Actium
Actium, Greece

The Battle of Actium

This naval battle was one of the great pivotal moments in the history of the world.

During the late 1st century BCE, Octavian (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, and named successor to Julius Caesar in his will) controlled the western territories of the Roman world, while Mark Antony and his allies controlled the eastern portions.

In 31 BCE, Mark Antony and Cleopatra fought Octavian in what became the crucial naval battle in a war for control of the entire ancient Roman world. Their two fleets clashed along the western coast of Greece (just outside the Ambracian Gulf); a nearby cape gave the battle its name.

Antony and Cleopatra's fleet consisted primarily of massive quinqueremes while Octavian's fleet was made up mainly of smaller Liburnian vessels.

Antony’s ships had a cataphract design, in which oarsmen are protected on the sides and above from missile fire. Octavian’s had an aphract design, in which oarsmen are unprotected, unless by a leather screen along the side of the ship.

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Antony's quinqueremes had two advantages:
  • They were taller allowing soldiers to shoot or attack down upon an enemy.
  • They had bronze plates which protected them from ramming.

Conversely, the Liburnian ships were much more maneuverable. The primary tactic of Roman naval battles was to maneuver into position to ram and sink an opponent's ship. Since the quinqueremes could not maneuver quickly enough to ram the faster Liburnian ships and the Liburnians could not do much damage even if they did ram the plated quinqueremes the battle progressed slowly, with Octavian gaining the upper hand.

We are not sure exactly what happened, but Roman writers tell us that Cleopatra and some of her ships fled the battle, followed soon after by Antony and some of his ships.  By the end of just one day's fighting, Octavian's navy had so completely destroyed their rival's warships that Antony and Cleopatra's forces never recovered.  With his decisive victory, Octavian became undisputed ruler of the Mediterranean.  In 27 BCE, the Roman Senate bestowed the name Augustus on Octavian.

The Monument
Two years after the victory, Augustus built a trophy monument, in thanksgiving for his victory, on the heights overlooking the waters where the battle had been waged.  He also founded a new city, Nikopolis (Victory City) at the base of the hill.  The monument was formally dedicated to Mars and Neptune (the hill on which the monument was built was probably sacred to Apollo).  It has a stone podium, into one side of which his masons cut sockets to hold the bronze ramming prows from Antony and Cleopatra's ships. The rams were hauled up from the sunken ships and inserted into specially cut sockets shaped specifically for each unique ram.

The rest of the trophies from the battle were housed in a stoa on top of the podium.

Over the centuries, the monument has fallen into ruins and all the bronze rams have disappeared.  Archaeologists have long wondered what the original monument might have looked like with the massive rams from Antony and Cleopatra’s ships protruding from the face of the podium, in full view from Nikopolis below.

  
Drawing showing what the monument at Actium might have looked likeDrawing showing what the monument at Actium might have looked like, with the row of rams on the lower platform.
Photograph showing a portion of the wall into which were cut sockets to hold the many rams at Actium
Photograph showing a portion of the wall into which were cut sockets to hold the
many rams at Actium (photo courtesy of William M. Murray).

Reference
Page Created: October 5, 2004
Page Updated: October 7, 2009
URL:
Page Author: The Institute for the Visualization of History