Battle of Actium
The Battle of Actium on 2 September 31 BCE, fought in the waters off northwestern Greece, decided the fate of the Roman world: Octavian's fleet under Agrippa outmaneuvered the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII, whose ships attempted to break out of a blockade but were outfought and routed. Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt with a fraction of their forces; both died by suicide within a year as Octavian advanced on Alexandria. The battle ended the last civil war of the Republic era, eliminated the Ptolemaic dynasty, made Egypt Rome's personal property (and grain supply), and left Octavian as the uncontested master of the Roman world. Octavian's propaganda framed the war as a national struggle against a foreign queen rather than a civil war, obscuring the fact that he had just defeated a Roman general. Within four years he would be given the honorific 'Augustus' and the Principate would be established.
- Category: Military
