40 BC – 30 BCs

Events in 40 BC – 30 BC 2

• 43 BC – 36 BC Second Triumvirate — Octavian, Antony, Lepidus Octavian (Caesar's heir), Mark Antony and Lepidus form a legal triumvirate in 43 BC with extraordinary powers. They immediately publish proscription lists: 300 senators and 2,000 equestrians are condemned. Among those killed is Cicero, whose severed head and hands are displayed on the Rostra in the Forum. At Philippi (42 BC) they defeat Brutus and Cassius, both of whom commit suicide. The triumvirs divide the Roman world — Antony takes the east, Octavian the west, Lepidus Africa.
• 31 BC Battle of Actium On 2 September 31 BC, Octavian's fleet under Agrippa defeats the combined fleet of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII at Actium off the western coast of Greece. Antony and Cleopatra flee to Egypt; Octavian pursues. Antony commits suicide on a false report of Cleopatra's death; Cleopatra kills herself — tradition says by asp — rather than be paraded in Octavian's triumph. Egypt becomes a Roman province. Octavian is the last man standing. The Republic is over.