Once again Antony found himself in a key position at an important time. Caesar was rapidly moving in the direction of a government in which he would hold king-like powers. As a result, a plot formed to eliminate Caesar. On March 15, 44 B. Antony was spared on the grounds that the aim of the plot was to remove an illegal ruler, and that killing the consul, who was the chief legitimate officer of the Roman state, would reflect poorly on the cause. With Caesar's death, Antony was forced to fight a two-front war. One front was against those who had plotted to kill Caesar.
The other was with Caesar's supporters, who were undecided on how to avenge Caesar and as to who would lead them. Antony might have ensured his leadership without difficulty if the young Octavian, nephew of Caesar, had not appeared, claiming to be Caesar's adopted son and heir and also demanding to be given Caesar's political power. Antony tried to strengthen his position by attempting to gain a new five-year command in Gaul, but Octavian skillfully lured some of Antony's legions the largest unit in the Roman military to his side.
In the clash that followed, Antony's forces attacked Decimus Brutus a leader of the plotters , but he was in turn attacked by the armies of Octavian and the consuls. He was defeated and forced to retreat north. In the following months Antony strengthened himself with the armies of the western Roman Empire; while Octavian, realizing that the Senate was trying to use him, began to establish an alliance with Antony. As a triumvirate consisting of three governing officials called triumvirs , they assumed absolute authority for ruling the empire, although Anthony and Octavian soon edged Lepidus out of power.
Unlike an earlier triumvirate consisting of Caesar, Pompey, and the politician Crassus c. Octavian assumed control in the west, Antony in the east, and Lepidus for a time in Africa. Antony and Octavian now moved eastward to face the army of those who had killed Caesar. The two forces met at Philippi, Greece, in 42 B.
After this battle Antony's career entered its most famous period. While Octavian returned to Italy, Antony went east to put affairs in order in the eastern provinces. He also prepared a war against Parthia located in present-day Iran , and, needing Egyptian support, he met with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, in 41 B. An immediate romance followed. This was interrupted when the news arrived that Antony's brother and wife were openly defying Octavian in Italy.
Antony moved back west and peace was patched up in 40 B. Antony soon went east again, beating back the Parthians. Cleopatra saw her alliance with Antony as a wonderful opportunity to revive the past glories of the Ptolemies, the royal family line from which she was descended. What Antony's ideas were is not clear. Octavian buried them side by side, and took total control of Rome and Egypt.
Hardcover , pages. Published July 15th by Amberley Publishing first published October 1st To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Mark Antony , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Feb 18, Linnea Tanner rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Recommended to Linnea by: Searched for Biography of Mark Antony. Patricia Southern's, "Mark Antony: A Life" is a well-written historical account of Mark Antony whose legacy was negatively impacted by derogatory comments made by Octavian Caesar and Cicero.
One of the reasons I read this book was to glean additional information about Mark Antony's true characterization as his reputation had been blackened by his rivals. It was frustrating to find a dearth of biographies about Mark Antony, but this book did not disappoint. Though, certainly, Mark Antony had his weaknesses, he also had a momentous triumph when he defeated Brutus and Cassius. After the civil war, he formed treaties and alliances with various rulers in the eastern Roman empire and Egypt who posed a challenge. One of his greatest achievements, though it is not widely recognized, is that he commanded a vast area of very diverse people and customs, many of whose rulers varied in trustworthiness.
His diplomacy and careful sifting of who was reliable, and who was not, stood the test of time after his death. His greatest failure was not to recognize Octavian's ruthless propaganda to dispose of him and return to Rome to promote himself. This biography is well-researched and is based on various historical sources. It was clearly written and has several pages of photographs which are of interest.
History is written by the victors. After Mark Antony's defeat and death, the Senate declared his birthday nefastus unfit for public business and decreed that all statues, busts and portraits should be destroyed. We have only inherited propaganda legends created by his enemy and competitor Octavian. Despite the paucity of reliable records, Patricia Southern makes a balanced assessment of Caesar's lieutenant who ruled the eastern half of the Roman world for eleven years.
Only Antony's relationshi History is written by the victors. Only Antony's relationship with Cleopatra allowed Octavian to undermine him. Rome was weary of civil wars, forcing Octavian to renounce them. Instead, he cultivated the myth that Cleopatra had bewitched Mark Antony. A grain of truth converted into a big lie disguised Octavian's civil war against Mark Antony his fellow Triumvirate as a foreign war against Cleopatra and Egypt. Apr 23, Pete daPixie rated it really liked it Shelves: The author, Patricia Southern, who the sleeve informs has written and researched on Roman history for over thirty years, has also written ten books on Roman topics, including six biographies, which include Augustus, Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great and Domitian.
