CHAPTER ONE
During the six decades from the beginning of the Social War to the Battle of Actium, there occurred a gradual decay of Romeís traditional Republican form of government. The order of the old Republic ó an elitist oligarchy ó was replaced by the lawlessness of warlords who, when necessary, openly opposed the senate by force of arms. Men such as Sulla, Marius, Pompey, Caesar, Antony and Octavian all struggled for the top position in a government that was destined to become a virtual hereditary monarchy. What follows is a general framework of this turbulent era, which often is called the Imperatorial Period.
91ñ88 B.C. ó The Social War. From 91ñ88 B.C., Italians were engaged in the ìSocial War,î in which some non-Roman Italians ó who had long been refused Roman citizenship ó founded their own Italic senate and initiated hostilities against Rome. It was a traumatic time for the Romans. In the year 90 B.C. they struck more denarii than at any other time in the Republic. Furthermore, they raised more legions than at any other time except during the war against Hannibal. In 88 B.C., the allies even appealed to Mithradates VI of Pontus for military support, but received only some financial assistance. Eventually Rome earned a ìvictoryî by conceding to their enemiesí demands. All Italians were granted citizenship in 88 B.C., though the promise was not fully enacted until 70 B.C. In the aftermath of this war, Pompey Strabo, father of Pompey the Great, refused to disband his armies, and resisted the senateís attempt to disarm him forcibly. Along with equally lawless acts by Sulla, this set the stage for dozens of other men to act beyond the authority vested in them by the senate.
88ñ82 B.C. ó The wars among Sulla, Marius and Mithradates VI. On the very heels of the Social War, a conflict of dire consequence arose in Asia Minor, where the Pontic king Mithradates VI opposed Roman rule with the aid of Greeks in Asia. The so-called ìFirst Mithradatic Warî began in 88 B.C. with an event that shocked the western world: Mithradates ordered the slaughter of all Romans living in Asia Minor. In a single night, 80,000 Romans were butchered. Though this should have caused Romans to unite, it instead created a division. The senate gave command of the war against Mithradates to Lucius Cornelius Sulla, but the people of Rome opposed that decision, usurped the senate and instead gave the command to Marius. Thus, Sulla first waged war in Rome itself, ousted Marius and re-established the authority of the senate. He then went East to restore Asia in the name of Rome. Meanwhile, Marius and his supporters, Cinna and Carbo, returned to Rome and initiated a reign of terror that lasted until Sullaís return in 83/82 B.C. Meanwhile, Sulla was winning hard-fought victories over Mithradates in Greece, though rivalries with competing Republican generals Flaccus and Fimbria complicated matters. Finally, in 85 B.C., Sulla made peace with Mithradates at Dardanus. Thereafter he toured Greece and Asia, exacting revenge, seizing booty and establishing his own extraordinary authority.
82ñ79 B.C. ó Sullaís Dictatorship. Sulla returned from the East in 83, and with the help of Crassus and Pompey the Great was able to defeat the remaining adherents to the Marian party (including the Samnites and the Lucans) at the Battle of the Colline Gate in 82 B.C., and subsequently in Spain. Thus began Sullaís dictatorship, and along with it the first Roman coinage that comes under the familiar term ìImperatorial.î In the meantime Mithradates VI had renewed war against the Romans (83 to 81 B.C., the ìSecond Mithradatic Warî). However, this time Sulla had Lucius Licinius Murena, the propraetor of Asia who had agitated Mithradates into action, conduct the war. During the three years Sulla exercised dictatorial powers, he fought to re-establish the authority of the senate, thus to return power to the privileged families. In the process many were executed, including some 90 senators and 2,600 equestrians. Sulla further restructured the terms of high political office, including the requirement that consuls and praetors must leave Rome and govern a province after their term ended. Sulla held his last consulship in 80 B.C.; he abdicated his dictatorship in 79 B.C. and retired, dying a year later.
82ñ67 B.C. ó The Rise of Pompey. When Sulla returned from the East and ousted the Marians, an important command was given to Pompey the Great, who defeated armies of the Marian party in Sicily and North Africa. It was during these campaigns that he received both a triumph and the honorary title Magnus (ìthe Greatî). Even after the abdication (79 B.C.) and subsequent death of Sulla, adherents to the Marian party remained active in Spain. Pompey spent 77 to 71 B.C. in Spain restoring senatorial authority in this important province. In 73 B.C. a devastating slave revolt erupted in Capua under the leadership of Spartacus, and it grew to such proportions that Rome itself was nearly sacked. The slave armies traveled the length of Italy twice, defeating every consular army sent against them. However, the slave army was defeated in Apulia in 72 B.C. by an army led by Crassus. This important victory had been earned by Crassus, but Pompey ó seeking his share of glory ó returned from Spain in 71 to stamp out the tattered remnants of the slave army. This angered Crassus, who not only had to share the credit of victory, but also the consulship of 70 with the upstart Pompey. Together they revoked many laws of Sulla (whom, ironically, they both had supported upon his return from the East in 83 B.C.), thus allowing common people to hold office.
67ñ60 B.C. ó Pompeyís glory. Once matters had been settled in Rome, Pompey next tackled two serious tasks. The first was piracy in the Mediterranean, against which he was given extraordinary authority (imperium extraordinarium) in 67 B.C. With great efficiency, Pompey eliminated piratical activity. He was next given command in the East against Mithradates, who had been waging a Third Mithradatic War since 74 B.C. Though previous generals had failed to crush Mithradates, Pompey was able to defeat the eastern monarch on the Euphrates and in 64 began to reorganize the entire eastern portion of Roman territories. Pontus, Cilicia and Syria became provinces and client kingdoms were established in Armenia, Cappadocia, Colchis, Galatia and Judaea. In the process, Pompey generously gave land to his own veterans, an overture that did not please the senate, which opposed it upon his return. However, for all Pompey gave away to his soldiers, he brought back to Rome an astounding amount of loot from the East, which enabled the Republic to become solvent for the first time in recent memory. Italy itself had not been without its crises in the meantime, for during the consulship of Cicero the conspiracy of Catiline had ended in bloodshed ó some 3,000 of Catilineís supporters perished at Pistoria in 62 B.C.
60ñ53 B.C. ó The First Triumvirate. Pompey, Crassus and Julius Caesar joined forces in 60 B.C., pooling a tremendous amount of wealth, influence and military prowess. This was a private pact without legal sanction but was remarkably effective in combating the senate and in establishing the supremacy of the generals. Through the arrangement, Caesar received a five-year appointment to Cisalpine Gaul, Illyricum and Gallia Narbonensis, allowing him to begin his famous campaigns in Gaul, which included a minor invasion of Britain and two crossings of the Rhine. Largely due to Caesarís mediation, the pact was renewed in 56 B.C. at the Conference of Luca, and in 55 B.C. Crassus and Pompey jointly held the consulship. The three then carved up the territories: Pompey taking Spain, Caesar retaining Gaul, and Crassus taking Syria, from which he launched his invasion of Parthia in 53 B.C. This campaign was a tremendous failure, and Crassus ó the richest man in Rome ó died during a retreat near Carrhae. The tattered remnants of the army were spared total destruction under the leadership of Cassius, then a quaestor, but later a tyrannicide and Imperator with his co-conspirator, Brutus.
53ñ49 B.C. ó Prelude to civil war. With Crassus dead, Pompey and Caesar lost a powerful ally. Caesar, however, was building a stellar career with his victories in Gaul. It culminated with the defeat of Vercingetorix at Alesia in 52 B.C., and his conquest of Gaul was complete by 51 B.C. Meanwhile in Rome, the senate and Pompey had united, and were sharply opposed to the authority of Caesar. Aware of the danger he faced, Caesar (through Gaius Scribonius Curio Junior) proposed that he and Pompey both disband their armies. Though the senate passed the measure, it was vetoed by Marcellus (the husband of Octavia), who was consul. On January 7, 49 B.C., the senate (led by Pompeyís father-in-law, Metellus Pius Scipio) issued a demand that Caesar, alone, disband his army and relinquish his Gallic command. Pompey was now given authority to defend the Republic against Caesar.
49ñ44 B.C. ó Civil war between the Pompeians and Caesar. Caesar made his famous crossing of the Rubicon on January 10, 49 B.C., and took Italy with ease, for Pompey and many senators fled to Greece. Caesar secured Spain, and then pursued Pompey in Epirus, in northern Greece. On August 9, 48 B.C., Pompey was defeated in a pitched battle at Pharsalus. Some 20,000 of his men surrendered and Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was murdered upon landing. Pompeyís cause, however, survived more than a dozen years under the leadership of his sons. Meanwhile, Caesar went to Egypt and found more trouble than he had anticipated. Ptolemy XIII had overthrown Cleopatra VII, and so Caesar set about restoring the queen. This he did, but with great difficulty, for he almost perished in the process. Next Caesar went to the Pontic region and defeated the rebel Pontic king Pharnaces II at Zela in a five-day campaign during the Spring of 47 B.C. (when he coined the phrase Veni vidi vici, ìI came, I saw, I conqueredî). Caesar returned to Italy, then battled still more Pompeians in North Africa (in the African War), which resulted in the suicide of Brutusí uncle Cato Uticensis at Utica, and Caesarís victory at Thapsus in April 46 B.C. Caesar returned to Rome late in July, and asked Cleopatra to join him. Romans were treated to the splendor of four successive triumphs being celebrated in September and October. Caesar was awarded a decadelong dictatorship. Early in 45 B.C., Caesar went to war against more Pompeians, and was victorious on March 17 at Munda, Spain, against the two sons of Pompey the Great: Pompey Junior (who was executed) and Sextus Pompey (who escaped). This was to be Caesarís last campaign.
44 B.C. ó The Murder of Caesar. The senate now gave Caesar almost complete authority in Rome, including the title dictator perpetuus (dictator for life) on February 14, 44 B.C. Caesar now was preparing in earnest for an invasion of Parthia. Though Caesar subsequently rejected Marc Antonyís offer of the royal diadem of a king three times, he was making arrangements to have a title to that effect outside of Italy. One month later, on the Ides (15th) of March, Caesar was murdered by a group of senatorial conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius. Subsequently, Marc Antony delivered Caesarís funeral eulogy on March 20, and in April presided at the Parilian games held in honor of Caesarís victory at Munda. Both events enraged the populace against the conspirators, who, in fear for their lives, fled to the East in August of that year. Though the senate abolished Caesarís dictatorship, it did not achieve its aim of reclaiming its authority in the long term.
