Information about Octavian/Augustus Caesar to the conquest of Antony and Cleopatra.

Octavian, later called Augustus, was born in 63 B.C and died in 14 A.D. The mother of his father Gaius Octavius was the daughter of Julius Caesar’s sister, and Gaius had been a strong supporter of Caesar. In 45 B.C. Octavian was adopted by Caesar in his will.

Although only 18, when Caesar was killed, Octavian acted fast and consolidated support among Caesar’s troops, and soon came into conflict with Mark Antony, Caesar’s chief captain. Antony, initially cooperated with Senate and the murderers of Caesar, who were assigned to provinces. The Senate passed an amnesty giving pardon to those who had killed Caesar. This compliance with the assassins of Caesar helped Octavian woo some supporters away from Antony. Antony got Caesar a grand funeral and there he inflamed the population of Rome by reading the ‘will’ of Caesar, which, among other things, gave millions away to the common people. Thinking that Antony and the Senate would revoke the amnesty, Brutus and Cassius fled East to raise armies. Soon Cicero launched an attack against Antony in Senate, a series of famous speeches called the s Philippics, which attacked Antony in very strong terms and advocated making Antony a public enemy and restoring the republic and liberty. The Senate did not completely go along, but they did order Decius Brutus (not the Brutus the killer of Caesar) to refuse to give up his province to Antony. The next year Antony goes into battle against Brutus and against the Senate supported consuls, Hirtius and Pansa but Octavian goes to their support and defeats Antony. Antony retreated into Transalpine Gaul, was joined by supporters of Caesar, especially Lepidus, eventually controlling 22 legions. The retreat, which actually made Antony stronger, made the Senate think that he was weaker, and they declared him a public enemy, and thus felt they didn’t need to submit so much to Octavian.

The Consuls Hirtius and Pansa both soon died. Octavian, aware of Cicero’s plan to use and then dispose of him, demanded the Senate give him consulship. They refused. Octavian marched his troops into Rome. Then Octavian calls an assembly, gets himself elected consul, and passes laws naming all of Caesar’s killers public enemies. Then Octavian made an alliance with Lepidus and Antony -- the third triumvirate. They forced their will on the Roman government, controlled the election of all magistrates and even had Caesar declared a god and dedicated a temple to him. The Republic was finally dead. Of course there were proscriptions -- 300 senators and 200 knights were killed, including Cicero. part of the reason for these proscriptions was the desperate need for money and land by the Triumvirate to pay their troops and veterans. Although the killers of Caesar scored some early successes, eventually Octavian and Antony crossed over to Macedon and destroyed the armies of Brutus and Cassius, who committed suicide. Antony was the main winner here. Antony and Octavian divided the empire between them, with Antony taking the richer East. In the West Octavian had to find land for the veteran troops (displacing many Italian farmers, had to deal with Sextus Pompey (Pompey the Great’s son) and Antony’s brother, who even tried to attack Rome in 41. This lead to another short flare up in civil war, but, in part thanks to Maecenas, there was another reconciliation in 40 B.C., at which time Antony married Octavian’s sister.

But soon Antony, found a new love, Julius Caesar’s ex, Cleopatra. By 37 B.C, despite another attempt at reconciliation, Antony was living openly with Cleopatra and abandoned Octavia by 35. Antony, after extracting huge sums of money from the Eastern provinces, had tried to conquer Armenia, but failed at first, and thus became even more dependant on the wealth and troops of Cleopatra, who eventually became his lover. In the West, under the command of his close friend Agrippa, Octavian defeated Sextus Pompey in 36; Lepidus, who tried to oppose Octavian, was deserted by is legions and forced into retirement. The army and navy that Octavian had to build to defeat Sextus Pompey would prove very useful later; it is here that Octavian began to win the ‘arms race’ against Antony. He also made some conquests in the Balkans.

A propaganda war begin in earnest in 33 between Antony and Octavian. Antony divorced Octavian’s sister in 32, and Octavian published the supposed ‘will’ of Antony in which he divided up the Roman empire among the children he had had with Cleopatra. Octavian held up the image of Rome begin threaten by a barbarian Queen and her degenerate Roman consort. The next year Octavian declared war -- against Cleopatra. After various minor battles and maneuverings, Agrippa defeated Antony in the naval battle off Actium.

Antony had anchored his fleet in a small harbor on the Dalmatian side of the Adriatic sea, and soon Octavian’s fleet had him trapped within his harbor. Octavian also had his land armies placed in strategic positions to cut off all supplies to Antony’s army and fleet. Antony also had a large army encamped on the shores of the Ambracian Gulf (on the Dalmatian Coast across the Adriatic Sea from Italy). There had been skirmishes and indecisive battles all throughout the Summer of 31 B. C. Near the end of summer, Antony’s supplies were getting low and so was the morale of his troops.  Finally, on September 2, Antony came out to fight. His 220 heavy Roman warships were equipped with stone throwing catapults. They attacked Octavian’s 260 lighter vessels at close range. Octavian’s lighter vessels were more maneuverable, though, and could use their rams more effectively than Antony’s ships could. Also, Octavian had the great advantage of having the brilliant general and military strategist Marcus Agrippa in command of his fleet. Cleopatra had 60 warships in the battle, including her treasure ship with its purple sails.  The fighting continued throughout the day, with stout - hearted legionaries on both sides staining the sea red with Roman blood and killing their fellow citizens in about equal numbers. Then, a very strange thing happened. Cleopatra decided to take her ships and flee. This act of cowardice dealt a serious blow to the morale of Antony’s men and cheered Octavian’s sailors on to ultimate victory. The battle was nowhere near lost, there was not even a clear indication of which fleet was winning before Cleopatra cut her cables and ran.  Then, the final blow to Roman morale was struck by Antony himself. Upon seeing his beloved queen fleeing, he chose to abandon his stalwart Roman legions and follow her. After a desperate chase, he finally caught up with her. Meanwhile, Octavian’s ships made short work of mopping up Antony’s fleet. Many of Antony’s brave seamen surrendered to Octavian and the battle was over.

They fled to Egypt. Although on paper the defeat of Actium was not a total defeat, it suggested weakness to his followers, who thought he had deserted him, and many went over to Octavian. In 30 Octavian managed to capture Alexandria, and Cleopatra and Antony committed suicide. Octavian spared their children, all but Caesarion,whom Cleopatra had claimed was the child of Julius Caesar. Octavian returned to Rome to celebrate triumph in 29 -- and to a major reorganization of Roman power.
 
 

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