On the strength of this book, these other titles are worth looking out for. As a biographical topic, Mark Antony is no easy subject matter. Sextus Pompey , son of Caesar's old rival Pompey Magnus , was 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 provide a united Caesarian party against the Liberators. Remaining in Cisalpine Gaul, Octavian dispatched emissaries to Rome in July 43 BC demanding he be appointed Consul to replace Hirtius and Pansa and that the decree declaring Antony a public enemy be rescinded.
Octavian proclaimed himself Consul, rewarded his soldiers, and then set about prosecuting Caesar's murderers. They shared military command of the Republic's armies and provinces among themselves: They jointly governed Italy. The Triumvirate would have to conquer the rest of Rome's holdings; Brutus and Cassius held the Eastern Mediterranean , and Sextus Pompey held the Mediterranean islands. Octavian and Antony reinforced their alliance through Octavian's marriage to Antony's stepdaughter, Clodia Pulchra. 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 were 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 Roman knights were executed, and one third of the Senate, among them Cicero , who was executed on 7 December.
The confiscations helped replenish the State Treasury , which 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 Liberators 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, including amassing a large army.
Before the Triumvirate could cross the Adriatic Sea into Greece where the Liberators had stationed their army, 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 Rufus Salvidienus thwarted an attack by Sextus against the southern Italian mainland at Rhegium , but 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's hand, but the defeat of the Liberators was the Triumvirate's first priority.
In the summer of 42 BC, Octavian and Antony sailed for Macedonia to face the Liberators with nineteen legions, the vast majority of their army [86] approximately , regular infantry plus supporting cavalry and irregular auxiliary units , leaving Rome under the administration of Lepidus. Likewise, the army of the Liberators 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 Liberators were not lured to leave their defensive stand. Thus, Antony tried to secretly outflank the Liberators' 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 Liberator 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's 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's corpse. The battles of Philippi ended the civil war in favor of the Caesarian faction. With the defeat of the Liberators, only Sextus Pompey and his fleet remained to challenge the Triumvirate's control over the Republic.
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. 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 after the rule of the Liberators in the previous years.
The Parthian threat to the Triumvirate's rule was urgent due to the fact that the Parthians supported the Liberators in the recent civil war, aid which included the supply 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.
Antony spent the winter of 42 BC in Athens , where 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 , [94] 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 the Republican cause, 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 position.
In Hasmonean Judea , several Jewish delegations complained to Antony of the harsh rule of Phasael and Herod , the sons of Rome's assassinated chief Jewish minister Antipater the Idumaean. After Herod offered him a large financial gift, Antony confirmed the brothers in their positions.
The only available biography of this towering figure of Roman history.• Author is an acknowledged expert in Roman history.• A well loved area of history, interest. Mark Antony has 37 ratings and 7 reviews. Linnea said: Patricia Southern's, Mark Antony: A Life is a well-written historical account of Mark Antony who.
Antony had first met a young Cleopatra while campaigning in Egypt in 55 BC and again in 48 BC when Caesar had backed her as queen of Egypt over the claims of her half-sister Arsinoe. After Caesar's assassination, Cleopatra and Caesarion returned to Egypt, where she named the child as her co-ruler. In 42 BC, the Triumvirate, in recognition for Cleopatra's help towards Publius Cornelius Dolabella in opposition to the Liberators, granted official recognition to Caesarion's position as king of Egypt.
Arriving in Tarsus aboard her magnificent ship, Cleopatra invited Antony to a grand banquet to solidify their alliance. At Cleopatra's request, Antony ordered the execution of Arsinoe, who, though marched in Caesar's triumphal parade in 46 BC, [97] had been granted sanctuary at the temple of Artemis in Ephesus.
Antony and Cleopatra then spent the winter of 41 BC together in Alexandria. Antony also granted formal control over Cyprus, which had been under Egyptian control since 47 BC during the turmoil of Caesar's civil war , to Cleopatra in 40 BC as a gift for her loyalty to Rome. Antony, in his first months in the East, raised money, reorganized his troops, and secured the alliance of Rome's client kingdoms.