44ñ43 B.C. ó Antony and Octavian Collide. Nineteen-year-old Gaius Octavius (Octavian, later Augustus) was named heir to the political legacy and most of the fortune of his great-uncle (and adoptive father), Caesar. The beneficiary Octavian abandoned his studies in Greece and sped to Rome to collect his inheritance. He arrived in May or June of 44 B.C., and found Marc Antony (the most powerful ally of Caesar) to be confrontational. But Octavian proved formidable. After getting no satisfaction, Octavian invaded Rome with an army of Caesarís veterans in November 44 B.C., forcing Antony to leave for his proconsular duties in Gaul. But Antony first had to oust Decimus Brutus, who had been made governor of Gaul by Caesar. So Antony attacked, and besieged Decimus Brutus at Mutina. Meanwhile, the orator Cicero had emerged from retirement and began to defame Antony. The senate sent Octavian (now propraetor) and the two consuls, Pansa and Hirtius, to relieve Decimus Brutus, whom Antony had besieged at Mutina, in Cisapline Gaul. Though both consuls died, the senatorial army was victorious; Octavian was hailed Imperator and Decimus Brutus celebrated a triumph. Feeling their strength renewed, the senate granted extraordinary powers to Brutus and Cassius (in the East) and the naval commander Sextus Pompey (the surviving son of Pompey the Great) to command the fleet in the West. Meanwhile, Octavian felt left out, and so in May of 43 B.C., he occúpied Rome militarily once again. By August he was able to force the senate to make him consul in place of Hirtius and Pansa, who had died, and to recognize officially his adoption by Caesar.
43ñ42 B.C. ó Triumvirs versus Republicans. Having senatorial authority and an army, Octavian marched against Antony, but instead of fighting him, joined him in forming the Second Triumvirate on November 11, 43 B.C. The third member was Lepidus, the governor of Hither Spain and Gallia Narbonensis, who had fought on Antonyís side at Mutina. By this political alliance, the trio ruled Rome and its territories for the next five years (through 38 B.C.). Unlike the First Triumvirate of Pompey, Caesar and Crassus, this was legally sanctioned (unwillingly) by a terrified senate as the lex Titia: Triumviri rei publicae constituendae (meaning ìTriumvirs for the reorganization of the Republicî). Since the East was occupied by Brutus and Cassius, the three men divided the West among themselves, with Octavian getting the short-end, for his territories were occupied by enemies: the western islands (including Sicily) by Sextus Pompey and North Africa by Cornuficius. Thereafter the infamous Triumviral proscriptions began, which were spearheaded by Fulvia, Antonyís ambitious wife. Some 130 senators and 2,000 equestrians were executed, with Cicero, the orator who had delivered his Philippics against the growing tyranny of Antony, being among the first to perish (in December 43 B.C.). In response, Brutus executed Gaius Antonius, a brother of Antonyís who had been captured in Macedon. Also proscribed ó rather foolishly ó was Sextus Pompey, who subsequently used the fleet the senate had given him to blockade the coast of Italy. Octavianís commander, Salvidienus, was unable to defeat him. Meanwhile, the Triumvirs prepared for war against Brutus and Cassius. Antony and Octavian left Lepidus in charge in Italy, and led their armies east to Illyricum in preparation for war. Their supply lines (and route of retreat) were cut off by the Republican fleet commanded by Murcus and Ahenobarbus. Meanwhile, in the spring of 42 B.C., Brutus and Cassius campaigned successfully against the Lycians and Rhodians, and after meeting at Sardes in the summer, sailed for northern Greece. Two battles ensued at Philippi (at the beginning of October and on October 23). The Triumvirs, led by Antony and Octavian, were victorious over the Republicans, whose leaders, Brutus and Cassius, both committed suicide.
42ñ40 B.C. ó The Division of Spoils. The memory of Julius Caesar was avenged, and the East ó rebels and foreign enemies aside ó now also belonged to the Triumvirs. Among these rebels were Sextus Pompey (and soon Murcus) in the West, Ahenobarbus in the Ionian Sea (soon allied with Antony) and Labienus, who defected to the Parthians. Antony went east and Octavian returned West. Late in 41 B.C., the Roman East was invaded by Labienus in concert with the Parthian prince Pacorus. All this occurred while Antony was in the East, but he was occupied with his new love interest, queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, and soon had to sail West to resolve another crisis. During Antonyís absence, the youngest brother of Antony, Lucius Antonius, and Antonyís wife, Fulvia, began to harass Octavian. First they waged a verbal, then a military campaign against Octavian known as the Perusine War (41ñ40 B.C.), which ended with the defeat of Lucius Antonius early in 40 B.C. Although both Lucius Antonius and Fulvia died of natural causes within months of the warís conclusion, civil war was imminent. However, it was averted when Antony and Octavian met at Brundisium in October 40 B.C. Here, they divided the Roman world: Antony received the East, Octavian received the lionís share of the West, while Lepidus was essentially limited to North Africa. Also in 40 B.C. both Antony and Octavian entered into political marriages, both destined to fail: Antony married Octavianís sister, Octavia, and Octavian married Scribonia, a relative of Sextus Pompey, who had a powerful fleet with which he controlled Sicily and Sardinia.
40ñ35 B.C. ó Consolidation of Power. In addition to the marriage between Octavian and Scribonia, the Triumvirs made concessions to Sextus Pompey at the pact of Misenum in 39 B.C.: in return for grain shipments to Italy, the rebel admiral received Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and even Achaea (Greece). Subsequently, in 38 B.C., Octavian broke the pact and attacked Sextus Pompey, but lost severely. The five-year Triumvirate pact expired late in 38 B.C., but was renewed at the Treaty of Tarentum, where Octavian traded many of his foot soldiers for 120 of Antonyís war vessels. Now, Antony had enough soldiers for his planned invasion of Parthia, and Octavian could again challenge Sextus Pompey at sea. Thus, the next year, 36 B.C., was eventful. Antonyís invasion of Parthia with some 100,000 soldiers failed miserably, due in large part to the treachery of Artavasdes II of Armenia. Antony withdrew with heavy losses (perhaps 40,000 casualties), and willingly received support from his mistress, Cleopatra VII. In the West, Octavianís campaign against Sextus Pompey had two results. First, it caused the downfall of the third Triumvir, Lepidus, who in August was unsuccessful in his treachery against Antony, and was expelled as a result. Second, Octavianís lieutenant, Agrippa, defeated Sextus Pompey at Naulochus in September, thus eliminating the tattered remnants of the Pompeian party (Sextus himself escaped to Asia Minor, where he was killed).
35ñ31 B.C. ó Prelude to Actium. Now the Roman world was exclusively in the hands of Octavian and Antony. During the succeeding years, Antony went to great lengths to reorganize the Roman East into provinces and client kingdoms. With these reforms, and with Cleopatra VII as an ally, he was in firm control of Asia. However, his success was at the expense of Italian support, for Antonyís orientalized life invited suspicion in the West, a situation which Octavian was only too willing to exploit. Antony and Octavian openly defamed each other, especially since the political marriages of 40 B.C. had ended or were in disrepair. Both Octavian and Antony remained in their spheres of influence, rallying support for the civil war they knew would certainly come. The Triumviral pact expired at the end of 33 B.C. The two consuls of 32 B.C. were Ahenobarbus and Sosius, both of whom supported Antony. Octavian opposed their tenure by (yet again) occupying Rome with his legions and terrorizing the senate; both consuls and some 300 senators fled to the East for Antonyís protection. In essence, war had been declared.
31ñ27 B.C. ó Actium, and the foundation of the Empire. Now Octavian secured an oath of loyalty from citizens in Italy, declared war against Cleopatra VII (and cleverly, not against Antony), and set out for Greece, where he confronted Antonyís 30 legions. However, Cleopatraís participation caused Plancus, Ahenobarbus and many others to desert to Octavian at the last moment, and Agrippaís naval blockade of Antonyís camp took its toll. The Battle of Actium occurred on September 2, 31 B.C.; soon after, Antony and Cleopatra burst through the blockade and fled to Egypt. Antonyís desperate effort to get four legions from Scarpus in Cyrene failed, and he committed suicide in 30 B.C., soon after landing in Alexandria. Cleopatra also committed suicide after a fruitless meeting with Octavian, who had come to collect her as a war trophy. Octavian subsequently made Egypt into a kind of Roman province which was declared his personal property. In 29 B.C., Octavian celebrated his triumph in Rome and disbanded many legions by settling 120,000 veterans with land grants. Octavian had achieved absolute power, and did not want to lose it in the same way Julius Caesar had nearly 15 years before. Thus, Octavian declared the restoration of the Republic by forfeiting most of his authority to the senate and the people on January 13, 27 B.C. He kept the consulship, the provinces of Spain, Gaul, Syria and Egypt, and the legions stationed therein. Three days later, the senate granted him the title Augustus (meaning ìsacredî or ìreveredî), which was the name he came to be called for the remaining 41 years of his life. Thus began the Roman Empire, a political entity that would last more than 500 years in the West, and a thousand years beyond that in the East.
Note to the reader: The inclusion of minor historical figures in the biographies which follow has been limited to those who were both hailed Imperator and produced coinage.
THE IMPERATORIAL PERIOD
SULLA
DICTATOR, 82ñ79 B.C.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla, 138ñ78 B.C. The early life of Sulla is rather undistinguished, for he came from an obscure but apparently wealthy Patrician family and his only act of note was the arrest of Jugurtha in 107 B.C., when he was serving as a Quaestor under Marius. More than a decade later he attained a high administrative post in the East, propraetor of Cilicia, and in that capacity officiated at the first negotiations held between Rome and Parthia.
However, his career was launched during the Social War (91ñ89 B.C.), which earned him a reputation for vigorous military actions. He was the most successful commander in southern Italy, and as a result of his victories against the Samnites was made consul in 88 B.C., after the Social War had been resolved and all Italians were granted Roman citizenship. Just when Italy was on the verge of recovery, Rome was thrust into a new, distant crisis. King Mithradates VI of Pontus, in a single night, caused the slaughter of more than 80,000 Romans residing in Asia. A swift response was necessary, and the senate gave command against Mithradates to the consul and war-hero Sulla.
But the decision was reversed when the senate was usurped by adherents to Marius, a more experienced commander, who not surprisingly was given the command in place of Sulla. This came as a shock to Sulla, who was forced to flee. However, Sullaís legions ó who had fought under him for two years ó remained loyal. Enticed by the spoils of war and possible land allotments, they joined Sulla and marched on Rome itself. Now the tables had turned, and it was Sulla who chased Marius out of Rome, after which he re-established the authority of the senate.
