Biography mark antony

Antony was spared on the grounds that the aim of the conspiracy was to remove an illegal ruler but that slaying the consul, the chief legitimate officer of the Roman state, would besmirch the cause's image. With the death of Caesar, Antony was forced to fight politically a two-front war. One was against the conspirators. The other was with Caesar's supporters, who were undecided on how to avenge Caesar and also as to who would lead them.

Antony initially adopted an attitude that was on the surface conciliatory toward the assassins of Caesar while he strengthened his power position. He might have ensured his supremacy without difficulty if the young Octavian, nephew of Caesar, had not appeared, claiming not only to be Caesar's adopted son and heir but also demanding Caesar's political legacy.

Octavian was a man who not only could assume the mantle of Caesar as legitimately as Antony but could also be used by the opponents of Antony as a pawn. Antony tried to strengthen his position by attempting to gain a new 5-year command in Gaul, thus using Caesar's old power base. However, Octavian, stressing his own position as the heir of Caesar, skillfully enticed some of Antony's legions to his side, and Decimus Brutus refused to yield the governorship of Gaul.

When Antony attempted to attack Brutus at Mutina modern Modenahe was in turn attacked by the armies of Octavian and the consuls. In the following months Antony strengthened himself with the armies of the western provinces; while Octavian, realizing that the Senate was trying to use him, began to make political overtures to Antony. The result was the formation of the second triumvirate of Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus.

Unlike the first triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, which was a mere political alliance, this became a constitutionally established organ for ruling the state. One of the first tasks undertaken by the group was the proscription of leading enemies. The most important of those killed was M. Tullius Cicero, hated by Antony because of his vitriolic oratorical assaults.

Antony has often been blamed for these executions. However, this may reflect the propaganda of Octavian, who after the fact wanted to play down his role in the bloody events of these years. Antony and Octavian now moved eastward to face the army of the conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius. The two forces met at Philippi in 42, and Antony's military skill carried the day.

While Octavian returned to settle veterans in Italy, Antony went east to order affairs in these provinces. He also prepared a war against Parthia, and needing Egyptian support he summoned Cleopatra, the Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, to Tarsus in Antony moved west and it looked as though fighting would erupt. However, a peace was patched up at Brindisi in 40 and sealed by the wedding of Antony with Octavian's sister, Octavia, after the death of Antony's first wife.

Antony went east again and, except for a return in 37 to aid Octavian against the pirate Sextus Pompey, remained there. In 36 Antony again took up his affair with Cleopatra. He found a complex situation in the East. The area had been seriously disturbed by the wars of Caesar and Pompey and the exactions of Brutus and Cassius. Furthermore, the Parthians were attacking Roman territory.

Antony seems to have established good relations with the local dynasts and created for himself a certain amount of popularity, even though his financial exaction must have lain heavily on the provincials. His generals were successful in biography mark antony back the Parthians, although an expedition which Antony undertook to Parthia itself turned into a disaster.

In the meantime he was becoming increasingly involved with Cleopatra, politically as well as romantically. Cleopatra saw him as a wonderful opportunity to revive the past glories of the Ptolemies. What the ideas of Antony were is not clear. The picture of Antony enslaved to the Egyptian queen was in part the result of the propaganda efforts of Octavian.

However, he certainly was dependent on Cleopatra for money, and he did make territorial concessions and grants of titles to Cleopatra's family. At the close of 33 the second triumvirate legally came to an end. At the same time the crisis between Octavian and Antony was coming to a head. However, Octavian played his cards well, raising public indignation by announcing Antony's divorce of Octavia for Cleopatra, reading Antony's will in which his strong ties to Cleopatra were stressed, and circulating such rumors as Antony's plans to move the capital to Alexandria.

Octavian systematically rallied the support of Italy, while Antony's Roman friends had mixed emotions about waging war on the side of the Egyptian queen. The two men and their armies met off Greece at Actium on Sept. In a confused battle the fleet of Antony was routed. With Cleopatra he fled back to Egypt, where he committed suicide upon the arrival of Octavian.