He also promoted himself as Hellenistic ruler, which won him the affection of the Greek peoples of the East but also made him the target of Octavian's propaganda in Rome. According to some ancient authors, Antony led a carefree life of luxury in Alexandria. However, after a short stay in Tyre , he was forced to sail with his army to Italy to confront Octavian due to Octavian's war against Antony's wife and brother. Following the defeat of Brutus and Cassius, while Antony was stationed in the East, Octavian had authority over the West.
Additionally, tens of thousands of veterans who had fought for the Republican cause in the war also required land grants. This was necessary to ensure they would not support a political opponent of the Triumvirate. This left Octavian with two choices: Octavian chose the former. Led by Fulvia , the wife of Antony, the Senators grew hostile towards Octavian over the issue of the land confiscations. According to the ancient historian Cassius Dio , Fulvia was the most powerful woman in Rome at the time. As the mother-in-law of Octavian and the wife of Antony, no action was taken by the Senate without her support.
The conflict between Octavian and Fulvia caused great political and social unrest throughout Italy. Tensions escalated into open war, however, when Octavian divorced Clodia Pulchra , Fulvia's daughter from her first husband Publius Clodius Pulcher. Outraged, Fulvia, supported by Lucius, raised an army to fight for Antony's rights against Octavian. According to the ancient historian Appian , Fulvia's chief reason for the war was her jealousy of Antony's affairs with Cleopatra in Egypt and desire to draw Antony back to Rome. However, when Octavian returned to the city with his army, the pair was forced to retreat to Perusia in Etruria.
Octavian placed the city under siege while Lucius waited for Antony's legions in Gaul to come to his aid. While Octavian pardoned Lucius for his role in the war and even granted him command in Spain as his chief lieutenant there, Fulvia was forced to flee to Greece with her children. With the war over, Octavian was left in sole control over Italy. When Antony's governor of Gaul died, Octavian took over his legions there, further strengthening his control over the West.
Despite the Parthian Empire's invasion of Rome's eastern territories, Fulvia's civil war forced Antony to leave the East and return to Rome in order to secure his position. Meeting her in Athens, Antony rebuked Fulvia for her actions before sailing on to Italy with his army to face Octavian, laying siege to Brundisium. This new conflict proved untenable for both Octavian and Antony, however. Their centurions, who had become important figures politically, refused to fight due to their shared service under Caesar. The legions under their command followed suit.
The Roman world was redivided, with Antony receiving the Eastern provinces, Octavian the Western provinces, and Lepidus relegated to a clearly junior position as governor of Africa. This agreement, known as the Treaty of Brundisium , reinforced the Triumvirate and allowed Antony to begin preparing for Caesar's long-awaited campaign against the Parthian Empire. The rise of the Parthian Empire in the 3rd century BC and Rome's expansion into the Eastern Mediterranean during the 2nd century BC brought the two powers into direct contact, causing centuries of tumultuous and strained relations.
Though periods of peace developed cultural and commercial exchanges, war was a constant threat. Influence over the buffer state of the Kingdom of Armenia , located to the north-east of Roman Syria , was often a central issue in the Roman-Parthian conflict. Tigranes would wage a series of three wars against Rome before being ultimately defeated by Pompey in 66 BC. Artavasdes II offered Crassus the aid of nearly forty thousand troops to assist his Parthian expedition on the condition that Crassus invade through Armenia as the safer route.
Crassus' actions proved disastrous as his army was defeated at the Battle of Carrhae by a numerically inferior Parthian force. His reasons were to punish the Parthians for assisting Pompey in the recent civil war , to avenge Crassus' defeat at Carrhae, and especially to match the glory of Alexander the Great for himself. As part of the compromise between Antony and the Republicans to restore order following Caesar's murder, Publius Cornelius Dolabella was assigned the governorship of Syria and command over Caesar's planned Parthian campaign.
The compromise did not hold, however, and the Republicans were forced to flee to the East. The Republicans directed Quintus Labienus to attract the Parthians to their side in the resulting war against Antony and Octavian.
The legions, however, were composed of former Republican troops and Labienus convinced Orodes II to invade. Labienus, the Republican ally of Brutus and Cassius, accompanied him to advise him and to rally the former Republican soldiers stationed in Syria to the Parthian cause. Labienus recruited many of the former Republican soldiers to the Parthian campaign in opposition to Antony. The joint Parthian—Roman force, after initial success in Syria, separated to lead their offensive in two directions: Labienus conquered southern Anatolia with little resistance.
The Roman governor of Asia , Lucius Munatius Plancus , a partisan of Antony, was forced to flee his province, allowing Labienus to recruit the Roman soldiers stationed there. For his part, Pacorus advanced south to Phoenicia and Palestine. In Hasmonean Judea , the exiled prince Antigonus allied himself with the Parthians.
