Marc Antony, the Roman Politician & General

Born: c. 83 B.C.E. 
Rome (now in Italy) 
Died: 30 B.C.E. 
Alexandria, Egypt 
Roman politician and general

Cleopatra's ill-fated lover

Latin name: Marcus Antonius

• The Roman politician and general Mark Antony was the chief rival of another prominent Roman politician, Octavian (63 B.C.E. –14 C. E.), seeking leadership of the Roman Empire. 
• Both men desired to assume power after the assassination (political murder) of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.E. The man who came out on top of this struggle would go on to become perhaps the most powerful figure in the world at that time.
• Mark Antony came from a distinguished Roman family. His grandfather had been one of Rome's leading public speakers, and his father, Marcus Antonius Creticus, had died in a military expedition against pirates when Antony was young.

Career with Caesar

• Antony received his first overseas experience in the eastern portion of the Roman Empire, when, during 57 to 55 B.C.E. , he served with the Roman governor of Syria, which was a province (territory) of Rome. 
• From there he went to serve with Caesar (100–44 B.C.E. ) in Gaul (a region of Europe that included what is now modern-day France, as well as parts of modern-day Germany, Belgium, and Italy). 
• Caesar conquered Gaul for Rome, and Antony assisted him in suppressing local rebellion against the Romans. 
• In 50 B.C.E. , after returning to Rome, Antony was elected a tribune, an office that represented the people's interests. 
• Tribunes were expected to stand up for the rights of individuals and for those who were not members of the highest classes of Roman society. 
• By contrast, the Senate, Rome's primary governing and advisory body, was composed primarily of members from a small hereditary aristocracy (political upper class).

• Antony came into the office at a critical time. Caesar's command in Gaul was coming to an end, and a group in the Senate was set on bringing Caesar to trial for what they saw as his misuse of his power. 
• Caesar depended upon the tribunes to look after his interests in Rome, and Antony did so when he vetoed a decree that required Caesar and the men he commanded to lay down their arms. 
• However, when the Senate gave its officers special powers to "preserve the state," Antony felt that the measure would be used against him and he fled to Caesar. 
• By doing so, he gave Caesar the opportunity to assert his power, because he could claim he was defending the people's representatives—the tribunes—against the power of the Senate.

• Antony was a daring general in the army of Julius Caesar who rose to become one of Caesar's closest colleagues. 
• After Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C., Antony jumped into the struggle for control of Rome. (At the funeral of Caesar he spoke out strongly against the assassins; William Shakespeare later dramatized this moment in the play Julius Caesar, with the famous oration beginning "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.") Antony joined forces with Caesar's adopted heir Octavian to purge Rome of their common enemies. 
• They formed the so-called Second Triumvirate with general Marcus Lepidus and divided the empire, with Antony being given control of Egypt. 
• There he met and became the lover of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. Their meeting, with Cleopatra dressed as the love goddess Venus and arriving on a lavishly decorated barge, is a famous story recorded by Plutarch and others. 
• Antony and Cleopatra joined forces and the triumvirate dissolved. At the battle of Actium in 31 B.C. the naval forces of Antony and Cleopatra were routed by those of Octavian. (Cleopatra fled the scene while the battle was still underway, and Antony followed; their departure is often regarded as one of naval history's great blunders.) 
• A year later, with Octavian's forces nearing Alexandria, Antony committed suicide by falling on his sword. Cleopatra followed suit (allegedly killing herself with the self-inflicted bite of a poisonous snake) and Octavian was left in final control of Egypt and Rome.
•  Antony's life and tragic end was immortalized by Shakespeare in his play Antony and Cleopatra.