How the Battle of Actium Changed the World Each Monday, this
column turns a page in history to explore the discoveries,
events and people that continue to affect the history being made
today. It was the pivotal moment in an ancient soap opera, one
marked by intrigue, romance, betrayal and widespread
consequence. The Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. was an epic
showdown that pitted Mark Antony and Cleopatra against spurned
former ally Octavian. When Octavian eventually reigned supreme
in battle, it meant the end of the Roman Republic for good and
the beginning of the Roman Empire, whose influences were
ultimately felt throughout the world. Antony's colossal defeat
also led to his and Cleopatra's Shakespearean double-suicide,
providing plenty of movie fodder 2,000 years later. Roman soap
opera Rome had been a republic for more than 450 years when
things started to dissolve. De facto leader Julius Caesar was
assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 B.C., escalating a messy
civil war and creating a power vacuum that wo