Marc Antony Victorious at Actium

As the title says. Let's say, Cleopatra never retreats, so neither does Antony, and, though victory at that point in the battle was perhaps improbable, it would not be impossible, so let's say that the Octavians and Agrippa are forced into retreat and Antony has taken a victory with heavy casualties.

What happens from there? Octavian has not gained the decisive victory that effectively ended the Republic's final civil war, and his navy has been whipped. Antony, meanwhile, remains in a dangerous position.

Discuss the possibilities.
 
I asked the same question less than a month ago.

I think that it's likely that Antony would press his victory and consolidate his power. He has the wealth of the Eastern portion fo the Empire behind him, which lends alot of wealth and troops.
 
Surely, Athony would move in for the kill? What exactly he would install in Rome is open for debate, but declaring himself Dictator seems like an obvious choice.

I think the fundamental problem for Anthony (Which is basically why he was defeated historically) was that he became way too tied into Egypt and Cleopatra. This is going to be just as present in any scenario in which he wins as it was historically.

As an example, what exactly, is Caesarion to do? Now considering that Cleopatra had already made him her co-ruler in Egypt, his position as 'Caesar's heir' is a nonsense in it's Roman context. Rome is not going to accept an openly monarchical foreigner as their ruler, even a defeated Rome. Where does Caesarion's stated position as heir to Caesar leave Anthony?

How exactly does Anthony 'sell' the divsion of half of the Roman-controlled East in favour of his children by an 'eastern whore', back in Rome? There is no possible way he could get away with this.

You're left with more questions than answers, but the point ultimately comes down to this: Anthony would not be able to sell his Hellenistic, dynastic, monarchical ambitions to Rome in the way in which Octavian did. It was simply impossible for him to do this once he was tied to Cleopatra. Considering that, Anthony's hold over Rome may be a short and unhappy one.

Of course, Agrippa etc may just whup Anthony on land or again at sea, which makes this whole speculation moot.
 
I think it more likely that Antony would return to Alexandria and consolidate his power-base there, with Cleopatra as his Queen in fact if not name. The Roman people would not accept him any longer for having 'gone native' and forgotten the Roman ideals, so regardless of his win at Actium he would not be in charge of Rome. Either the Civil War continues actively, with or without Octavian & Agrippa depending on how badly they lost, or an uneasy cessation of hostlities commences with the Eastern and Western halves of the Med eyeing each other warily.

If Octavian is thoroughly beaten, then a resurgence of Senate authority may result, though there will be problems keeping the plebes in hand without the grain shipments from the Nile valley to be handed out freely. I don't recall if Sicily would be able to provide sufficient grain surpluses to meet the needs. On the other hand, that might lead to the Senate to abandon this ruinous policy, and encourage more citzens to return to the farms of Italy, rather than importing from abroad...

Lots of possibilities...
 
Greetings,

Octavian backs off to re-build his forces for a year and goes in with three times the number of ships and marines. He does this while using some of his Auxiliary cavalry forces as hit and run formations causeing havoc while he is re-building the fleet and his prestige. He has the money and the Senate should allow him to keep on fighting if he provides a good enough plea for aid in the marble halls.

Either way Marc Anthony has to fend off a massive Roman offensive in the next campaign year. Something he might not be able to do. I'm not quite sure on the psyche of the 'then' Eastern Empire. Rome would fight to the last with well trained heavy infantry, but a Egypt dominated Empire...

Regards,

Khib Yusa
 
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