The War That Made the Roman Empire

by Barry Strauss · 2022

A “splendid” (The Wall Street Journal) account of one of ancient history’s most important yet little‑known wars, the campaign that culminated in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The book follows the power struggle after Caesar’s assassination between Mark Antony and Caesar’s heir Octavian, and the dramatic involvement of Cleopatra. Strauss details the massive naval clash—over 600 ships and nearly 200,000 men—and explains how its outcome shaped the future of the Roman Empire, averting a possible shift of the capital to Alexandria and cementing Octavian’s rise as Augustus.