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Mark Antony and His Legions (A short history)
By Kevin Barry
In the beginning...
Born Marcus Antonius in 83 BCE, the son of a General Marcus Antonius and Julia, the 2nd cousin of Julius Caesar. He must have inherited some of his fathers abilities, since at age 22 he became a cavalry commander and fought with Caesar in Gaul. During this period he associated himself with Caesar and gradually rose to power as Caesar did. In 48 he became Caesar's chief
assistant and Consul with Caesar in 44. At this point Caesar was not only a Dictator in title, but well on his way to becoming the sole ruler of the empire. Of course, we know he was assassinated by Marcus Junius Brutus and Cassius during the Ides of March in 44 BC.
(Numismatic Note: it was in July of 44 that a comet appeared which was taken to be the manifestation of Caesar's soul. A much sought after coin type, featuring the comet on the reverse was minted to commemorate the event.)
The assassination of Caesar left a power vacuum, on one side was the Republican faction lead by the assassins Brutus and Cassius. On the other, the Caesarians with Mark Antony, Caesar's
nephew and adopted son Caius Octavianus (Octavian) and an old colleague of Caesar's Marcus
Aemillius Lepidus.
Title, title, who's got the title...
There was little love between Antony and Octavian with each seeing the other as a rival to the throne. Eventually, Octavian took the extreme step of raising an army and occupied Rome. Antony decided that it was time to get out of town and retired to Gaul. It was a time of great confusion with Octavian in Rome, Antony in Gaul, Brutus in control of Macedonia, Illyricum, Achaea (where he defeated Antony's brother Caius) and Cassius in Syria and the Roman East. The Senate did not help matters by recognizing the rule of Brutus and Cassius over their provinces.
In 43 Octavian was proclaimed Consul by the Senate (not that they had much choice with Octavian's army still occupying Rome) and his adoption by Caesar was officially recognized. The stage was set for Octavian to take control of the empire. But first, he had take steps to eliminate Antony as a threat.
I didn't think he had it in him...
In a surprise move, Octavian made peace with Antony and Lepidus at Bologna in November of 43. The 3 agreed to take over the state under the title of 'tres viri reipublicae
constituendae' or 'three men for the management of the State'. Better known as the 2nd Triumvirate. The triumvirs divided up the empire with Antony in control of Gaul, Lepidus Spain and Octavian Africa and the islands. Italy was to be held in common by all three. At that
point, the Triumvirate marched on Rome and forced the Senate to confirm their power for 5
years (until 38 BC). Many consider this to be the end of the Republic and the start of the
Imperatorial period.
In October and again in November of 42, the armies of Antony and Octavian met the forces of
Brutus and Cassius in a series of battles at Philippi. Brutus and Cassius were defeated and
committed suicide. The sole chance for the return of the Republic died with them. Now it was
time for the victorious Triumvirate to turn on itself. But not quite yet....
The Interregnum......
In 41, Antony went to Asia Minor on affairs of state. It was during this time that he became reacquainted with Cleopatra. (They first met in 45 or 44 when she came to Rome.) As you may imagine, we will be hearing more about her later.
After the Battle at Philippi, Antony had received the lions share of prestige and had control of the sea. His popularity was never higher and this did not sit well with Octavian. He knew that war was inevitable, but not yet. The 2 met again at Brundisium in 40 to re-divide the empire (note that Lepidus has slowly faded into the background at this point). To Octavian went control of the West, Antony took control of the East. Lepidus was left with a small slice of Africa.
The happy couple...
During the same period as the meeting at Brundisium, Antony married Octavian's sister,
Octavia. It is safe to assume that this was a marriage of convenience simply to stabilze the alliance between Octavian and Antony. The marriage lasted for 8 years until Antony repudiated Octavia for Cleopatra.
Antony and Octavia had 2 children, Marcus Antonius Jr and Antonia. In later years Antonia became the mother of Germanicus, who would have eventually become the emperor had he lived, and future emperor Claudius. It could reasonably be said that Mark Antony had an indirect influence on the Empire that extended long after his death.
Dividing the Empire....
