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Ancient Nicopolis

By Karen Bryan, Europe a la Carte

Nicopolis, the city of victory, was built by Octavian to commemorate his victory at the naval battle of Actium in 31 B.C. The battle itself was not one of the great triumphs of antiquity but the significance of the victory was immense. To understand this, you have to look at the balance of power in the Roman Empire during this period.

Julius Caesar was emperor of Rome. He had an affair with Cleopatra and she bore him his only son, Caesarian. However Caesar had no legitimate heir, so in 44 B.C. he adopted his great nephew, Octavian, and declared Octavian his heir. When Caesar was assassinated later that year, the conspirators had the aim of making Rome a republic again.  

However the power vacuum created by Caesar’s death was filled with a two way dictatorship led by Marc Antony , a respected general, and Octavian. The two agreed on an east-west split of the empire. In the early stages, Octavian seemed at a disadvantage. He was young and fairly unestablished, apart from his family ties. But he controlled the west, which allowed him to rule from Rome. where he could wield far more influence than Antony  had the east. 

The story goes Antony  met and fell in love with Cleopatra. (She must have been some woman to have attracted two such powerful lovers.) Cleopatra was no shrinking violet: she had murdered her own brother in order to be sole ruler. But she was also an intelligent, well-read woman, who could speak several languages. She believed that the best way to ensure Egypt's prosperity was to again ally herself to the Roman Empire. 

A year after she and Antony  met, Cleopatra gave birth to twins. Antony married Octavian's sister Octavia in 36 B.C, around the time that Cleopatra gave birth to their third child. This gave Octavian the ideal opening to start a propaganda war against Antony, claiming to defend his sister’s honor and to protect Rome against foreign influence. When Antony gave parts of the eastern Roman empire to Cleopatra and her children as gifts, and set about divorcing Augusta in order to marry Cleopatra, this really set the cat among the pigeons. 

The power struggle between Octavian and Antony, who was aligned with Cleopatra, came to a head at the Battle of Actium. The story goes that Cleopatra fled the battle and Antony followed her, bringing about their defeat. Another version of events claims that Octavian had a superior fleet of smaller, more maneuverable ships and a better naval strategy, whereas Antony was more used to land battles. Yet another version relates that Cleopatra fled, as she had agreed with Antony to do prior to the battle, as soon as she saw an escape route through Octavian's fleet  (this was primarily to ensure the safety of her treasure ship). 

It is said that she used the Leftkas Channel, just south of Actium on her retreat. Ironically Octavian had recently restored this channel. (It is known locally today as Cleopatra's Channel.)  Antony and Cleopatra both successfully escaped to Alexandria, but within a year they had both committed suicide. Antony apparently believed that Cleopatra was dead and killed himself. Soon afterward Cleopatra committed suicide rather than be captured by the hostile Roman forces. 

The victory at Actium meant that Octavian was now the supreme ruler of Rome, and Egypt became part of the Roman Empire. Caesar and Cleopatra's son, Caesarian, was killed, however Cleopatra’s three children fathered by Antony were spared. 

Octavian built a war memorial on the site of his battle tent. He thanked the gods for his victory, saying that the sight of Eutychos (Luck) and Nikon (Victor) before the battle, foretold his triumph.  So the monument stressed it was built in honor of a leader favored by the gods. As was the custom, bronze battering rams and the prows of the captured ships were built into the walls. The site was consecrated to Neptune (as it was a naval victory) and Mars (the god of war and victory).  

Octavian also dedicated the war monument to Apollo. Prior to the founding of Nicopolis there had been a sanctuary of Apollo at Actium. Octavian liked to portray himself as the one chosen by Apollo, who not only was the ancestral god of the Caesar clan but was also known as the god of discipline and morality. What could be more befitting than that under Apollo’s aegis Octavian had conquered Antony , a debauched adulterer under the spell of a foreign Queen? In a final salute to his patron god, Octavian reinstated the Actian Games, sacred to Apollo. 

Octavian renamed himself Augustus Caesar, and proclaimed himself Rome’s first emperor, but was tactful enough to retain the Senate in Rome although he was in fact a dictator. He portrayed himself as the savior of Rome, and after his death was declared a god in line with the Greek belief that if a person bestowed gifts worthy of a god during his lifetime, he should be honored posthumously as a god.  Augustus was viewed as having saved Rome from decline and civil war. 

A commemorative city

The city of Nicopolis was built to commemorate the Battle of Actium and to satisfy the military and trade needs of the region. It was located on the narrowest part of the peninsula, close to the Gulf of Arta, meaning it had two harbors, one in the gulf and one on the Ionian Sea. It was built in the typical Roman style of fortified towns, with four quarters and two main roads. The city was protected by 5 kilometers (3 miles) of fortified walls.   