Syme, The Roman Revolution ; corrected repr. Mark Antony gale. Learn more about citation styles Citation styles Encyclopedia. Career with Caesar Antony received his first overseas experience in the East when, duringhe served with the Roman governor of Syria, Aulus Gabinius, and distinguished himself as a cavalry officer during campaigns in Palestine and Egypt.

Second Triumvirate With the death of Caesar, Antony was forced to fight politically a two-front war. Antony and Cleopatra After this battle Antony's career entered its most famous period. Antony, Mark oxford. In early 48 BC, he prepared to sail with seven legions to Greece to face Pompey. Pompey's forces, however, defeated them and assumed control of the Adriatic Sea along with it.

Additionally, the two legions they commanded defected to Pompey. Without their fleet, Caesar lacked the necessary transport ships to cross into Greece with his seven legions. Instead, he sailed with only two and placed Antony in command of the remaining five at Brundisium with instructions to join him as soon as he was able. Antony, however, managed to trick Libo into pursuing some decoy ships, causing Libo's squadron to be trapped and attacked.

Most of Libo's fleet managed to escape, but several of his ships were trapped and captured. During the Greek campaign, Plutarch records that Antony was Caesar's top general, and second only to him in reputation. With food sources running low, Caesar, in July, ordered a nocturnal assault on Pompey's camp, but Pompey's larger forces pushed back the assault.

Though an indecisive result, the victory was a tactical win for Pompey. Pompey, however, did not order a counterassault on Caesar's camp, allowing Caesar to retreat unhindered. Caesar would later remark the civil war would have ended that day if only Pompey had attacked him. Assuming a defensive position at the plain of PharsalusCaesar's army prepared for pitched battle with Pompey's, which outnumbered his own two to one.

Though the civil war did not end at Pharsalus, the battle marked the pinnacle of Caesar's power and effectively ended the Republic. After Pompey's defeat, most of the senate defected to Caesar, including many of the soldiers who had fought under Pompey. After the battle, Caesar was made dictator in absentia, and appointed Antony as master of horse his lieutenant.

Caesar's actions further strengthened Roman control over the already Roman-dominated kingdom. The chief cause of his political challenges concerned debt forgiveness. One of the tribunes for 47 BC, Publius Cornelius Dolabellaproposed a law which would have canceled all outstanding debts. Antony opposed the law for political and personal reasons: he believed Caesar would not support such massive relief and suspected Dolabella had seduced his wife Antonia Hybrida.

When Dolabella sought to enact the law by force and seized the ForumAntony responded by unleashing his soldiers upon the assembled masses, killing hundreds. Antony's handling of the affair with Dolabella led to a cooling of his relationship with Caesar. Antony's violent reaction had caused Rome to fall into a state of anarchy. Caesar sought to mend relations with Dolabella; he was elected to a third term as consul for 46 BC, but proposed the senate should transfer the consulship to Dolabella.

When Antony protested, Caesar was forced to withdraw the motion. Later, Caesar sought to exercise his prerogatives as dictator and directly proclaim Dolabella as consul instead. After returning victorious from North Africa, Caesar was appointed dictator for ten years and brought Cleopatra and their son to Rome. Antony again remained in Rome while Caesar, in 45 BC, sailed to Spain to defeat the final opposition to his rule; successful, the civil war ended.

Following the scandal with Dolabella, Antony had divorced his second wife and quickly married Fulvia. Whatever conflicts existed between himself and Caesar, Antony remained faithful to Caesar, ensuring their estrangement did not last long. Caesar planned a new invasion of Parthia and desired to leave Antony in Italy to govern Rome in his name.

The reconciliation came soon after Antony is said to have rejected an offer from Gaius Treboniusone of Caesar's generals, to join a conspiracy to assassinate Caesar. Soon after they assumed office together, the Lupercalia was held on 15 February 44 BC. The festival was held in honor of Lupathe she-wolf who suckled the infant orphans Romulus and Remusthe founders of Rome.

