by Algy Moncrieff

Created on: July 19, 2009   Last Updated: July 25, 2009

"This foul Eqyptian hath betrayed me: My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder They cast their caps up and carouse together Like friends long lost. Triple turn'd whore!"

Perhaps the greatest love story ever told is that of Mark Antony, Triumvir of Rome, and Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra details the ultimately tragic tale of the "triple pillar of the world," and his Egyptian Queen as her maddening beauty turns one of the three most powerful men in the Roman world into "a strumpet's fool". The Battle of Actium was the beginning of the end for Antony and Cleopatra, as Octavian, soon to be Imperator of Rome, came to put an end to the threat that Cleopatra's son Caesarion posed to his power; and to put an end to Antony's refusal to accept his duties as Triumvir. Perhaps more importantly it marked the beginning of the end for the Roman Republic and the power of the Senate, and the rise of the Roman Empire under Octavian as Augustus Caesar.

The accusations against Antony in the years leading up to the battle were many. Octavian, speaking in front of the Senate, accused Antony of having no authority of being in Egypt, that he had illegally executed Sextus Pompeius, that he was not sending half of the spoils of war to Rome as agreed, and finally that his loyalty to Cleopatra and Caesarion were a degradation of his office of Triumvir. At first however, an impassioned speech by one of the Senators left the Senate allied with Antony, who wasted no time in mobilising for war, gathering a vast fleet in the East and moving his army towards Greece.

Caesar too was moving into position, with his brilliant general Marcus Agrippa capturing a town belonging to Antony in Greece. He further managed to swing the opinion of the Senate away from Antony by emphasising his infatuation with Cleopatra and how this was leading to a dereliction of his duties as a Roman. Suddenly it was Octavian who the Senate was behind, and Antony was stripped of all legal authority. Caesar effectively had the go-ahead to attack.

The two sides met at Actium, a small town on the west coast of Greece, with Agrippa attempting to lure Antony to the attack by moving south and capturing his settlements along the coast, and Caesar moving his fleet into position to attack at sea. Realising that Antony was a better commander on land than at sea Cleopatra recommended that the battle be fought on land, and the warships withdraw to Alexandria, which seemed to be agreed upon by

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