After the end of the Servile War, Scilla enjoyed a period of peace and tranquility until the beginning of the conflicts between Pompey and Octavian in the context of the Roman civil war (42 BC – 36 BC).
Before these fierce struggles began, the coastline was placed in a state of defense by Octavian, both to counter Vetulinus, who, at the head of those proscribed by the regime of the triumvirs and of fugitives, was creating considerable problems for the Roman centuries; and to keep Sextus Pompey at a distance, who had occupied Sicily and was threatening to block grain supplies to Rome, thus calling into question the power of the triumvirs.
Scilla, like Reggio, was fortified once again and, although Pompey wished to seize it and sent aid to Vetulinus to encourage him to fight against the courts of the triumvirs, he failed to carry out his plan.
When the triumvirs sent (42 BC) a large fleet under the command of Salvidienus against Pompey, the latter, having learned of it, sailed with his ships from the port of Messina and, encountering the enemy near the rock of Scilla, attacked him with great force.
In a short time he defeated him, capturing and sinking many ships. Had Scilla not been provided with a strong garrison, Pompey could have taken advantage of that favorable opportunity to occupy it, since that fortified point would have been very useful to him in closing the Strait; instead, even after the victory, he immediately returned to Messina.
The strengthening of Scilla in that period is also confirmed by another episode that occurred four years later, in the same roadstead.
After Cassius and Brutus had been defeated (38 BC), and Octavian had returned from Tarentum to Reggio, he did not consider it appropriate to provoke a battle against Pompey, who was stationed with only forty ships in the port of Messina; he preferred to wait for Galvisius Sabinus, who was expected to arrive from Etruria with another fleet.
However, having learned that Calvisius had been defeated in the waters of Cumae by another naval force of Pompey, commanded by Menas and Demochares, he decided to go to his aid. He was already about to cross the Strait when Pompey, having noticed it, sailed out of the port of Messina with his ships to confront him.
Octavian, wishing to avoid a clash that might have proved fatal to him, quickly headed toward Scilla and remained there in a defensive position until Calvisius, having repaired his ships as best he could, appeared in those waters.
Although Pompey attacked Octavian’s ships in every possible way, he failed to capture them, something he could easily have done had Scilla not been so well fortified.
Once Pompey had withdrawn, Octavian put out to sea, reached Calvisius and, having landed at Vibo, continued on to Rome, postponing operations against Pompey until the following year.
He nevertheless did not neglect to strengthen the garrison of Scilla even further, having personally experienced its great importance against any possible attack by Pompey.
After so many great struggles fought with equal valor, and after defeating Pompey and then Antony, Octavian remained the sole commander of the Roman Republic.
It is therefore appropriate to observe that during this period a harbor for the landing and protection of ships must have existed at Scilla, as demonstrated by the episode of Octavian’s retreat precisely to Scilla, chosen as a safe place to avoid confrontation with Pompey, who was pursuing him.
If it was impossible for Pompey to capture Octavian’s ships, it is certain that they found refuge in a harbor, from which, with the help of the pier, the soldiers, and also the cliff of the existing garrison, they were able to repel the enemy fleet.
Confirmation of this hypothesis is provided by the geographer Strabo who, in his *Geography* (23 AD), recounts that Anaxilas of Reggio, a tyrant who lived at the beginning of the 5th century BC, had the promontory of Scilla fortified and transformed it into a naval base (*naustathmos*), in order to defend himself from the Tyrrhenian pirates who infested that area and attempted to cross the Strait.
A corresponding account is provided by the historian Polybius who, in his work *The Histories* (2nd century BC), while describing the swordfish fishery practiced beneath the rock of Scilla, mentions the existence of a “naval station,” that is, a harbor located in the roadstead of Scilla.
As further confirmation of this, it should be recalled that in the roadstead of Scilla, on the side facing the southeast, along the rocky shore between Monacena and Capo Pacì, ancient masonry structures covered by countless rocks are still visible on the seabed. Dr. Rocco Bova, a native of Scilla, maintained that those structures were in fact the remains of the ancient harbor, destroyed by large and numerous boulders, now scattered throughout the roadstead, which had fallen from the rocky mountainside above, prone to landslides, as can still be seen today.
Even setting aside Bova’s opinion, however well founded, regarding the cause of its destruction, we may add that a harbor in that location could not have survived for long, being exposed in winter to violent storms, especially from the west-northwest and west-southwest winds, which frequently caused shipwrecks.
Besides confirming that the rock of Scilla must have been heavily fortified and garrisoned, this episode also attests that it must have been served by an artificial harbor where Octavian’s ships were able to land and find refuge.

Giuseppe Ribuffo