Mark Antony

Багерман А.Я.

Mark Antony (83–30 BCE) was a Roman commander and statesman whose career linked Caesar’s civil war with the struggle that ended in Octavian’s sole rule. He belonged to the distinguished plebeian Antonii. A family legend traced their ancestry to Anton, a son of Heracles; Antony’s public image drew on this heroic association.

As Caesar’s officer, consul and later a member of the Second Triumvirate, he exercised authority over armies and provinces on an exceptional scale. His partnership with Cleopatra and defeat at Actium made him one of the best-known figures of the final decades of the Republic.

Antony’s powers after 43 BCE derived from the lex Titia. For the nature of this commission and its distinction from the earlier alliance of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus, see Triumvirate.

Marble bust of Mark Antony. Fine-grained yellowish marble. Rome,Vatican Museums,Chiaramonti Museum,New Wing,89. Flavian Era,69-96 AD

Family and Youth

Mark Antony belonged to a distinguished plebeian branch of the Antonii. His grandfather, the celebrated orator Marcus Antonius, had been consul in 99 BCE. His father, Marcus Antonius Creticus, commanded against pirates but left the family burdened with debts. His mother Julia came from the Julian family and was related to Julius Caesar. These connections later linked Antony with the family of Augustus.

Antony had two younger brothers, Gaius and Lucius, who also pursued political and military careers on the Caesarian side. Gaius became praetor in 44 BCE, was subsequently captured by Brutus and was executed during the renewed civil wars. Lucius became consul in 41 BCE and, with Fulvia, led opposition to Octavian during the Perusine War. After defeat, he was spared and received a command in Spain.

After Creticus’ death, Julia married Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura. His involvement in Catiline’s conspiracy led to his execution in 63 BCE. Later writers connected this episode with Antony’s hostility towards Cicero, although personal resentment alone cannot explain their subsequent political conflict.

Details of Antony’s childhood are uncertain. Plutarch portrays his youth as extravagant and strongly influenced by his friendship with Curio. He also describes Antony cultivating a vigorous, Heraclean appearance through his beard, dress and bearing. Such anecdotes form part of a moralising literary portrait and should not be accepted uncritically as an impartial record.

Aureus with portraits of Antony (left) and Octavian (right). 41 BC

Early Political and Military Career

Ancient accounts associate the young Antony with debt, lavish living and the circle of Clodius. His relationship with Fadia, the daughter of a freedman, is known chiefly through hostile testimony, so its precise legal and personal circumstances remain uncertain.

Antony left Rome for Greece, where he studied rhetoric, before entering military service under Aulus Gabinius in the East. As a cavalry commander, he gained experience in Judaea and took part in the expedition that restored Ptolemy XII to the Egyptian throne. The campaign was politically controversial at Rome, but Antony emerged with a growing military reputation.

He subsequently joined Caesar in Gaul. There he proved an energetic officer, capable of inspiring troops and undertaking independent assignments. Service with Caesar offered opportunities for wealth, patronage and advancement.

With Caesar’s support, Antony entered the quaestorship and later became both a tribune of the plebs and an augur. As the confrontation between Caesar and his opponents intensified, he defended Caesar’s interests at Rome. In January 49 BCE, Antony and his fellow tribune Quintus Cassius left the city and joined Caesar. Caesar used their treatment as part of his justification for taking military action against his opponents.

Several offices anchor the chronology: Antony was elected quaestor in 52 BCE, became an augur in 50 BCE and entered the tribunate in December 50 for the following year. These were successive stages of advancement, not three offices conferred simultaneously. His experience in the East, including the restoration of Ptolemy XII in 55 BCE, preceded his better-known service in Caesar’s Gallic campaigns.

Denarius,minted in honor of the campaign in Armenia. Left — Cleopatra,right-Antony and the inscription "Antoni Armenia devicta"

The Civil War and Caesar’s Dictatorship

Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon in 49 BCE opened civil war against Pompey and the senatorial coalition supporting him. Antony became one of Caesar’s principal lieutenants. When Caesar campaigned in Spain, Antony supervised forces in Italy, while Lepidus held important responsibilities at Rome.