It took six years to build the 27-mile-long aqueduct from the nearby Louros Springs to carry water to the city.  The aqueduct ended at the Nymphaeum, which doubled as a water cistern and the seaward gate to the city. When Nicopolis was completed, inhabitants of the nearby cities of Etolia, Acarnania and Epirus, as well Corinth and from as far afield as Italy, were forced to come and live in the new city.   

Nicoplis not only became the capital city of the region but also a focal point of the Mediterranean due to its geographical position bridging Greece and Italy. Strabo, a contemporary Greek historian, described Nicopolis as populous, with numbers increasing daily. Eventually the population reached around 300,000 – a huge number in ancient times. The city flourished, boasting grand public buildings such as the Odeon, a theater and a stadium. The city even minted its own coins. 

St Paul the Apostle speaks of Nicopolis in Titus 3:12, written circa 64-65 A.D., requesting that Titus meet him in the city, saying, "I have determined to winter there".

In the late first century A.D., Epictetus, one of the most famous Greek stoic philosophers, lived in Nicopolis. He lived in poverty while teaching. One of his students, Flavius Arrian, took notes as most Greek philosophers did not write down their words. Epictetus believed we should accept the events that happen in our lives, and that our aim should be peace of mind, with the highest pleasure being the absence of pain. Arrian progressed to the position of consul during the reign of Hadrian and wrote a history of Alexander the Great. 

Nicopolis' decline began in the 3rd century, partly due to the crisis in the Roman Empire, earthquakes and barbarian raids. By the end of the 5th century, after the conquest of the city by the Vandals (an east Germanic tribe), it was becoming impossible to maintain the 5 kilometers of walls and the city contracted to around one sixth of its original size. Sturdy new walls to fit the the city’s shrunken new configuration were erected.  Buildings just outside the new walls were demolished and you can still see some of the material from them used in the new walls. There are several churches remaining from this early Christian period. 

The city was finally destroyed in the 9th and 10th centuries by invading Bulgarians.

The past restored 

Nicopolis is currently undergoing significant restoration. When I visited in May 2003, there were several teams of archaeologists at work. The Odean was cordoned off as it had been deemed unsafe. There is a small museum at the city’s southeastern corner, however a new large museum is under construction nearby. The hope seems to be that the area, once restored, can become a better-known World Heritage Site and attract more visitors. 

The town of Preveza, around 8 kilometers (5 miles) south, is now the main town of the region. It has a small airport, which it shares with the military, that’s only minutes away from Nicopolis. Thanks to a tunnel that’s been under the estuary that separates Preveza from Nicopolis, you longer have to wait for a ferry to make the crossing. 

There are other sites of historical interest to visit in the vicinity. On the island of Lefkas is the Cape of the Lady. Lefkas was originally known as Leucas, meaning white, after the white cliffs in the south of the island.  The poet Sappho, whom Homer called the 10th muse (female poets were not given full public recognition in ancient times), is said to have leapt off Lefkas’s cliffs after being spurned by Pheon, the ferryman. Since Sappho was believed to have been a lesbian, many feminist writers have since disputed the tale, saying it was a conspiracy to make it seem that in the end Sapphos saw the light and died over heterosexual love. In Roman times it was popular for rejected lovers to re-enact the jump, albeit wearing wings and arranging a rescue party. 

The Necromandio near Ammoudia, north of Nicopolis, is where the living were said to be able to communicate with the dead. According to mythology, where the river emerges from the narrows near Glyki was where the souls of dead dwelled.  The river was the channel over which Charon (Death) carried the souls of the dead into the realm of Hades, located in the depths of Lake Acheron. 

The Necromandia was built on top of a cave on the northwestern shore of the lake. This oracle was visited by numerous pilgrims, who were placed on a diet of beans and lupins for a few days to prepare them for communication with their beloved deceased ones in the sacred crypt.  Remains of a crane device thought to have been used to lower figures of the dead into the chamber have been found. Also the walls of the crypt are over three meters (10 feet) thick, making it possible to disguise secret passages – it appears there was a bit of ancient jiggery-pokery. 

Also fascinating, if slightly further afield, is Delphi, the site of the most important oracle of ancient times. Delphi was regarded as the center of the universe. The story goes that Zeus released two eagles at the far end of the Earth and Delphi marks the spot where they met. Pilgrims journeyed from far and wide to consult the oracle and Delphi grew rich on the taxes payable to approach the altar of Apollo. 

The priestess of Delphi, the Pythia, would retreat into the adyton, where she would enter a trance-like state and make prophecies. However often her words didn't make sense and they were deciphered by male priests. Plutarch attributed her powers to the inhalation of vapors that rose from the earth in the adyton. This has proven to be the likely explanation as two geological faults intersect directly under the temple and there are traces of the hallucinogenic gas, ethylene, rising from nearby springs.