Antony

Antony

Marcus Antonius, also known as Mark Antony, was born in 83 BCE to a prominent family of Rome. Many would describe his adolescence as rambunctious, with his incessant gambling and alcohol consumption. Although this is so, Antony became a much more respectable man once he left Rome to study rhetoric in Greece. His extreme military ability was his “claim to fame” as he stood out while serving as a cavalry commander under Aulus Gabinius in Judea and Egypt in 57-55 BCE. In 52 BCE Antony was able to obtain a position of office of financial administration, ensuring him a lifetime place in the senate.

As he rose to a position of more authority and fame, Antony became better recognized as a strong leader by his close friend and distant cousin Julius Caesar. Caesar first called Antony to his services when fighting a battle in Gaul. Through his immense support Antony became one of “Caesar’s most able subordinates”. When a civil war broke out between Caesar and Pompey, another leader of the roman republic, Caesar left Antony in charge of the left wing of his troops. Antony’s superior leadership skills aided in Caesar’s victory and helped Caesar gain a position of supreme authority over Rome. When Caesar fought in Egypt and Africa he left Antony as Master of Horse in Rome, which is a secondary commander position. Since Antony lacked political skills, he failed to uphold the social and economic order in Rome causing the city to crumble. He took advantage of his power to indulge in the luxurious spoils of being in charge. His only solution to the mess that he had created was violence, but that tactic proved to be ineffective as he killed over two hundred citizens and caused Rome to spiral into and state of anarchy. Antony then became banned from Caesar’s “inner circle” becuase if his actions and all political power was stripped from him. . It was almost three years before Caesar forgave Antony and finally decided to let him back into the consul. Caesar and Antony were able to rekindle their intense friendship. Antony even offered Caesar a diadem, or ribbon signifying royalty, which Caesar declined due to the citizens’ distaste to monarchy.

Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 BCE. Antony fled Rome in the garb of a slave in fear that his supporters would come after him. But he soon came back when he realized that his supporters did not revult against him. At Caersar's funeral, Antony gave the eulogy, using the speech to publicly incriminate Caesar’s assassinators and read his will . After Caesar’s assassination, Antony was given many of Caesar’s treasuries and papers and was given partial command of the unstable Rome along with Caesar’s other successors Octavian and Lepidus. The three of these men had rapidly increasing power over Rome, so much so that they made a pact formally known as the Triumvirate . Antony was responsible for creating a list of conspirators to kill. In the process, they ended up getting over one hundred of their enemies killed . Allies Octavian and Antony’s bond was strengthened even more by Antony marrying Octavian’s sister Octavia . Both Octavian and Antony became quite powerful and were even deified in Athens. The Triumvirate lasted over a decade and went very smoothly until Antony met Cleopatra who, at the time, was the pharaoh of Egypt. They fell in love, but used their relationship not only for love but also to help Cleopatra retrive old boundaries of the Ptolematic kingdom and to help Antony use Egypt as a source of supplies for his armies. Octavia and Octavian greatly disapproved of this relationship, leading Octavian to only send a small fraction of the troops Antony had lent him back, causing Antony to lose the first major war of his career. Because of his aggravation with Octavian and Octavia, Antony bestowed land and royal titles upon Cleopatra and her children. Octavian viewed this act as a threat that Antony was going to try and transfer Roman territory to Greek lands. Their alliance ended because of this act and because Antony had left Octavia for Cleopatra. Octavian began to make political moves against Antony, worsening the tension between the two.

Antony fled to Ambracia and kept his troops there to avoid conflict with Octavian. Octavian and Agrippa joined forces to try and defeat Antony and were successful in conquering many parts of Antony’s territory while on their way to battle him. Antony was not only losing land but was also losing supporters because many did not support Cleopatra’s presence in the battles. The battle of Actium was the last battle that Antony fought and it was a terrible defeat, especially since Cleopatra had left during the fight with about sixty ships. He managed to escape to Alexandria, only to hear rumors that Cleopatra was dead when in fact she was in hiding from enemy troops. Upon hearing this rumor, Antony killed himself by falling on his sword. Because of the turmoil that he had caused, Antony made many enemies, eventually putting himself in the position where life was not worth living anymore.