Everything about Mark Antony totally explained
Marcus Antonius (
latin:
M·ANTONIVS·M·F·M·N) (
c. January 14,
83 BC –
August 1,
30 BC), known in
English as
Mark Antony, was a
Roman politician and general. He was an important supporter of
Gaius Julius Caesar as a military commander and administrator. After Caesar's
assassination, Antony formed an official political alliance with Octavian (
Augustus) and
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, known to historians today as the
Second Triumvirate.
The
triumvirate broke up in 33 BC. Disagreement between Octavian and Antony erupted into civil war, the
Final War of the Roman Republic, in 31 BC. Antony was defeated by Octavian at the naval
Battle of Actium, and in a brief land battle at
Alexandria. He committed suicide, and his lover, Queen
Cleopatra VII of Egypt, killed herself shortly thereafter.
Early life
Antony was born in Rome, around
83 BC. His father was his namesake.Through his mother, Julia Antonia, he was a distant cousin of Caesar. His father died at a young age, leaving him and his brothers.Their mother later married Publius Cornelius Lentulus (Sura), a politician involved in and executed during the Catiline conspiracy of
63 BC.
Antony's early life was characterized by a lack of parental guidance. According to historians like
Plutarch, he spent his teenage years wandering the streets of Rome with his brothers and friends,
Publius Clodius Pulcher among them. The connection was eventually severed by a disagreement arising from his relations with Clodius's wife,
Fulvia. While they were friends, they embarked on a rather wild life, frequenting gambling houses, drinking too much, and involving themselves in scandalous love affairs. Plutarch mentions the rumor that before Antony reached 20 years of age, he was already indebted to the sum of 250
talents.
After this period of recklessness, Antony fled to
Greece to escape his creditors and to study
rhetoric. After a short time spent in attendance on the philosophers at
Athens, he was summoned by
Aulus Gabinius,
proconsul of
Syria, to take part in the campaigns against
Aristobulus in
Judea, and in support of
Ptolemy XII Auletes in Egypt. In the ensuing campaign, he demonstrated his talents as a cavalry commander and distinguished himself with bravery and courage.
Supporter of Caesar
In
54 BC, Antony became a member of the staff of Caesar's armies in
Gaul and early
Germany. He again proved to be a competent military leader in the
Gallic Wars, but his personality caused instability wherever he went. Antony and Caesar were said to be best of friends. Antony constantly helped Caesar with his wars.
Nevertheless, raised by Caesar's influence to the offices of
quaestor,
augur, and
tribune of the plebians (50 BC), he supported the cause of his patron with great energy. Caesar's two proconsular commands, during a period of ten years, were expiring in 50 BC, and he wanted to return to Rome for the
consular elections. But resistance from the conservative faction of the
Roman Senate, led by
Pompey, demanded that Caesar resign his proconsulship and the command of his armies before being allowed to seek re-election to the consulship.
This Caesar wouldn't do, as such an act would leave him a private citizen—and therefore open to prosecution for his acts while proconsul—in the interim between his proconsulship and his second consulship; it would also leave him at the mercy of Pompey's armies. The idea was rejected, and Antony resorted to violence, ending up being expelled from the Senate. He left Rome, joining Caesar, who had led his armies to the banks of the
Rubicon, the river that marked the southern limit of his
proconsular authority. With all hopes of a peaceful solution for the conflict with Pompey gone, Caesar led his armies across the river into
Italy and marched on Rome, starting the last
Republican civil war. During the civil war, Antony was Caesar's second in command. In all battles against the Pompeians, Antony led the left wing of the army, a proof of Caesar's confidence in him.
