The Battle of Actium, Part 2: War

The morning of September 2, 31 B.C., The sea was calm. Octavian, knowing from what Dellius had told him that the battle would not be delayed after the abating of the storm, prepared to draw up his fleet in three

squadrons and to place them less than a mile away from the mouth of the Gulf. The left wing was commanded by Agrippa, the right by Marcus Lurius, and the middle by a certain Lucius Arruntius. Octavian did not command a sector; but on a swift Liburnian ship, he was visible to his men as a focus of morale. Antony had also divided his fleet into three commands: the left, was in charge of Sossius, the right, opposing Agrippa, was under Antony's personal direction, and the middle was commanded by an officer named Marcus Insteius. The center of the line was weaker, but behind it lay Cleopatra and her squadron of sixty ships. Antony, during the early morning, went with aching head from ship to ship encouraging his men.

Antony's fleet sailed from its harbor and stretched in a long north-south line. The strongest squadrons were on the wings; Antony was in charge of the best three squadrons on the right. The two land armies, drawn up along the shores, waited and watched. For some hours the ships delayed. In the afternoon the regular northwest wind rose. Now Antony moved out, lengthening his line, drawing Agrippa into a matching movement, so that both lines grew longer and the centers thinner and weaker. Two explanations are proposed for the maneuver. If Antony intended to fight for victory by outflanking Agrippa's ships, he could turn the line, forcing it back to land where Octavian would be besieged by Antony's ships holding the waterways; thus, Octavian would have to fight by land and at a disadvantage. The other explanation is that Antony's prime objective was always flight. He waited for the favoring afternoon breeze from the northwest to take him south beyond the island of Leucas. Once in the open sea, he could use the sails to speed the fleet toward Egypt. Still more important, Antony was pulling the already weak centers even thinner so that Cleopatra and her squadron of sixty ships placed behind the center could break free and run toward Egypt. Perhaps Antony was alert for the opportunities of turning Agrippa's flank. But his conduct indicates that his main objective was to enable Cleopatra with her treasure to escape the blockade, then to follow her with the maximum number of his ships. Not unlike his land retreat from Phraaspa, this was a sea retreat from an untenable position undertaken to minimize losses.

In the action, Antony's right wing was unable to outflank Agrippa's line. Rather, Agrippa broke and scattered Antony's line; as the individual ships rammed and grappled, Agrippa's greater numbers prevailed. Twelve Antonian ships were captured, including Antony's huge flagship. He himself escaped on a lighter ship. While Antony's right wing fought valiantly against the odds, although getting the worse of it, the center and left wing were also engaged. About midafternoon, when the northwest breeze was at its strongest, Cleopatra's sixty ships, which had waited passively behind the line of action, sailed through the weakened center and fled toward Egypt. Antony was now free to follow with what ships he could save. About forty of his right wing escaped with him. The other ships were trapped, fought savagely for a time, then, turning toward shore, surrendered to Octavian. Notwithstanding, fragments of battle persisted until dark, and Octavian remained on board all night, patrolling to cut off any remaining ships still fleeing to join Antony. Surrender lessened the casualties. Fifteen ships and 5,000 of Antony's men were lost. Agrippa used part of the surrendered fleet as a naval police force; but Octavian burned most of the ships, saving only the metal beaks to display on Caesar's temple at Rome. The battle of Actium, then, although decisive politically in determining that Octavian would rule the Roman Empire, was not a major military action. Only in the later accounts written to glorify the victor Octavian was the tale colored and magnified to heroic stature. In these accounts Cleopatra, then Antony under her baleful influence, deserted their men, casting aside honor for selfishness and lust. A less emotional analysis argues that Octavian's victories occurred earlier when Agrippa cut Antony's supply lines to Egypt and put Antony under a virtual siege. At Actium Antony had broken out and, against considerable odds, had saved the Egyptian queen and her treasure, a hundred of their ships, and perhaps 20,000 of his better soldiers. Thus, they could mobilize fresh forces and initiate new strategies to control the east.

