Lecture 6: 31 B.C. Actium—Birth of the Roman Empire
x Meanwhile, Agrippa continued his raids along the coast, capturing
one strategic position after another. This string of victories not
only raised the morale of Octavian’s troops while eroding that of
Antony’s, but they also put a stranglehold on Antony’s supply lines.
Compounding his problems, Antony’s camp was on low-lying
ground, and his men were wracked by malaria and dysentery; as a
result, Antony’s army began to suffer deaths and desertions.x Antony now had to act before he lost his whole force, and he chose
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and 2,000 archers. It is uncertain whether Antony’s plan was to
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escape with as much of his force as possible.x Antony deployed his ships in four groups—a right wing, a left
wing, a center, and a reserve—each consisting of about 60 galleys,
with himself in command of the right wing. Octavian’s forces of
nearly 400 ships and about 40,000 soldiers took up position in
a broad arc, with Agrippa on the left side, facing Antony, and
Octavian on the right.x Antony had hoped that Octavian would rush forward to attack him
in the shallows, where Octavian’s greater number of ships could
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to come out to him, even backing up slightly to ensure that Antony
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battle devolved into a series of individual combats among small
groups of ships. Two or three of Octavian’s smaller ships clustered
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then closing to board.x $VWKHEDWWOHZRUHRQDQGDV2FWDYLDQ¶VVKLSVVRXJKWWRRXWÀDQN
Antony’s, a gap opened up in the center of Octavian’s line.
Immediately, Cleopatra’s reserve squadron raised their sails and
lunged through. Making no attempt to engage Octavian, they set