Marc Antony – 42 BC

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Marc Antony

Born 83 – Died 30 BC, age 53

Imperator, 46 – 30 BC

Marcus Antonius was born in 83 BC, the son of Antonius Creticus and Julia, who was related to Julius Caesar. His father was a rather unsuccessful admiral who died early during his childhood. His mother remarried P. Cornelius Lentulus who raised him for most of his childhood. In 63 BC, Lentulus was strangled on the orders of Cicero for his involvement in the Catiline Affair. This would prove to be an event in Antony’s life that he would never forget and which Cicero would ultimately pay for with his own life at the hands of Antony.

At sometime around 58 BC, Marc Anthony traveled to Syria and at the age of 22, he became a cavalry commander who served with distinction in Judaea and Egypt under Aulus Gabinius in 57 – 54 BC. Antony was later assigned to Caesar in Gaul where he became a staff member. His service to Caesar proved useful and in 52 BC he was given the title Tribune of the People. Thus, Antony became a Quaestor with a reputation for being very vocal on behalf of Caesar’s interests while serving out his duty in Rome.

It was during this period in Rome that Antony first married Fulvia, the widow of Clodius Pulcher. Fulvia also made the same enemy in Rome before her marriage to Antony – the senator Cicero. Her husband had been murdered by Milo, a friend of Cicero and in fact, Cicero defended him at his trial. Nonetheless, Milo was found guilty and Fulvia became a hated enemy of Cicero. Therefore, Antony and Fulvia at least had one thing in common – their dislike of Cicero.

In 49 BC, Marc Antony received the title of Augur (priest and soothsayer). It was during this same year when he vetoed the Senate’s attempt to strip Caesar of his command. Antony was forced to flee Rome and return to Gaul, but as things calmed down he returned to Rome to watch over Caesar’s interests. He was so vigorous in his support of Caesar at the outbreak of the hostilities between Caesar and Pompey, that he was expelled from the Senate chambers. Antony fled Rome once again and joined Caesar before he would face Pompey in battle.

Antony commanded the left wing of Caesar’s Legions at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC where Pompey was soundly defeated despite the fact that he had outnumbered Caesar’s troops. Following the end of hostilities, Antony became Caesar’s right-hand man in Rome and was given the title, of co-consul in 44 BC.

The debt crisis that raged during this period cast Caesar as the man of the people against the corrupt Senate of Rome. Antony himself was convinced that upon total victory, Caesar would simply nullify all outstanding debt. His conviction in this matter was so strong, that Antony purchased the estate of Pompey assuming that the debt would be wiped out by Caesar and he would have the assets at little or no cost.

Caesar did not nullify all debts but did order state valuers thereby forcing the moneylenders, many of whom were senators, to accept the return of assets against which they had once lent money. He also applied all interest payments to principle thus indeed creating one of the most unique solutions to a debt crisis in history.

When Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 BC, Antony immediately took possession of Caesar’s papers and residence, including whatever assets he had held. He gave his famous oration at Caesar’s funeral in the forum and was instrumental in turning the people against the corrupt Senators led by the assassin Brutus. However, Antony’s actions were not altogether as noble as those of Caesar. When Caesar’s true heir (Octavian) arrived in Rome, Antony refused to cooperate and acted quite indignant.

Octavian found himself in a difficult position when he arrived in Rome. With Antony’s lack of cooperation and refusal to relinquish Caesar’s assets, Cicero sought to exploit matters between the two greatest threats to the corrupt Senate. Octavian was given the rank of a senator and the Senate backed Octavian against Antony. While initially, Antony was successful in capturing Cisalpine Gaul, he suffered a humiliating defeat in April 43 BC at Forum Gallorum and especially at Mutina, against the young unproven Octavian. Antony was forced to retreat into Galla Narbonensis where he was joined by Plancus, Asinius Pollio, and Lepdius.

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Antony-Octavian-Lepidus
Second Triumvirate

Octavian came to realize that his true enemy was the Senate and that they were succeeding once again in pitting one supporter against another, as was the case between Pompey and Caesar. Octavian wisely approached Antony in an effort to reach a truce and combine forces.

During November 43 BC, Antony joined forces with Octavian and Lepidus in what became known as the Second Triumvirate. On November 27th, 43 BC, Cicero gave a particularly vicious and biting attack against Antony. Cicero’s name appeared at the top of a list of men who they condemned to death for the constant support of the corrupt system of government that had developed.

