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[[File: Castro Battle of Actium.jpg |300px|thumb|left| A seventeenth-century painting of the battle of Actium]]

One of the most important outcomes of the civil war between Anthony and Augustus was the absorption of Egypt into the Roman Empire. Egypt’s, Ptolemaic rulers had long been dependent on the Romans and had become under the increasing control of Rome.<ref> Plutarch. Life of Augustus. 7</ref> Augustus was to formally annex Egypt and he ended the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty which had successfully governed the kingdom for almost three centuries. Augustus turned Egypt into a Roman province and ensured that the wealth of the province would benefit Rome.<ref> Bowman, Alan Keir. 1996. Egypt After the Pharaohs: 332 BC–AD 642; From Alexander to the Arab Conquest. 2nd ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press), p. 245</ref> He established a system whereby Egyptian corn was used to feed the teeming metropolis of Rome, under the system of the Annona. This was to help stabilize the situation in Rome and did much to ensure the ''Pax Romana''. The first emperor was aware of the critical importance of Egypt to the Roman Empire and he decreed that a knight and not a senator should be governor of the province. He was afraid that if a senator had control of the province that he could use its wealth to rebel. Augustus system was to ensure that Egypt was to remain at peace and a crucial part of the Roman Empire.<ref> Bowman, p. 217</ref>

===Conclusion===

Augustus victory at Actium and his defeat of Anthony and his lover/ally Cleopatra was momentous. It had several significant consequences. Firstly, it ended the period of civil wars that had plagued Rome and its Empire for a century and this led to a great period of peace and stability. The Pax Romana after the battle of Actium allowed Rome and its provinces to experience a period of economic growth and a great period of cultural flourishing. The victory of Augustus allowed him to become the undisputed master of Rome. He cleverly created a system whereby he became absolute ruler while maintaining the forms of Republican government. In doing so he established the Imperial system and he was effectively the first Roman Emperor. Augustus in the wake of Actium was able to gain full control of Egypt and it was to become an important part of the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire, until the Arab Conquests in the Eight Century.

===References===

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