Caesar had by this point centralised almost all political powers into his own hands. He was granted further honors, including a form of semi-official cultwith Antony as his high priest. Caesar's political rivals feared this dictatorship with no end date would transform the Republic into a monarchy, abolishing the centuries of rule by the senate and people.

During the festival's activities, Antony publicly offered Caesar a diademwhich Caesar threw off. When Antony placed the diadem in his lap, Caesar ordered the diadem to be placed in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. When Antony offered Caesar the biography mark antony, there had been minor applause but mostly silence from the crowd.

When Caesar refused it, however, the crowd was enthusiastic. By refusing it, Caesar demonstrated he had no intention of making himself king. Antony's motive for such actions is not clear and it is unknown if he acted with Caesar's prior approval or on his own. One argument is that Antony moved forward with the gesture on his own accord, possibly to embarrass or flatter Caesar.

A later claim was that he was actually trying to convince Caesar not to go through with a kingship. By other accounts, it was Caesar's enemies who planned the incident as a way to frame him, with it being claimed two enemies of Caesar approached him to argue he should take the diadem. Another theory, one especially popular at the time, was that Caesar himself had orchestrated the event to test public support on him becoming king.

A group of senators resolved to kill Caesar to prevent him from establishing a monarchy. Although Cassius was "the moving spirit" in the plot, winning over the chief assassins to the cause of tyrannicideBrutus, with his family's history of deposing Rome's kings, became their leader. Antony also went with Caesar, but was waylaid at the door of the Theatre of Pompey by Trebonius and was distracted from aiding Caesar.

According to the Greek historian Plutarchas Caesar arrived at the senate, Lucius Tillius Cimber presented him with a petition to recall his exiled brother. Within moments, the group of five conspirators stabbed Caesar one by one. Caesar attempted to get away, but, being drenched by blood, he tripped and fell. According to Roman historian Eutropiusaround 60 or more men participated in the assassination.

Caesar was stabbed 23 times and died from the blood loss attributable to multiple stab wounds. In the turmoil surrounding the assassination, Antony escaped Rome dressed as a slave, fearing Caesar's death would be the start of a bloodbath among his supporters. When this did not occur, he soon returned to Rome. The conspirators, who styled themselves the liberatores "liberators"had barricaded themselves on the Capitoline hill.

Although they believed Caesar's death would restore the Republic, Caesar had been immensely popular with the Roman middle and lower classeswho became enraged upon learning a small group of aristocrats had killed their champion. Antony, as the sole consul, soon took the initiative and seized the state treasury. CalpurniaCaesar's widow, presented him with Caesar's personal papers and custody of his extensive property, clearly marking him as Caesar's heir and leader of the Caesarians.

Lepidus wanted to storm the Capitol, but Antony preferred a peaceful solution as a majority of both the liberatores and Caesar's own supporters preferred a settlement over renewed civil war. Caesar's assassins would be pardoned of their crimes and, in return, all of Caesar's actions would be ratified. Antony also agreed to accept the appointment of his rival Dolabella as his consular colleague to replace Caesar.

On 19 March, Caesar's will was opened and read. In it, Caesar posthumously adopted his great-nephew Gaius Octavius and named him his principal heir. Then only nineteen years old and stationed with Caesar's army in Macedonia, the youth became a member of Caesar's gens Julia with the name "Gaius Julius Caesar"; for clarity, it is historical convention to call him Octavian.

Though not the chief beneficiary, Antony did receive some bequests. Shortly after the compromise was reached, as a sign of good faith, Brutus, against the advice of Cassius and Cicero, agreed Caesar would be given a public funeral and his will would be validated. Caesar's funeral was held on 20 March. Antony, as Caesar's faithful lieutenant and incumbent consul, was chosen to preside over the ceremony and to recite a eulogy.

In a demagogic speech, he enumerated the deeds of Caesar and, publicly reading his will, detailed the donations Caesar had left to the Roman people. Antony then seized the blood-stained toga from Caesar's body and presented it to the crowd. Worked into a fury by the bloody spectacle, the assembly turned into a riot. Several buildings in the Forum and some houses of the conspirators were burned to the ground.

