FREE ACTIUM 31 BC: DOWNFALL OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA PDF Si Sheppard,Christa Hook | 96 pages | 23 Jun 2009 | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC | 9781846034053 | English | Oxford, England, United Kingdom Mark Antony | Historica Wiki | Fandom By the summer of 31 BC, his fleet was trapped in the Ambracian Gulf, on the west coast of Greece, by the ships of his enemy Octavian. Supplies were running out, malaria and dysentery were decimating his army, and the oarsmen who powered his ships were starting to desert. Sparked by the assassination of Julius Caesarthey had torn the Roman world apart. But once that common enemy had been tackled, their fragile alliance began to fracture and the two became bitter enemies. With a powerful navy numbering some ships, they probably hoped to lure Octavian and his forces into Greece, before destroying his fleet in a pitched battle, thus cutting his supply lines. If so, the ploy worked. Octavian crossed into Greece with a large army. Disastrously for Antony, however, sickness ravaged his forces. Much of his land army was unfit for battle, and he could muster crews for barely half his fleet. He was no great general, but his old friend Marcus Agrippa was an able soldier, and commanded his forces. Antony Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra a born soldier but a rather naive politician. Indeed, she bore them both children. Up on deck, archers drew their bows and those manning the ballistae huge crossbows stood ready to shoot; waiting soldiers gripped their weapons and offered silent prayers that they might not become the victims of enemy missiles. True, many of his vessels were quinqueremesformidable warships powered by hundreds of oarsmen and sporting high wooden towers packed with archers. The galleys under her command had been waiting in reserve, guarding transport ships laden with treasure. Now, she ordered them to hoist their sails and make straight for the gap, quickly escaping from the gulf and getting clean away. Antony followed in hot pursuit. Abandoning his flagship for a smaller, lighter craft, he sailed after his lover, followed by a handful of galleys that escaped the fighting. Towers, catapults, weapons Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra nonessential equipment were all hastily dumped into the sea; anything that might slow them down was thrown overboard in a desperate bid to enable the ships to outrun their pursuers. Their leader would later claim that Cleopatra had sailed off in a panic, and that Antony had abandoned his comrades in order to slavishly follow his lover. Anxious to preserve these ships and their crews for his own use, Octavian sailed from vessel to vessel, shouting that Antony had fled and pointing out the futility of further resistance. But at when the weather took a turn for the worse and, faced with the risk of capsizing and drowning as well as burning alive, the survivors finally gave up the fight. He retreated with some 60 ships to the fragile safety of Alexandria in Egypt. But the following summer, Octavian invaded. Deserted by his allies and his surviving troops, Antony committed suicide. Abolishing the old republic, he declared himself emperor for life. Taking the name Augustus, which means Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra or serene, he ruled for over 40 years, until his death in AD He was chronically short of men, and the spot where his army was camped was a mosquito-infested marsh near Actium, on the south shore of the gulf. The Battle of Actium was the climax of 13 years of civil wars. Outcome Victory for Octavian. Antony and Cleopatra escaped with their treasure but lost most of their ships. He would then, he hoped, pick up the prevailing wind, sail round the Peloponnese and make for Egypt. Ordering the rest of his army north to Macedonia, Antony readied his fleet — burning many ships for which he no longer had crews — and waited for the weather, which had been stormy for some days, to Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra. On 2 September his chance came. At about noon, he moved his ships out of the gulf and into the open sea — where Octavian and Agrippa waited for them, backing up to give themselves enough room to manoeuvre. A key supporter of Julius Caesar, he helped the great general in his conquest of Gaul. A member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin who had ruled Egypt for nearly years, Cleopatra infamously had love affairs with both Julius Caesar and then Antony. As the sweating oarsmen below decks hauled away, the two fleets began to close in on each other. Antony was drastically outnumbered. Cleopatra made her move. One account says that, when they ran out of water to put out the fires, they tried to smother the flames with the bodies of their dead comrades. Octavian, now undisputed master of the Roman world, introduced a series of reforms that gave