When Caesar became
dictator, Antony was made
Master of the Horse, the dictator's right hand man, and in this capacity remained in Italy as the peninsula's administrator in 47 BC, while Caesar was fighting the last Pompeians, who had taken refuge in the
province of Africa. But Antony's skills as administrator were a poor match to those as general, and he seized the opportunity of indulging in the most extravagant excesses, depicted by
Cicero in the
Philippics. In 46 BC he seems to have taken offense because Caesar insisted on payment for the property of Pompey which Antony professedly had purchased, but had in fact simply appropriated. Conflict soon arose, and, as on other occasions, Antony resorted to violence. Hundreds of
citizens were killed and Rome herself descended into a state of anarchy. Caesar was most displeased with the whole affair and removed Antony from all political responsibilities. The two men didn't see each other for two years. The estrangement wasn't of long continuance, for we find Antony meeting the dictator at Narbo (45 BC) and rejecting the suggestion of Trebonius that he should join in the conspiracy that was already afoot. Reconciliation arrived in 44 BC, when Antony was chosen as partner for Caesar's fifth consulship.
Whatever conflicts existed between the two men, Antony remained faithful to Caesar at all times. On
February 15, 44 BC, during the
Lupercalia festival, Antony publicly offered Caesar a
diadem. This was an event fraught with meaning: a diadem was a symbol of a king, and in refusing it, Caesar demonstrated that he didn't intend to assume the throne.
On
March 14, 44 BC, Antony was alarmed by a talk he'd with a Senator named
Casca, who told him the gods would make a strike against Caesar in the Roman Forum. Fearing the worst, the next day he went down to warn the dictator but the
Liberatores reached Caesar first and he was assassinated on March 15, 44 B.C, the date known as the
Ides of March. In the turmoil that surrounded the event, Antony escaped Rome dressed as a slave, fearing that the dictator's assassination would be the start of a bloodbath among his supporters. When this didn't occur, he soon returned to Rome, discussing a truce with the assassins' faction. For a while, Antony, as consul of the year, seemed to pursue peace and the end of the political tension. Following a speech by Cicero in the Senate, an amnesty was agreed for the assassins.
Then came the day of Caesar's funeral. As Caesar's ever-present second in command, partner in consulship and cousin, Antony was the natural choice to make the funeral
eulogy. In his
speech, he sprang his accusations of murder and ensured a permanent breach with the
conspirators. Showing a talent for
rhetoric and dramatic interpretation, Antony snatched the
toga from Caesar's body to show the crowd the stab wounds, pointing at each and naming the authors, publicly shaming them. During the eulogy he also read Caesar's will, which left most of his property to the people of Rome, demonstrating that, contrary to the conspirator's assertions, Caesar had no intention of forming a royal dynasty. Public opinion turned, and that night, the Roman populace attacked the assassins' houses, forcing them to flee for their lives.
Enemy of the state and triumvirate
Antony surrounded himself with a bodyguard of Caesar's veterans and forced the senate to transfer to him the province of
Cisalpine Gaul, which was then administered by
Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, one of the conspirators. Brutus refused to surrender the province and Antony set out to attack him in October
44 BC, besieging him at Mutina. Encouraged by Cicero, the Senate granted Octavian imperium (commanding power), which made his command of troops legal and sent him to relieve the siege, along with Hirtius and Pansa, the consuls for
43 BC. In April 43, Antony's forces were defeated at the
Battles of Forum Gallorum and
Mutina, forcing Antony to retreat to Transalpine Gaul. However, both consuls were killed, leaving Octavian in sole command of their armies.[17]
The senate attempted to give command of the consular legions to Decimus Brutus, but Octavian refused to surrender them. In July, an embassy from Octavian entered Rome and demanded that he receive the consulship. When this was refused, he marched on the city with eight legions. He encountered no military opposition and was elected consul with his relative Quintus Pedius as colleague. Meanwhile, Antony formed an alliance with
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, another leading Caesarian.
When they knew that Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius had assembled an army in Greece in order to march on Rome, Antony, Octavian and Lepidus allied together to stop Caesar's assassins. After the battle, a new arrangement was made between the members of the Second Triumvirate: while Octavian returned to Rome, Antony went to Egypt where he allied himself with Queen Cleopatra VII, the former lover of Julius Caesar and mother of Caesar's infant son,
Caesarion. Lepidus went on to govern Hispania and the province of Africa.