After Caesar crossed to the Balkans, Antony brought reinforcements across the Adriatic despite the Pompeian naval presence. He joined Caesar before the campaign culminating in Pharsalus, where he commanded the left wing in 48 BCE.

Antony then returned to Italy and served as Caesar’s master of the horse, the deputy attached to a dictator. This was a different office from an ordinary cavalry prefecture. His administration faced soldiers demanding discharge and violent political conflict over debt. His handling of these problems damaged relations with Caesar, and Antony did not accompany him on the subsequent African and Spanish campaigns. During this period he married Fulvia.

The relationship was repaired before Caesar’s final return from Spain, and Antony became his fellow consul for 44 BCE. As Caesar accumulated honours, the ambitions of his associates and uncertainty about the future intensified. Antony’s distant family connection did not guarantee that he would inherit Caesar’s private estate or political position.

At the Lupercalia in February 44 BCE, Antony offered Caesar a diadem, which Caesar publicly rejected. Whether the episode was planned as a test, a display of refusal or something else remains disputed. It nevertheless sharpened fears that Caesar intended to become king.

His reinforcement crossing came in the spring of 48 BCE, before the fighting around Dyrrhachium and the victory at Pharsalus later that year. In Italy, the crisis over debt involved the tribunes Dolabella and Trebellius and competing proposals concerning debt relief. Caesar’s return in 47 BCE restored his own direct control. Antony’s later reconciliation with him preceded their joint consulship, but political office, admission to the patriciate and membership of the Senate were distinct matters: Antony was already a senator before the honours of 44 BCE.

Antony and Caesar’s Assassination

On 15 March 44 BCE, the conspirators kept Antony away from Caesar during the fatal meeting. They chose not to kill him. Claims that he knew of the plot are uncertain and should not be presented as established fact.

As the surviving consul, Antony quickly became a central figure in the aftermath. Lepidus also possessed military force and political influence. A compromise in the Senate allowed the assassins to escape immediate punishment while preserving Caesar’s official acts and appointments. This settlement temporarily avoided open fighting without resolving the struggle for power.

Antony obtained Caesar’s papers and used his position to influence which decisions were recognised as Caesar’s intentions. Caesar’s funeral and the public reaction to his death further weakened the assassins’ position. Meanwhile, the will revealed that the young Octavian was Caesar’s principal heir and adopted son. This transformed the political situation: Antony now faced a rival who could appeal directly to Caesar’s name and veterans.

Octavian’s arrival in Italy brought disputes over the inheritance, money and leadership of the Caesarian faction. Veterans sometimes pressed the two men towards reconciliation, but their interests remained in conflict. Cicero increasingly supported Octavian as a counterweight to Antony and attacked Antony in the speeches known as the Philippics.

The struggle over provincial commands led to war around Mutina in 43 BCE. Antony fought Decimus Brutus and then the forces sent by the Senate, including Octavian. Although forced to withdraw, he retained enough support among the armies to remain a major political actor.

The Mutina campaign included fighting at Forum Gallorum and Mutina in April 43 BCE. Both consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, died during the campaign. Their deaths changed the balance of power: Octavian’s army remained a decisive force, while Antony withdrew and eventually joined Lepidus. Military support proved more durable than the Senate’s attempt to isolate Antony through provincial appointments and declarations.

The head of Mark Antony. Marble. Rome,Capitoline Museum,Montemartini Power Station. I. 59.

The Second Triumvirate

In the autumn of 43 BCE, Lepidus helped bring Antony and Octavian together near Bononia. They agreed to form the Second Triumvirate, a legally constituted commission with extraordinary powers, unlike the earlier private alliance of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus. The lex Titia established it on 27 November 43 BCE.

The three men divided commands and offices and began the proscriptions. Political enemies were outlawed, killed and dispossessed; their property also helped finance the new regime and its armies. Cicero was among the victims. Stories about the treatment of his head and hands underline the violence of the period, but some details belong to hostile and highly dramatic accounts.

