biography
| name: |
Antonius, Marcus
|
| |
or Mark Antony
|
pronunciation:
[antohnius]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (c.83–30 BC)
|
| biography:
| Roman triumvir, related on his mother's side to Julius Caesar. After assisting Caesar in Gaul (53–50 BC), he went to Rome to become tribune of the plebians (49 BC). Caesar left him in charge in Italy, and at Pharsalia (48 BC) Antony led the left wing of Caesar's army against Pompey. In 44 BC he was made consul together with Caesar, and on Caesar's assassination, the flight of the conspirators left him with almost absolute power. Besieged and defeated at Mutina by Octavian Augustus (43 BC), he fled beyond the Alps; but in Gaul he visited the camp of Lepidus, and gained the favour of the army, with which he returned to Rome. Augustus, Antony, and Lepidus then established themselves as triumvirs to share the whole Roman world, defeating Brutus and Cassius at Philippi (42 BC). After meeting Cleopatra in Asia, he followed her to Egypt (41–40 BC), until called back by news of a quarrel in Italy between his kinsmen and Augustus. A new division of the Roman world was now arranged, Antony taking the East, and Augustus the West, while Lepidus had to be content with Africa; Antony also married Augustus's sister Octavia (40 BC). Differences grew up between Antony and Augustus, and in 37 BC Antony separated from Octavia and rejoined Cleopatra. His position in the East, his relations with Cleopatra, and his unsuccessful campaigns against the Parthians (36 and 34 BC), were seized upon by Augustus, and in the naval engagement of Actium (31 BC) Antony and Cleopatra were defeated. Antony went back to Egypt, where, deceived by a false report of Cleopatra's suicide, he committed suicide. |
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