Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Marcus Antonius

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

One of the central figures in the drama of the collapse of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire was Marc Antony. He was a rather odd figure in Roman History. He came from an upper-class, but not necessarily elite, family.  Neither was he wasn’t a great general. Yet he was at the right place at the right time, and his actions played a huge part in the republic's collapse.  Learn more about Marcus Antonius, aka Marc Antony, and how he found himself at the center of Roman history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors BetterHelp Visit BetterHelp.com/everywhere today to get 10% off your first month ButcherBox Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off."  Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the central figures in the drama of the collapse of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire was Mark Antony. He was a rather odd figure in Roman history. He came from a notable yet Plobrian family. Neither was he a great general. Yet he was at the right place at the right time and his actions played a huge part in the republic's collapse. Learn more about Marcus Antonius, aka Mark Anthony, and how he found himself at the center of Roman history on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now.

Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. The man that history knows as Marcus Antonius is better known in the English-speaking world as Mark Antony. to be confused with the Latin Grammy-winning musical artist and former husband of Jennifer Lopez, Mark Anthony. The reason we call Marcus Antonius Mark Antony is totally due to William Shakespeare, who refers to him as such in his play Julius Caesar. Because he's so much better known by his Shakespeare moniker, for the rest of this episode, I'll simply refer to him as Mark Antony or just Anthony. Mark Antony was born into a noteworthy family in the Gens Antonia on January 14th, 83 BC. A Roman gens was sort of an extended family who all claimed the same ancestry and had the same

Nomen, and I'll refer you back to my episode on Roman naming conventions. There were both patrician and Ploblian wings of the Antonia gens, and Mark Antony came from the Plobrian wing of the family. His father was Marcus Antonius Creticus, who was, by all accounts, an incompetent general who was given the task of clearing the Mediterranean of pirates. He once attacked the island of Crete, which had formed an alliance with the pirates, and was defeated. His cognomen Creticus means conqueror of Crete, and was given to him sarcastically. His grandfather was a gifted order named Marcus Antonius, who was killed by Marius during the First Roman Civil War. His mother was a woman named Julia, who was Julius Caesar's distant third cousin.

Mark Anthony's father died in Crete when he was only nine years old. His mother remarried a man by the name of Publius Cornelius Lenton. Hulles Sura, who was later executed on the Order of Cicero due to his involvement in the Catalan conspiracy, on which I've also done a previous episode. Mark Anthony spent his adolescence with little parental supervision and got into a lot of trouble. He was associated with a street gang in Rome, led by the Roman politician Publius Claudius Polker, and he also happened to accrue a significant amount of gambling debt. In 58 BC, he fled to Athens, where he studied philosophy, but was really there just to avoid his

debtors. In 57 BC, he joined the army under the command of Aulus Gabinius, the pro-consul of Syria, and was given command of his cavalry. Here he found great success on and off the battlefield. He assisted Gubinius in restoring Ptolemy the 12th to the throne of Egypt as a client king of Rome. And while he was in Egypt, he briefly met the 14-year-old daughter of Ptolemy the 12, Cleopatra. While he was in Egypt, Rome came under the control of the First Triumvirate, which consisted of Julius Caesar, Pompey Magnus,

and Marcus Licinius Crassus. One of the men they used to bring order to the streets of Rome was none other than Publius Clodius Polker in whose gang Mark Anthony once belonged. It was through him that Antony managed to secure a position on the staff of Julius Caesar in 54 BC, right in the middle of Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Under Caesar, Anthony proved himself to be an exemplary military leader.

He was well-liked by his men and developed a friendship with Caesar that would last his entire life. In 52 BC, Caesar sent him to Rome so he could begin his political career. He was elected to the position of Quaster, and his assignment was to serve Caesar, so he went back to Gaul. And there he fought with Caesar at the Battle of Elysia. And again, I've previously done an episode on the Battle of Elegia, one of the most improbable and incredible battles in all of history. After Antony's year as Quaster was over, Caesar appointed him Legate, a position equivalent to a high-ranking general, which gave him command of two. full legions. While serving under Caesar, the situation in Rome began to fall apart.