After establishing his regime, Sulla headed East in 87 B.C. to conduct what is known as the First Mithradatic War (88ñ84 B.C.). Since Mithradates VI had also occupied Greece, Sulla concentrated his efforts there first, and by 86 B.C. was able to expel the Pontic king from Athens and the rest of Greece. Mithradates was now on the defensive and his defeat was within Sullaís grasp, but a schism in the Roman command prevented it. In 86 B.C. Sullaís command expired and the senate gave the new command to Lucius Valerius Flaccus (the consul suffectus who replaced Marius after his death in 86 B.C.), who headed East and began to fight the Pontic king with his own new command.
But when Flaccusí soldiers began to desert to Sulla, he quarreled with his own legate, Gaius Fimbria, who murdered Flaccus in Bithynia in 85 B.C. and took command. Fimbria nearly captured Mithradates VI in Asia, and in a moment of supreme selfishness, Sulla and Fimbria refused to cooperate (no doubt out of fear that the other would take credit for the victory), which allowed Mithradates the opportunity to escape. Sulla made a generous peace pact with Mithradates at Dardanus in 85 B.C., and then turned on Fimbria, who committed suicide.
Sulla next sought retribution from those cities in Asia and Greece that had betrayed Rome, and in the process established a great deal of authority, the likes of which had not been seen in the Greek East since the victories of Titus Quinctius Flamininus more than a century before. More importantly, perhaps, he collected a vast amount of war booty. This he put to immediate use during his invasion of Italy, for during his absence, Marius had forced his way into Rome shortly before his own death in 86 B.C. His supporters, first led by Cinna, then by Carbo, ruled cruelly thereafter.
When Sulla returned from the East, Mariusí supporters were in control, but Sullaís new-found wealth and battle-hardened legions gave him the advantage. Upon landing at Brundisium in 83 B.C., Sulla was approached by many resourceful leaders who wished to join his campaign. Among them were Crassus, Metellus Pius and Pompey. The remaining members of the Marian Party were ousted as Sulla took Rome again (the Sibylline Books were burned in a resulting fire). Later, Sulla defended Rome from the Samnites at the Battle of the Colline Gate in 82 B.C. The remaining Marians fled to Spain, and were there defeated by Pompey, who had been sent by Sulla.
Thus, with Sullaís second invasion of Rome began his three-year dictatorship. In the meantime, Mithradates VI had renewed hostilities against Rome, initiating what is called the Second Mithradatic War (83 to 81 B.C.). Sulla entrusted the war to Lucius Licinius Murena, the propraetor of Asia whose careless actions had caused the Pontic king to rise up again. In 81 B.C., after victory was secured in the East, Sulla held a magnificent triumph in Rome.
During his dictatorship, Sulla fought to re-establish the authority of the senate in Rome and, in essence, to return power to the wealthy families (for the legislation of Marius had counteracted this traditional arrangement). Enacting his reforms was accomplished through strict measures, and in the process Sulla executed some 90 senators and 2,600 equestrians. Other landmark political reforms were introduced, including the requirement that consuls and praetors leave Rome to govern a province after their terms ended.
While battling Mithradates, Sulla had sacked much of Greece to pay his armies. One site victimized was Olympia, and so Sulla transferred the Olympic Games to Rome, where they were held in 80 B.C., the year in which he held his second and last consulship. Sulla reluctantly forfeited his dictatorship in 79 B.C. and died of disease a year later after he had retired to his estates in Campania.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: The gilded equestrian statue awarded to Sulla for his victories against Mithradates VI is depicted on his coinage by the moneyer A. Manlius in 80 B.C. Though a statue, this is a depiction of a living Roman on coinage long before Julius Caesar. After the reign of Sulla, no standard bronzes were struck in the Republic until the time of Julius Caesar.
FLACCUS
IMPERATOR, 83ñ82 B.C.
Gaius Valerius Flaccus, lifespan unknown. Flaccus, a member of the distinguished Valeria gens, which is well-represented on Republican coinage, served as praetor urbartus (city prefect of Rome) in 96 B.C., consul in 93 B.C. with M. Herennius, and c. 85ñ81 B.C. served as proconsul in Gaul, notably during the consulships of L. Cornelius Scipio and C. Norbanus (83 B.C.). Of these three high appointments, it is his appointment in Gaul (by which time he had been hailed Imperator) for which he struck coins.
Sulla enlisted the services of Flaccus in the war he had begun to wage in Spain against the rebel Quintus, and as a result Flaccus later succeeded T. Didius as proconsul in Spain. Didius had ruled so cruelly that the Celtiberians revolted against him at Belgida, trapped all of the senators in their meeting house, and burned it to the ground while they were inside. Flaccus took Belgida by surprise, and executed all who had participated in the burning. In 81 B.C. Flaccus earned a triumph for his Gallic and Spanish campaigns. (See the biographies of Metellus Pius and Pompey the Great for details on Sertoriusí revolt.)
Flaccus was the brother of the Lucius Valerius Flaccus who replaced Marius in 86 B.C. as consul suffectus, and who subsequently was chosen to replace Sulla as commander in the war against Mithradates VI of Pontus. Regrettably for Lucius Valerius Flaccus, he was murdered by his own lieutennant Fimbria while marching through Bithynia in 85 B.C., some two or three years before his brother Gaius Valerius Flaccus, the Imperator, struck his coinage in Gaul.
Flaccus perhaps was the nephew of the Lucius Valerius Flaccus who struck coins as moneyer in 108 or 107 B.C., and who was consul in 100 B.C. That Flaccus borrowed the obverse type of a bust of Victory from the earlier coins of his uncle serves to confirm their close blood relationship.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Flaccusí denarii of Massalia are a military issue. The obverse shows the bust of victory, and the reverse a legionary eagle between two standards, both of which bear a plaque with a single letter. At the left is an H, meaning hastati, and at the right a P, meaning principes. The hastati were the spear-bearers on the front-line of the Roman battle formation, and the principes held the secondary position directly behind them. This was a well-controlled coinage, as Crawford lists 41 different control marks, noting that each is represented by a single die. It is worth noting that the ëlegionary eagle and standardsí reverse created by Flaccus inspired a later issue of Gnaeus Nerius in 49 B.C. and served as the protoype for Marc Antonyís prodigious issue of ëlegionary denariií half a century later. Flaccusí type was included in the restoration series of the emperor Trajan (A.D. 98ñ117).
METELLUS PIUS
IMPERATOR, 81 B.C.
ADOPTIVE FATHER OF METELLUS PIUS SCIPIO
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, d. c. 63 B.C. Metellus Pius came to prominence during the Social War, during which he served as praetor (89 B.C.) and propraetor from 88ñ82 B.C. He had earned his surname Pius in 99 B.C. for his effort to recall from exile his homonymous father, surnamed Numidicus, who was instrumental in the defeat of Jugurtha.
Metellus Pius was called to Rome to oppose Marius, but left without finding success in his venture. Subsequently, he established himself as an independent power in North Africa until 84 B.C., when he was ousted by Gaius Fabius Hadrianus. In the following year he joined forces with Sulla, who had just returned victoriously from the First Mithradatic War. Metellus Pius gained distinction as Sullaís best general, and shared the consulship with him in 80 B.C.
Thereafter, he gained a proconsular command in Farther Spain where he campaigned from 79 to 71 B.C. against the rebel Quintus Sertorius, who had been a loose cannon in Spain and North Africa ever since he was proscribed by Sulla in 83 B.C. Sertorius had established his own senate, by which he ruled Spain. Sertorius relied upon local royalty as his base of power, but also allied himself with outsiders who opposed the senate in Rome; these included pirates, and even the Pontic king Mithradates VI, with whom Sertorius made an ineffective pact in 76 or 75 B.C.
Metellus Pius was greatly boosted in his floundering campaign against Sertorius by reinforcements led by Pompey the Great. But even together they were unable to defeat Sertorius easily or quickly. Indeed, they essentially wore him down until in 72 B.C., at the end of his resources, Sertorius was murdered. While campaigning in Spain, Metellus Pius had several places named in his honor. In 71 B.C., about the time the slave revolt of Spartacus was quelled, Metellus Pius celebrated his hard-earned Triumph, and afterward served as Pontifex Maximus from 81 to 63 B.C., after which Julius Caesar was elected in his place to that exalted office.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Though Metellus Piusí fame is largely derived from his later campaigns in Spain against Sertorius, the coinage in his name was struck at a North Italian mint in 81 B.C. while he fought for Sulla against leaders of the Marian Party, such as Carrinas, Norbanus and Carbo. The obverse type of Pietas alludes to his surname Pius, and the reverse type of the elephant recalls the accomplishment of his ancestor Lucius Caecilius Metellus, who in 251 B.C. captured an army of Carthaginian elephants at Panormus.
CRASSUS
MEMBER OF THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE, 60ñ53 B.C.
Marcus Licinius Crassus, c. 115/112ñ53 B.C. A man of immense wealth, and in the opinion of Cicero the most accomplished orator of his day, Crassus engaged in a remarkable career in which he opposed Marius, Sulla, Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar for leadership in the crumbling Republic.
Born into an influential aristocratic family, Crassus was introduced to the dangers of partisan politics when his father (the consul of 97 B.C.) perished in 87 B.C. during the massacres of Marius. As a result, Crassus fled to Spain, where he was able to raise a formidable private army by 85 B.C., about the time he reached his 30th year. Then he offered his army to Sulla, who returned to Italy in 83 B.C. after achieving peace with Mithradates VI of Pontus.
Thus, Crassus became involved in the triumphant return of Sulla, and re-established himself in a position of great power in Rome. Crassus was especially avaricious, and focused principally on seizing the wealth of those adherents to the Marian party who were condemned in the proscriptions of Sulla. Throughout the 70s B.C. Crassusí fortunes and political status rose, though he was considerably jealous of the meteoric rise of Pompey, who late in the 70s earned the title Magnus (meaning ìthe Greatî), for his victories over Marian remnants in Spain and North Africa.
Crassus had political clout and vast wealth, but he desired military honor beyond what little he had earned as commander of Sullaís right wing at the Battle of the Colline Gate in 82 B.C. Thus, when a slave revolt broke out in southern Italy under the leadership of Spartacus, it proved too good an opportunity for Crassus to miss. The first two armies Rome sent against Spartacus were led by the consuls, both of whom were roundly defeated.
Spartacusí army had now attracted fugitives, bandits and slaves of every description, including Thracian, German and Celtic renegades, and numbered 90,000 or more at its height. Spartacusí original idea of marching the length of Italy and crossing the Alps to freedom, was abandoned when his massive army decided instead to continue plundering Italy, and so the army traveled all the way back to the ìtoeî of Italy, defeating every Roman army sent against it.
