On September 2, 1931 BC, the Roman army loyal to Octavian led by Agrippa defeated the army of Antony and Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt at the Battle of Actium.

Statue of Agrippa

At noon on September 2, 31 BC, the usual mild wind blew over the sea, and the great war also came with the wind. Antony's right wing and Agrippa's left flank detoured to each other's flanks at the same time. After a while, the battle began, and Antony's soldiers kept throwing boulders, crossbows, and barbed iron javelins with machinery or hands. Agrippa led the left-wing warships, giving full play to the advantages of light hulls and good maneuverability, avoiding the long-range arrow stone attacks of Antony's fleet, slamming the enemy ships violently and sinking them. If they failed once, they immediately retreated and reorganized to hit again. The pilots and paddlers, at great risk and fatigue, struggled to paddle, sometimes attacking, sometimes retreating, sometimes dispersing and sometimes concentrating; the ships of both sides collided with each other, some hitting the bow and abdomen, and some destroying the tail rudder and paddle board. On the sea, large ships and small boats were mixed together, and the shouts, horns, and broken boards were intertwined, and the battle was very fierce.

The most successful were the "pliers" of the Octavian fleet. The soldiers chose the weaker opponent at will, and then used the ballista to shoot the "pliers" out. The iron hook dragged the enemy ship tightly. The enemy could not cut the springboard and could not reach the ropes. The infantry on the ship took the opportunity to step on the springboard and jump onto the opponent's deck. On the deck, killing the enemy with spears and short swords, the naval battle suddenly turned into land warfare. Blood and flesh flew everywhere on the ship and on the sea. There were drifting ship planks and broken limbs everywhere. Blood dyed the sea red.

Battle of Akshin

Just as Anthony was still fighting hard on the right wing of his command, his center and left wing fleets felt hopeless of victory and turned around and fled into the port. The Queen of Egypt hurriedly commanded her reserves to block them, but who knew that instead of intercepting the fleeing warships, her reserves turned around, raised their oars, and surrendered directly to Octavian. Anthony watched helplessly as the fleeing warship was at a loss. What he feared most finally happened. Anthony knew that the defeat was irreparable and there was no other way but to retreat. So he hung up the pre-agreed signal flag and notified Cleopatra that he was ready to escape.

After receiving the signal, the Egyptian fleet hung up their sails one after another, desperately crossing the warships and fleeing to the vast sea. Anthony's other warships, who were still in the middle of the battle, also gave up the battle after seeing the signal, pulled up the sails, threw the projector and other heavy machinery into the sea to reduce the load, and quickly evacuated. Some warships without sails, including Anthony's flagship, reorganized their forces and prepared to fight to the end because they couldn't escape.

In the west, Octavian faced an urgent problem: the resettlement of 40,000 veterans. The reason why veteran resettlement became his top priority was because it related to Octavian's credibility as a commander and affected the loyalty of the army in the future. The entire process requires redividing the land of those who were deported into small plots for distribution. Eighteen rich towns had been promised to soldiers at Philippi, but now it was time to fulfill them. The incident lasted for a year or more starting in the previous 41 years, and the towns and areas selected for resettlement experienced massive chaos. Those who lost their land and property were not compensated for their losses, so this made Octavian unpopular in Italy.

This unpopular situation provided a good opportunity for the enemies of the Triple Alliance and led to the so-called "Perusine War". L. Antony, one of the consuls of the first 41 years and the brother of Marco Antony, took advantage of Octavian's bad reputation among Italians to cause as much trouble as possible for Octavian. He spread rumors among Antony's veterans that they were treated despicably compared to Octavian's veterans, while Antony's wife, Fulvia, also lobbied the dispossessed Italians. Their actions put Octavian's politics in great danger, and he could not allow his troops in Italy to be separated. The big question remains whether Antony was instigated or even complicit by his brother. At the end of 41 BC, the situation deteriorated to the point where war between Octavian and L. Antony was inevitable. When the war broke out publicly, military operations were concentrated in the area of Perusia, where Lucius Antony and Folvia were surrounded by Octavian. After a few months of siege, Lucius surrendered and was forgiven by Octavian, but the officials and people of Perusia were not so fortunate: Octavian executed the city's officials and gave the town to his soldiers to loot. He then went to Gaul and brought the region under his control, thus ending Antony's rule over the region.

Anthony responded to this: in the spring of the previous 40 years, he led his army westward and surrounded western Burundi. Octavian also gathered his troops south to confront him. The war between the two giants made the three-headed alliance seem to have come to an end. However, neither side wanted to really face each other with swords. So, after negotiations, a treaty called the Pact of Burundi replaced war. Under this agreement, Anthony surrendered Gaul to Octavian, losing his last foothold in the west, but at the same time strengthening his control of the East. Rabida is still trapped in Africa. In addition, Anthony married Octavian's sister Octavia (during which time Forvia died in Greece). Afterwards, the tycoons came to Rome amid public cheers.

Statue of Octavia

At this time, Octavian's soldiers were even more emotional. Without sails, they could not pursue the fleeing enemy ships, so they entangled the enemy ships that could not escape. They concentrated all their strength on the attack of the remaining enemy ships, some concentrated several warships, and hit an enemy ship from all directions at the same time. Some slammed into the lower deck of the enemy ship with force, breaking their long oars. Some rushed up the enemy ship through the starboard springboard to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. The soldiers on the Antony ship tried their best to push the enemy ship away with their hooks, slashed the enemy who came up with their axes, and used heavy arrows to repel the approaching enemy ships and smash the enemy troops who tried to climb on the ship. Due to the desperate resistance of the soldiers in the Antony fleet, Octavian's warships suffered great losses. So Octavian ordered the fleet to evacuate the enemy ships and use fire instead.

Soon, tens of millions of rockets, javelins with torches, and tarred charcoal blocks fired from launchers flew towards Anthony's warship from different directions. In an instant, some of Anthony's warships burst into flames, and the blazing flames lit the sea red. Anthony's flagship was also firmly hooked by the enemy's "pliers". He hurriedly climbed onto another warship and escaped with the remaining forty warships. By this time, night had fallen, and the Octavian fleet did not chase because they did not bring sails and could not see the entire battlefield clearly.

The next day, some of Antony's warships that could not escape surrendered. Anthony's army saw the naval defeat and also defected to Octavian. From then on, the war ended with Octavian's complete victory.

According to Plutarch, Cleopatra was captured by Octavian, who planned to display her at his triumphant ceremony, but Cleopatra secretly brought a horned viper (a North African snake) to a banquet he hosted and hid it in a plate of figs. According to Plutarch and Theo, the viper bit her arm rather than her chest. The two pictures below show Cleopatra's death.

Commentary: The Battle of Accien was actually a contest between the Western civilization led by Octavian and the Eastern Empire led by Antony.