Crasus, one of the Triumbers had been killed in battle, and Pompey's wife and Caesar's daughter, Julia, died in childbirth. Pompey was elected the sole consul in 52 BC. Eventually, as relations between Caesar and Pompey worsened, Antony was sent back home to Rome in 49 BC. There, he was elected Tribune of the Plebs, from where he could veto any legislation and protect Caesar. In that year, things fell apart even further, and while Antony tried to negotiate a compromise on Caesar's behalf, the Senate refused to budge, eventually causing Anthony to flee to Caesar's army on the banks of the Rubicon River, the traditional boundary of Italy. Caesar marched into Rome, unchallenged, and then leaves Rome to take on the forces of Pompey and the Senate,

leaving Anthony back home with the title of proprietor and the governor of Italy. Anthony was, by any account, a pretty awful administrator, but he did represent Caesar's interest while he was away. Caesar took care of business in Spain and then went to Greece where Pompey and the Senate's forces had gathered. However, Caesar didn't have enough ships, so he only took two legions with him to Greece and left his other five legions with Antony in Italy. Anthony managed to get the other legions across the Adriatic Sea to Greece by tricking the

commander of Pompey's fleet. In Greece with Caesar, he was clearly cemented as Caesar's number two man, and served with distinction there, including leading troops on the battlefield at the decisive Battle of Farsalis in August of 48 BC, where Caesar defeated Pompey. After the battle, Caesar returned to Rome briefly, got named dictator, and appointed Anthony as his master of horse, which is basically like being vice dictator. Caesar then left Rome in 47 BC to go to Egypt to pursue Pompey, and left Anthony. Anthony and Rome to take care of matters there.

While in Egypt, Caesar placed Cleopatra on the throne, had an affair with her, and they had a child together by the name of Cesarian. Once again, Anthony proved himself to be a poor and unpopular administrator, and this led to a rift with Caesar, and when Caesar came back to Rome, he stripped Anthony of all official titles. Despite the rift between the two men and the several years Anthony spent on the sidelines, Anthony remained loyal, which paid off in the year 44 BC. when he was named Consul alongside Caesar, who also happened to have been appointed dictator for a 10-year term. This 10-year dictatorship was eventually upgraded to dictator for life when their terms began as consul. During the festival of Lupercalia in February of that year, Anthony offered Caesar a crown during one public display, which Caesar famously turned down, indicating that he refused to be a king. However, others saw it differently, and on March 15th, 44 BC,

Caesar was assassinated on the floor of the Senate. The assassination of Caesar ended one chapter in the life of Mark Anthony, and it began another. With Caesar dead, and him being the only sitting consul, Mark Anthony found himself in a leadership position without being subordinate to Caesar. Anthony found himself the leader of the Caesarian forces and managed to negotiate an agreement with the Senate faction that had killed Caesar. With an army outside the city, he negotiated terms very favorable to, to himself. When Caesar's will was read, it was discovered that his heir and posthumously adopted

son was his great-nephew, Octavian. Part of the agreement with the Senate that Antony had negotiated was that Caesar would get a public funeral, which Anthony would preside over. He gave a fiery eulogy, which set the crowd to riot and attacked the homes of the conspirators, causing many of them to flee Rome. Shakespeare captured this event in the famous speech that begins, Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ear. Anthony and Octavian soon found themselves in conflict as to who was going to head the Caesarian faction, and Anthony's forces were actually pushed back out of Italy. However, it soon became obvious that as Antony and Octavian were fighting with each other,

the forces of the Senate were waiting for the two to weaken each other so they could attack the survivor. Anthony and Octavian put aside their differences and joined forces, creating what was known as the second triumvirate, along with one of Caesar's generals Marcus Amelius Lepidus. Anthony and Octavian sealed this pact by Antony marrying Octavian sister, Octavia. The three divided up the administration of Rome between them. Lepidus got North Africa, Octavia got Italy in the western provinces, and Anthony got the wealthy eastern provinces.

