It was begun by Augustus in 42 BC after the senate deified Julius Caesar posthumously. Augustus dedicated the prostyle temple to Caesar (his adoptive father) on August 18, 29 BCE, after the Battle of Actium. It stands on the east side of the main square of the Roman Forum on the site of Caesar's cremation. The temple stood on a tall podium and had a rostra in front of it, the Rostra Julia. This was a speakers platform decorated with the prows (rostra) of ships.