On 2 September 31 BCE, the heir of Julius Caesar defeated the forces of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium. Despite the varied judgments this battle received in antiquity, the consensus was that Actium marked the start of a new era, a turning point in Roman history and indeed in western civilization.

Actium and Augustus marks a turning point as well. Robert Alan Gurval's unusual approach is to examine contemporary views of the battle and its immediate political and social consequences. He starts with a consideration of the official celebration and public commemoration of the Actian victory, and then moves on to other questions. What were the "Actian" monuments that Octavian erected on the battle site and later in Rome?

What role did the Actian victory play in the formation of the Principate and its public ideology? What was the response of contemporary poetry? Throughout, this volume concentrates on contemporary views of Actium and its results, rather than on the hindsight views of decades or centuries later.