Antony and Cleopatra
The
Parthian Empire had supported Brutus and Cassius in the civil war, sending forces which fought with them at Philippi; following Antony and Octavian's victory, the Parthians invaded Roman territory, occupying
Syria, advancing into
Anatolia and installing
Antigonus as puppet king in
Judaea to replace the pro-Roman
Hyrcanus II. Antony sent his general
Ventidius to oppose this invasion. Ventidius won a series of victories against the Parthians, killing the crown prince
Pacorus and expelling them from the Roman territories they'd seized. Antony now planned to retaliate by invading Parthia, and secured an agreement from Octavian to supply him with extra troops for his campaign. With this military purpose on his mind, Antony sailed to Greece with his new wife, where he behaved in a most extravagant manner, assuming the attributes of the god
Dionysus (39 BC). But the rebellion in
Sicily of
Sextus Pompeius, the last of the Pompeians, kept the army promised to Antony in Italy. With his plans again disrupted, Antony and Octavian quarreled once more. This time with the help of his wife
Octavia (Octavian's sister), a new treaty was signed in
Tarentum in 38 BC. The triumvirate was renewed for a period of another five years (ending in 33 BC) and Octavian promised again to send legions to the East.
But by now, Antony was skeptical of Octavian's true support of his Parthian cause. Leaving Octavia pregnant with her second child Antonia in Rome, he sailed to
Alexandria, where he expected funding from
Cleopatra, the mother of his twins. The queen of Egypt lent him the money he needed for the army, and after capturing
Jerusalem and surrounding areas in
37 BC, he installed
Herod the Great as puppet king of
Judaea, replacing the Parthian appointee Antigonus. Antony then invaded Parthian territory with an army of about 100,000 Roman and allied troops but the campaign proved a disaster. After defeats in battle, the desertion of his Armenian allies and his failure to capture Parthian strongholds convinced Antony to retreat, his army was further depleted by the hardships of its retreat through
Armenia in the depths of winter, losing more than a quarter of its strength in the course of the campaign.
Meanwhile, in Rome, the triumvirate was no more. Lepidus was forced to resign after an ill-judged political move. Now in sole power, Octavian was occupied in wooing the traditional Republican aristocracy to his side. He married
Livia and started to attack Antony in order to raise himself to power. He argued that Antony was a man of low
morals to have left his faithful wife abandoned in Rome with the children to be with the promiscuous queen of Egypt. Antony was accused of everything, but most of all, of "becoming native", an unforgivable crime to the proud Romans. Several times Antony was summoned to Rome, but remained in Alexandria with Cleopatra.
Again with Egyptian money, Antony invaded Armenia, this time successfully. In the return, a mock
Roman Triumph was celebrated in the streets of Alexandria. The parade through the city was a
pastiche of Rome's most important military celebration. For the finale, the whole city was summoned to hear a very important political statement. Surrounded by Cleopatra and her children, Antony was about to put an end to his alliance with Octavian. He distributed kingdoms between his children:
Alexander Helios was named king of Armenia and
Media and
Parthia (which were never conquered by Rome), his twin
Cleopatra Selene got
Cyrenaica and
Libya, and the young
Ptolemy Philadelphus was awarded Syria and
Cilicia. As for Cleopatra, she was proclaimed Queen of Kings and Queen of Egypt, to rule with
Caesarion (Ptolemy XV Caesar, son of Julius Caesar), King of Kings and King of Egypt. Most important of all, Caesarion was declared legitimate son and heir of Caesar. These proclamations were known as the
Donations of Alexandria and caused a fatal breach in Antony's relations with Rome.
Distributing insignificant lands among the children of Cleopatra wasn't a peace move, but it wasn't a serious problem either. What did seriously threaten Octavian's political position, however, was the acknowledgement of Caesarion as legitimate and heir to Caesar's name. Octavian's base of power was his link with Caesar through
adoption, which granted him much-needed popularity and loyalty of the legions. To see this convenient situation attacked by a child borne by the richest woman in the world was something Octavian couldn't accept. The triumvirate expired on the last day of 33 BC and wasn't renewed. Another civil war was beginning.
