Marcus Antonius commonly known in English as Mark or Marc Antony was born on January 14, 83 BC to a well-respected family.
Mark Antony had a a misspent youth and was in a street gang at 20. He ran up gambling debts, which led him at 20 to flee to Greece to escape creditors.
He was a supporter of Julius Caesar, and served as one of his generals during the conquest of Gaul.
At the outbreak of the civil war between Caesar and the Roman soldier and statesman Pompey the Great, Antony was appointed Caesar’s commander in chief in Italy. He commanded the left wing of Caesar’s army at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, and in 44 BC he shared the consulship with Caesar.
Mark Antony was appointed administrator of Italy while Caesar eliminated political opponents in Greece, North Africa, and Spain.
After Caesar's death, Antony’s skillful oratory, immortalized by William Shakespeare in the play Julius Caesar, turned the Roman people against the conspirators, leaving Antony for a time with almost absolute power in Rome. A rival soon appeared, however, in the person of Gaius Octavius, later the Roman emperor Augustus,
He formed a three-man dictatorship known as the Second Triumvirate with Octavius and Marcus Aernillius Lepicius. They carved up Rome's provinces and Mark Antony was assigned Rome's eastern territories, including the client kingdom of Egypt, then ruled by Cleopatra.
Antony summoned Cleopatra to attend him in the city of Tarsus, in Cilicia (now in Turkey), and explain her refusal to aid the triumvirate in the civil war. Instead of punishing Cleopatra, however, Antony fell in love with her and returned with her to Egypt in 41 BC.
He married Octavius' sister, Octavia to avert civil war with the Triumvirs, but divorced her after embarking on an affair with Cleopatra, who bore him three children.
This strained the relationship with Octavian further and in 31 BC, Antony was defeated by Octavius' forces at the Battle of Actium.
Mark Antony fled to Egypt, where he committed suicide on August 1 30 BC. Cleopatra took her life a few days later.
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| Roman male portrait bust of Marcus Antonius. |
Mark Antony had a a misspent youth and was in a street gang at 20. He ran up gambling debts, which led him at 20 to flee to Greece to escape creditors.
He was a supporter of Julius Caesar, and served as one of his generals during the conquest of Gaul.
At the outbreak of the civil war between Caesar and the Roman soldier and statesman Pompey the Great, Antony was appointed Caesar’s commander in chief in Italy. He commanded the left wing of Caesar’s army at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, and in 44 BC he shared the consulship with Caesar.
Mark Antony was appointed administrator of Italy while Caesar eliminated political opponents in Greece, North Africa, and Spain.
He formed a three-man dictatorship known as the Second Triumvirate with Octavius and Marcus Aernillius Lepicius. They carved up Rome's provinces and Mark Antony was assigned Rome's eastern territories, including the client kingdom of Egypt, then ruled by Cleopatra.
Antony summoned Cleopatra to attend him in the city of Tarsus, in Cilicia (now in Turkey), and explain her refusal to aid the triumvirate in the civil war. Instead of punishing Cleopatra, however, Antony fell in love with her and returned with her to Egypt in 41 BC.
He married Octavius' sister, Octavia to avert civil war with the Triumvirs, but divorced her after embarking on an affair with Cleopatra, who bore him three children.
This strained the relationship with Octavian further and in 31 BC, Antony was defeated by Octavius' forces at the Battle of Actium.
Mark Antony fled to Egypt, where he committed suicide on August 1 30 BC. Cleopatra took her life a few days later.
Antony and Cleopatra's romance was made famous by Shakespeare's 1602 play and later immortalized in the 1963 Hollywood film Antony and Cleopatra, staring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Source Daily Mail
Source Daily Mail
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