Description

Marcus Antonius was one of the principal figures in the dying days of the Roman
Republic. His father died early in his childhood. P. Cornelius Lentalus raised Antony after marrying his mother Julia. In 63 BC Antony’s step father was strangled to death on orders from Cicero, for his involvement in the Cataline Affair. Antony did not forget, nurturing a lifelong antipathy for Cicero.
In 58 BC Antony joined the army of Gabinius in Syria where he became a cavalry commander of distinction in the campaigns in Egypt and Palestine.
In 54 BC Antony was in Gaul as a member of Julius Caesar’s staff. He became an ardent and vocal supporter of Caesar in the years to come. He fought for Caesar in the Civil War and became the most dedicated of those who demanded Caesar’s assassins be hunted down and killed, subsequent the dictator’s murder.
In 43 BC Antony along with Octavian and Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate combining their respective forces to defeat the last of the Republican army. After the defeat of the Republicans Antony took control of the East with plans to carry out Caesar’s Parthian expedition. The year 41 BC saw Antony in Egypt, meeting Cleopatra and a rift between Antony and Octavian widening. The campaign against Parthia by 36 BC was less than successful with heat and the remarkable Parthian cavalry archer units inflicting casualties to Antony’s legions.
By 34 BC Lepidus fell out of the Triumvirate leaving an ever more powerful Octavian, and Antony with Cleopatra and the wealth of Egypt as his principal ally. As Antony drifted further from Rome, Octavian consolidated his Roman power base towards the eventual elimination of Antony. Octavian had the Senate strip Antony of is authority and war was declared against Antony and Cleopatra. The war climaxed off the west coast of Greece at Actium in a massive naval battle where Antony’s forces were defeated. Following the battle Antony joined Cleopatra in Alexandria in 30 BC where they both committed suicide.