The Naval Battle at Actium, 31BC

Cleopatra VII (69BC-30BC), was the ethnic Macedonian ruler of Egypt. The last Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, Cleopatra with her Roman consort, Mark Antony, attempted to create a Mediterranean empire, centered in the East, to rival that of Rome in the first century BC. With the wealth of Egypt and newly obtained lands in the Near East, Cleopatra was a powerful adversary to the Roman empire. In addition, Caesarion, her son by Julius Caesar, was a potential threat to the legitimacy of Rome's new leader, Octavian, the designated heir of Caesar.

(GR1879.7-12.15 (Sculpture 1873), Castellani Head, 80-40 BC, Italy. London: British Museum. Photograph taken by author.)


Octavian (63BC-14BC), later Augustus Caesar, was the first emperor of the Roman Empire. The adopted son of Julius Caesar, he was the inheritor of Caesar's position as defacto ruler of Rome after decades of civil war. At the Donations of Alexandria in 34BC, Mark Antony, earlier an ally of Octavian, gave Roman land in the Near East to Cleopatra and recognized Caesarion as Caesar's legitimate heir. A threat to both Roman security and Octavian, Cleopatra and her aspirations of an Eastern empire could not be ignored for much longer.
(GR1911.9-1.1, Bronze head of Augustus, c27-25BC, from Sudan. London: British Museum. Photograph taken by author.)

The combined land and naval forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra established camp at Actium on the western coast of Greece in 31BC. Hardly a mere observer, Cleopatra supplied both the funds and the majority of the fleet for the campaign. In addition, she actually commanded those naval forces. Roman forces cut off Antony's legions on land and Marcus Agrippa, Octavian's naval commander and close friend, trapped the Egyptian ships off the coast. Undermanned due to disease and desertion, Antony's warships were defeated on September 2, 31BC. This victory ensured Octavian's position in Rome and lead to his adoption of the title Princeps (first citizen) and his acceptance of the ephitet "Augustus" from the Roman senate.

(GR1872.12.14.1 (Bronze 830), Bronze prow of a boat or small ship. London: British Museum. Photograph taken by author.)


After the defeat, Cleopatra and Antony fled back to Alexandria with Octavian's forces in pursuit. With Roman forces nearing the capitol, Mark Antony and Cleopatra both committed suicide in 30BC. Scholars are unsure of her chosen method of death, but tradition (and contemporary Roman sources) conclude Cleopatra died by a self-inflicted snakebite. Some sort of poison is likely, but the serpentine image still exists in modern representations of Cleopatra. After all, the uraeus (sacred cobra) was long associated with pharaonic power in Egypt.

(MME Franks Bequest 1897 AF3316, Naples, 1790-1800. London: British Museum. Photograph taken by author.)


Before and after the battle at Actium, Roman propaganda portrayed Cleopatra as both whore and Oriental despot, a false image that persists into the modern day. Cleopatra was condemned in literary propaganda, such as the Aeneid and other state-sponsored poetry, as well as visual forms such as the oil lamp above. This propaganda was important because the first century BC was marked by a series of Roman civil wars; therefore, Octavian could not admit that Romans were again fighting other Romans (Antony and his forces). To legitimize the engagement at Actium, Octavian portrayed Cleopatra as the sole enemy of Rome. State propaganda reinforced this concept through the depiction of Cleopatra as the overly sexual Eastern queen.

(GR 1865.11-18.249 (Lamp Q 900), Terracotta Lamp with a Caricatured Scene, Italy, 40-80 AD. London: British Museum. Photograph taken by author.)