Antony and Octavian then moved against Brutus and Cassius, who controlled substantial eastern resources and armies. The two battles at Philippi in 42 BCE destroyed the principal military opposition led by Caesar’s assassins. Antony played the stronger battlefield role. Cassius died after the first battle and Brutus after the second; surviving troops were killed, dispersed or absorbed into the victors’ forces.

The fighting at Philippi took place in two engagements in October 42 BCE. In the first, Antony defeated Cassius’ force while Brutus succeeded against Octavian’s camp; Cassius killed himself after misjudging the overall result. The second engagement ended in Brutus’ defeat and suicide. These were not one uninterrupted battle, and the first did not give either coalition an uncomplicated victory.

Victory did not end the triumvirate. Antony increasingly concentrated on the eastern provinces, while Octavian dealt with Italy and the West. Their responsibilities included the difficult task of rewarding and settling veterans.

Antony met Cleopatra at Tarsus in 41 BCE. Egypt’s wealth and strategic position made the relationship politically important as well as personal. Meanwhile, land confiscations and factional rivalry in Italy contributed to the Perusine War, in which Antony’s brother Lucius and wife Fulvia opposed Octavian. Antony did not provide decisive support, and the conflict ended in defeat for them.

After Fulvia’s death, the agreement at Brundisium in 40 BCE restored cooperation between Antony and Octavian. Antony married Octavian’s sister Octavia. The settlement confirmed their respective eastern and western spheres, while Lepidus retained a diminished role in Africa. Sextus Pompey remained a separate power whose fleet could threaten Italy’s grain supply.

In the East, Antony’s commander Publius Ventidius Bassus defeated the Parthian forces that had invaded Roman territory. Antony prepared a larger campaign of his own. His relationship with Cleopatra continued; their children included the twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene.

The agreement at Tarentum in 37 BCE renewed cooperation and provided for an exchange of military support: ships for Octavian’s war against Sextus Pompey and troops for Antony’s eastern campaign. Octavia helped mediate, but disputes about whether the promises were fulfilled deepened distrust.

In 36 BCE, Antony invaded through Armenia towards Media Atropatene with a large Roman and allied army. The route was intended to avoid the conditions that had proved disastrous for Crassus. However, the loss of the siege train and its escort seriously undermined the operation against Phraaspa. The withdrawal of Armenian support and continuing attacks compounded the difficulty. Antony eventually retreated with heavy losses. Ancient totals vary and should not be treated as precise casualty returns.

The Parthian campaign of 36 BCE depended on a very large coalition. Plutarch (Antony 37) reports 60,000 Roman infantry, 10,000 cavalry described as Iberian and Celtic, and 30,000 troops from other peoples; these are ancient totals, not independently verified muster figures. Armenia’s king Artavasdes supplied forces and access through his territory. Phraates IV, whose violent accession had driven some Parthian nobles into exile, was king of Parthia—not Armenia.

At Phraaspa in Media Atropatene, Antony’s rapid advance left the siege equipment behind with a separate escort under Statianus. The destruction of that force deprived him of the machinery needed for the siege. Withdrawal then required repeated efforts to protect troops and supplies from mounted attacks. The failure resulted from operational decisions and logistics as well as enemy action; reducing it to Cleopatra’s influence repeats the moralising explanation favoured by some ancient writers.

Sextus Pompey, defeated in the West, moved east and was killed in 35 BCE. In 34 BCE, Antony campaigned against Armenia, captured its king Artavasdes and celebrated his success at Alexandria. The ceremony and his subsequent dynastic arrangements with Cleopatra gave Octavian powerful material for attacks on Antony’s loyalty to Rome.

Golden Aureus with the image of Mark Antony. 42 BC

The Confrontation with Octavian

During the 30s BCE, cooperation increasingly gave way to hostile propaganda. Octavian portrayed Antony as dominated by Cleopatra and willing to sacrifice Roman interests to an eastern monarchy. Antony attacked Octavian’s conduct, his treatment of former allies and the contrast between adoption and Caesarion’s claimed biological descent from Caesar. Neither side’s public accusations can be read as a neutral description of events.

