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Nicopolis (, "City of Victory") or Actia Nicopolis was a city of Epirus (western Greece) founded by Octavian in commemoration of his victory in 31 BC over Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium nearby. It was later the capital of the Roman province of Epirus Vetus. ==History== In 28 BC, in the aftermath of the naval battle of Actium in the Ionian Sea, Octavian founded, on the southernmost promontory of Epirus, a new city, which he called Nicopolis, the City of Victory. Symbolically, it represented his successful unification of the Roman Empire under one administration. Geographically, it constituted a major transportation and communications link between the eastern and western halves of the Mediterranean. On the spot where his own tent had been pitched, Octavian built a monument adorned with the rams of the captured galleys; and in further celebration of his victory he instituted the quinquennial Actian games in honor of Apollo Actius. The city proved highly successful, and it was considered the capital of southern Epirus and Acarnania. Among other things, it obtained the right to send five representatives to the Amphictyonic Council. The new ''polis'' was given the territories of southern Epirus including Ambracia, most of Akarnania, and western Aetolia. Many inhabitants of the surrounding areas – Kassopaia, Ambracia, parts of Acarnania (including Leukas, Palairos, Amphilochikon, Calydon, and Lysimachia) and western Aetolia – were forced to relocate to the new city. The exact legal status of Nicopolis is the subject of some dispute, having the characteristics of ''civitas libera'', ''civitas foederata'', and as ''colonia'', implying that Roman military veterans also settled there. In 27 BC, Octavian implemented an Empire-wide administrative reform. Achaea – including Thessaly, Acarnania and the territory of what later became the province of Epirus – was detached from Macedonia and made into a province in its own right. The imperial government assigned the administration of both Macedonia and Achaea to senatorial praetor-rank ''proconsules'', with capitals at Thessalonica and Corinth, respectively. Achaea included Euboea, Attica, the Cyclades, Thessaly, Peloponnese, Aetolia, Acarnania, the Ionian Islands, and the southern part of Epirus. At that time, as a city in a senatorial province, Nicopolis began minting its own copper coins (until 268). During the first five years or so of the city's foundation, local authorities supervised the construction of the city walls, the majority of the public buildings, including the theatre, stadium, gymnasium, odeion, and the aqueduct. The city's western gate was connected by a road to the Ionian harbour Komaros. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nicopolis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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