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How did Octavian defeat Sextus Pompeius and gain control of the islands near Italy?
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Augustus
Portrait of the emperor Augustus, marble, Roman, c. 14â37 ce; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Height 27.94 cm.
Octavian defeated Sextus Pompeius by placing his military operations under the command of his close associate and talented admiral, Marcus Agrippa.12
After previous efforts to resist Sextus Pompeius at sea had failed, Agrippa took charge by constructing a new harbor at Puteoli in the Bay of Naples to support the fleet. In 36 BCE, Agrippa secured two decisive naval victories against Pompeius at Mylae and Naulochus, which effectively ended the threat posed by Pompeius to the islands near Italy. Following these defeats, Sextus Pompeius fled to Asia Minor, where he was eventually captured and executed.23