September 3, 36 BC · Sicily (Strait of Messina) Theater
September 3, 36 BC
Sextus Pompey had spent years building a naval empire in the western Mediterranean, using Sicily as a base to blockade Italian grain supplies and shelter refugees from the civil wars including escaped slaves and political enemies of the Triumvirate. His fleet was formidable — he had the best sailors in the Roman world and the propaganda advantage of invoking Neptune as his patron. Octavian had been embarrassed twice in naval operations against Sextus. The answer was Marcus Agrippa, the greatest naval commander Rome had produced, who spent a year building and training a new fleet at the artificial harbor of Portus Julius near Naples. At Naulochus off the northern Sicilian coast, Agrippa deployed a new weapon: the harpax — a grappling catapult that fired an iron hook on a chain to seize enemy ships and winch them alongside for boarding. The combination of the harpax, superior training, and the demoralization of Sextus's sailors after months of naval setbacks was decisive. 28 of Sextus's 300 ships escaped; the rest were sunk or captured.
Commanders