General Notes

Note:
Antony, Mark
Mark Antony, or Marcus Antonius, was triumvir in Rome wit
h Octavian (later Emperor AUGUSTUS) and Marcus Aemilius LEP
IDUS after the murder of Julius CAESAR. He is famous in lit
erature for his liaison with the Egyptian queen CLEOPATRA
, the subject of William Shakespeare's ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
. He also figures prominently in Shakespeare's JULIUS CAESA
R. A cousin of Julius Caesar through his mother, Antony wa
s born c.83 BC. He first gained notice as a Roman cavalry o
fficer in Palestine and Egypt (57-54) and then joined Caesa
r briefly in Gaul (54-53). Elected quaestor at Rome, he ret
urned to Gaul for two years (52-50). A tribune in 49, he la
ter commanded Caesar's left wing at Pharsalus (48). After b
eing master of the horse (magister equitum) in 47, however
, Antony suffered eclipse until chosen Caesar's co-consul f
or 44 BC. After Caesar's assassination, Antony avoided furt
her bloodshed by restraining Lepidus and conciliating the c
onspirators. Nevertheless, efforts to strengthen his own po
sition against both rival Caesarians and the republicans ev
entually caused leaders in each group, such as Octavian an
d CICERO, to join forces against him. Shortly, however, Ant
ony and Octavian were reconciled, and they united with Lepi
dus to form the Second Triumvirate (November 43). Cicero an
d many others perished in the subsequent proscriptions. Ant
ony then defeated CASSIUS LONGINUS and BRUTUS at Philippi (
42 BC) and set out to reorganize the eastern provinces. Ant
ony's relationship with Octavian soon become strained, as e
ach sought supremacy at Rome. Reconciliations were arranged
: at Brundisium (40), with Antony's marriage to Octavian'
s sister, Octavia; at Misenum (39); and at Tarentum (37), w
ith a 5-year extension of the Triumvirate. Antony, however
, soon abandoned his wife, Octavia, for the Egyptian quee
n Cleopatra. The failure of his invasion of PARTHIA (36) ma
de him more dependent upon Cleopatra's support, and his rel
ationship with her led to an open breach with Octavian. I
n 32 BC, Antony divorced Octavia, and Octavian obtained th
e annulment of Antony's powers as triumvir along with a dec
laration of war against Cleopatra. Battle was joined in Sep
tember 31 BC at Actium. Antony was defeated and fled with C
leopatra to Alexandria, where he committed suicide in Augus
t 30 BC. Although he failed to gain supremacy at Rome, he b
ecame--through his two daughters by Octavia--an ancestor o
f the emperors CALIGULA, CLAUDIUS, and NERO.
Allen M. Ward
Bibliography: Ferrero, Guglielmo, Characters and Events o
f Roman History (1909); Gelzer, Matthias, Caesar: Politicia
n and Statesman, trans. by Peter Needham (1968); Huzar, E.
, Mark Antony (1986); Syme, Ronald, The Roman Revolution (1
939).
Antony, Mark, also spelled MARC ANTHONY, Latin MARCUS ANTON
IUS (b. 82/81 BC--d. August, 30 BC, Alexandria), Roman gene
ral under Julius Caesar and later triumvir (43-30 BC), who
, with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, was defeated by Octavia
n (the future emperor Augustus) in the last of the civil wa
rs that destroyed the Roman Republic.
Early life and career
Mark Antony was the son and grandson of men of the same nam
e. His father was called Creticus because of his military o
perations in Crete, and his grandfather, one of the leadin
g orators of his day, was vividly portrayed as a speaker i
n Cicero's De oratore. After a somewhat dissipated youth, t
he future triumvir served with distinction in 57-54 as a ca
valry commander under Aulus Gabinius in Judaea and Egypt. H
e then joined the staff of Julius Caesar, to whom he was re
lated on his mother's side, and served with him for much o
f the concluding phase of Caesar's conquest of central an
d northern Gaul and its aftermath (54-53, 52-50). In 51 Ant
ony held the minor office of quaestor, an office of financi
al administration that gave him a place in the Senate, an
d he was subsequently elected