Politicians

Mark Antony

Late Republican Roman politician and general (83-30 BC). A relative and lieutenant of Julius Caesar, Antony commanded under him in Gaul and the civil war, and after Caesar's assassination formed the Second Triumvirate with Octavian and Lepidus. Assigned the eastern provinces, he allied with Cleopatra VII of Egypt, fathered three children with her, and was destroyed by Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. His suicide in 30 BC cleared the way for the Roman Empire, and Shakespeare's plays fixed him in cultural memory as the lover-soldier of tragedy.

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