Crassus gained the proconsular command in 72 B.C. and led six legions against Spartacus. His legions ended the revolt by crushing the rebels in Lucania, and for this he earned a minor triumph (ovatio) in 71 B.C. However, much of Crassusí glory was stolen at the last moment by Pompey, who returned from his campaigns against the Marians in Spain and ìmopped upî the remnants of Spartacusí army. As a result, Crassus not only had to share his military glory with the upstart Pompey, but also the consulship of 70 B.C.
The next decade, from about 69 to 59 B.C., was one of limited success for Crassus. His political aim of forcing the elite to share authority with the common man was strongly opposed, but he was none-the-less able to revoke many of Sullaís laws. The one realm in which Crassus joined the elite (optimates) was in their opposition to the growing power of Pompey, who was in the East putting an end to piracy and defeating Mithradates VI (who had risen against Rome a third time). Though Pompeyís gains were staggering, he gave much to his vetarans, which angered the senators.
The major crisis in Italy during Pompeyís absence was the conspiracy of Lucius Sergius Catilina, a man who, like Crassus, enriched himself during Sullaís conscriptions of 82 B.C. His radical agenda was repeatedly thwarted by conservatives, and so, upon being denied the consulship of 62 B.C., he headed a minor revolution backed by the rural poor. The orator Cicero, then consul, easily crushed the revolt, which he subsequently exploited by magnifying its importance as a ìconspiracyî against the state. Pompey returned to Rome late in 62 B.C., after the ordeal had come to an end.
The last seven years of Crassusí life were quite eventful. By about 65 B.C., Crassus had gained a new ally in Julius Caesar, a man in his late 30s who had remarkable talent as a politician, and who held similar anti-elitist views on government. Most importantly, Caesar was heavily in debt ó a problem Crassus was able to help him resolve. In 63 Caesar worked hard to distance Crassus from Catiline ó Crassusí partner in the censorship ó whose failed ëconspiracyí caused the death of thousands of his supporters. With Crassusí patronage, Caesar rose considerably in office, and in 59 B.C. was elected consul. Indeed, it was Caesar who convinced Crassus to join forces with his enemy Pompey, who had returned from the East laden with booty and fame.
Thus, the First Triumvirate, an unofficial pact which tied the resources and destinies of Crassus, Pompey and Caesar, was founded in 60 B.C., after Caesar had won his election to the consulship for the year following. From this arrangement, Caesar received a five-year proconsular command in Gaul, and thus began his famous campaigns.
Largely due to the negotiating skills of Caesar, the Triumviral pact was renewed in 56 B.C. at the Conference of Luca, thus ending the threat that Pompey would lend his credibility and resources to the cause of the optimates. The three men carved up the Roman world by attaining five-year proconsular commands: Crassus in Syria, Pompey in Spain and Caesar in Gaul. Meanwhile, in 55 B.C., Crassus became consul for a second time, an honor that he shared with Pompey.
Despite all of his success and influence, Crassus knew he lacked an essential ingredient: military distinction. The reputations of both Pompey and Caesar had grown from their achievements at the head of armies, and Crassus had done little. Even his signal victory over Spartacus was overlooked, for Pompey had robbed him of the glory he deserved. As such, Crassus went to Syria with the idea in mind of waging war against the Parthians ó a relatively new foe through whom he could win the distinction he so desperately desired.
But this venture was not to be a success. Indeed, it ranked among the most shameful defeats in Roman history. With difficulty, Crassus raised an army, and set out for Syria late in 55 B.C., taking with him Cassius, one of the future assassins of Caesar. In the following year Crassus advanced into western Mesopotamia, and in 53 had marched deeply into Parthian territory. However, Crassusí eagerness for victory outstripped his skill as a general, and he was easily outmaneuvered by the commander Surenas (acting for king Orodes II), who hemmed him in and steadily killed off his legionnaires with volleys of arrows.
In the disorganized retreat, Crassus was killed by treachery. A great many soldiers died, and even more importantly for the wounded Roman pride, the legionary eagles (military standards) were captured. The recovery of these eagles was later of great importance to Octavian (Augustus), who extensively celebrated the fact on his own coinage. Thus ended the considerable, but hollow career of Crassus, who, for all his wealth, patrons and friends, failed to achieve the true power he desired.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: The only coinage attributable to Crassus are Syrian tetradrachms bearing the immobilized types of the Philip Philadelphus and Crassusí monogram and Syrian bronzes dated to the 12th and 13th year of the Pompeian Era. Additionally, a reference to his Parthian campaign may be found on denarii struck by his son, Publius Licinius Crassus, the moneyer of c. 55 B.C. The reverse of the sonís denarii (Cr. 430/1) show Roma standing next to a horse, presumably a reference to the 1,000 Gallic horsemen the son brought to the campaign, or perhaps to a defeated Parthian cavalry. Crassusí son accompanied his father on the campaign, and died leading a cavalry engagement
POMPEY THE GREAT
MEMBER OF THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE, 60ñ53 B.C.
FATHER OF POMPEY
JUNIOR AND SEXTUS POMPEY HUSBAND OF JULIA (D. OF JULIUS CAESAR)
SON-IN-LAW OF METELLUS PIUS SCIPIO AND JULIUS CAESAR
Gnaeus Pompeius ìMagnus,î 106ñ48 B.C. Few Romans generals were as talented as Pompey, who earned his surname Magnus (ìthe Greatî) at the age of 23 while campaigning in North Africa. It was his struggle with Julius Caesar and Crassus that defined Roman rulership during the post-Sullan age, and set the stage for the civil wars that led to the foundation of the Empire.
Pompey the Great was the son of Pompeius Strabo, a man who, along with Sulla, ushered in the era of warlords that caused the half-century collapse of the Republic. Strabo had won important victories in the Social War, but afterwards refused to disband the large army he had built from his clientela. The senate was unable to force Strabo to give up his command, and so, when Strabo died in 87 B.C., the army passed into the hands of his son, Pompey the Great, who had fought at his fatherís side in the Social War.
Thus, the return of Sulla from his campaigns against Mithradates VI in the East spelled a great opportunity for Pompey the Great, who had a large army anxiously awaiting a cause. Sulla intended to oust the Marian Party, which had assumed control in Rome during his absence. Sulla was glad to have Pompey as an ally and together they waged war on Rome, finally earning a signal victory in 82 B.C. at the Battle of the Colline Gate. Italy now belonged to Sulla, and Pompey had shared prominently in the victory.
However, many Marians had fled to Sicily and North Africa, where they planned to continue their struggle. Since Sulla had plenty to take care of in Italy, he made Pompey a propraetor and empowered him to hunt down the renegade Marians, which he did with exceptional cruelty. Since Pompeyís wars were against Romans, the only popular part of his campaign occurred in North Africa, where he defeated Gnaeus Domitius, who had allied himself with the Numidian usurper Iarbal.
Pompey returned to Rome in 81 B.C., and extorted a triumph from Sulla who, as dictator, was busy re-establishing senatorial authority and revoking the populist laws of Marius. For good measure, the 25-year-old Pompey was given the honorific cognomen Magnus (ìthe Greatî), by which he is best known to history.
After holding the consulship in 80 B.C., Sulla grudgingly retired from his dictatorship in 79 B.C., and died in the year following. With the great liberator and dictator gone, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (the consul of 78 B.C. and an ally of Pompey) supported in Etruria a revolt, which his own propaganda had provoked. The senate entrusted Pompey and Lepidusí co-consul Catulus with the task of restoring order, which they did by 77 B.C.
Having learned well from his fatherís example, Pompey refused the senateís order to disband the army he had assembled to defeat Lepidus, and from a position of great strength he was able to extort a command in Spain. There, Metellus Pius had been waging war since 79 B.C. against the rebel Quintus Sertorius (who had established his own ìSpanish Empireî after he was proscribed by Sulla in 83 B.C.). Pompey arrived in 76 or 75 B.C., and he and Metellus finally defeated Sertorius in 72 B.C.
Meanwhile in Italy, a massive slave revolt (called the Servile War) had erupted in Capua in 73 B.C. under the leadership of a Thracian gladiator named Spartacus. The slave army was invincible as it traveled the length of Italy twice, ravaging the countryside and defeating one consular army after another. However, the tide turned in 72 B.C., when one of Pompeyís foremost opponents in Rome, Marcus Licinius Crassus, defeated Spartacusí army in Apulia. Sensing a great opportunity, Pompey led his armies from Spain to southern Italy in 71 B.C., just in time to mop up the shattered remnants of Spartacusí army.
In doing so, Pompey robbed Crassus of the glory he, alone, justly deserved. Crassus was only granted a minor triumph (ovatio), and Pompey took liberal credit for victories in Spain and Italy, even though in both cases he was not the principal commander. Crassus, who had always been envious of the upstart Pompey, was now justifiably angry at him, especially since he had to share the consulship of 70 with Pompey. However, the two men cooperated more than might have been expected, revoking many of Sullaís elitist laws. The legislative tide had once again turned in favor of the common man.
As remarkable as Pompeyís accomplishments had been thus far, the future held even greater glory. In 67 B.C., Pompey gained a command to combat the piracy which had become so rampant in the Mediterranean. He was remarkably successful in this endeavor, finishing off the pirates within three months. In 66 B.C. he was given a command against the Pontic king Mithradates VI, who had been waging his third war against Rome since 74 B.C.
Pompey immediately put Mithradates on the run, defeating him repeatedly. The Pontic king became so unpopular with his war-weary subjects that his son, Pharnaces II, staged a revolt and Mithradates committed suicide in 63 B.C. With the Third Mithradatic War over, Pompey set about securing Roman interests in the East and reorganizing the territories. Much to the dismay of the senate, he did this without its approval, and even without its consultation, for in the process he was establishing a power base for his future ventures.
Behaving with the audacity of a Hellenistic monarch, Pompey transformed Pontus, Cilicia and Syria into provinces, and made client kingdoms of Armenia, Cappadocia, Colchis, Galatia and Judaea. Pompey was especially generous to his veterans, whom he richly rewarded with land grants. Despite selfish actions, Pompey still returned to Rome with enough war booty that the Republic became solvent for the first time in about three decades. At long last, Rome and her vast territories were at peace, and economic prosperity had returned.
