Naval Battle of Mylae (36 BC)

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Naval Battle of Mylae
Aeolian Islands map.png
date August 11, 36 BC Chr.
place Coast off Mylae in Sicily
output Agrippa's victory
Parties to the conflict

Octavian / Lepidus / Mark Anton

Sextus Pompey

Commander

Agrippa

Papias

losses

5 ships

30 ships

The naval battle of Mylae occurred on August 11, 36 BC. BC off the north coast of Sicily. A fleet of Octavian under the command of Agrippa defeated a fleet of Sextus Pompey under the command of Papias .

prehistory

Situation 39 v. Chr.
  • senate
  • Octavian
  • Mark Antony
  • Lepidus
  • Sextus Pompey
  • Sextus Pompey had himself 39 BC. In the Treaty of Misenum agreed with the Second Triumvirate on a distribution of power. He now ruled the islands of Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily and had the strongest fleet with which he controlled a large part of the sea routes. At the beginning of the following year, however, his admiral Menodoros went over to Octavian with three legions and 60 ships and also gave him control of Corsica and Sardinia. Sextus Pompeius responded with a blockade of the sea routes that cut off Rome from the important grain deliveries and repulsed a first attempt at invasion by Octavian. After this failure, Agrippa designed a large-scale invasion plan for Octavian to conquer Sicily. Three different armies under the leadership of Octavian, Statilius Taurus and Lepidus were to land in Sicily from Puteoli , Taranto and Africa.

    Sea battle off Mylae

    Octavian sailed in August 36 BC. BC with his fleet first to Stromboli . After his scouts had the impression that he was facing the main force of Sextus Pompeius on the Sicilian coast, he handed over the supreme command to Agrippa and hurried back to Italy, from there with the second invasion army under the command of Statilius Taurus in Tauromenium ( Taormina ) to land on the northeast coast of Sicily. Agrippa sailed on with the fleet to Hiera ( Marettimo ) in the west of Sicily and occupied the island, which was not defended by Sextus' troops. Agrippa then sailed east with half of his ships to attack a fleet under Papias. Sextus watched Agrippa's advance and sent most of his ships to Papias as reinforcements. The two fleets met on August 11th at Mylae ( Milazzo ). When Agrippa realized that he was now facing a much larger fleet, he immediately requested the ships that were still with Hiera. He also sent a messenger to Octavian to let him know that the main forces of the Sextus were now tied to Mylae.

    Both fleets were equipped with catapults and towers. Sextus' ships were smaller and more agile and had more experienced sailors. Agrippa's ships, on the other hand, were larger and more stable and superior in close combat. Papias' tactic was to disable the enemy ships and isolate them from their formation. He tried by skillful ship maneuvers to destroy the rudder of the enemy ships without being boarded himself. Agrippa's ships, however, tried to ram their opponents or to conquer them with the help of grappling hooks and grappling bridges ( Corvus ). In this way they succeeded in sinking Papias' ship themselves. However, he was able to save himself by swimming to one of his neighboring ships.

    Sextus Pompey watched the battle from the bank. When he realized that Agrippa's ships were operating more successfully and that other ships were arriving from Hiera, he let Papias begin a controlled retreat. Its ships slowly retreated into shallow coastal waters and estuaries, into which Agrippa's captains with their larger ships did not want to follow them and the battle came to an end. At this point in time Papias lost 30 ships, while Agrippa only lost 5.

    consequences

    Sextus managed to withdraw his ships unmolested from the coastal waters and reunite them into a fleet. With this he sailed eastwards, pursued by Agrippa. With his quick retreat, Sextus then surprised Octavian when he landed in Tauromenium and successfully attacked him. Oktavian himself was barely able to save himself ashore and suffered the loss of over 60 ships. Despite this success, Sextus was ultimately unable to prevent the landing of Octavian's troops and had to bring his fleet to safety from the advancing Agrippa. After a large part of Sicily had already been controlled by the invasion troops brought over from Africa and Italy, there was a last major sea battle in the Bay of Naulochos in September , in which Agrippa destroyed the Sextus' fleet.

    swell

    literature

    • Tony Jacques: Dictionary of Battles And Sieges. A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century. Volume 2: F - O. Greenwood Press, Westport CT et al. 2007, ISBN 978-0-313-33538-9 , p. 700, ( excerpt in the Google Book Search USA ).
    • Philip AG Sabin, Hans van Wees, Michael Whitby (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare. Volume 2: Rome from the late Republic to the late Empire. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-78274-6 , p. 144, ( excerpt from Google book search).
    • Ronald Syme : The Roman Revolution. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford et al. 1939, pp. 228–232 (reprint: ibid. 2002, ISBN 0-19-280320-4 ( excerpt from Google book search)).

    Individual evidence

    1. Tony Jacques: Dictionary of Battles And Sieges. A Guide to 8500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century. Volume 2: F - O. Greenwood Press, Westport CT et al. 2007, ISBN 978-0-313-33538-9 , p. 700, ( excerpt in the Google Book Search USA ).
    2. a b Appian : Bellum Civile. Book V, paragraphs 105-108 ( online copy )
    3. ^ Philip AG Sabin, Hans van Wees, Michael Whitby (Eds.): The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare. Volume 2: Rome from the late Republic to the late Empire. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-78274-6 , p. 144, ( excerpt from Google book search).