#i think Octavian presents himself as traditional because he knows he'll seem to radical other wise

[zazzander]

Octavian & Apollo

Looking for more? Here's my master list of Octavian analysis.

So this chapter is going to focus on how Apollo is seen by the legion / New Rome. And how that says a lot about Octavian as a character.

Apollo’s Standing and General Worship

In the past, I’d always hated looking at Temple Hill, because my shrine wasn’t the largest. Obviously, it should have been the largest. [TTT]

We have a quote by TOA Apollo here, but he’s reflecting on how he saw the temples prior to his mortality. He uses the word “shrine” not “temple”. And that’s important.

We have no mention of Apollo having a temple. But that doesn’t mean he’s disrespected. It just means he’s not that popular in the legion. Much like how Pluto and Neptune have shrines, but not temples.

Which makes sense because Apollo is a very “Greek” god. Many of his domains are highly associated with Hellenism. Now, that’s not necesarrily a bad thing.

But New Romans have a fundamental dislike of Greek culture.

“Romans and Greeks have an old rivalry. Sometimes Romans use graecus as an insult for someone who’s an outsider – an enemy. I wouldn’t worry about it.” [SON]

So it’s odd that Riordan choose to make Octavian a legacy of Apollo if Octavian was supposed to be this anti-Greek character.

What’s even more weird is that Octavian’s family haven’t been activitely promoting Apollo, to increase the respect and popularity of their ancestral god. They haven’t commisioned a temple, despite the fact they are suppposed to be very wealthy and influential.

There are two possible explanations for this:

1. Octavian’s Family Don’t Live in the City

This is sort-of supported by the comment: But Octavian’s family had been sending kids to camp for over a century. If ‘camp’ referred to the entire place then we could take this as evidence. But I’m not convinced.

2. Octavian’s Family Do Live in the City But…

They have a different patron, who isn’t Apollo. Due to the fact that residents of the city are either demigods, spirits, or monsters, it’s not unreasonable to assume if they did live in the city for multiple generations that they are decended from multiple gods.

We also have this,

“And, Bryce. […] However much money, power and prestige the Lawrence family carries in the legion, remember that my family carries more.”

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean Octavian’s family live in the city. They simply have influence.

But regardless, it’s pretty weird that Octavian’s family haven’t built a temple to Apollo in all their 100 years of going to Camp Jupiter.

And another thing,

Despite Octavian being the augur, despite it being proved multiple times that he does have the gift of prophecy, he’s not well respected. His advice is often ignored by the legion.

I suspect much of his authority comes from him being the senior centurion of the First (which is traditionally third-in-command) and his ability to influence the senate (through money, prestige or fear). But not necesarily his role as augur.

(I know there’s point where he says something like 'the augur is in charge if both praetors are gone’ but the augur is not a military title. What would make way more sense is him being the primus pilus, making him third-in-command. Because he is - the primus pilus is the centurion of the First Century.

And Riordan isn’t great at keeping Roman titles consistent or correct).

Apollo & Archery

There’s another thing I want to talk about regarding Apollo not necessarily being main deity / popular. Archery.

Percy said. 'What about you, Frank?’

'Archery,’ he muttered. 'They don’t like that either, unless you’re a child of Apollo. Then you’ve got an excuse. I hope my dad is Apollo, but I don’t know. I can’t do poetry very well. And I’m not sure I want to be related to Octavian.’ [SON}

And then again,

Frank put down his polishing rags. He looked at the ceiling. 'Please, Apollo, if you’re my dad, tell me. I want to be an archer like you.’

'No, you don’t,’ a voice grumbled. [SON]

Finally,

'As for archers,’ the ghost said, 'they’re wimps! Back in my day, archery was a job for barbarians. A good Roman should be in the fray, gutting his enemy with spear and sword like a civilized man! That’s how we did it in the Punic Wars. Roman up, boy!’ [SON]

These statements are all regarding Frank, since he believes he might be a child of Apollo. But I think they help us get a sense of the general hesitation the legion has.

Being a child of Apollo is an “excuse” to be an archer. And even then they are “wimps”. Of course, this is mostly an opinion coming from a Lar, not a demigod. But the sentiment seems to be echoed by the legion as a whole, based on the first quote.

Octavian and Jason both wanted to Change Things

So, with that in mind, we see that Octavian is far from a traditionalist when he plans to make Apollo the most important god of the legion (basically swapping their patron from Jupiter to Apollo).

“Also I recall,” said Artemis, “he also promised to make you the most important god of the legion, above even Zeus.” [BOO]

Two thousand years of history and Octavian is like, “it’s time for something new”.

I want to draw a bit of parallel to Jason,

Once he’d become praetor, he’d campaigned to rename the legion the First Legion rather than the Twelfth Legion, to symbolize a new start for Rome. The idea had almost caused a mutiny. New Rome was all about tradition and legacies; the rules didn’t change easily. [HOH]

While these two things might not necessarily be connected, it’s an interesting parallel that Jason wanted them to stop being the Twelfth Legion (founded by Julius Caesar, patroned by Jupiter) and instead, be something new.

The question of why bothers me. Both for Jason and for Octavian. I think, to an extent, Jason’s desire for change came from the fact he chafed under the expectations placed on him. And the culture in which he was raised.

The main thing for this section, for me, is the continued similarties between Octavian and Jason. We know them in how they are different from each other. Octavian is a “talker” and Jason is a “warrior”. But there are plenty of similarities between the two of them.

It’s likely Octavian became augur out of duty as much as he did in pursuit of power (no good Roman turns down an offer of power, after all). Jason became praetor out of duty as well. And we can see that he wished to use his new power to change the legion.

Both worked as priests for the city at one point.

Both both were abandoned by their patron god (Octavian by Apollo, Jason by Jupiter). We hear in TON that Jupiter didn’t grieve for his son. And we know that Apollo never grieved for Octavian.

Whether or not Octavian was remembered as a hero, as Apollo promised, is unknown. But if it’s true, they both died in battle and were commemorated as heroes in their deaths.

That Being Said,

The more I think about Octavian and Apollo’s relation, the more questions I have. And it’s frankly frustrating that we never got more insight into Octavian’s character and motivations.

The Tyrant's Tomb would have been the book to explore their past. Apollo has started to change as a person. And having him realise where he went wrong with Octavian would have helped fully round out his character arc. Instead Octavian is hardly even mentioned.