The Donations of Alexandria in 34 BCE distributed royal titles and territorial claims among Cleopatra and her children. Some of the lands were not under Antony’s effective control. The ceremony strengthened his dynastic alliance in the East but alarmed opponents and some Roman supporters.

Antony continued to have substantial Roman backing. In 32 BCE, the consuls Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Gaius Sosius, together with many senators, left Italy to join him. The conflict was therefore a Roman civil war as well as a struggle involving Egypt, despite Octavian’s attempt to present it chiefly as a foreign threat.

Antony’s divorce from Octavia removed an important remaining bond. Octavian then obtained and publicised Antony’s will from the Vestal Virgins. The reported provisions, especially the wish to be buried at Alexandria, were used against him. Because the document survives only through partisan accounts, its precise wording and the presentation of its contents require caution.

War was formally directed against Cleopatra. Antony and his allies assembled forces in Greece, while Octavian and Agrippa prepared to cross from Italy. Cleopatra’s resources and fleet were essential to Antony’s war effort, but her presence also created political tensions within his coalition.

Agrippa’s operations along the Greek coast disrupted Antony’s supply network. Octavian established himself near Actium, while Antony’s forces suffered from a difficult position, disease and shortages. Defections further weakened his army. Ancient figures for ships and troops vary substantially.

Egypt’s role was material as well as symbolic: money, grain and ships supported the coalition. Agrippa’s capture of coastal positions threatened the routes through which supplies reached Antony’s forces around the Ambracian Gulf. Blockade, disease and defections therefore mattered before the fleets met in battle. Antony’s larger warships and Octavian’s naval operations should not be reduced to a simple contrast between heavy, helpless vessels and uniformly light opponents.

The naval battle of Actium took place on 2 September 31 BCE. Antony and Cleopatra escaped with part of the fleet, but most of their remaining naval and land forces were lost to them. Whether the breakout had been planned from the outset, and how the battle’s phases should be reconstructed, remain debated. The result was nevertheless decisive.

Antony returned to Egypt. When Octavian invaded in 30 BCE, brief resistance could not reverse the collapse of his position. His remaining troops and ships deserted or were defeated.

According to Plutarch, a false report of Cleopatra’s death led Antony to attempt suicide. Mortally wounded, he was brought to her and died. Cleopatra subsequently also took her own life rather than face captivity and a Roman triumph. The dramatic details of their deaths come from literary accounts written after the events.

Plutarch’s account of Antony’s death includes his attendant Eros, who killed himself rather than kill his master. Antony then wounded himself. When he learned that Cleopatra was still alive, he was taken to the monument where she had withdrawn and lifted up to her. These details belong to Plutarch’s dramatic narrative; they explain the familiar later artistic image of the dying Antony without establishing every gesture or spoken word as a contemporary record.

Aftermath and Family

Octavian annexed Egypt, bringing the last major Hellenistic kingdom under Roman control. Caesarion and Antony’s eldest son Antyllus were killed. Other children were spared, and Octavia played an important part in raising Antony’s surviving family.

Ancient accounts state that Antony and Cleopatra were buried together, but the location of their tomb has not been securely identified.

Plutarch presents Antony as physically imposing and able to win the affection of soldiers. Coins supply contemporary portraits, although these too were shaped by political and artistic conventions.

Antony’s family relationships included Fadia, Antonia, Fulvia, Octavia and Cleopatra. The evidence does not justify treating every relationship as an equally well-documented Roman legal marriage. He had children with several of these partners.

Through his daughters by Octavia, Antony became an ancestor of the emperors Caligula, Claudius and Nero. Cleopatra Selene, his daughter by Cleopatra, married Juba II and became queen of Mauretania, in northwestern Africa.

Fulvia’s sons were Antyllus and Iullus Antonius; Octavia’s daughters were Antonia Major and Antonia Minor. Cleopatra bore Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene and Ptolemy Philadelphus. Listing the children clarifies Antony’s dynastic connections without assuming that his relationship with Cleopatra constituted a Roman legal marriage. Antonia Minor was the mother of Germanicus and the emperor Claudius; through this family Antony’s ancestry also reached Caligula and Nero.