During Pompey s absence in the East, Crassus had made every effort to defame him, for he was now more envious than ever. For all his wealth and influence, Crassus lacked the military glory of Pompey, and in this era of warlords, battle glory was an essential ingredient for those who desired supreme authority. To make matters worse, the wealth Pompey had personally amassed in the East now outstripped even that of Crassus.
But the two men were destined to unite, for they had a common enemy in the senate. Thus, when the senate opposed Pompeyís arrangements in the East after-the-fact, these two old enemies came to terms. In 60 B.C. an anti-optimates coalition known as the First Triumvirate was born, which included Pompey, Crassus and a new man on the political front named Julius Caesar. Caesar had recently come to prominence under the patronage of Crassus, and had been elected to the consulship of 59 B.C. To seal the deal, Pompey married Julia, the daughter of Julius Caesar by his first wife Cornelia.
Though the First Triumvirate was a private pact without legal sanction from the senate, it proved to be remarkably effective. Caesar pushed Pompeyís legislation through the senate, and in return earned a remarkable five-year appointment in Gaul.
However, the senate and the optimates tried to lure Pompey to their cause in hopes he would abandon Crassus and Caesar. Thus, in 56 B.C. Caesar called for a conference at Luca, at which the Triumvirate was renewed. Crassus and Pompey were elected to the consulship of 55 B.C., and by the Lex Trebonia were given virtually unlimited authority. The Triumvirs established their territories: Pompey took Spain (which he ruled by proxy), Caesar retained Gaul, and Crassus chose Syria, from which he planned to invade Parthia.
If Crassus conducted the Parthian war successfully, he would gain the military glory he needed to round out his wealth and political clout. However, Crassus led his legions into an ambush near Carrhae in 53 B.C., and was defeated so shamefully that even in modern times it is considered one of the worst defeats suffered by the Romans. With the death of Crassus in 53 B.C., and the death in 54 B.C. of Pompeyís wife Julia (who was equally devoted to her father, Caesar), the two remaining Triumvirs were destined to collide.
Caesar was winning important victories in Gaul, which he popularized in Rome by sending back his memoirs of the campaigns. Caesarís conquest was complete by 51 B.C., for in 52 B.C. he had defeated a Gallic confederation under the leadership of Vercingetorix. In Italy in the meantime, Pompey had become increasingly allied with the senate. He had been awarded a sole-consulship so he could restore order in Rome, which had suffered so greatly from gang warfare that even the senate house was burned in 52 B.C. The senate was anxious to have Pompey as an ally, for they feared the growing authority of Caesar.
If Caesar returned to Rome without his army, he would be at the mercy of Pompey and the senate, and no doubt would be charged with serious crimes. Caesar was now in a dangerous position. The threat was especially real, because Pompey was the sole-consul (in 52 B.C.), and was on good terms with the senate. Caesar thus proposed that he and Pompey simultaneously disband their armies. Though the senate had approved the measure, it was vetoed by the consul Gaius Claudius Marcellus. On January 7, 49 B.C. the senate demanded that Caesar (alone) disband his armies and forfeit his Gallic command. Caesar did not comply, and Pompey was thus given the task of defending Rome from Caesar.
Caesar wasted little time in invading Italy. Rome offered no serious resistance, as Pompey and many senators fled to Greece to mobilize their forces. Caesar first secured Spain, and then pursued Pompey in Greece, where his attempted naval blockade at Dyrrhachium was easily thwarted. However, Pompey seems to have been pressured into engaging in a pitched battle at Pharsalus on August 9, 48 B.C., where he lost severely, and about 20,000 of his men surrendered.
Pompey fled from the battle, and is said to have even considered seeking asylum with the Parthian king Orodes II, with whom he recently had been in communication. Instead, Pompey proceeded to Egypt, where he was stabbed to death by courtiers of king Ptolemy XIII while disembarking on September 28.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: With the possible exception of provincial aes of Pompeiopolis (which bear no dates), no portrait coins of Pompey the Great were struck during his lifetime. Pompey struck only three issues of coinage. The first is an excessively rare aureus struck in 71 B.C. for his triumph of that year. The remaining two ó denarii ó were struck from 4948 B.C., and must be associated with his preparation for war with Caesar. As such, they most likely were struck at (what seems to be) two different mints in Greece.
Pompeyís portrait does, however, appear on many issues struck by his sons from 46 to 40 B.C., most of which are denarii. Though the majority of these were struck by Sextus Pompey, a series of now-rare denarii was also struck by Pompey Junior on which the style of the portrait is distinctly Hellenistic. Though Pompeyís features are far from idealized on these coins, the large, upward gazing eyes and the crest of hair above his forehead are imitative of the style employed for Alexander the Great. Indeed, this is the only regular appearance of this style of portrait on a Roman coin until the reign of Constantine the Great (A.D. 307ñ337), when the Greek-inspired ëheavenward gazeí was again adopted.
On bronzes, Pompeyís image occurs in the guise of the two-faced Janus on asses struck by Sextus Pompey. Portrait bronzes were also struck at Pompeiopolis, a self-named city that Pompey ìfoundedî in Cilicia on the ruins of the antique city of Soli (which by then had been virtually abandoned) and repopulated it with the pirates he had defeated in his campaign of 67 B.C. The cityís coins bearing his portrait (and dates based on an era beginning in 66 B.C.) were struck there well into Imperial times.
POMPEY JUNIOR
SON OF POMPEY THE GREAT AND MUCIA BROTHER OF SEXTUS POMPEY
Gnaeus Pompeius (Junior), 79ñ45 B.C. As the eldest son of Pompey the Great, Pompey Junior was destined to be involved in his fatherís career. Unlike Sextus Pompey, his younger and more resourceful brother, Pompey Junior was considered by his contemporaries to be cruel and unintelligent.
His first notable action was a naval victory in which he destroyed transports Julius Caesar had sent to the army he had assembled in Greece to oust Pompeyís forces from Dyrrhachium (which they did early in 48 B.C.). Early in the African War, he occupied the Balearic Islands and after the Pompeians were defeated by Caesar at Thapsus in April, 46 B.C., he went to Spain, where he linked up with his brother and the turncoat Titus Labienus.
The Pompeians chose Spain not only for its strategic importance, but also because it was in the midst of a revolt against Quintus Cassius, the man whom Caesar had left in charge since 49 B.C. In Spain, the brothers and Titus Labienus raised 13 legions and assumed control of the South of Spain. But their temporary rise to power ended when Caesar came to Spain to oust them. After some skirmishes, the Caesarean and Pompeian armies clashed at the Battle of Munda on March 17, 45 B.C. Though Sextus Pompey and many of his followers were able to flee, Titus Labienus died in battle and Pompey Junior was captured and executed.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Much like his father, Pompey Junior died before the era of ëlifetime portraitureí on coinage had debuted at Rome, and so his bust only occurs on coinage struck posthumously. In Pompey Juniorís case, however, there are only two such instances ó a very rare denarius struck within months of his death, and a rare aureus struck by his brother in Sicily in 42 B.C., upon which his bust confronts that of his father on the reverse. Pompey Junior issued denarii with the portrait of his father (which are discussed above, under Pompey the Great).
SEXTUS POMPEY
SON OF POMPEY THE GREAT AND MUCIA BROTHER OF POMPEY JUNIOR
Sextus Pompeius Magnus, 67ñ35 B.C. The legacy of Pompey the Great did not die when he was murdered in Egypt in 48 B.C., but was handed down to his two sons throughout the lifetime of Julius Caesar and nearly a decade beyond. The youngest of these sons, Sextus Pompey, was a remarkably resourceful naval commander whose life bears favorable comparison to that of the fugitive Greek king Demetrius Poliorcetes.
After the Battle of Pharsalus in the Summer of 48 B.C., Sextus Pompey accompanied his father to Lesbos, then to Egypt, and after the latter was murdered there, Sextus Pompey fled West to North Africa. Caesar pursued him there, and defeated him at the Battle of Thapsus in April 46 B.C. But Sextus Pompey escaped yet again, and found refuge with his older brother, Pompey Junior, in Spain.
While there, Sextus Pompey commanded the garrison of Corduba against Caesar at the Battle of Munda in March of 45 B.C. There, yet again, the Pompeians lost to the Caesareans. Though the defeat was decisive (and his elder brother Pompey Junior was captured and executed), Sextus Pompey escaped once more. He soon gathered an army, with which he harassed Carrinas and Pollio, the governors of Further Spain.
Following the murder of Julius Caesar in mid-March, 44 B.C., the political environment erupted. As soon as Antony left for his command in Cisalpine Gaul (late in 44 B.C.), Cicero went on the offensive. By February of 43 B.C., based on lobbying by Cicero and the future Triumvir Lepidus, Antony had been declared a public enemy, and the senate had given Sextus Pompey command of the Roman fleet (Praefectus classis et orae maritimae). However, opinion ó once again ó was quickly reversed; within months the foundation of the 2nd Triumvirate saw Antony restored and Sextus Pompey was declared an enemy in the proscriptions.
Thus, Sextus Pompeyís suspicion of the senateís resolve served him well, for he had temporarily based himself at Massalia. Sextus Pompey responded to his being named a public enemy by using his new fleet to rescue other fugitives of the Caesarean proscriptions, and to occupy Sicily. From that island base he began to blockade the western coast of Italy. This act brought reprisals from the Triumvirs, who in 42 B.C. sent Octavianís friend, the legatus Salvidienus, to oppose Sextus Pompey.
After some initial success near Rhegium, Salvidienus was severely defeated off the coast of Messana. Sextus Pompey assumed the fanciful title ìson of Neptuneî after this important victory, and began to receive refugees from the Republican defeat that had occurred at Philippi in October 42 B.C. Among those who joined his ranks were Murcus, a commander who initially was an asset but who later fell out of favor.
Since Sextus Pompey not only was popular in Rome, but seemingly was impossible to defeat, the Caesarean strategy shifted from warfare to diplomacy. In 40 B.C. Octavian married Scribonia, a relative of Sextus Pompey, and in the following year, with the pact of Misenum, Octavian and Antony promised him an augurship and a consulship, and gave him control over Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and Achaea in exchange for his promise to supply grain to Italy.
This truce lasted until 38 B.C., when Octavian took command of the Roman fleet and waged war against Sextus Pompey, whom he branded a pirate chief. Though Octavian met only defeat in the first year, he bartered with Antony at the Treaty of Tarentum to get 120 new vessels, and renewed his efforts in 36 B.C.
The triumvir Lepidus, based in North Africa, joined the effort by landing 14 legions in Sicily. However, Lepidus proved to be of no help, for in August he used his legionary might to try to extort control of Sicily from Octavian, who resisted the offer and instead challenged him. Lepidusí legions defected, and he was expelled from the Triumvirate. Octavian was now able to focus on the naval campaign against Sextus Pompey, whom he defeated at the Battle of Naulochus in September 3, 36 B.C.