When his brother, Rome's client king Hyrcanus II , refused to accept Parthian domination, he was deposed in favor of Antigonus as Parthia's client king in Judea. Pacorus' conquest had captured much of the Syrian and Palestinian interior, with much of the Phoenician coast occupied as well. The city of Tyre remained the last major Roman outpost in the region. Antony, then in Egypt with Cleopatra, did not respond immediately to the Parthian invasion. Though he left Alexandria for Tyre in early 40 BC, when he learned of the civil war between his wife and Octavian , he was forced to return to Italy with his army to secure his position in Rome rather than defeat the Parthians.
Ventidius ordered Labienus executed as a traitor and the formerly rebellious Roman soldiers under his command were reincorporated under Antony's control. He then met a Parthian army at the border between Cilicia and Syria, defeating it and killing a large portion of the Parthian soldiers at the Amanus Pass. Ventidius's actions temporarily halted the Parthian advance and restored Roman authority in the East, forcing Pacorus to abandon his conquests and return to Parthia. In the spring of 38 BC, the Parthians resumed their offensive with Pacorus leading an army across the Euphrates.
Ventidius, in order to gain time, leaked disinformation to Pacorus implying that he should cross the Euphrates River at their usual ford. Pacorus did not trust this information and decided to cross the river much farther downstream; this was what Ventidius hoped would occur and gave him time to get his forces ready.
At the Battle of Cyrrhestica , Ventidius inflicted an overwhelming defeat against the Parthians which resulted in the death of Pacorus. Overall, the Roman army had achieved a complete victory with Ventidius' three successive victories forcing the Parthians back across the Euphrates.
Ventidius feared Antony's wrath if he invaded Parthian territory, thereby stealing his glory; so instead he attacked and subdued the eastern kingdoms, which had revolted against Roman control following the disastrous defeat of Crassus at Carrhae. Antiochus tried to make peace with Ventidius, but Ventidius told him to approach Antony directly. After peace was concluded, Antony sent Ventidius back to Rome where he celebrated a triumph , the first Roman to triumph over the Parthians.
While Antony and the other Triumvirs ratified the Treaty of Brundisium to redivide the Roman world among themselves, the rebel general Sextus Pompey , the son of Caesar's rival Pompey the Great , was largely ignored. From his stronghold on Sicily , he continued his piratical activities across Italy and blocked the shipment of grain to Rome.
The lack of food in Rome caused the public to blame the Triumvirate and shift its sympathies towards Pompey. This pressure forced the Triumvirs to meet with Sextus in early 39 BC. While Octavian wanted an end to the ongoing blockade of Italy, Antony sought peace in the West in order to make the Triumvirate's legions available for his service in his planned campaign against the Parthians. Though the Triumvirs rejected Sextus' initial request to replace Lepidus as the third man within the Triumvirate, they did grant other concessions.
Under the terms of the Treaty of Misenum , Sextus was allowed to retain control over Sicily and Sardinia , with the provinces of Corsica and Greece being added to his territory. In exchange, Sextus agreed to end his naval blockade of Italy, supply Rome with grain, and halt his piracy of Roman merchant ships. Many of the proscribed Senators, rather than face death, fled to Sicily seeking Sextus' protection.
With the exception of those responsible for Caesar's assassination, all those proscribed were allowed to return to Rome and promised compensation. This caused Sextus to lose many valuable allies as the formerly exiled Senators gradually aligned themselves with either Octavian or Antony. To secure the peace, Octavian betrothed his three-year-old nephew and Antony's stepson Marcus Claudius Marcellus to Sextus' daughter Pompeia.
Under an agreement with Octavian, Antony would be supplied with extra troops for his campaign. With this military purpose on his mind, Antony sailed to Greece with Octavia, where he behaved in a most extravagant manner, assuming the attributes of the Greek god Dionysus in 39 BC. The peace with Sextus was short lived, however. When Sextus demanded control over Greece as the agreement provided, Antony demanded the province's tax revenues be to fund the Parthian campaign.
These actions worked to renew Sextus' blockade of Italy, preventing Octavian from sending the promised troops to Antony for the Parthian campaign. This new delay caused Antony to quarrel with Octavian, forcing Octavia to mediate a truce between them. Under the Treaty of Tarentum, Antony provided a large naval force for Octavian's use against Sextus while Octavian promised to raise new legions for Antony to support his invasion of Parthia.