Sources: Plutarch's Life of Antony

Cassius Dio, Roman History, Vol. V, Book: 50

Eleanor Goltz Huzar, Mark Antony-A Biography

Arthur Weigall, The Life & Times of Mark Antony

The Battle of Actium, Part 1: Pre-War

In September or October, 32 B.C., the men established winter quarters at Patrae on the Gulf of Corinth. In the spring they moved to Actium, the south shore of the entrance to the Gulf of Ambracia, a superb harbor for the fleet. Strategy included cutting off Octavian's attack and keeping supply lines open to Egypt.

Therefore, ships and men were stationed on the islands and coastline of western Greece, from Corcyra south to Methone, the westernmost point of the southern Peloponnesus, which controlled the passage around it. Crete and Cyrenaica completed the supply line secured to Egypt. The land army now included 19 legions of approximately 60,000 Italians, 15,000 light-armed Asiatics, plus 12,000 cavalry. The navy had over 500 manned warships. Mark Antony, imperator for the fourth time, claiming the consulship for the third time—although Octavian's other consuls were actually in office—seemed strongly positioned. Octavian, however, had some critical advantages and the daring to use them. His army and navy were slightly stronger than Antony's: a likely estimate is 75,000 legionnaires, 25,000 light-armed, 12,000 cavalry, over 400 warships. His officers were united behind him. His admiral was Marcus Agrippa, who had already proved his naval genius against Sextus Pompey. While Antony prepared his defense, Octavian initiated the offensive.

In early spring, 31 B.C., Agrippa, with half Octavian's fleet, broke Antony's lifeline to Egyptian supplies by capturing Methone, Antony's southernmost harbor in Greece. Octavian then crossed the Adriatic to the north, landing his army in Epirus but marching south swiftly in an attempt to catch Antony unprepared. Failing in that hope, Octavian fortified a high position and secured for his fleet an adequate harbor north of the entrance to the Gulf of Ambracia and opposite Antony's camp at Actium on the southern point.15 While Octavian thus immobilized Antony's main army and locked his navy into the gulf, Agrippa seized critical positions along Antony's supply line. The island of Leucas, which was southwest of Actium and along which Antony's ships bound for Egypt had to sail, was seized. Then Corcyra, Patrae, and Corinth, which secured the Gulf of Corinth and access to the Peloponnesus, were taken. Octavian dominated the Egnatian roadway to the north. With startling swiftness, Antony had lost the whole superiority of Egyptian granaries and had been reduced to foraging supplies from impoverished northern Greece for his vast host. Plutarch recounts his great-grandfather's tale how the people of Chaeronea in Boeotia, goaded by whips, were forced to carry their meager supplies to Antony's camp. Antony crossed to the northern shore, trying to provoke Octavian to fight, but Octavian would not be lured from his safe heights. Next Antony tried twice to encircle Octavian and cut off his limited water sources. When these efforts failed, Antony withdrew again to Actium, essentially besieged.

The distresses of siege beset the camp. Widespread disease, malaria or dysentery, resulted from the brackish water. Food grew scarcer. By August, Antony tried to break the blockade by sending an army north under the joint command of Dellius and Amyntas, king of Galatia, which he followed with another contingent, while the fleet tried to break out of the Gulf of Ambracia. The effort was disastrously aborted. Amyntas, now free of Actium and in command of 2,000 crack Galatian cavalry, deserted to Octavian. So, too, did Dellius, who had in former years acted as diplomatic agent between Antony and Cleopatra. He brought as his pledge to Octavian a full account of Antony's problems and plans.