The assassins tried to mask their real intentions by calling themselves Republicans. While there were some that perhaps honestly still believed in Republican ideals who had not taken part directly in Caesar’s assassination, most had turned the Senate of Rome into an old boy’s club dividing the spoils of the Empire among them, rigging elections and even going as far as to alter the calendar just to extend their term of office. Both Brutus and Cassius, the leaders of the so-called Republicans, were deeply involved in corruption and had gathered immense wealth due to monopolies in trade won purely by appointments by the Senate. Thus, the conflict that emerged was indeed far more than Caesar trying to become Dictator. It was the collapse of Democracy by its own hand that allowed corruption in the Senate to escalate to such an extent that free elections had become a thing of the past.

The new combined forces of the Triumvirate marched against the corrupt forces of the Senate. In 42 BC, the two opposing armies met at Philippi in Thessaly where the Triumvirate won a brilliant victory led primarily by Antony, (Octavian was ill at the time) in two separate battles. The two assassins who were the leaders of the corrupt Senate, Brutus, and Cassius, committed suicide. Some of those who survived the battle, like the son of Cicero and Murcus, fled to Sicily where they joined Sextus Pompey. Cicero, on the other hand, attempted to flee but was hunted down by Antony’s soldiers, captured, and executed. His head and hands were chopped off and sent back to Rome where his head was at first given to Fulvia as a gift for what she had suffered at his instigation. Cicero’s hands were nailed to the Rostra in the Forum.

After the Battle of Philippi, Octavian returned to Rome, while Antony remained in Tarsus in Asia Minor where he planned to carry out Caesar’s original intention to invade Parthia. In 41 BC, while still in Tarsus, Antony summoned Cleopatra VII, now Queen of Egypt, and former lover of Caesar, to answer reports that she had aided his enemies. Cleopatra used her legendary charms on Antony and managed to successfully exonerate herself. The two of them then traveled to Alexandria, Egypt, where history informs us of the complete attraction each had for the other. Antony’s fellow officers said he was under her “spell,” and he spent most of his time during the winter of 41 – 40 BC in Cleopatra‘s court.

Tensions between Octavian and Antony began to resurface. Matters were not helped by Antony’s wife Fulvia and his brother Lucius back in Italy. The two had openly engaged in conflict against Octavian in what became known as the Perusine War. They were easily defeated by Octavian and Fulvia fled to Athens. Antony had been unaware that tensions between his wife and Octavian actually came to war. Upon learning of what happened, Antony quickly traveled to Athens to confront his wife. Fulvia became ill and died shortly thereafter and Antony never visited her even when he heard that she was close to death. Nonetheless, the death of Fulvia ended the hostilities and Octavian and Antony once again made peace at a meeting in 40 BC. At Brundisium, Octavian gave his sister Octavia to Anthony in marriage receiving in return Antony’s province of Cisalpine Gaul.

The Triumvirate was renewed for an additional five years in 37 BC and Antony launched his Parthian campaign the following year. Antony’s dream of a Parthian conquest proved to be far from successful. While he managed to turn back the Parthian King Phraates IV at Phraaspa, he was ultimately forced to retreat due to the heat and cunning skills of the legendary Parthian cavalry.

Lepidus, a successful general in his own right, was tired of handling administrative matters in Rome and as Governor in Africa. Consequently, Lepidus made an ill-fated attempt to acquire Sicily for himself in 36 BC. As a result, he was deprived of all his powers and administrative offices except that of Pontifex Maximus, which he held until his death in exile in 13 BC. This reduced the Triumvirate effectively to two partners, in an association that became increasingly strained. Antony controlled the military power of the East, and Octavian held the West.

Antony began to dream of a new great Eastern Empire and no doubt the ambitious Cleopatra helped in that direction. Tensions between Octavian and Antony once again started to emerge. Antony infuriated Octavian, as well as his own supporters, with his notorious infidelity toward Octavia. He even had several children with Cleopatra Egypt had become his ally and Cleopatra had the wealth to entice her new lover.

The final split between Antony and Octavian came in 33 BC followed by Antony’s divorce of Octavia. Antony had granted “gifts” of kingdoms and provinces that should have been Roman to his new Queen, Cleopatra. Octavian knew that the people still loved Antony and he needed to somehow win universal support. Octavian read Antony’s will which left large gifts to his illegitimate children by Cleopatra. The Senate ultimately was obliged to declare war against Cleopatra, not Antony, but stripped Antony of all power.

The Battle of Actium is what was the birth of Imperial Rome with the victory of Octavian/Augustus over Antony and Cleopatra. As part of Antony’s propaganda war, he issued coins for every legion he had and then some in an effort to pretend that he had more support than Octavian.

It was often considered, wrongly, that coins with a legion greater than LEG XXIII were fakes. What they seriously misunderstood was that this was part of Antony’s strategy to project his forces were far greater than those of Octavian. Antony’s Coinage has surfaced noting: XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, and XXX; Antony is known to have commanded a Legio XXXV at the Battle of Mutina: in a remarkable passage in Servius Sulpicius Galba’s 43 BC letter to Cicero we are provided with the only surviving evidence for this legion’s existence:

“on the 15th of April, the day on which Pansa was to arrive at the camp of Hirtius, with the former of whom I was – for I had gone along the road a hundred miles to hasten his arrival – Antony brought out two legions, the second and the thirty-fifth, and two praetorian cohorts….” (Epistulae ad Familiares 10.30).

