3H

Survey of the Ancient World

633. Octavian
overthrows
Antony and
gains the
East (31 B.C.)

634. Octavian
makes Egypt
a Roman
province

(30 B.C.),

and ends a
century of
revolution
and civil
war (133-
30 B.C.)

assassination this youth of twenty-eight gained complete control
of Italy and the West.

Cassar's friend and lieutenant, Antony, with whom Octavian
had joined hands, had meantime shown that he had no ability
as a serious statesman. Dazzled by the attractions of Cleopatra,
Antony was now' living in Alexandria and Antioch, where he

ruled the East as far as the
Euphrates like an oriental
sovereign. Octavian soon
saw that he must be over-
thrown. He easily induced
the Senate to declare war
on Cleopatra, and thus he
was able to advance against
Antony. Just as Cassar and
Pompey, representing the
East and the West, had once
before faced each other on a
battlefield in Greece (§ 625)1
so now Octavian and Antony,
the leaders of the East and
the West, met at Actium
on the west coast of Greece.
The outcome was a sweep-
ing victory for the heir of
Cassar.

The next year Octavian landed in Egypt and took possession
of that ancient land. Antony, probably forsaken by Cleopatra,
took his own life. The proud queen too died by her own hand-
She was the last of the Ptolemies (§ 458), the rulers of Egypt
for nearly three hundred years, since Alexander the Great.
Octavian therefore made Egypt Roman territory (30 B.C.). To
the West, which he already controlled, Octavian had now
added also the East. The lands under his control encircled the
Mediterranean, and the entire Mediterranean world was under

Fig. 108. Portrait of Augus-
tus, now in the Boston Mu-
seum of Fine Arts