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Octavian’s war against Marcus Antonius is
an example where a power struggle had a tremendous impact on the Classical
Civilizations. After Julius Caesar’s
assassination in 44 BCE, his step-son, Octavian called for his
inheritance. He formed an alliance with
Marcus Antonius, who was Caesar’s good friend and a popular politician. They also allied themselves with Marcus
Lepidus, who was another politician.
Together, they formed the Second Triumvirate, and decided to avenge
Caesar’s death by leading an army against Caesar’s murders, who were Brutus and
the other conspirators. The two armies
fought at the Battle at Phillippi, resulting in the Triumvirate’s victory, and
Brutus’ suicide. After that, the members
of the Triumvirate began to turn against each other. Lepidus was eventually exiled, and only
Octavian and Marcus Antonius remained.
Marcus went to Egypt where he began to
share power with its queen, Cleopatra.
He even left his own wife, who was Octavian’s sister, for Cleopatra who
had three children with him. It was
Antonius’ goal to give some of Rome’s territory to his children and possibly
lead a revolution with his Egyptian power against Octavian. As Octavian is gaining more and more power,
he does not want to share his power with Antonius and therefore wants to find a
way to legitimately declare war upon him.
Through illegal means, Octavian finds and opens Antonius’ will to find
that he was planning on giving some of Rome’s territory to his children. The senate approved of Octavian’s declaration
of war against Egypt.
A conflict was inevitable and the two
armies met in a naval battle called the Battle at Actium. Octavian won the battle and destroyed both
Cleopatra’s fleet and Antonius’ fleet.
The couple escaped, where both killed themselves. This power struggle changed the course of
history because Octavian became the unchallenged ruler of Rome. He changed his name to Augustus, and founded
the Roman Empire, making him the very first Roman Emperor. The Empire would last for hundreds of years,
as it grew to conquer parts of the Middle East, Britain, and the many other
areas. Roman culture would eventually
seep into the other cultures, and unite all of the regions under one ruler. Without Octavian’s victory over Antonius,
none of these Roman accomplishments would have ever existed.