Escape from the rapidly worsening situation was imperative. The Romans, trusting the legions and Antony as general, argued that their army could cut its way overland into Macedonia, thence to Asia, Syria, and Egypt. Cleopatra still trusted the sea and was unwilling to desert her rowers and burn her fleet. She argued that if Egypt were secured, new legions could be raised throughout the east. Antony, no longer trusting either the army or the navy or, perhaps, his own leadership, accepted the Egyptian plan, realizing that the fight by sea was needed to enable the land forces to escape. Canidius Crassus, who had brought the legions out of Armenia, was given charge of about 50,000 men to march inland to Macedonia, thence to Asia and Egypt, if the sea battle were lost. Antony took charge of the fleet, realizing fully his inexperience at sea and the attrition his navy had suffered from disease and desertion. Indeed, despite the impressment of Greek sailors, he had more ships than rowers and burned the craft he could not man. He was left with about 230 ships to Octavian's 400 ships, although Antony's ships on the average were larger and well reinforced with metal braces against ramming. In the face of the odds, Antony's objective was not a fight to victory but successful flight. Sails and tackle were added to the ships, awkward for naval maneuver but appropriate for swift flight.

To the dismayed crews they were explained as needed to pursue retreating ships. The treasure, necessary for any future struggle, was loaded on Cleopatra's flagship, the Antonias, which commanded a squadron of sixty warships. The sailors and the 20,000 legionnaires and 2,000 archers and slingers manning the ships were exhorted to fight. They read the preparations as those for flight and lost all heart for the battle.

Sources: Plutarch's Life of Antony

Cassius Dio, Roman History, Vol. V, Book: 50

Eleanor Goltz Huzar, Mark Antony-A Biography

Arthur Weigall, The Life & Times of Mark Antony

Painting: Battle of Actium by Johann Georg Platzer

does anyone want to have a concerning power dynamic with me

Some pictures of the visual reconstruction of the Villa of Livia, known in Antiquity as Villa Ad Gallinas Albas (the Villa of White Chickens). It belonged to Augustus' wife Livia Drusilla. According to the story, the eagle once dropped a hen holding a laurel branch in its beak into Livia's lap. At the advice of the soothsayer, the branch was planted, creating a laurel tree garden at the premises while the white hens roamed around to secure the good fortune of her family. Whenever a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty celebrated a Triumph, their laurel wreaths were made from these trees.

The famous statue of Augustus of Prima Porta and wall frescos of a garden are from this villa.

I've also read a version that the hen was either a symbol of the great future awaiting Octavian who was her husband at the time OR that the hen was the sign that she should marry Octavian.

Lesson is, if an eagle drops a hen in front of you, run away. It might be telling you to marry Octavian or his equivalent.

(If you're Agrippa, then run to pick it up, of course.)

bookmark of all time

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happy happy happy

[ID: Nine busts of ancient Romans, edited to have big toothy grins. In order: Cato the Elder, Marcus Agrippa, Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, Mark Antony, Pompey Magnus, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Cicero, and...I don't know the last one. ]

This is just disturbing. I think Antony and Octavian look the most natural? Octavian's smile is definitely his "Hee hee hee I have beheaded Brutus" smile, though.

Cato is now in my nightmares.

It .. It sort of looks like this should be the opener to some Ancient Roman Fall of the Republic television show...

the thing to remember about the roman emperor augustus is that he was the human equivalent of those small purse dogs who are very little but also clearly remember a time when they were wolves and as such not only have a need to attack things but the determination to get violent the second they feel like it

Live your life in such a way that Augustus would've exiled you.

The Octavianus Fragrance: for a price you can barely afford, you too can smell like sickness and desperation!

[Grabbing Octavian] show us Julius Caesar's terrible Oedipus fanfiction you coward

Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colosssus, trans. Teresa Martín Lorenzo

Nah, I still think Augustus wearing five shirts and a toga at the same time takes the cake.

Suetonius, Claudius, 2; Augustus, 82

Can't afford to turn up heat too much and it is cold so I'm dressing like Augustus.

Even the cat has a sweater.

Amethyst Intaglio Circa 1st Century, B.C. - A.D. Roman, Possibly Carved by Master Gem Carver, Dioscurides, Who Was The Favorite Gem Carver Of Emperor Augustus

This is why he was exiled.