him control over all aspects of government. What happened at the Battle of Actium? Who fought at the Battle of Actium? Alternate history: What if the Spanish Armada had landed? The outcome of another naval battle reimagined…. One account says that, when Mark Antony's men ran out of water to put out the fires, they tried to smother the flames with the bodies of their dead comrades. Your guide to the Roman empire: when it was formed, why it split and how it failed, plus its most colourful emperors. More on: Cleopatra. You may like. Ancient Egypt. When did Queen Cleopatra die and who killed her? What if The Spanish Armada had landed? Second World War. The capture of the Chesapeake : how the British Royal Navy rescued its Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra in the War of Actium 31 BC, Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra, Si Sheppard Antony and Cleopatra and The Aeneid. First, The Aeneid was written by a Roman named Virgil who, among many other reasons, wrote it as a tribute for Augustus Caesar, the leader of the Roman Empire. Augustus Caesar was formally named Octavian and is a character in Shakespeare's play. Secondly, both The Aeneid and Antony and Cleopatra share Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra common theme of a patriotic, heroic man having to choose between duty to Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra country and the passionate love of a beautiful, foreign and strong queen. First, an overview of the books of The Aeneid in which Aeneas is with Dido is needed in order to fully understand the historical connection, and the thematic comparison to Antony and Cleopatra. In Italy, Aeneas's descendents are destined to found Rome" Sparknotes. However, Aeneas does not go straight to Italy because having been blown off course by a storm, he makes a stop at Carthage and allows himself to stay there and fall in love with the leader of Carthage, Dido Slavitt Dido is a "Phoenician princess who fled her home and founded Carthage after her brother murdered her husband" Sparknotes. While in Carthage, Aeneas recounts the story of the Trojan War. Impressed by Aeneas's adventures and sympathetic to his suffering, Dido falls in love with Aeneas. They live together as lovers for a period, until the gods remind Aeneas of his duty to found a new city. Upon this reminder from the Gods, Aeneas leaves Carthage and sets sail to Italy. Dido is devastated by his departure, and kills herself with the sword Aeneas leaves behind Sparknotes. Aeneas eventually reaches Italy and establishes Rome. The first reason why The Aeneid is associated with Antony and Cleopatra is because a character in Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian, later known as Augustus, is the leader of the Roman Empire during the time when Virgil wrote The Aeneid and for whom it was written. Historically, before Augustus became emperor, internal strife plagued the Roman government. Crassus was killed around 53 B. Civil war erupted between the assassins and the Second Triumvirate which included Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus. By 36 B. At the Battle of Actium in 31 B. Shakespeare's play follows the events of the Second Triumvirate and ends when Octavian defeats Antony and becomes the sole ruler. Although Shakespeare uses historical names and events, Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra minute details and specific conversations between the characters in the play are fictitious. Four years after the events included in Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian assumed the title Augustus. Virgil witnessed all this turmoil, and the warring often disrupted his life Sparknotes. It was Vigil's particular Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra and fortune to have lived and written in this rare and most intense time when the darkness had, for a moment anyway, relented. After years of the aforementioned uncertainty, warfare, slaughter, and anarchy, Augustus Caesar had imposed upon the Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra a moment of order and peace. Instead of suffering in waste, there was stability and even a fair measure of justice Slavitt Celebrating this time of peace, the Aeneid honors Augustus Caesar and his government by alluding to the lineage between Aeneas and Augustus Slavitt The Aeneid celebrates Augustus' victory at Actium when he defeated Antony and Cleopatra alluded to an especially in the long description of Aeneas' shield in Aeneid 8 Toohey The shield depicts the story of the Roman glory that awaits Italy. Carved on the shield, among other Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra, is Romulus being nursed by the she-wolf, the defeat of the Gauls, and more importantly for this discussion, Caesar Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra as he defeats Antony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium Sparknotes.