”The painting boat she was sitting on was like a luminous throne burning on the water… She was lying reclining under the sky tent made of golden cotton silk, and she was ten thousand times more delicate than Venus, who was intricately crafted in the picture”, This is the amazing scene when Cleopatra, the Cleopatra written by Shakespeare, and Antony, the eastern consul of Rome, met for the first time. In 44 BC, when Caesar left the Rome he fought for forever in his dream of becoming emperor, Rome’s eastern commander was once again conquered by the ancient Egyptian dynasty.
Mark Antony, one of the “last three” of the Roman Republic. As one of Caesar’s most capable men, Antony was not only the most powerful person in Rome after Caesar’s death, but also the most powerful contender for state power. Just as Antony was dreaming of becoming the second Alexander the Great, another figure who truly decided the fate of the Roman Empire appeared.
Gaius Octavian, the nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar, was also officially designated as his successor by Caesar. Octavian was nineteen when Caesar died. Facing the powerful and aggressive Anthony, this young man with a calm appearance and a deep understanding of political strategy, on the one hand, kept forbearance and silence, on the other hand, he secretly developed his forces in an attempt to make achievements.
In 43 BC, the empire was divided into three parts, and the latter three heads of politics were formally formed. Antony took the East and Gaul, Lepidus the cavalry commander took North Africa, and Octavian took Italy and Spain. Just when Antony fell in love with Cleopatra in the East, the calm and steady Octavian was eyeing the East in Italy. At this moment of vying for supremacy, Anthony, who was carried away by love, made a big mistake. In 33 BC, he abandoned his wife, Octavian’s sister Octavia, to marry the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, and blatantly promised to make Cleopatra co-rule with her and Caesar’s sons Egypt, Cyprus, and himself and the children of the Queen of Egypt would become rulers of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Antony’s betrayal of national territory provoked public outrage in Roman society. All Romans realized that Antony’s confrontation with Octavian would be more than a personal duel, and the outcome of the war would determine whether Rome’s position as the center of the empire would be replaced by Alexandria or some other eastern city.
For a time, all Roman citizens aimed at Antony who was in the east. Octavian seized this favorable opportunity to launch a fierce propaganda offensive. In the autumn of 32 BC, the Roman Senate deprived Antony of his power and declared war on Egypt. Octavian was actively preparing for the war with the support of Roman citizens. A war that will ultimately decide the fate of the ancient Egyptian dynasty and the Roman nation is about to begin.
In 32 BC, Antony led 60,000 infantry, 15,000 cavalry, 150,000 navy sailors, and 500 warships to attack Greece and set up camp in the Cape of Actium. Get ready for a showdown with Octavian. And Octavian, who was already ready to go, immediately mobilized all his troops and ships after learning the news, totaling 80,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry, and more than 400 warships. The whole army set off immediately, crossed the Ionian waters, and confronted Antony across the sea in the southeastern part of Italy.
On the west coast of Greece, summer winds always blow from the ocean to the mainland in the morning, and by noon they switch to the same northwesterly wind. Anthony drew up a battle plan that he thought was foolproof. He divided the entire fleet into four formations: Left, Right, Center and Reserve. The 180 most powerful fleets led by him were concentrated on the right flank. Antony attempted to use the wind of the turn to detour to the enemy’s left flank to gain the upper hand, and to fight Octavian with the advantage of his ship’s huge impact resistance. He believed that Octavian’s ships were small, few in number, and fought against the wind, so that Octavian could be quickly defeated. Once Octavian’s fleet was defeated, his army would not fight for lack of transport ships and provisions. With this arrangement, Anthony believed that in the event of a defeat, he could flee to Egypt with the wind. To this end, he ordered all ships to carry sails so that they could sail quickly and withdraw quickly when the battle was unfavorable.
However, what Anthony could not have imagined was that this almost perfect battle plan was completely scuttled by the appearance of a deserter. Antony’s old friend, the Roman nobleman Achnobabus, escaped and informed Octavian of Antony’s battle plan. After grasping Antony’s intentions, Octavian decided to go with the plan. He divided the fleet into three parts on the sea, left, center, and right. They were lined up in a line. They were commanded by the famous admirals Agrippa, Arendi, and himself, waiting quietly for Anthony’s fleet to leave the harbor.
At noon on September 2, 31 B.C., drums and trumpets rang in unison, and the sound of killing was thunderous, and the battle of Akexing began. Anthony’s huge fleet is like a mountain of mountains. However, when his right flank swerved towards the enemy’s flank as planned, Agrippa’s main fleet also swooped towards Antony’s flank. Agrippa gave full play to the advantages of lightness and good maneuverability of the hull, advancing left and right, detouring back and forth, trying to avoid the long-range stone throwing attack of Anthony’s fleet, and violently ramming the enemy ship. At the same time, Agrippa also used his newly invented new sea weapon – “pliers” to hook the enemy ship. The infantry on the ship took the opportunity to jump on the springboard to the deck of Antony’s ship, giving full play to the advantages of the Roman army’s land warfare, using spears and short swords to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. In an instant, flesh and blood flew across the sea and screamed. In the face of the well-coordinated Octavian fleet, Antony’s combat deployment was always difficult to play any role.
In the evening when the fire was shining in the sky, Anthony, who knew that the defeat was set, made a desperate attempt to break through, and finally escaped back to Egypt under the cover of night. Since then, Anthony has never recovered. In the summer of the following year, Octavian led an army to attack Egypt. After the defeat, Antony, who heard rumors of Cleopatra’s death, could not help but lose his mind and commit suicide. Not long after, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt also committed suicide. The ancient Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty also fell.
Octavian’s victory was not only his personal victory, but also the victory of the Roman Republic. The heroic and epic sea battle of Actium not only forged the huge Roman Empire, but also ruined the once glorious Egyptian dynasty. From then on Egypt was no longer an independent country, and this situation continued into modern times. In this contest between the Western civilization headed by Octavian and the Eastern Empire headed by Antony, will Octavian inevitably bring the crown of victory? Maybe without the appearance of a deserter, Antony may win, then Rome and Egypt Maybe it’s time to swap central positions in the empire. And the splendid ancient Roman civilization in history can only come to an abrupt end. The fate and turning point of history, radiation and mutation, crisis and prospect are determined by chance. When people look at history objectively and face up to the inevitable laws, the contingency of history also leaves endless thinking for future generations.
