Battle of Actium

Battle of Actium
Part of The Final War of the Roman Republic
A baroque painting of the battle of Actium by Laureys a Castro, 1672. The Maritime Museum of Greenwich, Director's office, UK
Date 2 September 31 BC Location Ionian sea, near the promontory of Actium in Greece 38°56′04″N 20°44′19″E / 38.93444°N 20.73861°E / 38.93444; 20.73861Coordinates: 38°56′04″N 20°44′19″E / 38.93444°N 20.73861°E / 38.93444; 20.73861 Result Decisive victory for Octavian
Belligerents
Octavian's Roman and allied supporters and forces	Mark Antony's Roman and allied supporters Ptolemaic Egypt
Commanders and leaders
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Caesar Octavian Lucius Arruntius Marcus Lurius	Marcus Antonius Gaius Sosius Cleopatra VII
Strength
250 galleys 16,000 infantry 3,000 archers.	290 galleys 30–50 Transports 20,000 infantry 2,000 archers
Casualties and losses
About 2,500 killed	Over 5,000 killed; 200 ships sunk or captured

The Battle of Actium was the decisive confrontation of the Final War of the Roman Republic, a naval engagement between Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra on 2 September 31 BC, on the Ionian Sea near the promontory of Actium, in the Roman province of Epirus Vetus in Greece. Octavian's fleet was commanded by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, while Antony's fleet was supported by the power of Queen Cleopatra of Ptolemaic Egypt.

Octavian's victory enabled him to consolidate his power over Rome and its dominions. He adopted the title of Princeps ("first citizen") and some years later was awarded the title of Augustus ("revered") by the Roman Senate. This became the name by which he was known in later times. As Augustus, he retained the trappings of a restored Republican leader, but historians generally view this consolidation of power and the adoption of these honorifics as the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire.

The battle also marked the start of about three centuries of unequalled Roman naval supremacy over the entirety of the Mediterranean and beyond.

The alliance between Octavian, Antony and Lepidus, commonly known as the Second Triumvirate, was renewed for a five-year term in 38 BC. However, the triumvirate broke down when Octavian saw Caesarion, the professed son of Julius Caesar and Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, as a major threat to his power. This occurred when Mark Antony, the other most influential member of the triumvirate, abandoned his wife, Octavian's sister Octavia Minor. Afterwards he moved to Egypt to start a long-term romance with Cleopatra, becoming the de facto stepfather to Caesarion. Such an affair was doomed to become a political scandal. Antony was inevitably perceived by Octavian and the majority of the Roman Senate as the leader of a separatist movement that threatened to break the unity of the Roman Republic.

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