Mark Antony in Art and Culture

Several ancient portraits and relief figures have been identified as Antony, but not every attribution is secure. A figure on the Ravenna dynastic relief, for example, has been debated, and some sculptural heads traditionally labelled “Mark Antony” require caution. Coin portraits offer a firmer point of comparison.

His life and relationship with Cleopatra became enduring subjects in literature. Robert Garnier’s tragedy Marc Antoine appeared in 1578. Shakespeare gave Antony major roles in Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra; the latter belongs to the early seventeenth century, not the 1590s.

Artists likewise returned to the story. Examples include Jan de Bray’s Banquet of Antony and Cleopatra, Tiepolo’s Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra, and Arthur Strasser’s sculpture of Antony in a chariot drawn by lions. These works reveal later interpretations of Rome and Egypt rather than documentary reconstructions of the ancient figures.

On screen, Antony has been played by Marlon Brando in Julius Caesar (1953), Richard Burton opposite Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra (1963), Billy Zane in Cleopatra (1999), and James Purefoy in the television series Rome (2005–2007).

Literature

Ancient Sources

Plutarch. Parallel Lives: Antony.

Appian. The Civil Wars.

Cassius Dio. Roman History.

Cicero. Philippics.

Modern Studies

M. V. Belkin. “Cicero and Mark Antony: The Origins of the Conflict”. In a collection edited by E. D. Frolov. St Petersburg, 2002, pp. 133–162 (in Russian).

V. G. Borukhovich. “After the Ides of March, 44 BCE”. Saratov, 1983, issue 5, pp. 24–35 (in Russian).

V. G. Borukhovich. “The Final Period of the Civil Wars”. The Ancient World and Archaeology, issue 6. Saratov, 1986, pp. 115–134 (in Russian).

E. V. Smykov. “Mark Antony and the Policy of Clementia Caesaris”. Saratov, 1990, issue 7, pp. 56–65 (in Russian).

E. V. Smykov. “The Parthian Campaign of Mark Antony”. Problems of National and World History. Saratov, 1987, pp. 111–120 (in Russian).

M. P. Charlesworth. “Some Fragments of the Propaganda of Mark Antony”. The Classical Quarterly 27, 1933, pp. 172–177.

J. A. Crook. “A Legal Point about Mark Antony’s Will”. The Journal of Roman Studies 47, 1957, pp. 36–38.

P. De Ruggiero. Mark Antony: A Plain Blunt Man. Pen and Sword, 2014.

Adrian Goldsworthy. Antony and Cleopatra. Yale University Press, 2010.

Patricia Southern. Antony and Cleopatra. Amberley, 2009.

Eleanor G. Huzar. Mark Antony: A Biography. University of Minnesota Press, 1978.

Eleanor G. Huzar. “Mark Antony: Marriages vs. Careers”. The Classical Journal 81, 1985–1986, pp. 97–111.

J. R. Johnson. “The Authenticity and Validity of Antony’s Will”. L’Antiquité Classique 47, 1978, pp. 494–503.

C. H. Lange. “The Battle of Actium: A Reconsideration”. The Classical Quarterly 61, 2011, pp. 608–623.

Jack Lindsay. Marc Antony, His World and His Contemporaries. London: George Routledge, 1936.

J. T. Ramsey. “Did Mark Antony Contemplate an Alliance with His Political Enemies in July 44 BCE?” Classical Philology 96, 2001, pp. 253–268.

J. T. Ramsey. “Mark Antony’s Judiciary Reform and Its Revival under the Triumvirs”. The Journal of Roman Studies 95, 2005, pp. 20–37.

J. T. Ramsey. “The Senate, Mark Antony, and Caesar’s Legislative Legacy”. The Classical Quarterly 44, 1994, pp. 130–145.

Plutarch’s Life of Antony: Read the text

Folger Shakespeare Library, Antony and Cleopatra: Online source

Cicero, Philippics 2.50, with commentary on Antony’s early offices: Text and commentary

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