Mark Antony | Biography, Cleopatra, Death, & Facts - Britannica

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• Introduction & Top Questions
• Early life and career
• Civil war and triumvirate
• Alliance with Cleopatra
• Legacy

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• What was Mark Antony’s family like?
• How did Mark Antony come to power?
• How did Mark Antony die?
• Why is Cleopatra famous?
• How did Cleopatra come to power?

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• NPR - The True Story Of 'Antony And Cleopatra'
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• San Jos� State University - The Timeline of the Life of Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony)
• Western Oregon University - Mark Antony: A Revisit of the Civil War of 43-31 B.C. (PDF)
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Mark Antony Roman triumvir Ask Anything Quick Summary Mark Antony Early Life and Background Role in Julius Caesar's Assassination Aftermath Leadership in the Second Triumvirate Relationship with Cleopatra The Final War of the Roman Republic Impact and Legacy Also known as: Marc Antony, Marcus Antonius Written by Michael Grant President and Vice-Chancellor, Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1959–66. Author of History of Rome and others; editor of Latin Literature and others. Michael GrantAll Fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Dec. 9, 2025 •History Britannica AI Ask Anything Quick Summary Mark Antony Early Life and Background Role in Julius Caesar's Assassination Aftermath Leadership in the Second Triumvirate Relationship with Cleopatra The Final War of the Roman Republic Impact and Legacy Table of Contents Table of Contents Quick Summary Ask Anything Top Questions

Why is Mark Antony important?

Mark Antony was a Roman general under Julius Caesar and later triumvir who ruled Rome’s eastern provinces (43–30 BCE). He was the lover of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, and was defeated by Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) in the last of the civil wars that destroyed the Roman Republic.

What was Mark Antony’s family like?

Mark Antony was the son and grandson of men of the same name. His father was called Creticus because of his military operations in Crete. His grandfather, one of the leading orators of his day, was a consul and censor who was vividly portrayed as a speaker in Cicero’s De oratore (55).

How did Mark Antony come to power?

Mark Antony served with distinction as a cavalry commander in Judaea and Egypt. He then joined the staff of Julius Caesar. When the Civil War broke out between Pompey and Caesar, Antony was tribune of the plebs and supported Caesar. After Caesar’s assassination, he became a triumvir and gained control of Rome’s eastern provinces.

What was Mark Antony’s relationship to Cleopatra?

Mark Antony and Cleopatra were partners for 11 years and had three children together. Apart from their undoubted mutual affection, their alliance was politically useful. Cleopatra needed Antony to revive the old boundaries of her kingdom, and Antony needed Egypt as a source of supplies and funds.

How did Mark Antony die?

Mark Antony was at war with Octavian for control of the Roman world, which he lost at the Battle of Actium (September 2, 31 BC). When Octavian’s fleet gained the upper hand, Cleopatra returned to Alexandria. Antony joined her there. When Octavian arrived in Alexandria (summer 30), first Antony and then Cleopatra committed suicide.

Mark Antony (born 83—died August, 30 bce, Alexandria, Egypt) was a Roman general under Julius Caesar and later triumvir (43–30 bce), who, with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, was defeated by Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) in the last of the civil wars that destroyed the Roman Republic. He is one of the major figures of Classical antiquity.

Early life and career

Mark Antony was the son and grandson of men of the same name. His father was called Creticus because of his military operations in Crete; his grandfather, one of the leading orators of his day, was a consul and censor who was vividly portrayed as a speaker in Cicero’s De oratore (55). After a somewhat dissipated youth, the future triumvir served with distinction in 57–55 as a cavalry commander under Aulus Gabinius in Judaea and Egypt. He then joined the staff of Julius Caesar, to whom he was related on his mother’s side, and served with him for much of the concluding phase of Caesar’s conquest of central and northern Gaul and its aftermath (54–53 and 52–50). In 52 Antony held the office of quaestor, an office of financial administration that gave him a lifetime place in the Senate. In 50 he was elected to the politically influential priesthood of the augurs, defeating Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus.

Civil war and triumvirate

In 49, the year the Civil War broke out between Pompey and Caesar, Antony was tribune of the plebs and vigorously supported Caesar. He fled from Rome to Caesar’s headquarters after receiving threats of violence. Antony fought in the brief Italian campaign that forced Pompey to evacuate the Italian peninsula. After this Caesar left him in charge of Italy during the Spanish campaign. He then joined Caesar in Greece, commanded his left wing in the Battle of Pharsalus, and was sent back as master of the horse (a dictator’s second-in-command) in 48 to keep order in Italy. He failed to do this and was probably removed from his post in 47; he was without employment until 44, when he became consul as colleague and later priest (flamen) of Caesar. As consul and lupercus, one of the celebrants of the festival of the Lupercalia (a fertility festival early in the year), he offered Caesar a diadem—a ribbon signifying royalty—which Caesar, pressured by the citizens’ open distaste for monarchy, refused to accept.

