This appointment marks the beginning of his military career. In 57 BC, Antony joined the military staff of Aulus Gabinius, the Proconsul of Syria, as chief of the cavalry. Hoping to escape his creditors, Antony fled to Greece in 58 BC, where he studied philosophy and rhetoric at Athens. By age twenty, Antony had amassed an enormous debt. He may also have been involved in the Lupercal cult as he was referred to as a priest of this order later in life. There is little reliable information on his political activity as a young man, although it is known that he was an associate of Publius Clodius Pulcher and his street gang. This form of slander was popular during this time in the Roman Republic to demean and discredit political opponents. Antony's contemporary and enemy, Cicero, charged that he had a homosexual relationship with Gaius Scribonius Curio. Īccording to the historian Plutarch, Antony spent his teenage years wandering through Rome with his brothers and friends gambling, drinking, and becoming involved in scandalous love affairs. He was a major figure in the Second Catilinarian Conspiracy and was summarily executed on the orders of the consul Cicero in 63 BC for his involvement. Lentulus, despite exploiting his political success for financial gain, was constantly in debt due to his extravagance. The elder Antony's death left Antony and his brothers, Lucius and Gaius, in the care of their mother, Julia, who later married Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura, an eminent member of the old Patrician nobility. In 74 BC he was given the military command to defeat the pirates of the Mediterranean, but he died in Crete in 71 BC without making any significant progress. Antony's brother Lucius, on a coin issued at Ephesus during his consulship in 41 BCĪccording to the Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero, Antony's father was incompetent and corrupt, and was only given power because he was incapable of using or abusing it effectively. Antony was an infant at the time of Lucius Cornelius Sulla's march on Rome in 82 BC. His mother was Julia, a third cousin of Julius Caesar. His father and namesake was Marcus Antonius Creticus, son of the noted orator Marcus Antonius who had been murdered during the purges of Gaius Marius in the winter of 87–86 BC. In 27 BC, Octavian was granted the title of Augustus, marking the final stage in the transformation of the Roman Republic into an empire, with himself as the first Roman emperor.Ī member of the plebeian Antonia gens, Antony was born in Rome on 14 January 83 BC. With Antony dead, Octavian became the undisputed master of the Roman world. Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt where, having again been defeated at the Battle of Alexandria, they committed suicide. Later that year, Antony was defeated by Octavian's forces at the Battle of Actium. Their ongoing hostility erupted into civil war in 31 BC, as the Roman Senate, at Octavian's direction, declared war on Cleopatra and proclaimed Antony a traitor. Lepidus was expelled from the association in 36 BC, and in 33 BC disagreements between Antony and Octavian caused a split between the remaining Triumvirs. Despite this marriage, Antony carried on a love affair with Cleopatra, who bore him three children, further straining Antony's relations with Octavian. Civil war between Antony and Octavian was averted in 40 BC, when Antony married Octavian's sister, Octavia. Relations among the triumvirs were strained as the various members sought greater political power. Antony was assigned Rome's eastern provinces, including the client kingdom of Egypt, then ruled by Cleopatra VII Philopator, and was given the command in Rome's war against Parthia. The Triumvirs defeated Caesar's killers, the Liberatores, at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, and divided the government of the Republic between themselves. After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, Antony joined forces with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, another of Caesar's generals, and Octavian, Caesar's great-nephew and adopted son, forming a three-man dictatorship known to historians as the Second Triumvirate. Antony was appointed administrator of Italy while Caesar eliminated political opponents in Greece, North Africa, and Spain. Marcus Antonius (14 January 83 BC – 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autocratic Roman Empire.Īntony was a relative and supporter of Julius Caesar, and served as one of his generals during the conquest of Gaul and the Civil War.
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