Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Second Triumvirate

Episode Date: September 3, 2022

From the years 59 to 53 BC, three high-ranking Romans conspired to control the Roman political system for their own benefit. They called this system a triumvirate. A decade later, Rome found itself under the control of three more men and yet another triumvirate.  This one was very different than than the first. It was given actual legal authority, and it was far more deadly.  Learn more about the Second Triumvirate, how it started, and how it ended on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Darcy Adams Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Search Past Episodes at fathom.fm Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EverythingEverywhere Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ Everything Everywhere is an Airwave Media podcast." or "Everything Everywhere is part of the Airwave Media podcast network Please contact [e-mail] to advertise on Everything Everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the years 59 to 53 BC, three high-ranking Romans conspired to control the Roman political system for their own benefit. They called this system a triumvirate. A decade later, Rome found itself under the control of three more men and yet another triumvirate. This one was very different than the first, however. It was given actual legal authority, and it was far more deadly. Learn more about the second triumvirate, how it started and how it ended, 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 Thurline podcast from NPR. I've previously done an episode on the first tram for it. But for those of you who didn't hear it, I'll give a quick recap. Three high-ranking Roman politicians who had been opponents came together for their mutual benefit. Rome's greatest general, Nius Pompeius Magnus, Rome's richest man, Marcus Licinius Krasis, and another guy you might have heard of, Gaius Julius Caesar.

The first triumvirate was very unofficial. The three men just agreed to support each other's big projects, gave themselves plum assignments, and determined who would run for the highest offices in Rome and probably win. The system worked up until the point where it didn't. Krasis died in the deserts of Parthia trying to seek military glory. Pompey was beheaded in Egypt after losing a Civil War battle to Caesar, and Caesar was assassinated on the floor of the Senate. The assassination of Julius Caesar is where this story of the second triumvirate actually begins.

Julius Caesar had been appointed dictator for life, and was the singular personality in control of all of Rome. His death created a power vacuum that sent everything in place. chaos. The conspirators who killed him didn't really have a plan for after Caesar was dead. They figured they would be hailed as heroes and everything would naturally go back to normal. But that didn't happen. For starters, the common people actually kind of like Caesar. Second, Caesar had several large and loyal legions who were extremely upset that their leader and benefactor had been killed. This resulted in the conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius,

fleeing Rome and heading east where they sought to raise an army. That left the Caesareans, faction in control of Rome. In particular, there were two personalities that stood out as leaders of the Caesarians. The first was Caesar's right-hand man and the person he had previously left in charge of Rome when he was off in Egypt and other campaigns, Marcus Antonius, or, as we better know him, Mark Antony. Mark Antony was a figure everyone knew, and he figured that made him the Caesarians' natural leader. The other figure was the great-nephew, the posthumously adopted son, and heir to the heir to

to most of Caesar's fortune, Octavian. The guy who would later be dubbed Augustus. He was thrust into the spotlight of all of this at the age of 18. No one really had a clue who this Octavian kid was. He had no experience in anything. All he had at this point was the Caesar name, the Caesar Fortune, and a whole lot of smarts. Both of them thought that they were the natural leaders of the Caesarian faction. Not surprisingly, it wasn't long before civil war broke out between them.

Anthony and one of Caesar's generals, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, had fled to Northern Italy and had lost battles to the legions loyal to Octavian. While the Caesarians were beating each other up, it became obvious that they were just making themselves weaker for the eventual showdown that they would have with the anti-Casarians. The solution to this problem of who would lead the Caesarian faction was to take a page out of Caesar's playbook and create a new triumvirate. The three members would be Octavian, Mark Antony, and the previously mentioned Lepidus. And here I should talk about Lepidus. If the second triumvirate were the Beatles, Lepidus would be Ringo. If they were the girls in the Brady Bunch, Lepidus would be Jan. And if they were the three stooges, Lepidus would be Larry.

It wasn't that Lepidus was incompetent. He just didn't have the assets that the other two partners brought to the table. Lepidus had actually been named as the successor to Caesar in the role of Pontifus Maximus, which was the top priest in Rome. One of the reasons he was so weak is that he had handed control of the legions that were loyal to him over to Mark Antony and Octavian early in the Triumvirate, which rendered him rather powerless. The three Triumvors did do something that the first triumvirate never did. They actually went to the Senate and had their arrangement formally ratified in late 43 BC. The term of the agreement was approved for five years. years, and the Triumvirate was collectively given consular powers.

