Fought at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, off the coast of Acarnania in western Greece
The promontory gave the battle its name; Nicopolis was founded on the site.
History · Ancient world
The Battle of Actium
2 September 31 BC
The last war of the Roman Republic
A naval battle off the west coast of Greece in which Octavian's fleet, commanded by Agrippa, defeated the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt. Antony and Cleopatra broke out and fled to Alexandria, where both killed themselves the following year; Octavian was left sole ruler of the Roman world and, four years later, took the name Augustus.
How to spot them
- ▸Clue patterns: a sea fight at the mouth of a gulf in western Greece, a queen's squadron sailing away mid-battle
- ▸The victor founded a 'city of victory' on the site and revived the Olympic-style games there
- ▸Octavian's admiral did the actual commanding
- ▸It is usually taken as the birth date of the Roman Empire
What happened
A queen's sixty ships that hoisted sail and ran for Egypt while the fighting was still on
Cleopatra's squadron broke through the centre; Antony followed her.
The victor's boyhood friend, who had already beaten Sextus Pompey at sea, did the actual fighting
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.
A 'city of victory' founded on the headland afterwards, with revived games every four years
Nicopolis, in Epirus; the Actian Games.
The losers' deaths the next summer in Alexandria — a sword and, by tradition, an asp
Antony fell on his sword; Cleopatra's suicide is traditionally by snakebite.
Described at length on the shield of the hero in Rome's national epic
Virgil, Aeneid Book VIII, on the shield of Aeneas.
Quick-fire facts
- •It was fought on 2 September 31 BC off Actium, at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf in western Greece.
- •Octavian's fleet was commanded by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa; the opposing fleet was Mark Antony's, with Cleopatra VII's Egyptian squadron.
- •Rome had formally declared war on Cleopatra, not on Antony, to present it as a foreign rather than a civil war.
- •Cleopatra's ships withdrew during the battle and Antony followed; much of his fleet then surrendered.
- •Antony and Cleopatra died in Alexandria in August 30 BC; Egypt became a Roman province.
- •Octavian founded Nicopolis ('victory city') near the site and instituted the Actian Games.
- •In 27 BC the Senate gave Octavian the name Augustus; Actium is conventionally the end of the Republic.
- •Cleopatra's son by Caesar, Caesarion, was killed on Octavian's orders.
- •Virgil describes the battle on the shield of Aeneas in Aeneid VIII; Horace's 'Nunc est bibendum' ode celebrates the victory.
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Sources
- Cassius Dio — Roman History, Book L
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Battle of Actium
- Adrian Goldsworthy — Antony and Cleopatra