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How did Octavian remove Lepidus from the Second Triumvirate?
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Augustus
Portrait of the emperor Augustus, marble, Roman, c. 14â37 ce; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Height 27.94 cm.
In 36 BCE, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus attempted to challenge Octavianâs authority by raising Sicily in revolt. Octavian responded by crushing this uprising, which led to the desertion of Lepidus's own soldiers.1
Following this failure, Octavian disarmed Lepidus and stripped him of his office as a triumvir, effectively removing him from the Second Triumvirate. While Octavian forced Lepidus into retirement from public life, he allowed him to retain the position of pontifex maximus (high priest) as a gesture of conspicuous piety, though the office held no real political power.123