One of the first things that the Triumvirate did was one of the most controversial things which had ever been done in Roman history. Proscriptions. Proscriptions involve the public listing of Roman citizens, usually wealthy ones, who, by the fact of being on the list, had their lives and property forfeit. This was done for two reasons. The first was to eliminate any potential threats or rivals. Julius Caesar tried to be magnanimous after winning his.

civil war, which ended up costing him his life. His successors were not going to make the same mistake. The second reason was money. They needed cash to fight the upcoming war with the anti-Cesarians. There were several hundred senators and several thousand equities who were put on the list, which constituted some of the wealthiest men in Rome. The list included Lepidus's brother, Octavian's cousins, and the orator Cicero. Most of the people on the list were put there for no other reason than the fact that they were rich. Prescriptions were something that had only been done one other time in Roman history. The dictator Sulla, a generation before, had prescribed his enemies during the first Roman civil

war. The fate of Cicero was particularly gruesome. He was beheaded and his severed head was placed on the roster in the forum, along with his severed hands, which were nailed to the door of the Senate building. No one else murdered in the prescriptions was put on public display like this. With the messy business of murdering and stealing the property of so many Romans behind them, the next order of business of the Triumvirate was defeating the anti-Ceserians. The Triumvirate forces chased the anti-Cesarians down in Greece and had a final confrontation which ended the Civil War at the Battle of Philippi. It was a massive battle with an estimated 200,000 men in total,

with Roman legions lined up against Roman legions. The Caesarians were victorious, resulting in the death or suicide of most of the conspirators. The battle was commanded by Mark Anthony. Octavian was actually in bed during the battle as he claimed to be ill. And accusations of cowardice haunted Octavian for the rest of his life because of his performance during this battle. After the battle, the members of the Triumvirates split up the rest of the Roman world between themselves to govern. Octavian got the western provinces, including Hispania and Gaul, as well as the Italian peninsula in Rome. Mark Anthony was given control of everything in the East, including Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria.

Leipides was given a small hunk of North Africa. With Leipides' diminished role, the Triumvirate was really only Octavian and Antony at this point. Mark Antony was considered to have gotten the better end of the deal. Asia was the more wealthy part of the empire. He could raise more money and taxes. It also was where much of the grain was. It would give him a great deal of power back in Rome, but he wouldn't have to deal with all the petty politics that Octavian would

because he wasn't there. One of the problems that Octavian was stuck with was ending the revolt and piracy of Pompey's son, Sextus Pompey. Sextus had been terrorizing the seas and held control of the island of Sicily. Lepidus actually took part in the fight against Sextus and raised 14 legions that invaded Sicily. However, he attempted a political maneuver to get Sicily under his control, and it backfired against him horribly.

All of his legions in Sicily defected to Octavian. In 36 BC, he was stripped of all power, save for the title of Pontifus Maximus. Several years earlier, in 40 BC, Anthony's wife, Fulvia, died, and Octavian offered his sister in marriage to strengthen the ties between them. Very similar to what Caesar and Poppy did during the first triumph rate. Despite the marriage, over time, relations between Anthony and Octavian disintegrated. Anthony had shacked up with Caesar's former mistress and the Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. He actually attempted an evasion of Parthia via Egypt, but it failed. Both Antony and Octavian wanted war with each other, but neither wanted to be the one perceived to be the instigator.

It was here that Octavia being in Rome gave him the edge. He was able to influence public opinion within the city of Rome against Antony. Antony mostly led a life of debauchery while he was in Egypt. He married Cleopatra, according to Egyptian rituals, and had several children with her, and dressed in an Egyptian manner. All of this turned Roman opinion against Antony. But the final nail in the coffin was Octavian getting a copy of Antony's last will and testament, which he had put on file with the Vestal Virgins in the year 32 BC. In his will, he expressed his desire to be buried in Egypt and left Cleopatra Roman lands in his will.

This outraged the Roman public and the Senate, and decisively turned opinion against Antony enough that Octavian could declare war. This culminated in the Battle of Actium between Antony and Octavian in the year 31 BC. Unlike pretty much every other battle in every other Roman Civil War, this was actually a naval battle off of the west coast of Greece. Despite having a significant numerical advantage, Octavian's fleet, led by his right-hand man to Grippa, sadly defeated Mark Anthony and Cleopatra's. With this defeat, most of Anthony's men abandoned him and defected to Octavian. This left Antony and Cleopatra with only the choice of facing their end at the hands of Octavian or by their own hand. Both Antony and Cleopatra killed themselves, ending the last in a series of civil wars which had ravaged Rome for over 50 years. And it also effectively ended the Roman Republic and gave birth to the Roman Empire.

Octavian learned the lessons of his adopted father and didn't make the same mistakes he did. He never accepted the title of dictator and he never made sure to flaunt his power or or wealth too much. Mostly, however, people were just sick of war and enjoyed his rule's peace and stability. Joint rule of Rome wasn't to be a thing again for another 300 years, when the Emperor Domitian installed the four-person rule called the Tetraarchy. The second triumvirate, despite its ultimate collapse, was successful in its immediate goals.

It did stop the infighting amongst the Caesarian forces and unified them for just long enough to defeat those who had assassinated Julius Caesar. From a historical standpoint, however, the importance of the Second Triumvirate is that it served as the event which transitioned Rome from a republic to an empire. Everything Everywhere Daily is an airwave media podcast. The executive producer is Darcy Adams. The associate producers are Thorntomson and Peter Bennett. I just wanted to extend a big thank you to everyone who is supporting the show over at patreon.com. I have show merchandise available there, including hoodies, t-shirts, and stickers. Plus, it really just helps me get this show. out every single day, including, of course, weekends and holidays. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostogram, you too can have it read on the show.