Antony’s defeat marked the end of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Empire under Octavian Augustus. Introduction The Battle of Actium was a naval battle in the last war of the Roman Republic, fought between the fleet of Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. It took place on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea near the[…]
Octavian decided he could not simply give up his authority without risking further civil wars amongst the Roman generals. Introduction Augustus (Latin: IMPERATOR CAESAR DIVI FILIVS AVGVSTVS) (September 23, 63 B.C.E. – 14 C.E.), known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, for the period of his life prior to 27 B.C.E., was the first and among[…]
Their shaky alliance would steadily deteriorate, each of them waging a war of pernicious propaganda. By Jesse SifuentesHistorian Introduction Propaganda played an important role in Octavian (l. 63 BCE – 14 CE) and Mark Antony’s (l. 83 – 30 BCE) civil war, and once victorious at the Battle of Actium (31 BCE), Octavian returned home[…]
The came about, at least in part, due to the dynamics in the relationship between three forceful personalities: Octavian, Antony, and Cleopatra. Introduction The battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BCE concluded the Second Macedonian War (200-197 BCE) and consolidated Rome’s power in the Mediterranean, finally resulting in Greece becoming a province of Rome in 146[…]
Forty-five years of unopposed rule seems an unlikely feat for any ruler in Roman history. By Edelia Corona After a civil war that lasted thirteen years, treachery, and chaos, Rome finally had an emperor it could count on. Rome’s first emperor was born as Gaius Octavius in 63 B.C.E. His family was unlike any other[…]