In 38, the Triumvirate was renewed for another 5 years. As you can see, most of the Empire was now under control of Antony and Octavian. And war was looming....
During this time Mark Antony was very busy adding other conquered kingdoms to the Roman sphere and consolidating his control over the East. Antony was emerging as the dominant figure in the Roman world. Also during this time that Antony started his affair with Cleopatra and eventually they had 3 children. And in 43, Egypt was made a province of Rome with Caesarion, the son of Caesar and Cleopatra, made co-ruler. Cleopatra was proclaimed the 'Queen of Kings'.
Octavian was not idle, he was also busy consolidating his control over the west and soon turned
his talents to a war of propaganda against Antony. In 33 he tried to sway public opinion
against Antony by portraying him as under the spell of Cleopatra. Ironically, this could very
well have been true. Octavian drove Antony's supporters from Rome and declared war on Antony
and Cleopatra in 32 BC. The stage was set for the showdown.
Antony's Legions.....
During the preceeding years Antony had raised an army composed of up to 30 Legions (the exact number is open to debate) along with a powerful navy. Each Legion (if at full strength) had up
to 6,000 men plus auxilliaries and camp followers for a total of up to 160,000 men-at-arms.
Each Legion was numbered from I to XXIII and were known as Legio I, Legio II, etc. Three
Legions were also named, they were Legio XII Antiqua, Legio XVII Classica and Legio XVIII
Libyca.
To pay the men each Legion had a mint that traveled with them and provided specie in either Silver denarii (singluar - denarius) or Gold aurei (singular - aureus). Most of the Legions were paid in silver with Legions IV, VI and XII - XIV possibly being paid in silver and gold. At right is an illustration of a coin created by the Moneyer T. Carisius during the Republic period just before the assasination of Caesar. The reverse depicts a typical set of tools (anvil, hammer and tongs) used by mints to create coins. It is reasonable to assume that a similiar set of tools was used by the traveling mints to create Antony's coins.
A huge number of coins were required to pay up to 160,000 men. If we assume that Antony
maintained the pay rate established by Caesar of 10 Asses (bronze) per day per soldier or 30 Asses per month. Pay day for the Legions occured 3 times a year or every 4 months. At 16 Asses
to the denarius (the current rate) we have 75 denarii or 3 aurei, 3 times a year. Just for fun if we do the math, we can see that to meet the payroll the traveling mints would have had to produce 3 million denarii a month!! Or 36 million (36,000,000) per year. A truly amazing number of coins for the period.
A special design was made for the coins paid to the Legions consisting of a warship obverse with the inscription 'ANT. AVG. III VIR. R.P.C.' and a reverse featuring an Aquila between 2 standards with the legion number ('LEG' NNN) across the field at bottom. The three named legions had a slightly different design with the Legion name across the field at top. At right you can see a typical example of a Legionary denarius. The coins were sometimes (but not always) minted out of debased 90% silver. As far as we know, the gold coins were minted with fine gold.
(Fascinating Numismatic Note: Hoard evidence and discoveries made in the ruined cities of Pompeii and Herculeneum indicate that the Legionary coins of Mark Antony remained in general
circulation for up to 100 years after he was defeated. For example, his denarii were found in the ancient equivalent of cash registers in shops of the 2 destroyed cities. A
strong indication of use in day to day commerce.)
The beginning of the end.....
The die was cast and the stage set for a titanic struggle for control of the Empire. On one side there was Octavian with his friend and most able General Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. On the
other Mark Antony and Cleopatra. They finally met in September of 31 in the harbor of Actium.
(See the center of the map, above for the location.) Antony's navy was outnumbered and trapped between the shore and Octavian/Agrippa. During the battle Cleopatra's group of ships broke through the center and fled towards Egypt. Soon after Antony with 70 or so ships followed leaving the rest of his force to be destroyed or captured. The battle was over and Octavian the decisive victor.
The end and aftermath.....
Soon after, in 30 BC to be exact, Antony and Cleopatra commited suicide and Octavian (at age 33) became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. A few years later (in 27 BC) Octavian was granted supreme powers and the title of 'Augustus' by the Senate. The title became part of his name and it is by Augustus that we know him today.
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