Panicked, many of the conspirators fled Italy. Such an assignment, in addition to being unworthy of their rank, would have kept them far from Rome and shifted the balance towards Antony. Refusing such secondary duties, the two traveled to Greece instead. Additionally, Cleopatra left Rome to return to Egypt. Despite the provisions of Caesar's will, Antony proceeded to act as leader of the Caesarians, including appropriating for himself a portion of Caesar's fortune rightfully belonging to Octavian.

Antony enacted the lex Antoniawhich formally abolished the dictatorship, in an attempt to consolidate his support among those who opposed Caesar's dictatorial rule. He also enacted a number of laws he purported to have found in Caesar's papers to ensure his popularity with Caesar's veterans, particularly by providing land grants to them.

Lepidus, with Antony's support, was elected pontifex maximussucceeding Caesar. To solidify the alliance between Antony and Lepidus, Antony's daughter Antonia Prima was engaged to Lepidus' homonymous son. Surrounding himself with a bodyguard of over six thousand of Caesar's veterans, Antony presented himself as Caesar's true successor, largely ignoring Octavian.

Octavian arrived in Rome in May to claim his inheritance. Although Antony had amassed political support, Octavian still had opportunity to rival him as the leading member of the Caesarian faction. The senate increasingly viewed Antony as a new tyrant; Antony had also lost the support of many supporters of Caesar when he opposed the motion to elevate Caesar to divine status.

By summer 44 BC, Antony was in a difficult political position: he could either denounce the liberatores as murderers and alienate the senate or he could maintain his support for the compromise and risk betraying Caesar's legacy, strengthening Octavian's position. In either case, his situation as ruler of Rome would be weakened. Roman historian Cassius Dio later recorded that while Antony, as consul, maintained the advantage in the relationship, the general affection of the Roman people was shifting to Octavian due to his status as Caesar's son.

Supporting the senatorial faction against Antony, Octavian, in September 44 BC, encouraged the eminent senator Marcus Tullius Cicero to attack Antony in a series of speeches portraying him as a threat to the republic. Octavian continued to recruit Caesar's veterans to his side, away from Antony, with two of Antony's legions defecting in November 44 BC.

At that time, Octavian, only a private citizenlacked legal authority to command the Republic's armies, making his command illegal. With popular opinion in Rome turning against him and his consular term nearing its end, Antony attempted to secure a favorable military assignment to secure an army to protect himself. The senate, as was custom, assigned Antony and Dolabella the provinces of Macedonia and Syriarespectively, to govern in 43 BC after their consular terms expired.

Antony, however, objected to the assignment, preferring to govern Cisalpine Gaul which was already controlled by Decimus Junius Brutus Albinusone of Caesar's assassins. Ratifying Octavian's extraordinary command on 1 January 43 BC, the senate dispatched him along with consuls Hirtius and Pansa to defeat Antony and his exhausted five legions. Both consuls were killed, however, leaving Octavian in sole command of their armies, some eight legions.

With Antony defeated, the senate assigned command of the legions in northern Italy to Decimus. Sextus Pompeyson of Caesar's old rival Pompey Magnuswas given command of the Republic's fleet from his base in Sicily while Brutus and Cassius were granted the governorships of Macedonia and Syria respectively. These appointments attempted to renew the "republican" cause.

Meanwhile, Antony recovered his position by joining forces with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who had been assigned the governorship of Transalpine Gaul and Nearer Spain. Though he was an ardent Caesarian, Lepidus had maintained friendly relations with the senate and with Sextus Pompey. His legions, however, quickly joined Antony, giving him control over seventeen legions, the largest army in the West.

By mid-May, Octavian began secret negotiations to form an alliance with Antony to unify the Caesarians against the liberatores. Remaining in Cisalpine Gaul, Octavian dispatched emissaries to Rome in July 43 BC demanding he be appointed consul to succeed Hirtius and Pansa and that the senate rescind the decree declaring Antony a public enemy.

