The War That Made the Roman Empire
Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium
(Sprache: Englisch)
Best-selling historian and classicist Barry Strauss tells the story of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire through the lives of ten of its most important emperors, from Augustus to Constantine.
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Best-selling historian and classicist Barry Strauss tells the story of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire through the lives of ten of its most important emperors, from Augustus to Constantine.
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Prologue: A Forgotten Monument-Nicopolis, Greece Prologue: A Forgotten Monument Nicopolis, Greece
High on a hill astride a peninsula lying between the sea and a wide and marshy gulf, in a seldom-visited corner of western Greece, stand the ruins of one of history's most important but least acknowledged war memorials. Its few remaining blocks only hint at the monument's original grandeur. Just decades ago, these stones lay in an overgrown, Ozymandian jumble, but today, after years of excavation and study of the site, they reveal something of their original craftsmanship.
Today's visitor sees regular blocks of limestone, marble, and travertine lining a terrace on a hillside. It is easy to make out remaining parts of the original Latin inscription, its letters carved with classical precision. Behind those inscribed blocks stands a wall marked at regular intervals by mysterious recesses. They are sockets for inserting the butt ends of the bronze rams of galleys captured in the fight. The rams protruded from the walls at 90 degrees, thirty-five rams in all. It was a massive display, the largest known monument of captured rams in the ancient Mediterranean. It was a trophy in all its barbaric splendor, adorned with weapons taken by force.
Yet, as any Roman knew, victory lay in the hands of the gods, and they were not forgotten here. Behind the two walls, higher up on the hillside, stood a huge open-air sanctuary consecrated to the war god Mars and the sea god Neptune. There was also an open-air shrine to Apollo, the lord of light. A sculpted frieze commemorated the triumphal procession in Rome that had celebrated the victory. The massive complex covered about three-quarters of an acre.
The monument might be considered the cornerstone of the Roman Empire. And it was entirely appropriate that it was laid here in Greece rather than in Italy, six hundred miles from Rome. This monument recalled a battle that took place in the waters below: the Battle of Actium.
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It was a struggle for the heart of the Roman Empire-over whether its center of gravity would lie in the East or the West. Since Europe was the child of the Imperial Rome that emerged from this battle, the struggle was indeed a hinge of history.
The battle also represented two ways of war, the eternal choice in strategy between the conventional and the unorthodox. One side embodied what seemed to be a sure thing: big battalions, the latest equipment, and ample moneybags. The other side lacked funds and faced resistance at home, but it had experience, imagination, and audacity. One side counted on waiting for the enemy, while the other risked everything on an attack. One side sought a head-on battle, while the other chose an indirect approach. Even today these issues remain central to strategic debate.
On a September day more than two thousand years ago, the crews of six hundred warships-nearly two hundred thousand people-fought and died for the mastery of an empire that stretched from the English Channel to the Euphrates River, and would eventually reach even farther, from what is today Edinburgh, Scotland, to the Persian Gulf. One woman and two male rivals held the fate of the Mediterranean world in their hands. That woman, accompanied by her maidservants, was one of the most famous queens in history: Cleopatra.
Cleopatra was not simply the queen of hearts and the icon of glamor immortalized by William Shakespeare, but also one of the most brilliant and resourceful women in the history of statecraft. She was one of history's greatest what-ifs. She was at least part Macedonian, part Persian, and plausibly part Egyptian. Few women in history have played as big a role in the strategy and tactics of a world-defining war as di
The battle also represented two ways of war, the eternal choice in strategy between the conventional and the unorthodox. One side embodied what seemed to be a sure thing: big battalions, the latest equipment, and ample moneybags. The other side lacked funds and faced resistance at home, but it had experience, imagination, and audacity. One side counted on waiting for the enemy, while the other risked everything on an attack. One side sought a head-on battle, while the other chose an indirect approach. Even today these issues remain central to strategic debate.
On a September day more than two thousand years ago, the crews of six hundred warships-nearly two hundred thousand people-fought and died for the mastery of an empire that stretched from the English Channel to the Euphrates River, and would eventually reach even farther, from what is today Edinburgh, Scotland, to the Persian Gulf. One woman and two male rivals held the fate of the Mediterranean world in their hands. That woman, accompanied by her maidservants, was one of the most famous queens in history: Cleopatra.
Cleopatra was not simply the queen of hearts and the icon of glamor immortalized by William Shakespeare, but also one of the most brilliant and resourceful women in the history of statecraft. She was one of history's greatest what-ifs. She was at least part Macedonian, part Persian, and plausibly part Egyptian. Few women in history have played as big a role in the strategy and tactics of a world-defining war as di
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Autoren-Porträt von Barry Strauss
Barry Strauss is a professor of history and classics at Cornell University, The Corliss Page Dean Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a leading expert on ancient military history. He has written or edited several books, including The Battle of Salamis, The Trojan War, The Spartacus War, Masters of Command, The Death of Caesar, and Ten Caesars. Visit BarryStrauss.com.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Barry Strauss
- 2023, 368 Seiten, Maße: 15,4 x 22,1 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: Simon & Schuster US
- ISBN-10: 1982116684
- ISBN-13: 9781982116682
- Erscheinungsdatum: 26.04.2023
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
"Actium was one of the most important battles in history, and Barry Strauss brings this stunning maritime collision vividly to life." Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret) 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and author of Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World's Oceans
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