As was his custom, Sextus Pompey escaped yet again, but the legendary commanderís luck ran out when he sailed to the East, hoping to establish a base in Asia Minor. By this point in time, Marc Antony was in control of the East, and Sextus Pompey was defeated in 35 B.C. by forces of Antony led by the general Ahenobarbus (who was Antonyís governor of Bithynia at the time) and Plancus, after which he was executed by Marcus Titius.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Since the main source of the Pompeian glory was its fleet, most issues show galleys, the sea god Neptune, or other objects related to naval exploits. The title awarded Sextus Pompey by the momentarily liberated senate early in 43 B.C., Praefectus classis et orae maritimae, (by which he was given command of the Roman fleet in the West), is proudly trumpeted in his coin inscriptions.
JULIUS CAESAR
MEMBER OF THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE, 60ñ53 B.C.
DICTATOR FOR LIFE, 44 B.C.
GRANDUNCLE AND ADOPTIVE FATHER OF AUGUSTUS (OCTAVIAN)
HUSBAND OF CORNELIA, POMPEIA AND CALPURNIA COMPANION OF SERVILIA (m. OF BRUTUS) AND QUEEN CLEOPATRA VII
FATHER OF JULIA (W. OF POMPEY THE GREAT) AND PTOLEMY XV (CALLED ëCAESARIONí)
SON-IN-LAW OF CINNA
FATHER-IN-LAW OF POMPEY THE GREAT
Gaius Julius Caesar, 100ñ44 B.C. Perhaps the most famous of all Romans, Julius Caesar hailed from a respectable, but not stellar, family of the gens Julia. He was nephew to the wife of the dictator Marius, and received a back-handed compliment from Mariusí enemy, Sulla (dictator, 82ñ79 B.C.) when he commented that in Caesar he saw many Mariuses.
Julius Caesar came to prominence relatively late in life. Indeed, while serving as a quaestor in Spain in 69 B.C., Caesar gazed upon a monument to Alexander the Great, and was overcome with shame. While at age 31 Caesar had accomplished so little, Alexander had already conquered the world. In this same year, at the far end of the Mediterranean, his future lover Cleopatra VII was born.
His early career was a model of strict adherence to the cursus honorum, and as such was unremarkable. However, by 65 B.C., during his aedileship, he became an ally of the immensely wealthy Marcus Licinius Crassus. The reason for Caesarís association with Crassus was that he was heavily in debt, and Crassus had the means to solve his problem. Crassus, like Sulla before, recognized the many skills of Caesar and realized it would benefit him greatly to have Caesar as an ally.
Throughout his life, Caesar was married three times. His first wife, Cornelia (who died in 68 B.C.), was the daughter of Cinna, the famous henchman of Marius. Next, in 67 B.C., he married Pompeia, the granddaughter of Sulla, whom he divorced in 61 B.C. (for ìCaesarís wife must be above suspicionî), and in 59 B.C. he married Calpurnia, the daughter of Piso Caesoninius (the consul of 58 B.C.), and remained married to her until his death, ignoring her warnings against attending the senate meeting at which he was murdered. Caesar was notorious for his many affairs, of which the two most serious were Servilia, the mother of his assassin Brutus, and queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt.
In 63 B.C. Caesar won his first major political victory by engineering his election as pondfex maximus, the leadership position of Romeís priesthood. Soon thereafter, in 62 B.C., Caesar was implicated in the First Cataline Conspiracy, a movement backed by Crassus in which the rural poor were to rise up and murder the consuls (one of whom was Cicero). In truth there was little to the charges, but Cicero amplified the matter for his own political gain.
Later in that same year, another of Caesarís future allies, Pompey the Great, returned to Rome. Pompey and Crassus were sworn enemies. However, Pompey now had the upper hand, for he had rid the Mediterranean of pirates, defeated the Pontic king Mithradates VI, and reorganized the Roman east. In the process Pompey not only added to his already considerable military glory, but he had seized so much booty that he was now even wealthier than Crassus.
Caesarís involvement in politics, and especially in opposing the senate, continued to grow. After his governorship in Hispania Ulterior (ëFarther Spainí) ended in 60 B.C., Caesar waited outside Rome anticipating a triumph and asked of the senate that he be permitted to run for the consulate. When the senate refused, Caesar surrendered his anticipated triumph and allied himself with Crassus and Pompey. This informal pact, known as the First Triumvirate, was sealed by the marriage of Julius Caesarís daughter, Julia, to Pompey.
Not surprisingly, Caesar was now allowed to stand for election, and indeed won the consulship for 59 B.C. Pompey and Caesar worked together against the senate, with Caesar forcing through Pompeyís legislation, and in return having his own minor provincial appointment transformed into the Lex Vatinia, by which Caesar was not only given a five-year proconsular command in Cisalpine Gaul, Illyricum and Gallia Narbonensis, but given command of four legions for that same period. So long an army command was exceptional in the Republic.
After finishing his consulship, Caesar remained outside Rome for the first 3 months of 58 B.C., until Cicero had been exiled and Cato had been sent to Cyprus. Caesar then departed to Gaul to begin what would be turned into a 9-year effort to pacify Gaul and to enlarge his own reputation. By conquering Gaul, Caesar hoped to conquer Rome itself. During his first term in Gaul, Caesar traveled widely, launching a minor invasion of Britain and twice crossing the Rhine. But the political front in Rome was equally treacherous, for the senate and the optimates were warming up to Pompey, and trying to lure him into abandoning Crassus and Caesar. So in 56 B.C., Caesar organized a conference at Luca, by which the Triumvirate was renewed. Crassus and Pompey jointly held the consulship in 55 B.C., and by the Lex Trebonia had been given virtually unlimited powers.
At the conference, the three men carved up the Roman territories through their five-year proconsular commands. Pompey received Spain, Caesar kept Gaul, and Crassus chose Syria, for he had a not-so-secret desire to invade Parthia, and in the process gain the military distinction he needed to complement his wealth. In 53 B.C., Crassus invaded Parthia, but his over-zealous nature caused him to fail on a monumental scale, and Crassus died a shameful death during the retreat near Carrhae.
It was during Caesarís second command in Gaul, beginning in 56 B.C., that he earned his most impressive victories. Each step of the way, Caesar made the most of his daring exploits by writing commentaries on them: the seven ìbooksî of De Bello Gallico, (published in 52/1 B.C., either as one work or chapter-by-chapter) and the three of De Bello Civili (published posthumously). The writing was fresh and concise, remarkably free of rhetoric, and the subject matter was of great interest to the public. Between the distribution of his commentaries and the actions of his political henchmen, Caesar was as well represented as if he himself was in Rome.
Though Caesarís exploits could be discussed at great length, let it suffice to say that he did not begin his career as a general competently. Indeed, he barely escaped the consequences of serious tactical errors in his first few engagements. But Caesar was a fast learner, and soon he gained the upper hand on the Gauls. His conquest bears strong similarities to those of Alexander the Great in the East, for he was always far outnumbered while deep in enemy territory with weak or nonexistent supply lines. In most cases, Caesar made up his strategies on the spot.
Caesarís intuition and charisma as a commander of men gained him the undying loyalty of his soldiers. Though unlike Alexander he would not always lead from the front, he would rush to the front ó at great personal risk ó whenever a portion of his army was loosing ground. Caesarís personal appearance (apparently bare-headed and wearing an easily distinguished cloak) rallied his beaten-down and outnumbered soldiers time and time again to great victories.
His most ambitious campaign was the siege of Alesia, where the Gauls had put their differences aside to unite against Caesar. They hoped that through incredibly superior numbers they could destroy the Roman legions to the man. Leading the loose confederation of Gauls was Vercingetorix, a chieftain who had closely observed the ways of Roman warfare, making him especially dangerous.
Caesar had his own legions as well as some German cavalry units, but he could get no further supplies, for he was cut off. All told, his forces probably numbered less than 30,000. In Caesarís first engagement with Vercingetorix, he came into such great personal danger that the Gauls managed to strip him of his sword. But the Romans won the engagement. The Gauls had some 80,000 foot soldiers and a cavalry that was superior in number to the Romans and Germans combined. Realizing that large numbers of reinforcements were on their way, Vercingetorix withdrew to the hill-fort of Alesia, which Caesar began to besiege by establishing a perimeter siege wall nearly nine miles long on hilly terrain.
Caesar had only a fraction of the soldiers of the Gauls, and was constantly raided while building the fortifications. Furthermore, he did not have sufficient men to guard the lengthy wall and its 23 ìforts.î Caesar diverted a nearby river to fill the defensive trenches with water, and filled other trenches with sharpened sticks. The amount of earth moved and timber felled was astounding, but this was the Roman way: to win a war through strategy, hard manual labor and patience. A month passed, and Vercingetorix was running out of food and water.
But now the real trouble arrived. Caesar tells us that some 250,000 armed Gauls arrived to relieve the siege of Alesia ó a force that alone was 10 times that which Caesar commanded. This meant that Caesar, in essence, was now the one being besieged, as if caught between a hammer and an anvil. Caesar quickly ordered the construction of a similar wall to defend their rear. Of similar construction, this wall was even longer, for it was the exterior ring of the existing fortifications.
Not only did the Romans have about 350,000 men to fight, but they were also prevented from gathering food, water, timber or other essentials. The fighting was incredibly fierce for many days: the Gauls were fighting in a last-ditch effort for their sovereignty, and the Romans were fighting for their very lives, and for Caesar. Each new attack presented a different problem, one to which Caesar had to respond to immediately. This meant re-forming cohorts, diverting his resources and reinforcing in person where his men needed him most. If there was any breach, his entire army would be destroyed. Finally, he drove off the relief army and starved Vercingetorix and his renegade army into capitulation.
Caesarís undying courage under the worst imaginable circumstances is almost beyond belief. Whereas most commanders would have withdrawn or surrendered, Caesar fought on, for he needed to achieve his goals. That his soldiers did not desert him is much to Caesarís credit. After Alesia, Caesarís men continued to fight in Gaul, finishing off the few remaining tasks, some of which were nearly as perilous.
Meanwhile in Rome, the rivalry between Pompey and Caesar was magnified. In 54 B.C., Julia, the wife of Pompey and the daughter of Caesar, died, and in 53 B.C., Crassus was killed. Now, there was little to bind the two, and the geographical separation did not help matters. The senate was becoming alarmed about the power Caesar was amassing (and especially his large and loyal army), and so once again it allied itself closely with Pompey. This time, there was no ìConference of Lucaî at which they could settle their differences.