Octavian had himself irregularly elected consul with a cousinrewarded his soldiers, and then set about prosecuting Caesar's murderers. Under the lex Pediaall of the conspirators and Sextus Pompey were convicted "in absentia" and declared public enemies. They shared military command of the republic's armies and provinces among themselves: Antony received Gaul, Lepidus Spain, and Octavian as the junior partner Africa.

They jointly governed Italy. The triumvirate would have to conquer the rest of Rome's holdings; Brutus and Cassius held the Eastern Mediterraneanand Sextus Pompey held the Mediterranean islands. Octavian and Antony reinforced their alliance through Octavian's marriage to Antony's stepdaughter, Claudia. The primary objective of the triumvirate was to avenge Caesar's death and to make war upon his murderers.

Before marching against Brutus and Cassius in the East, the triumvirs issued proscriptions against their enemies in Rome. The proscribed biography mark antony named on public lists, stripped of citizenship, and outlawed. Their wealth and property were confiscated by the state, and rewards were offered to anyone who secured their arrest or death.

With such encouragements, the proscription produced deadly results; two thousand equites were executed, and one third of the senate. Antony forced Octavian to give up Ciceroa personal enemy of Antony and friend of Octavian, who was then killed on 7 December. The confiscations helped replenish the state treasurywhich had been depleted by Caesar's civil war the decade before; when this seemed insufficient to fund the imminent war against Brutus and Cassius, the triumvirs imposed new taxes, especially on the wealthy.

By January 42 BC the proscription had ended; it had lasted two months, and though less bloody than Sulla's, it traumatized Roman society. A number of those named and outlawed had fled to either Sextus Pompey in Sicily or to the liberatores in the East. Due to the infighting within the triumvirate during 43 BC, Brutus and Cassius had assumed control of much of Rome's eastern territories, and amassed a large army.

Before the triumvirate could cross the Adriatic into Greece, the triumvirate had to address the threat posed by Sextus Pompey and his fleet. From his base in Sicily, Sextus raided the Italian coast and blockaded the triumvirs. Octavian's friend and admiral Quintus Salvidienus Rufus thwarted an attack by Sextus against the southern Italian mainland at Rhegiumbut Salvidienus was then defeated in the resulting naval battle because of the inexperience of his crews.

Only when Antony arrived with his fleet was the blockade broken. Though the blockade was defeated, control of Sicily remained in Sextus' hand, but the defeat of the liberatores was the triumvirate's first priority. In the summer of 42 BC, Octavian and Antony sailed for Macedonia to face the liberatores with nineteen legions, the vast majority of their army [ 93 ] approximatelyregular infantry plus supporting cavalry and irregular auxiliary unitsleaving Rome under the administration of Lepidus.

Likewise, the army of the liberatores also commanded an army of nineteen legions; their legions, however, were not at full strength while the legions of Antony and Octavian were. They had spent the previous months plundering Greek cities to swell their war-chest and had gathered in Thrace with the Roman legions from the Eastern provinces and levies from Rome's client kingdoms.

Brutus and Cassius held a position on the high ground along both sides of the via Egnatia west of the city of Philippi. The south position was anchored to a supposedly impassable marsh, while the north was bordered by impervious hills. They had plenty of time to fortify their position with a rampart and a ditch. Brutus put his camp on the north while Cassius occupied the south of the via Egnatia.

Antony arrived shortly and positioned his army on the south of the via Egnatia, while Octavian put his legions north of the road. Antony offered battle several times, but the liberatores were not lured to leave their defensive stand. Thus, Antony tried to secretly outflank the Brutus and Cassius' position through the marshes in the south.

This provoked a pitched battle on 3 October 42 BC. Antony commanded the triumvirate's army due to Octavian's sickness on the day, with Antony directly controlling the right flank opposite Cassius. Because of his health, Octavian remained in camp while his lieutenants assumed a position on the left flank opposite Brutus. In the resulting first battle of Philippi, Antony defeated Cassius and captured his camp while Brutus overran Octavian's troops and penetrated into the Triumvirs' camp but was unable to capture the sick Octavian.

