 In 27 BC, Octavian was granted the title of "Augustus," marking the final stage in the transformation of the Roman Republic into an empire, with himself as the first Roman emperor.A member of the plebeian Antonia gens, Antony was born in Rome on 14 January 83 BC.His father and namesake was Marcus Antonius Creticus, son of the noted orator by the same name who had been murdered during the Marian Terror of the winter of 87–86 BC.