It was during this period of consolidating power that the Triumvirate issued a prescription list, confiscating the property of anyone on the list who could be then legally murdered. And this was when Antony got his revenge on Cicero, who had killed his stepfather. The Troinburnt forces were eventually victorious over the Senate at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC. With the assassins defeated, Lepidus was soon pushed aside, leaving Rome divided between Octavian and Rome, Antony in Alexandria, where he had begun an affair with Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra had three children together, and they married in an Egyptian ceremony without Anthony first divorcing Octavia.

Relations between Octavian and Antony worsened, and each knew that there would eventually be a war, but neither wanted to be the one to strike first. Each knew that no one wanted another civil war, and so didn't want to be seen as the aggressor. When Roman lands were split between them, Anthony thought that he got the better deal because Octavian was stuck dealing with all the domestic problems of Rome. However, it also gave Octavian the opportunity to issue propaganda against Anthony without any rebuttal. Anthony was painted as someone who had gone native, adopting Egyptian customs and abandoning Rome. Much of this was spun in such a way as to make it seem like it was Cleopatra's fault,

and Anthony was just a victim. What caused a final break with Rome and a turn in public attitudes towards Antony was a proclamation made by Antony and Cleopatra in 34 BC, known as the Donations of Alexandria. In it, Antony gave several Roman provinces to his and Cleopatra's children. Eventually, this became too much even for Anthony's supporters, several of which whom defected to Octavian side. They told him about Anthony's will, which had been filed at the Temple of Vesta in Rome. In 32 BC, Octavian managed to get a hold of the will and read it publicly. In it, Antony confirmed giving away Roman provinces and expressed a desire to be buried in Egypt, not Rome. This outraged Roman such that the Senate stripped Antony of all official positions and declared war on Cleopatra.

Octavian didn't want this to be seen as another civil war. In 31 BC, Octavian's forces met the forces of Antony in Egypt at the war. the Battle of Actium, a naval battle that took place off the coast of Greece. The battle was decisively won by Octavian, causing Antony to flee back to Egypt, with most of his remaining Roman forces deserting him. Anthony and Cleofatra made it back to Alexandria, where Octavian's forces pursued them. Knowing that the end was near, with the people and the army of Rome having turned against him, he took his own life in 30 BC by falling on his sword. The rise and fall of Mark Anthony is an unusual tale in history.

During his life, he showed displays of brilliance, like when he manipulated the Senate after the assassination of Caesar. He managed to maneuver them into giving him exactly what he wanted, so he could cause them to flee the city. He showed moments of brilliance on the battlefield, having commanded legions under Caesar during some of his greatest battles. But at the same time, he was also an inept administrator, and in the end alienated his own troops,

and the Roman public. In the centuries that have passed since his death, Caesar, Octavian slash Augustus, and Cleopatra have all been the subject of plays and movies. Mark Anthony has a supporting role in all of their stories, yet there are seldom any stories where he is the central character. Much of the reason we know him today is because he was at the right place at the right time. He joined Caesar's army at its peak and managed to work his way into a position of trust and authority,

just when Caesar increased his power over all of Rome. Historians have painted Antony as someone who ruled by his emotions and passions, who ultimately was outmaneuvered by his rival and former partner, Octavian. Anthony's role in the rise of Julius Caesar and as one of the principal characters after his assassination gives him a central role in the death of the Roman Republic. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Peter Bennett and Cameron Kiefer. Today's review comes from listener Big Fed 2 over on Apple Podcasts in the United States.

They write, So informative. I love this podcast. I came across it about two weeks ago and now I can't get enough. I learned something new every day. Keep up the good work. Thanks, Big Fed 2. I'm glad you found the show and I'm glad you enjoy it.

And if you go back and listen to all the previous episodes, one day you might be able to claim a spot in the coveted completionist club. Remember, if you leave me a review or send a Bustagram, you two can have it read on the show. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them. The good is often turred with their bones. So let it be with Caesar.

The noble Brutus had told you Caesar was ambitious. If it were so, it was a grievous fault, and grievously hath Caesar answered it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest, for Brutus is an honorable man, so are they all, all honorable men, come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. He was my friend.