The existence therefore of legions in the service of Antony with numbers greater than XXIII which have escaped the notice of history is entirely possible; many of his units were never at full strength, and some may have effectively marched only on paper for propaganda purposes to intimidate Octavian. This is by far the rarest of the Legionary denarii of Mark Antony. There are only two surviving examples which are clearly genuine examples unambiguously inscribed LEG XXXIII.

417 Octavian was given a fleet of ships, and he advanced toward Egypt. Antony met Octavian’s fleet outside the Gulf of Actium on the western coast of Greece on September 2nd, 31 BC. Antony had heavier ships equipped with better artillery, while Octavian’s ships were lighter and able to maneuver quickly. Octavian also had Marcus Agrippa, his old schoolmate, the naval genius who had previously defeated Sextus Pompey’s fleet. As the ships jockeyed for position and advantage, Cleopatra‘s fleet arrived to assist Antony. Octavian’s fleet out-maneuvered Antony and the Egyptians, and in the middle of the battle the tide was turning against them. Cleopatra, sensing defeat, fled the battle early and Antony abandoned his own troops and followed her to Alexandria with a fleet of sixty of Cleopatra‘s smaller, faster ships.

Octavian then pressed onward to Alexandria finally arriving after almost a year’s slow journey. Cleopatra tried once again to use her charms on Octavian, but they had no effect. Cleopatra could not charm nor negotiate her way out of this situation. Antony fell upon his sword and after learning of Antony’s demise, Cleopatra took her own life with a poisonous snake (asp) in August of 30 BC. Octavian took Alexandria and executed Marc Antony Junior, his son by Fulvia, who was also there in Alexandria with his father.

In turn, Octavian’s propaganda was that Cleopatra was manipulating Mark Antony and this was really a proxy war between Egypt and Rome. When Antony and Cleopatra were defeated, Octavian was awarded the title Augustus and his coinage announced his victory, but he did not mention Mark Antony. The coinage reflected his propaganda that it was really Cleopatra and Egypt who was waging war against Rome.

Caesarian, Cleopatra‘s son she claimed was Caesar’s, was also executed by Octavian. However, at least some of Antony’s children with Cleopatra were spared for political purposes. Their daughter, also named Cleopatra, was married to Juba II, King of Mauretania. Antony’s children with Octavia did become heirs to Octavian in the future Emperors Caligula, Claudius, and Nero were all descendants of Antony’s daughter with Octavia, Antonia.

With Lepidus reduced to obscurity in exile (although he was never a real threat to Octavian), Antony and Cleopatra dead and Egypt was captive as he announced on his coinage. Their personal treasure and the considerable wealth of Egypt were now Octavian’s. The Pompeian party was mostly dead or in disarray, and the corruption eliminated from the Senate, Octavian became the de facto master of the Greco-Roman-Egyptian World.

Yet this issue of coinage by Mark Antony is reflective of the current proxy war that the United States is carrying out against Russia using Ukraine just as Cleopatra used Mark Antony. What is even more fascinating is that clearly, Cleopatra funded Antony on a massive scale. It is estimated around 30 million legionary denarii were struck. They were the most common coin found in Pompey which was buried in 79AD. That was about 110 years later.

Here is a worn example countermarked “IMP VES” meaning Vespasian during the civil war that followed the death of Nero in 68AD.

No other Roman coin was struck in such quantity reflecting the amount of sheer funding that Cleopatra provided to conquer Rome. It is the Ukraine of Ancient Times as Biden has funded Ukraine handing them twice the annual budget of Germany and Russia, and nearly 50% of China’s entire military spending. It’s just insane.

This is a fascinating story that can ONLY be told from the coinage.

Monetary System

Mints: Rome, Gallia Transalpina, Gallia Cisalpina, traveling mint

Obverse Legends:

ANT AVG
ANT IMP III VIR R P C
ANT AVG IMP III V R P C
ANTON AVG III COS DES III III V R P C
ANTONIVS IMP
ANTONIVS AVG IMP III
ANTONIVS AVGVR COS DES ITER ET TERT
M ANT IMP
M ANT AVGVR III VIR R P C
M ANT IMP AVG III VIR R P C M BARBAT Q P
M ANTO COS III IMP IIII
M ANTON IMP
M ANTON IMP III VIR R P C
M ANTONI IMP
M ANTONIVS III VIR R P C
M ANTONIVS M F M N AVGVR IMP TERT