The battle was a tactical draw, but due to poor communications Cassius believed the battle was a complete defeat and committed suicide to prevent being captured. Brutus assumed sole command of the army and preferred a war of attrition over open conflict. His officers, however, were dissatisfied with these defensive tactics and his Caesarian veterans threatened to defect, forcing Brutus to give battle at the second battle of Philippi on 23 October.

While the battle was initially evenly matched, Antony's leadership routed Brutus' forces. Brutus committed suicide the day after the defeat and the remainder of his army swore allegiance to the Triumvirate. Over fifty thousand Romans died in the two battles. While Antony treated the losers mildly, Octavian dealt cruelly with his prisoners and even beheaded Brutus' corpse.

The battles of Philippi ended the civil war in favor of the triumvirs. With the defeat of Brutus and Cassius, only Sextus Pompey and his fleet remained to challenge the triumvirate's control of the Roman world. The victory at Philippi left the members of the triumvirate as masters of the republic, save Sextus Pompey in Sicily. Upon returning to Rome, the triumvirate repartitioned rule of Rome's provinces among themselves, with Antony as the clear senior partner.

He received the largest distribution, governing all of the Eastern provinces while retaining Gaul in the West.

Biography mark antony

Octavian's position improved, as he received Spain, which was taken from Lepidus. Lepidus was then reduced to holding only Africa, and he assumed a clearly tertiary role in the triumvirate. Rule over Italy remained undivided, but Octavian was assigned the difficult and unpopular task of demobilizing their veterans and providing them with land distributions in Italy.

During his absence, several of his supporters held key positions in Rome to protect his interests there. The East was in need of reorganization. The Parthian threat to the triumvirate's rule was urgent due to the fact that the Parthians supported the liberatores in the recent civil war, aid which included the supply of troops at Philippi.

In 42 BC, the Roman East was composed of several directly controlled provinces and client kingdoms. Approximately half of the eastern territory was controlled by Rome's client kingdoms, nominally independent kingdoms subject to Roman direction. These kingdoms included:. Antony spent the winter of 42 BC in Athenswhere he ruled generously towards the Greek cities.

A proclaimed philhellene "Friend of all things Greek"Antony supported Greek culture to win the loyalty of the inhabitants of the Greek East. He attended religious festivals and ceremonies, including initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries[ ] a secret cult dedicated to the worship of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone. Upon his arrival in Ephesus in Asia, Antony was worshiped as the god Dionysus born anew.

He granted pardons to all Roman nobles living in the East who had supported Pompey, except for Caesar's assassins. Ruling from Ephesus, Antony consolidated Rome's hegemony in the East, receiving envoys from Rome's client kingdoms and intervening in their dynastic affairs, extracting enormous financial "gifts" from them in the process. Though King Deiotarus of Galatia supported Brutus and Cassius following Caesar's assassination, Antony allowed him to retain his biography mark antony.

The lovers grew more public in their relationship, participating in deification ceremonies where they took the roles of the Greco-Egyptian gods Dionysus-Osiris and Venus-Isis. Politically, Antony grew more and more entwined with the Egyptian kingdom, having turned to Cleopatra for help following his failed expedition against the Parthians in 36 B.

Check out 10 surprising facts about the fabled Queen of the Nile. These rulers were often as innovative and ingenious as they were brutal and corrupt. They inadvertently created an emperor. Meanwhile Octavian grew in strength, eliminating Lepidus from the triumvirate on a pretext of rebellion. In 32 B. Antony divorced Octavia. In retaliation, Octavian declared war, not on Antony but on Cleopatra.

As Octavian's forces entered Alexandria, the distraught Antony committed suicide by his own sword. Cleopatra followed him in death after Octavian's forces had captured Egypt. Julius Caesar. Napoleon Bonaparte. Queen Elizabeth II. Marcus Aurelius. Pontius Pilate. Maria Theresa. Alexander the Great. Menelik II. Nicholas II.