Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (63 BC-12 BC) was a general and admiral of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire under his friend Augustus (Octavian). Agrippa played a major role in Octavian's rise to power, defeating his rivals at the Battle of Naulochus in 36 BC and the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. He later went on to command troops in Augustus' campaigns in Hispania, Pannonia, and Crimea, and he was even considered for being Octavian's heir (even marrying his daughter Julia the Elder), although he died in 12 BC, over twenty years before Augustus.
Biography[]
Agrippa in his battle armor
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a close companion of Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus) from childhood. A more gifted combat commander than Octavian, Agrippa was his right-hand man during the wars that followed Caesar's death. He initially campaigned on land, but in 37 BC the threat posed by Sextus Pompeius, youngest son of Pompey the Great, turned him into a naval commander.
A Superior Fleet[]
Based in Sicily, Sextus had control of the Roman fleet, which he used to blockade the Italian coast. Agrippa responded by turning Lake Avernus (near present-day Naples) into a naval base, linked to the sea by a canal. In the safe harbor he built a new fleet and trained crews in the use of heavy on-board artillery, including rock-throwing catapults and the arpex, which hurled a grappling iron. In 36 BC, Octavian led an army to Sicily, backed by Agrippa's fleet. Sextus sent out his own fleet to give battle, but Agrippa outmaneuvered him and trapped him against the shore at Naulochus. Sextus' fleet was almost totally destroyed. Agrippa went on to command Octavian's ships in the blockade of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, winning a decisive victory. He continued to serve Augustus to the end of his life, fighting in campaigns that stretched across the far-reaching corners of the empire - against the Cantabrians in Spain, the Cimmerians in Crimea, and the Pannonians on the Danube.
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