In 51 and 50 B.C., the conflict grew, for Caesarís five-year appointment in Gaul was coming to an end and his recent victory at Alesia had raised his popularity among the people of Rome to new heights. His legions were fiercely loyal to their commander. Caesar proposed that he and Pompey disband their armies simultaneously. The senate first approved this concept, which was then vetoed by the anti-Caesarian consuls. Instead, on January 1, 49 B.C., the senate demanded that Caesar alone disband his army before returning to Italy.
Realizing that he would be charged with crimes while at the mercy of Pompey and his army, Caesar refused the senateís demand. Meanwhile, the senate gave Pompey authority to defend the Republic from Caesar, and on January 10, Caesar crossed the Rubicon River with his legions. Though he was unable to prevent the flight of Pompey to Greece, he took Italy with the greatest of ease. Next, Caesar campaigned in Spain, where he defeated Pompeyís lieutenants, Afranius and Petreius. In the meantime, his most trusted comrade-in-arms, Titus Labienus (the father of the Labienus who in 40 B.C. led the Parthian invasion of Syria), defected to Pompey.
Caesarís next move was against Pompey himself. Caesar crossed over to Greece to combat the forces Pompey had assembled in Epirus. On August 9, 48 B.C., Caesar defeated Pompey at the battle at Pharsalus, capturing some 20,000 of Pompeyís men and sending Pompey in flight to Egypt. But there was no safety for Pompey there, for he was murdered by courtiers of King Ptolemy XIII while disembarking at Alexandria on September 28.
Pompeyís head was then cut off and pickled, and we are told that when Caesar arrived four days later, the sight of Pompeyís head caused him to shed tears. Despite their opposition, Caesar recognized Pompey as a great Roman, and felt his end was undignified. In any event, Caesar had come to Egypt not only to pursue Pompey, but also to collect on some very large loans made to the Lagid kings by Rabirius Postumus, loans which Caesar had underwritten. However, what Caesar imagined would be a short visit turned into an extended stay, and a very dangerous one at that, for it resulted in the so-called Alexandrian War of 47 B.C.
Caesar had arrived in the midst of an inter-palace rivalry between the siblings Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra VII, who had jointly inherited the throne from their father in 51 B.C. Caesar immediately took command in Alexandria, and chose to support Cleopatraís bid for the throne. Her charm and courage had seduced Caesar, a seduction which was consummated in an amorous affair between the 5 2-year-old warlord and the 21-year-old queen.
The Alexandrian War did not involve a large number of soldiers, but it was very dangerous. On more than one occasion Caesar was nearly killed. However, in Caesarís most desperate hour, when all seemed certainly lost, he and his legionnaires were rescued by a small army led by Mithradates of Pergamum. On March 26, Ptolemy XIII fled, and was drowned in the Nile.
Cleopatra was now queen again, and in the Egyptian tradition, she married her 11-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIV and ordained him co-ruler. Caesar stayed on for a luxurious cruise on the Nile with his new lover, but soon left to solve other problems in Asia Minor.
In perhaps his most efficient war, Caesar defeated the rebel Pontic king Pharnaces II at Zela in a five-day campaign during the Spring of 47 B.C. It was at this time he uttered the famous phrase Veni vidi vici (ìI came, I saw, I conqueredî). For Caesar this was sweet revenge, as Pharnaces II had defeated his governor Calvinus at Nicopolis in the previous year. Thereafter, Caesar settled many other affairs in the East (with Cleopatra, in the meantime, giving birth to his son, Caesarion), and headed West.
Caesar arrived in Italy in July of 47 B.C. and stamped out a mutiny in Campania, after which he made his way to Rome in October and resigned his dictatorship. In December he departed for North Africa to battle more Pompeians in the so-called ìAfrican War.î His campaigns were a success, and resulted in the suicide of Brutusí uncle Cato Uticensis at Utica, and a crushing victory in April of 46 B.C. at Thapsus, where the commander Metellus Pius Scipio committed suicide. Caesar returned to Rome on July 25th, having requested that Cleopatra join him there.
There was no end to the praise for Caesar. In addition to hailing Caesar dictator for the next decade, the senate awarded him four successive triumphs, for his victories in Gaul, Egypt, Pontus and North Africa. Cleopatraís entourage arrived later in the year, and she stayed with Caesar at his villa on the Tiber. Though Caesar was much beloved, the presence of Cleopatra, loose talk of Caesarís paternity of Caesarion, and the supposed idea of making Alexandria a ìsecond capitalî to Rome, were not well received by the conservative Romans.
However, Caesar still had more to accomplish. In November he set out for Spain, where he hoped to stamp out the remaining Pompeians, who were under the leadership of Pompeyís two sons. On March 17, 45 B.C., Caesar won an extremely difficult, but monumental victory at Munda, resulting in the capture and execution of Pompeyís eldest son, Pompey Junior. The victory was not complete, though, for the youngest son, Sextus Pompey, managed to escape. Though he would never again trouble Caesar, Sextus Pompey was a thorn in the side of Rome for the next decade.
Caesar returned to Rome yet again, to celebrate his Spanish triumph in October of 45 B.C. Now at the height of his power, he scarcely could have imagined that he had less than six months to live, though by this time the plot against his life may already have been formed. Meanwhile, the senate heaped more honors on the great conqueror. On February 14, 44 B.C., he was given the title dictator perpetuus (dictator for life). In the previous month he had placed his image on coinage. Both of these acts were unprecedented in the history of Rome, and were identical to the honors given to Greek kings of previous centuries.
Despite all that he had accomplished, Caesar still had visions of Alexander the Great in his mind ó he wanted to conquer the rest of Asia as his hero had done nearly three centuries before. However, the Sibylline Books prophesied that only a king could conquer Parthia, and Caesar was a mere dictator.
Though no doubt the gestures were staged, Caesarís chief lieutenant, Marc Antony (who had run affairs in Rome during his absences in the last five years), offered him the golden laurel of a king on three occasions, which Caesar turned down each time. But it was known that he would ask the senate to give him the title of king (rex) for use when he was outside of Italy, though he would remain dictator in his own country. This, no doubt, would ensure success against Parthia.
About one month after Caesar had been hailed ìdictator for life,î he was murdered in an annex of the the Theater of Pompey on the Campus Martius (not the Senate House in the Forum, as is often reported) on the Ides (15th) of March, bringing his grandiose plans to a halt. The plot was well-concealed, and Caesar thus paid no heed to the warnings of his third-in-command, Lepidus, only the day before, to beware of a conspiracy. In all, about 60 vehemently Republican senators participated, and Caesarís body, riddled with stab wounds, fell lifeless at the base of a statue of Pompey the Great. Leading the conspirators were Brutus and Cassius, two men in whom Caesar had invested much hope. Indeed, Caesar had recently appointed them to the two highest governmental posts in Rome.
Though the act of regicide was considered a noble one among Romans, it is important to remember that not only was a dictatorship at stake, but also the supremacy of the wealthy and high-born. As dictator, Caesar would have continued to introduce ìlower bornî men and provincials into the senate (which he had enlarged to 900 members) and into positions of power in his administration. To the aristocrats, this meant a reversal of the social order that had so greatly benefited them since Romeís foundation. Caesarís murder was equally an act of selfish practicality, as it was an act in defense of the Republic.
A period of great chaos followed, in which Cleopatra fled Rome with great haste, and Marc Antony maintained order, only later to have it challenged by Caesarís heir, young Octavian. The conspirators Brutus and Cassius left Rome almost immediately, and departed Italy for good in August.
The combination of Antonyís stirring funeral eulogy, and the staging of the Parilia games in honor of Caesarís victory at Munda moved public opinion strongly in favor of Caesar. His bequest of 300 sestertii per citizen further endeared his memory to the Romans. When a comet appeared in the skies over Rome in July of 44 B.C., many were convinced that it embodied the soul of Caesar, for it occured during the public funerary games being held in Caesarís memory. Ever willing to exploit a political advantage, his heir Octavian placed comets upon the heads of Caesarís statues, and in that same year secured both the deification of Caesar and senatorial recognition of his status as Caesarís heir.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: In January 44 B.C., Caesar became the first living Roman to place his image on a coin struck at Rome, an action that shocked his contemporaries and which no doubt contributed to the urgency of his murder. With the exception of a very brief coinage struck by Flamininus in Greece 150 years before, this had never before occured on Roman coinage. Caesarís ìlifetimeî portrait occurs only on denarii, but after his death his portrait additionally occurs on gold and bronzes. Caesarís posthumous portrait coins were struck by his protégé, Marc Antony, by various moneyers who were sympathetic to the Caesarean cause, and by his adoptive son, Octavian. The fallen dictator is shown wearing a laurel wreath, and often also wearing a veil. Although a number of bronzes were struck with Caesarís portrait, only two gold pieces occur ó a dual-portrait aureus of 43 B.C. struck by Octavian to advertise himself as Caesarís heir, and a restitution aureus struck by the emperor Trajan (A.D. 98ñ117), which features an unusual bare-headed portrait. These two aurei have portraits of very different styles, which has led some scholars to conclude that they are based on different sculptural prototypes.
PTOLEMY XV (CALLED ëCAESARIONí)
SON OF JULIUS CAESAR AND QUEEN CLEOPATRA VII
Ptolemy XV Caesar (ëCaesarianí) Theos Philopator Philometor, 47ñ30 B.C. Born in Alexandria on June 23, 47 B.C., to Cleopatra VII, the last Greek queen of Egypt, Ptolemy XV (nicknamed ìCaesarionî) was reputedly the son of Julius Caesar. Whether or not this was factual, Caesarion probably would have succeeded his mother as the Roman-backed ruler of Egypt had Julius Caesar remained in power at Rome.
Cleopatraís association with Julius Caesar began shortly after the warlord defeated Pompey the Great at the Battle of Pharsalus on August 9, 48 B.C. Having lost this signal battle, Pompey fled to Egypt with Caesar in fast pursuit. Pompey was murdered at Pelusium on September 28 just as he was disembarking; Caesar arrived on October 2, and soon realized that his ìvisitî was going to become an extended stay, for Egypt had recently undergone its own court revolution, and Caesar had gotten more than he had bargained for.
Cleopatra had succeeded her father, Ptolemy XII Auletes, when he died in 51 B.C., for she was his oldest child. She shared her reign with her oldest brother, Ptolemy XIII, whom she married, for that was the custom in Egypt. However, Cleopatra was expelled by the courtiers of her brother not long after this, and she sought refuge in Syria.
