ONSITE COMMEMORATIONS of the BATTLE of ACTIUM The

CHAPTER FOUR

ONSITE COMMEMORATIONS OF THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM

καὶ ἐπ’ αὐτῇ τῷ τε Ἀπόλλωνι τῷ Ἀκτίῳ τριήρη τε καὶ τετρήρη, τά τε ἄλλα τὰ ἑξῆς μέχρι δεκήρους, ἐκ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων νεῶν ἀνέθηκε, καὶ ναὸν μείζω ᾠκοδόμησεν, ἀγῶνα τέ τινα καὶ γυμνικὸν καὶ μουσικῆς ἱπποδρομίας τε πεντετηρικὸν ἱερόν (οὕτω γὰρ τοὺς τὴν σίτησιν ἔχοντας ὀνομάζουσι) κατέδειξεν, Ἄκτια αὐτὸν ποσαγορεύσας. πόλιν τέ τινα ἐν τῷ τοῦ στρατοπέδου τόπῳ, τοὺς μὲν συναγείρας τοὺς δ’ ἀναστήσας τῶν πλησιοχώρων, συνῴκισε, Νικόπολιν ὄνομα αὐτῇ δούς. τό τε χωρίον ἐν ᾧ ἐσκήνησε, λίθοις τε τετραπέδοις ἐκρηπίδωσε καὶ τοῖς ἁλοῦσιν ἐμβόλοις ἐκόσμησεν, ἕδος τι ἐν αὐτῷ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ὑπαίθριον ἱδρυσάμενος. In honour of the date he dedicated to Apollo of Actium from the captured vessels a trireme, a quadrireme and one each of the other sizes of warships up to ten, and he built another and larger temple on the spot. He also founded a musical and gymnastic contest, which included horse-racing, to be held every four years; the festival was to be sacred, as such celebrations are termed in which there is a distribution of food, and he named it Actia. Besides this he established a city on the ground where he had pitched his camp; this was eff ected by bringing together some of the neighbouring peoples and evicting others, and the place was named Nicopolis. On the spot where his tent had stood, he built a plinth of square stones, which was ornamented with the rams of the captured ships, and erected on it a statue (hedos) for Apollo, which was open to the sky (Dio 51.1.2–3. Trans. Scott-Kilvert 1987).1 Th e important monograph by Murray and Petsas and the impressive new fi ndings by Zachos have caused renewed interested in an almost forgotten monument: a victory monument built on a hill sacred to Apollo, overlooking the city of Nicopolis, founded by Octavian to commemorate the battle at Actium.2 At the base of the hill the Actian games were situated, moved by Octavian from the old sanctuary of Apollo on the other side of the bay, to just outside his new city. One major problem in the recent scholarship on Actium is that Gurval’s book on

1 I have substituted the more accurate rendering ‘statue’ for hedos in place of Scott- Kilvert’s ‘shrine’: see Murray and Petsas 1989, 9–12, and further below. 2 Murray and Petsas 1989; Zachos 2001; 2003; 2007, vol. 1–2 on Nicopolis, Actium and the Victory Monument. 96 chapter four the subject, so far the only detailed monograph on the Actian ideology of Augustus, almost completely ignores this monument.3 Furthermore, as a consequence of the archaeological nature of the monument most recent scholarship has been archaeological in character, and a re-examination of this new material and the diff erent approaches to the monument and its monumental inscription is now due. Th is inscription, as part of the monument, is crucial for the understanding the monument and its connections to Rome and will be used to evalu- ate the new archaeological conclusions and their connection to the ‘Augustan’ ideology. Th e question remains how important Actium was to Octavian, in this case exemplifi ed by the onsite commemorations. It is time to try to give the monument its place both at Actium and in Rome, and try to recreate the early history of the Victory Monument.

4.1. Two victory cities

Aft er his victories at Actium and Alexandria Octavian built commemo- rative cities at each site and each with the name Nicopolis (‘Victory City’). Th e city in Egypt exists today only in the ancient evidence, whereas the city at Actium and its monuments partly survive and are also mentioned more frequently in the sources (Strabo 7.7.5–6 (324–5); Suet. Aug. 18.2; Dio 51.1.2–3. See also Prop. 4.6.15ff ; 67–70). Both cities must be seen in the context of the Hellenistic tradition of building victory cities, which was imitated by the Romans.4 Alexander built the fi rst Nicopolis to commemorate the battle of Issus and Pompeius built his Nicopolis in Armenia Minor aft er the expulsion of Mithradates from Pontus.5 Th is city seems to have been a result of synoecism: a mixed colony of veterans and natives.6 Dio 51.18.1 is our main evidence for the relationship of Octavian’s two victory cities: the Egyptian Nicopolis, he tells us, was modelled on the already founded city at Actium, with the same name and similar

3 Gurval 1995, 66 and n. 115, 116. He is content to conclude that the area was dedicated to Mars and Neptune, not Apollo. 4 On the Hellenistic tradition of victory cities, see Krinzinger 1987, 112–114; Jones 1987, 99–108; Purcell 1987, 76. On the Alexander-imitatio of Pompeius, see Gelzer 1949, 59; Bosworth 1999; Christ 2004, 35–39, 79–80, 102, 202–203. 5 Jones 1987, 106, n 33 on Alexander and Strabo 12.3.28; Dio 36.50.3; App. Mith. 105.494, 115.561 on Pompeius. See also Jones 1937, 158, 172; Gelzer 1949, 105. 6 Jones 1937, 158.