War of Actium

War of Actium
Part of the Crisis of the Roman Republic
Anachronistic baroque painting of the Battle of Actium by Laureys a Castro, 1672
Date March 32 – August 30 BC Location Greece and Egypt Result Octavian victory Territorial changes Rome annexes Egypt and control over eastern provinces reasserted
Belligerents
Western Roman provinces	Eastern Roman provinces Ptolemaic Egypt
Commanders and leaders
Octavian Marcus Agrippa Titus Statilius Taurus Lucius Pinarius Scarpus	Mark Antony  Cleopatra  Gaius Sosius (POW) P. Canidius Crassus
Strength
200,000 Roman legionaries[citation needed] 450 Roman warships and transports[citation needed]	173,700 Roman legionaries[citation needed] 18,000 Ptolemaic soldiers[citation needed] 5,000 Median reinforcements[citation needed] 154 Roman and Ptolemaic warships and transports[citation needed]
Casualties and losses
50,000[a][citation needed]	75,000[b][citation needed]

Octavian

Mark Antony

The War of Actium^{[1][2][3][4][5]} (32–30 BC) was the last civil war of the Roman Republic, fought between Mark Antony (assisted by Cleopatra and by extension Ptolemaic Egypt) and Octavian. In 32 BC, Octavian convinced the Roman Senate to declare war on the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. Her lover and ally Mark Antony, who was Octavian's rival, gave his support for her cause. Forty percent of the Roman Senate, together with both consuls, left Rome to join the war on Antony's side. After a decisive victory for Octavian at the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra and Antony withdrew to Alexandria, where Octavian besieged the city until both Antony and Cleopatra were forced to commit suicide.

The war involved some of the largest Roman armies ever seen. Both Antony and Octavian's legions were experienced veterans of previous civil wars who had fought together, many also having once served under Caesar. The two did however raise their own legions separately.

Following the end of the war, Octavian brought peace to the Roman state that had been plagued by a century of civil wars, marking the beginning of the Pax Romana, a period of relative internal peace and stability. Octavian became the most powerful man in the Roman world and the Senate bestowed upon him the honorific of Augustus in 27 BC. Octavian, now Augustus, became the first Roman emperor and transformed the Republic into the Roman Empire.

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