After Caesar’s murder, Antony gained possession of the treasury and of Caesar’s papers, which he used (and perhaps supplemented) to his own advantage. For a time he pursued a moderate policy, but when challenged by the 19-year-old Octavian (later the emperor Augustus), Caesar’s adopted son and heir, he turned against Caesar’s assassins. In June 44 the Senate granted him north and central Gaul and northern Italy as his province for five years. Cicero, however, fiercely attacked him in the Philippic orations between September 44 and April 43, and Octavian joined forces with the consuls in 43. Their combined forces twice defeated Antony, who was besieging Brutus Albinus at Mutina (present-day Modena). Antony managed to withdraw into southern Gaul. The opposing armies broke up after the deaths of both consuls, and Antony was joined by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Lucius Munatius Plancus with their armies. In early November, Octavian—at this point leading the consular armies—met Antony and Lepidus in Bononia (present-day Bologna). The three entered into a five-year pact, soon ratified by a law, conferring on them a joint autocracy, the triumvirate. More than 200 men were proscribed and (when captured) killed (Cicero was one of them), either because they were enemies of the triumvirs or in order to confiscate their wealth. In 42 Gaius Cassius and Marcus Brutus, defeated in two battles at Philippi (Macedonia) in which Antony distinguished himself as commander, killed themselves and, with these acts, the republican cause.

The triumvirs had agreed to divide the empire, so Antony proceeded to take up the administration of the eastern provinces. He first summoned Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, to Tarsus (southeastern Asia Minor) to answer reports that she had assisted their enemies. She successfully exonerated herself, and Antony spent the winter of 41–40 as her lover at Alexandria, Egypt. In spite of the romantic accounts of ancient authors, however, he made no move to see her again for more than three years, although he greatly increased her territorial possessions during that interval.

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Early in 40 Antony’s brother, the consul Lucius Antonius, supported by Antony’s wife, Fulvia, rebelled against Octavian in Italy. Octavian defeated the rebellion, capturing and destroying Perusia (present-day Perugia). Antony had to return to Italy, leaving his general Ventidius to deal with a Parthian invasion of Asia Minor and Syria. After initial skirmishes, Antony and Octavian were reconciled at Brundisium (present-day Brindisi) and, since Fulvia had died in the meantime, Antony married Octavian’s sister, Octavia. The two men divided the empire between them, Octavian taking everything west of Scodra (present-day Shkodër, Alb.) and Antony everything east. Lepidus, who had earlier been confined to Africa, was allowed to keep it. In 39 Antony and Octavian concluded a treaty with Sextus Pompeius (see Pompeius Magnus Pius, Sextus), who controlled the seas and had been blockading Italy.

Quick Facts Latin: Marcus Antonius (Show more) Born: 83 (Show more) Died: August, 30 bce, Alexandria, Egypt (Show more) Notable Family Members: spouse Octavia spouse Fulvia spouse Cleopatra son Ptolemy Philadelphus (Show more) Role In: Battle of Pharsalus Battle of Philippi (Show more) See all related content

Antony and Octavia went to Athens, where they were deified; Antony was declared the New Dionysus, mystic god of wine, happiness, and immortality. Antony then organized the East. Ventidius, meanwhile, pushed the Parthians out of Asia Minor in 40 and drove them back beyond the Euphrates River (39–38). Herod—the son of a prominent Palestinian Jewish friend of Rome, Antipater—was set up in Jerusalem as king of Judaea in 37. When Octavian had problems in Italy and the West in 37, Antony met him at Tarentum, supplied him with ships, and agreed to renew the triumvirate for another five years. Lepidus was perhaps not included. In 36 Octavian’s general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa defeated Sextus Pompeius. Then Lepidus and Octavian annexed Africa. Octavia, having been in Rome since 37, was sent to Antony by Octavian in 35. Antony sent her back because she arrived with almost none of the troops Antony had lent Octavian. A long-prepared attack on Parthia in 36 failed, with heavy losses—it was Antony’s first military failure. At this point he turned again to Cleopatra, who had borne him two children and given him full political and financial support.

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