Battle of Actium
|Battle of Actium|
|Part of The Final War of the Roman Republic|
The battle of Actium, by Lorenzo A. Castro, 1672.
|Octavian's supporters and forces||Ptolemaic Egypt,
Mark Antony's supporters
|Commanders and leaders|
|Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa||Mark Antony|
|250 warships, mostly small liburnian vessels and Hexeres with 16,000 Legionary Marines and 3,000 archers.||230 warships, mostly quinqueremes with some larger Deceres, 30/50 Transports and 60 Egyptian warships. 2,000 Archers and 20,000 Legionary Marines.|
|Casualties and losses|
|About 2,500 killed||Over 5,000 killed;
200 ships sunk/captured
The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC, on the Ionian Sea near the Roman colony of Actium in Greece. Octavian's fleet was commanded by Agrippa, while Antony's fleet was supported by the ships of his lover, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt.
Octavian's victory enabled him to consolidate his power over Rome and its dominions. To that end, he adopted the title of Princeps ("first citizen"). As a result of the victory he was awarded the title of Augustus by the Roman Senate.
References[change | change source]
- Paul K. Davis 1999. 100 Decisive Battles from ancient times to the present: the World’s major battles and how they shaped history Oxford: Oxford University Press. p63