavius

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Gnaeus Octavius was Consul of the Roman Republic in 87 BC. His father was an elder Gnaeus Octavius who was Consul in 128 BC, brother of Marcus Octavius and both sons of Gnaeus Octavius consul in 165 BC and deceased in 162 BC, in turn son of Gnaeus Octavius and grandson of Gnaeus Octavius Rufus, who was also the great-great-grandfather of Gaius Octavius.

Polybius mentions in book XXVIII.3 that Gnaeus Octavius was sent as an ambassador to the Greeks from Thessaly in 170 by the proconsul, Aulus Hostilius Mancinus. This must have been the 165 consul.

The 87 BC consul quarrelled with his colleague, Lucius Cornelius Cinna, and drove him out of Rome. He was subsequently killed when Cinna marched on Rome with Gaius Marius. Plutarch, who discusses him in his lives of Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, describes his character as "reputable". He held to strict principles in his politics, and his peers had a low opinion of his military generalship. Plutarch identifies him as an ancestor of Roman Emperor Augustus.

His son Lucius Octavius was also a Consul in 75 BC. His brother Marcus Octavius was the father of another Gnaeus Octavius, also a Consul in 76 BC and father of Marcus Octavius.

Preceded by Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Quintus Pompeius Rufus

Consul of the Roman Republic with Lucius Cornelius Cinna 87 BCE

Succeeded by Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gaius Marius (Suffect: Lucius Valerius Flaccus)