History UsefulNotes / MarkAntony

* He and his enemy, Cassius, are both potential {{Love Interest}}s in ''VisualNovel/ACourtesanOfRome''.

Marcus Antonius (14 January 83 BC – 1 August 30 BC) was a [[AncientRome Roman]] general and politician. Lover of UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII, ally of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, rival of [[UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} Octavian]], enemy of Creator/{{Cicero}}. One of the most famous Romans in history, Mark Antony was an important and tragic figure in the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Roman Republic]]'s transition into the UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire.

Antony served as one of Julius Caesar's most trusted legates for much of Caesar's campaigns in Gaul in the 50s BCE, alongside Titus Labienus (who later fought against Caesar on the side of Pompey) and Marcus Lepidus. Was known for being a brilliant military general, but a ''horrible'' politician. Caesar once famously [[ReassignedToAntarctica exiled the man to busywork in Transalpine Gaul]] after he, while serving as Caesar's "overseer" of the Senate while Caesar was busy in Egypt, made an absolute mockery of proceedings, routinely showing up drunk to Senate meetings and generally making a fool of himself, in the process gaining a serious beef with Cicero, who publicly attacked Antony's character on several occasions. After this fall from Caesar's good graces, he was approached by several conspirators to take part in removing Caesar from power, but turned the offer down (though he didn't inform Caesar of the plans for some reason).

Ironically, despite losing the struggle for supremacy, his brief relation to Octavian through his sister meant his bloodline lived on together with the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He is ancestor to the latter three emperors: {{UsefulNotes/Caligula Gaius / Caligula}} (his great-grandfather), {{UsefulNotes/Claudius}} (maternal grandfather) and {{UsefulNotes/Nero}} (both maternal great-great-grandfather and paternal great-great uncle). While Cladius would, to some extent, prove himself an able general and competent administrator in the vein of Julius Caesar, Augustus and Antony on his best days, Gaius and Nero became TropeMakers for [[TheCaligula the eponymous trope for a mad monarch]], [[SerialEscalation topping even Antony's worst excesses]].

* An important player in two of Shakespeare's histories: ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'' and ''Theatre/AntonyAndCleopatra''.

* Played by Creator/CharltonHeston in 1970's ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar''.

Antony served as one of Julius Caesar's most trusted legates for much of Caesar's campaigns in Gaul in the 50s BCE, alongside Titus Labienus (who later fought against Caesar on the side of Pompey) and Marcus Lepidus. Was known for being a brilliant military general, but a ''horrible'' politician. Caesar once famously exiled the man to busywork in Transalpine Gaul after he, while serving as Caesar's "overseer" of the Senate while Caesar was busy in Egypt, made an absolute mockery of proceedings, routinely showing up drunk to Senate meetings and generally making a fool of himself, in the process gaining a serious beef with Cicero, who publicly attacked Antony's character on several occasions. After this fall from Caesar's good graces, he was approached by the conspirators to take part in an assassination of Caesar, but turned the offer down (though he didn't inform Caesar of the plans for some reason).

Then came Caesar's assassination, where Antony became the ''de facto'' successor to Caesar as the leader of the ''populares''. He famously turned the mob against the conspirators at Caesar's funeral, whipping them into a frenzy and beginning a full-blown riot that chased the conspirators out of Rome. He and Lepidus began to divide Rome between themselves, until Octavian entered the picture, having been posthumously adopted as Caesar's son and given his name. At first, Antony actively tried to hinder Octavian's rise by holding onto Caesar's money and keeping it out of Octavian's hands, but he was eventually forced to give in. After this, Octavian became belligerent to both Caesar's assassins ''and'' to his other Caesarian allies, bringing him and Antony into military conflict for the first time. Following a scare from the armies of some of the Conspirators, Antony and Octavian put their differences aside and allied to take down the Conspirators, joining with Lepidus to form the Second Triumvirate. Before they could go to war, however, they needed money, and thus began to seize money and property from wealthy Romans, as well as enemy Senators, sometimes murdering them in the process. Antony used this opportunity to have Cicero killed. After the Triumvirs successfully vanquished the Conspirators at the Battle of Philippi, Octavian and Antony re-divided the land, relegating Lepidus to being a minor partner while the two of them gained in power.

Octavian headed back to his half of Roman land to deal with matters more local to the city, while Antony moved eastward, dreaming of a campaign against the Parthians, as Caesar had reportedly wanted before his assassination. A campaign such as this would have won him eternal glory and would have cemented him as ''the'' most influential politician in Rome, a position Octavian was openly vying for. But to do this, he needed allies. First, he guaranteed the semi-independence of Judea by backing a local king named Herod (yes, ''that'' Herod). Then, in Tarsus, he met with Cleopatra for the first time, and her brazen manner won him over[[note]]She apparently claimed that she could put on "the most expensive banquet in history", and then she did so by dissolving one of her earrings, worth ''billions'' by today's money, in her cup of wine and then drinking it[[/note]]. He went to Alexandria with her, and they began an affair, which produced three children over the years.

