Today we take a look at the battle that decided if Rome was to be a Republic or an Empire, and also examine why its incredibly hard to work out just exactly what happened between the start and the end!
Sources:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Actium-31-BC-World-ebook/dp/B0976ZKWVY
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Actium-31-BC-Downfall-Cleopatra/dp/1846034051
https://www.amazon.co.uk/War-That-Made-Roman-Empire/dp/B08NL9TPMN
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roman-History-Reign-Augustus-Classics/dp/0140444483
http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10452/
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Pinned post for Q&A 🙂
So where was Elizabeth Taylor in all of this and how does USS Alabama figure in the story?
Ah yes, the old foreign bimbo scandal. Sort of like Trump and whats her name.
Of course Richard Burton was always a drunken sap. Grab those asps.
A lucky hit from a firepot on Octavian's ship would have changed history so much..
And the owl was heard to say, Beware the ides of march. Then Halsy drove the fleet into a typhoon. The end.
But were the Romans aware that Travis Kelce, much like Al Bundy before him, had caught 4 touchdowns in a single game? Surely a great portent for the future conflict.
We used to sing Cassius Dio in church. Now we sing Prices Rasberry Beret. Amen.
That fish ship would make a good looking aircraft carrier. Modern designers are so limited.
I hear Biggus Dickus was the hero of the day.
Octavian has such a distinctive face.
Damn those MK 14 firepots. Just damn.
thanks
I'd love to see you do more content on ancient history and medieval naval history and into the age of sail; sort of a gap in my knowledge. Cool stuff!
Calling them ship would be stretching it a bit,I would go with very large rowing boats.
Loved it Drach- coulda gone drama with Antony and Cleopatra in Alexandria- loved the graphics and the paintings
I enjoyed this very much, thanks!
Ooohh Drach used the 'F'word! he said the Roman empire Fell!
review the konig
Well done! Those dry histories dont' give the reader a sense of "this is what happened." I wonder what would have happened had Antony and Cleopatra taken their surviving ships, turned and hit Octavian's fleet from the rear?
"Do you see Catapult Galleys?" – Roman Warship Kamchatka, 1 week before the Battle.
Missed an opportunity to work together with Historia Civilis there.
These ancient seabattles are nothing but pub brawls, up to and including all the two-headed snakes, broken statuary and nobody knowing who was was there and what color's tuesday. The day some chap sorted it all out and instituted the proper, uncluttered "line-of-battle" was a great victory for civilized man over hooliganism.
Alexis Jonesus "yeah the python was at least 80 feet long and had two heads…"
I love the list of signs and portents Dio relates. It reminds me of the first few paragraphs of Cooks The Black Company. A list of portents (statues bleeding, an eagle being evicted, sacrificial victims escaping, images turned) followed by "But that happens every year. Fools can make an omen of anything in retrospect."
Though I do wonder about the frequency of bleeding statues.
Agrippa to Octavian: Whatever you do, don't throw the chickens overboard, remember Drepana, didn't end well!
"…or mangled by sea monsters." No one would ever believe they were eaten by sharks.
Great history lesson!
When o when do we get The Nelson part 3 from frigate to victory video???
The world wonders…
I forgot how much I had missed Drach talking about the ancient world.
Hail Jublius Cheeser!
I thought that any further banks of oars upwards from trireme were impractical and confined to poetry where quinquireme fits the required number of syllables in a dactyl.
You should do a video on the USS Barb
Just a tip for sailors, or would be sailors from an old U.S.N. boiler technician. DON’T go out drinking with the bosun mates!
The Egyptian breakout and ensuing charge to escape by Antony's forces seems reminiscent of the death ride at Jutland.
You know things are not going well you, when your guys are becoming sea monster chow.
The Romans called the peninsula Italia, so it’s fine just calling it Italy. Italy like many other countries is named after the region it controls.
Off topic, but any chance of an episode focusing on Wireless Telegraphy/ Radio: equipment, tactics, countermeasures etc.?
Being an amateur radio operator myself, I dare say we hams would be keenly interested in such an effort.
73 de KI7GIE
Not the typical Drachinefel, but great!
4:20 Anthony was inarguably a better general than Octavian, but arguably not better than Agrippa who was Octavian's 'acting general'. Basically, he stood for Octavian in all military matters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Vipsanius_Agrippa
Salmas next please!
Why didn't DIO just use the world?
List of horrible fates, but also sea monsters. First hand accounts all the way
One huge reason that Octavian won this war was because he did dirty dealings with Mark Antony. Antony agreed to trade 100 ships to Ocatavian for an army. Antony sent his 100 ships and then Octavian refused to send Antony the agreed upon Army.
200 vs 400 ships seems like a lot of ships but keep in mind in the D-Day Landing at Normandy the Allies had 6,939 vessels.
Please cover more naval history from before the ironclad era! its fascinating