Strata: In History

September 2, 31 B.C. Marc Antony and Cleopatra are defeated at the Battle of Actium by the forces of Octavian, soon to be named Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, who became King Herod the Great’s patron and ordered the census mentioned in the Gospel of Luke (2:1). The decisive battle effectively ends the Roman Republic and ushers in the Roman Empire.