With the alliances made, he began his Parthian campaign... [[EpicFail which turned out to be an utter, utter failure]][[note]]Parthia began with a preemptive strike, which made it a good bit into Roman territory (and included Labienus' son being captured among them after a battle in Judea) before being turned around. Antony then tried to enter Parthia from the north and threaten their capitol, only for Antony's bad decisions involving the baggage train to be their undoing. The Parthians destroyed the baggage train entirely after it was left to trail behind, and Antony's army was starved out of their own siege of Phraata, and were harassed by the Parthians the entire way back through Armenia as they retreated[[/note]]. He blamed this on the King of Armenia rather than his own bad decisions, ultimately costing Rome an alliance. However, his plans weren't completely derailed. He next attempted to engineer a complex web of dynastic alliances in Eastern Rome by giving his children with Cleopatra dominion over several territories in the area. On its own, this system would have secured Rome's hold over this land while advancing Egypt as a nation on its own and binding both nations together at the hip. This would likely have worked, if it hadn't been for one final proclamation: Caesar and Cleopatra had secretly been married before producing a child, Caeserion. In doing so, he named Caeserion as Caesar's legitimate heir and undermined Octavian's position, something he wouldn't take lying down.

Antony served as one of Julius Caesar's most trusted legates for much of Caesar's campaigns in Gaul in the 50s BCE, alongside Titus Labienus and Marcus Lepidus. Was known for being a brilliant military general, but a ''horrible'' politician. Caesar once famously exiled the man to busywork in Transalpine Gaul after he, while serving as Caesar's "overseer" of the Senate while Caesar was busy in Egypt, made an absolute mockery of proceedings, routinely showing up drunk to Senate meetings and generally making a fool of himself, in the process gaining a serious beef with Cicero, who publicly attacked Antony's character on several occasions. After this fall from Caesar's good graces, he was approached by the conspirators to take part in an assassination of Caesar, but turned the offer down (though he didn't inform Caesar of the plans for some reason).

With the alliances made, he began his Parthian campaign... [[EpicFail which turned out to be an utter, utter failure]][[note]]Parthia began with a preemptive strike, which made it a good bit into Roman territory (and included Lepidus' son being captured among them after a battle in Judea) before being turned around. Antony then tried to enter Parthia from the north and threaten their capitol, only for Antony's bad decisions involving the baggage train to be their undoing. The Parthians destroyed the baggage train entirely after it was left to trail behind, and Antony's army was starved out of their own siege of Musa, and were harassed by the Parthians the entire way back through Armenia as they retreated[[/note]]. He blamed this on the King of Armenia rather than his own bad decisions, ultimately costing Rome an alliance. However, his plans weren't completely derailed. He next attempted to engineer a complex web of dynastic alliances in Eastern Rome by giving his children with Cleopatra dominion over several territories in the area. On its own, this system would have secured Rome's hold over this land while advancing Egypt as a nation on its own and binding both nations together at the hip. This would likely have worked, if it hadn't been for one final proclamation: Caesar and Cleopatra had secretly been married before producing a child, Caeserion. In doing so, he named Caeserion as Caesar's legitimate heir and undermined Octavian's position, something he wouldn't take lying down.

Marcus Antonius (14 January 83 BC – 1 August 30 BC) was a [[AncientRome Roman]] general and politician. Lover of UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII, ally of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, rival of [[UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} Octavian]], enemy of Creator/{{Cicero}}.

One of the most famous Romans in history, Mark Antony was an important and tragic figure in the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Roman Republic]]'s transition into the UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire.

* He's played by James Purefoy in the HBO miniseries ''Series/{{Rome}}''.

Marcus Antonius (14 January 83 BC – 1 August 30 BC) was a [[AncientRome Roman]] general and politician. Lover of UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII, ally of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, rival of [[UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} Octavian]], enemy of Creator/{{Cicero}}. One of the most famous Romans in history, Anthony was an important figure in the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Roman Republic's]] transition into the UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire.

* Played by Creator/MarlonBrando in 1953's ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar''.

* He's portrayed by Creator/RichardBurton (to Creator/ElizabethTaylor's Cleopatra) in the 1963 film ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}''.

Marcus Antonius (14 January 83 BC – 1 August 30 BC) was a [[AncientRome Roman]] general and politician. Lover of UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII, ally of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, rival of [[UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} Octavian]], enemy of Creator/{{Cicero}}. One of the most famous Romans in history, Anthony was an important figure in the [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic the Roman Republic's]] transition into the UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire.