| Bio |

Who they were

Marcus Antonius, known as Mark Antony, was born on 14 January 83 BC^[1]. His father was Marcus Antonius Creticus. His mother, Julia, belonged to the family of the Caesars and was a cousin of Julius Caesar^[1]. According to the biographer Arthur Weigall, the Antonii were of plebeian (commoner) stock but traced their line back to Hercules^[2]. Weigall also wrote that news reached Rome that Antony's father was bungling a war against pirates^[2]. His mother was the widow of Lentulus, whom Cicero had put to death as Catiline's chief agent^[2]. As a young man Antony ran up a debt of 250 talents through drinking and extravagance^[1]. He then slipped away to Greece to study public speaking and soldiering^[1].

Antony joined the Roman general Aulus Gabinius on a campaign against Syria and proved an able cavalry commander^[1]. In 54 BC Julius Caesar called him to join his army in Gaul^[1]. In 50 BC Caesar backed his election as tribune^[1]. A tribune, one of the Tribunes of the People, could use a veto to stop a bill becoming law^[2]. In 49 BC Antony and his friend Curio fled Rome dressed as servants to join Caesar's camp^[1]. Caesar then left Antony to rule the city^[1]. At Pharsalus in 48 BC Antony commanded Caesar's left wing of cavalry^[1]. He also served as Caesar's deputy, the Master of the Horse^[2].

On the day Caesar was assassinated, the conspirator Trebonius kept Antony talking outside the senate door^[3]. Antony later spoke at Caesar's funeral and turned the crowd against the killers^[1]. Weigall describes him showing the crowd Caesar's bloodied clothes, torn by the daggers^{[4, p. 252]}. In 43 BC he joined Octavian and Lepidus in the Second Triumvirate, a three-man ruling pact, and took charge of the east^[1]. Cicero was killed in the purge that followed. Conyers Middleton's life of Cicero says Antony had his head fixed on the rostra, the speakers' platform, between his two hands^[5]. In 42 BC Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius at Philippi^[1].

In 41 BC Antony summoned Cleopatra VII of Egypt to Tarsus, and the two began a famous love affair^[1]. In 40 BC he agreed to marry Octavian's sister Octavia, but in 37 BC he sent her back to Rome^[1]. In 34 BC he celebrated his Armenian victories with a triumph in Alexandria rather than Rome^[1]. Octavian's general Agrippa defeated Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 BC^[1]. In 30 BC, told that Cleopatra was dead, Antony stabbed himself^[1]. The report was false, and he died in her arms^[1]. Plutarch says Octavian let Cleopatra bury him in royal style^[3].

After Antony's death Octavian was the sole power in Rome^[1]. In 27 BC he was given the title Augustus and became the first emperor^[1]. Antony's children with Cleopatra were taken to Rome, where Octavia raised them with her own children by Antony^[1]. One of Octavia's daughters by Antony, Antonia Major, later became the grandmother of the emperor Nero^[1]. Octavian presented the war as Rome against Cleopatra and the East, not Roman against Roman^[6]. Plutarch records that Antony's statues were pulled down, though Cleopatra's were spared after a friend paid Octavian 2,000 talents^[3].

Plutarch says Antony liked to be seen in a tunic belted up to his thigh, with a large sword at his side and a heavy cloak over it^[3]. He thought his build and dress confirmed the family tradition of descent from Heracles^[3]. His jesting, boasting and habit of sitting beside soldiers at their meals won him great goodwill^[3]. We are told he also harnessed lions to his chariot, in memory of that same ancestor^[7].

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