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Person83 BC – 30 BC

Mark Antony

Also called: Marcus Antonius, Antony

General and statesman of the late Roman Republic; Caesar’s lieutenant, he shared power with Octavian in the Second Triumvirate and ruled the East, but allied with Cleopatra and was defeated at Actium

Caesar’s cavalry commander, he made his name in the Gallic campaigns and the civil war. When Caesar was assassinated, his funeral oration turned the people against the assassins; with Octavian and Lepidus he formed the Second Triumvirate and defeated Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in 42 BC. Taking charge of the East, he allied with Cleopatra and lived in Alexandria. He married Octavian’s sister Octavia but in the end cast her off, which helped turn Roman opinion against him. The year after his defeat at Actium he took his own life in Alexandria.

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2 related events

  1. 1
    31 BCBattle of Actiumcommander

    On 2 September 31 BC, off Actium in north-western Greece, Octavian’s fleet defeated the combined fleet of Antony and Cleopatra, deciding the last civil war of the Roman Republic.

  2. 2
    30 BCDeath of Cleopatra and Roman Annexation of Egyptrelated figure

    When Octavian entered Alexandria in 30 BC, Antony and Cleopatra took their own lives one after the other. The Ptolemaic dynasty, nearly three centuries old, came to an end and Egypt became a Roman province.

Related works

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People who appear alongside

  • Augustus63 BC – AD 14

    First Roman emperor (r. 27 BC – AD 14); as Octavian, Caesar’s adopted heir, he won at Actium and founded the principate

  • Cleopatra VII69 BC – 30 BC

    Last queen of Ptolemaic Egypt (r. 51–30 BC); she sought to preserve her kingdom through alliances with Caesar and Antony, but after defeat at Actium took her own life, and Egypt became a Roman province

Themes this person appears in

  • Greece and Rome2000 BC – AD 476

    From the Aegean civilisation to the fall of the Western Roman Empire — the classical civilisation built by the democracy of the polis and the Roman republic and empire