Battle of Actium ends the Hellenistic age
- Date
- 2 September 31 BCE
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Greece (Ionian Sea, off Actium)
- Era
- Classical Antiquity
- Significance
On 2 September 31 BCE, the fleet of Octavian, commanded by Agrippa, defeated the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt in a naval battle off Actium on the western coast of Greece. When Cleopatra's squadron broke away toward Egypt and Antony followed, their cause collapsed.
Octavian invaded Egypt the next year; Antony and Cleopatra took their own lives in 30 BCE, and Octavian annexed Egypt as a Roman province. Cleopatra's death ended the Ptolemaic dynasty that had ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries — the last of the great kingdoms founded by Alexander's successors. Actium therefore conventionally marks the close of the Hellenistic age and the absorption of the Greek-ruled East into Rome. The victory also made Octavian undisputed master of the Roman world, paving the way for him to become the emperor Augustus.
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Empires active in 2 September 31 BCE
- Han Dynasty202 BCE – 220 CE
- Roman Republic509 BCE – 27 BCE
- Parthian Empire247 BCE – 224 CE
- Xiongnu Confederation209 BCE – 93 CE
- Kan Kingdom (El Mirador)300 BCE – 150 CE
- Indo-Greek Kingdom180 BCE – 10 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Caesar's Gallic Wars and the Siege of Alesia58–50 BCE (Alesia 52 BCE)
- Battle of the Teutoburg Forest halts Roman expansion in GermaniaSeptember 9 CE
- Battle of Gaixia and the founding of the Han dynasty202 BCE
- The Kalinga War and Ashoka's turn to Dhammac. 261 BCE
- Destruction of Carthage and Corinth; Roman Mediterranean hegemony146 BCE
- Yuezhi defeat by the Xiongnu and westward migrationc. 176 BCE
Further reading
If you read one book
The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium
Narrative of the sea battle that founded the Roman Empire.
Get it on Amazon →Also worth reading
- Antony and Cleopatra — Amazon →
Antony and Cleopatra
Vivid dual biography of the losers at Actium, with a clear account of the battle itself.
Get it on Amazon →
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