During 33 and 32 BC, a propaganda war was fought in the political arena of Rome, with accusations flying between sides. Antony (in Egypt) divorced Octavia and accused Octavian of being a social upstart, of usurping power, and of forging the adoption papers by Caesar. Octavian responded with treason charges: of illegally keeping provinces that should be given to other men by
lots, as was Rome's tradition, and of starting wars against foreign nations (Armenia and Parthia) without the consent of the Senate. Antony was also held responsible for
Sextus Pompeius' execution with no trial. In 32 BC, the Senate deprived him of his powers and declared war against Cleopatra. Both consuls (Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and
Gaius Sosius) and a third of the Senate abandoned Rome to meet Antony and Cleopatra in Greece.
In 31 BC, the war started. Octavian's loyal and talented general
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa captured the Greek city and naval port of
Methone, loyal to Antony. The enormous popularity of Octavian with the legions secured the defection of the provinces of Cyrenaica and Greece to his side. On
September 2, the naval
Battle of Actium took place. Antony and Cleopatra's navy was destroyed, and they were forced to escape to Egypt with 60 ships.
Octavian, now close to absolute power, didn't intend to give them rest. In August 30 BC, assisted by Agrippa, he invaded Egypt. With no other refuge to escape to, Antony committed suicide by stabbing himself with his sword in the mistaken belief that Cleopatra had already done so (30 BC). Probably within two weeks following his death, Cleopatra committed suicide. Her servants, Iras and
Charmion, also killed themselves, and Caesarion was murdered. Antony's daughters by Octavia were spared, as was his son,
Iullus Antonius. But his elder son,
Marcus Antonius Antyllus, was killed by Octavian's men while pleading for his life in the Caesarium.
Aftermath and legacy
When Antony died, Octavian became uncontested ruler of Rome. In the following years, Octavian, who was known as
Augustus after 27 BC, managed to accumulate in his person all administrative, political, and military offices. When Augustus died in
14 AD, his political powers passed to his adopted son
Tiberius; the Roman
Principate had begun.
The rise of Caesar and the subsequent civil war between his two most powerful adherents effectively ended the credibility of the Roman
oligarchy as a governing power and ensured that all future power struggles would centre upon which of two (or more) individuals would achieve supreme control of the government, rather than upon an individual in conflict with the Senate. Thus Antony, as Caesar's key adherent and one of the two men around whom power coalesced following his assassination, was one of the three men chiefly responsible for the fall of the
Roman Republic.
Antony's marriages and descendants
Antony had been married in succession to Fadia, Antonia, Fulvia, Octavia and Cleopatra VII and left behind him a number of children. Through his daughters by Octavia, he'd be ancestor to the
Roman Emperors Caligula,
Claudius and
Nero.
- Marriage to Fadia, a daughter of a freedman. According to Cicero, Fadia bore Antony several children. Nothing is known about Fadia or their children. Cicero is the only Roman source that mentions Antony’s first wife.
- Marriage to first paternal cousin Antonia Hybrida Minor. According to Plutarch Antony threw her out of his house in Rome, because she slept with his friend, the tribune Publius Cornelius Dolabella. This occurred by 47 BC and Antony divorced his wife. By Antonia, he'd a daughter
- Marriage to Fulvia, by whom he'd two sons
- Marriage to Octavia Minor, sister of Octavian, later Augustus; they'd two daughters
- Children with Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, and former lover of Julius Caesar
- Children by Afrania Silana
- Child by Cornelia Sisenna, wife of M'. Cornelius Scipio Nasica Aemilianus Paullus
- Children by Terentiana Varro
- Children by Servilia Rosciana Caepio
- Children by Scribonia Curia
Fictional portrayals
Fictional works in which the character of Mark Anthony plays a central role include
William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.
The television series Rome (see Mark Antony (Rome)).
The film Cleopatra.
Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series.
The Memoirs of Cleopatra: A Novel by Margaret George - May 15, 1997
A Novel byKimberly Morgan-January 31,1998Further Information
Get more info on 'Mark Antony'.
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