(d. 12 B.C.E.) Friend and adviser to Octavian (later Augustus)
Agrippa was largely responsible for the military campaign that resulted in the crushing defeat of the combined army and fleet of Egypt under Marc ANTONY and Queen CLEOPATRA VII in 31 B.C.E. at the battle of ACTIUM. A commoner born in 63 B.C.E., Agrippa was a constant companion to Octavian, nephew to Julius CAESAR and the future Emperor AUGUSTUS. When Octavian entered into military training in 45 B.C.E., Agrippa accompanied him. He subsequently stood at Octavian’s side at Caesar’s funeral in
44 B.C.E. and was a formidable representative of Octavian in the period after Caesar’s assassination, during which his friend came into possession of extensive wealth and consolidated his political power. Agrippa was also instrumental in arranging the union of Octavian and Antony in the extermination of the Liberators, Caesar’s assassins, in particular Brutus.
After the defeat of the Liberators, Agrippa was Octavian’s chief lieutenant, defeating Antony’s brother, Lucius, in the Perusine War in 40 B.C.E. and suppressing a rebellion in Gaul. Returning in triumph to Rome, Agrippa was elected consul and then, in 37, was appointed admiral. He spent the next six years cleansing parts of the Mediterranean of pirates, including Sextus Pompey, the son of Pompey the Great, who had been reduced to pirating after the defeat of his father by Julius Caesar.
In 31 B.C.E., Agrippa joined Octavian at Actium where the Romans faced the fleet and army of Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Agrippa commanded the left wing, but just as important as his tactical skill was his invention of the harpax, a grappling hook fired by a catapult at an enemy vessel, which then permitted the vessel’s capture by the superior Roman marines. The harpax was pivotal to the success of the Romans at Actium and the defeat of both the fleet and the ambitions of Cleopatra VII and her lover, Marc Antony.
When Octavian became Augustus, Agrippa conducted a census of the provinces, from 29 to 28 B.C.E.He found life in Rome, with its intrigue and competition for the favor of Augustus, not to his taste, however. At his request, he was posted to the eastern provinces. There he added to his reputation for administrative talent. Recalled to Rome, he rebuilt much of the Eternal City, including the Panthera, and founded colonies in Phoenicia (modern Lebanon).
He wed Caecillia, the daughter of Pomponius Atticus, divorcing her to marry Marcella, the wealthy niece of Augustus. That marriage resulted in the birth of Vipsania Agrippina, the first wife of Emperor Tiberius. In 21 B.C.E., when he was recalled to Rome, he married Julia, Augustus’s daughter. She bore him three sons and a daughter.
An independent people in Upper NUBIA (modern Sudan) from c. 3100–2800 B.C.E, the A-Group were also designated as being from “the LAND OF THE BOW.” The rulers of these people had considerable local power and resources. Their graves contained gold jewelry and finely made pottery. Egyptian and other foreign items found in these graves indicate a trade system that reached into the Mediterranean. Other groups in the area became enemies of the A-Group, but the B-Group appears partially related. Egypt’s pharaohs of the First Dynasty (2920–2770 B.C.E.) annexed part of Nubia and the A- Group people formed the new colony.