Thus, after Pompeyís defeat and murder, Cleopatra turned to the newly arrived Julius Caesar, a man whom she recognized as the undisputed ruler of the Roman world. She seduced him into her private life and into her struggle to regain the throne. It was during this tumultuous period, in the fall of 48 B.C., that Cleopatra and Caesar began an affair that may have resulted in the child Caesarion. The time-frame is tight, and in a best case scenario, Cleopatra would have been pregnant just short of nine months.
Caesar devoted himself to his Egyptian task (often called the Alexandrian War), though he achieved it only with great difficulty. Indeed, a part of the famous library went up in flames, and Caesar himself almost perished on more than one occasion. Late in March, 47 B.C., the tide turned against Ptolemy XIII, as Caesar was rescued by the perfectly timed arrival of an army led by Mithradates of Pergamum. Once Caesarís victory was complete, he arranged for his mistress Cleopatra to marry her 11-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIV, ordaining him as co-regent.
It was Caesarís intention that Caesar ion would be heir to the Greek dynasty in Egypt, an important kingdom which Julius Caesar (unlike others in Rome) hoped to shore up rather than to destroy. Caesar had departed for Syria just weeks before Caesarion was born, and Cleopatra made the long journey to Rome in time for Caesarís great celebrations in September and October of 46 B.C. She resided with Caesar until his murder in March 44 B.C., after which she and her entourage made a hasty return to Egypt.
Upon returning to Alexandria, Cleopatra had her brother-husband Ptolemy XIV murdered and replaced him with her 4-year-old son Caesarion, whom she married and made co-regent of her kingdom. In the summer of 43 B.C., Cleopatra gained Roman recognition of Caesarion from Publius Cornelius Dolabella, the consul suffectus who had replaced Julius Caesar, and who subsequently gained the governorship of Syria. In exchange for this recognition, Cleopatra gave Dolabella the four Roman legions stationed in Egypt (which she was only too pleased to have an excuse to expel). However, Dolabella soon lost the legions to Cassius.
In succeeding years Cleopatra became ally and lover to Marc Antony, by whom she bore three more children, only one of whom (Cleopatra Selene, the first wife of king Juba II of Mauretania) appears on coins. Though Cleopatraís association with Antony was promising, it made her an enemy of young Octavian, Antonyís rival in the West. When Antony lost to Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C., Antony fled to Egypt. In the following year, both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, leaving Caesarion, then age 17, to the designs of Octavian, who promptly murdered him on August 29 of 30 B.C. With the boyís passing, the Lagid dynasty of Ptolemaic Egypt was rendered extinct.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Coins depicting Caesarion as an infant in his motherís arms were struck on the island of Cyprus, which was an important naval station during the Hellenistic and early Imperial periods. It was captured in 48 B.C. by Julius Caesar and shortly thereafter conferred upon Egypt. Control of the island passed between Rome and Egypt several times in the succeeding years, until Octavian claimed it for Rome after the deaths of Marc Antony and Cleopatra in 30 B.C. A coin of Damascus formerly thought to depict Caesarion is now reattributed to the reign of the emperor Nero (A.D. 54ñ68), exactly one century later, based on a proper reading of its date.
METELLUS PIUS SCIPIO
IMPERATOR, 49(?) B.C.
ADOPTIVE SON OF METELLUS PIUS
FATHER-IN-LAW OF POMPEY THE GREAT
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, d. 46 b.c. The career of Metellus Pius Scipio arose from the patronage of Pompey the Great, who two decades before had campaigned in Spain with Scipioís adoptive father, Metellus Pius (the consul of 80 B.C.). Though Scipio was descended of a noble family, he apparently inherited none of his ancestorsí greatness, for he was detested by his contemporaries.
Scipioís political career was mere puppetry, and his military career was as brief as it was degrading. Pompey the Great had married Scipioís daughter shortly before he had become sole-consul in the abortive elections of 52 B.C. However, in the final months of 52 B.C., Pompey elected as his co-consul his new father-in-law, whom he also had just rescued from a bribery charge. But one hand washed the other, and Scipio spearheaded the ìwarî against Julius Caesar by introducing to the senate the legislation that demanded that Caesar disband his legions and relinquish his command in Gaul (January 7, 49 B.C.).
Caesar ignored the senateís demand, crossed the Rubicon on January 10, 49 B.C., and invaded Italy. Pompey and his allies were taken by storm, and had to flee to Greece. Shortly before this occurred, the senate had granted Scipio the governorship of Syria, for which he had immediately departed. When Scipio learned of Pompeyís flight, he gathered two legions, apparently winning victories in the Amanus mountains, for which he was hailed Imperator. He then delivered the legions to his son-in-law in Thessaly (where he was confronted by Calvinus), apparently having refused a bribe from Caesar to defect.
At the Battle of Pharsalus (August 9, 48 B.C.), Scipio commanded Pompeyís center. As the battle went in Caesarís favor, both Pompey and Scipio fled. Pompey went to Egypt, where he was murdered on September 28, as he was disembarking. Scipio headed to North Africa, where he took up supreme command of the Pompeian remnants that had gathered there, including Cato Ucitensis, Sextus Pompey and king Juba of Numidia.
Caesarís subsequent travels to Egypt, Pontus and Italy allowed the Pompeians to re-group for yet another war. In 46 B.C. Caesar arrived in Africa, and the Pompeians were routed at Utica and at Thapsus (in April, 46 B.C.). The latter defeat was decisive, and was at the expense of Scipio, who committed suicide after it became clear all had been lost.
BRUTUS
IMPERATOR, 43ñ42 B.C.
CO-CONSPIRATOR OF CASSIUS
SON OF MARCUS JUNIUS BRUTUS AND SERVILIA
HUSBAND OF PORCIA AND CLAUDIA
NEPHEW OF CATO UTICENSIS
BROTHER-IN-LAW OF LEPIDUS AND CASSIUS
Marcus Junius Brutus (adopted name Quintus Caepio Brutus), 85 (or 79/8)ñ42 b.c. This amazing character has been judged by history in two different lights: as a champion of liberty who failed because of his virtues, or as a turncoat villain whom Dante placed in the lowest circle of Hell. He is best remembered by historians for his leading role in the assassination of Julius Caesar, and by numismatists for his remarkable ìIdes of Marchî coinage that subsequently advertised that fact.
Brutus claimed descent from Lucius Junius Brutus, who in 509 B.C. is credited with expelling Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the kings to rule in Rome. This same Brutus subsequently served as the first consul of Romeís fledgling Republic, and put his own children to death for their involvement in a plot to restore the Tarquian kings. On his motherís side, Brutus claimed descent from Servilius Ahala, who in the 5 th Century B.C. killed Spurius Maelius, who was threatening to overthrow the Republic and install himself as king.
Brutus was proud of his Republican ancestry, and thus depicted these two ancestors, Brutus (the ancient) and Ahala, on the coinage he struck as moneyer in 54 B.C. Indeed, the defense of the Republic, and the murder of kings, was the hallmark of Brutusí family.
A well-educated man belonging to the ruling elite of the Republic, Brutus counted among his close friends Atticus, Cassius, Cato Uticensis, Lepidus and Cicero, who declared Brutus to be ìfirst among the younger generation,î adding that he hoped he would soon be the ìfirst man in the state.î However, Brutus, like Seneca, was not entirely virtuous, despite his adherence to Stoicism. Indeed, early in his career he is known to have extorted 48 percent interest on loans to Greek cities in the East, even though 12 percent was the legal maximum.
Also among Brutusí friends was Julius Caesar, who viewed the young man as his protégé. Though Caesar engaged in many adulterous affairs with women, his most serious was with Brutusí mother, Servilia, who was deeply in love with Caesar. Indeed, we are told that Caesar may have believed that Brutus was his natural son, born of his affair with Servilia.
Despite all these connections, Caesar and Brutus had a complex relationship, and Caesar considered Brutus to be positively unsympathetic. Their first confrontation occurred when Brutus allied himself with Pompey the Great, and thus took up arms against Caesar. Considering that Pompey had killed Brutusí father in 77 B.C., this seemed an odd choice, but in terms of Republican causes, it was the noble choice. Even so, Caesar gave orders that Brutus was not to be harmed, and after the Battle of Pharsalus they reconciled, and Brutus was appointed as a legate in Cilicia.
Subsequently, in 46 B.C., Caesar appointed Brutus as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul ó an extremely important post, and one well beyond Brutusí qualifications. While serving in that capacity, Brutus remained loyal to Caesar, even though in the meantime the latter had defeated and killed his uncle, Cato Uticensis, in North Africa. Next, in 44 B.C., Caesar appointed Brutus and Cassius to the two top praetorships in Rome. Brutus, who held the top praetorship, the praetor urbanus, was also designated to share the consulship of 41 B.C. with Cassius, his brother-in-law and future coconspirator.
Caesar was now the top man in Rome, and perhaps as early as September of 45 B.C., a conspiracy against his life had begun to form. By February 14 of 44 B.C., Caesar had achieved the unprecedented title ìdictator for life.î On February 15, 44 B.C. (and on two occasions thereafter), Caesar rejected Marc Antonyís offer of the royal diadem of a king, only to subsequently try to persuade the senate to give him a royal title for his actions outside of Italy. Furthermore, he placed his image upon the coinage ó something that had never before occurred at Rome. Despite the deep debt of gratitude that Brutus owed Caesar, such open acts of tyranny were intolerable, and so a plot which involved some 60 men finally materialized.
The secret was so well-kept that even Cicero was not privy. It is uncertain at which point Brutus became involved. Appian and Plutarch tell us that Cassius pressured Brutus into participating, whereas Dio Cassius suggests Brutus took the lead himself. In any event, Brutusí good character and ancestral legacy were an essential ingredient if the assassination was to be perceived as an act of clear conscience.
The assassination occurred at the senate meeting on the Ides of March (in March, the Ides falls on the 15th), 44 B.C. Caesar arrived late to the meeting, and the conspirators were terrified that Caesar had been warned; but he arrived none-the-less, and soon lay dead at the feet of a statue of his former nemesis, Pompey the Great.
What became clear after the fact is that this was no coup or junta, but rather an isolated act, to which there was no follow-up plan. Neither Lepidus nor Antony (who was co-consul with Caesar) were murdered, nor did the conspirators have gifts for the public. They did not have the support of the army, and had not even considered how they would calm Caesarís veterans. Cicero, perhaps in resentment for having been excluded from the plot, summarized it in six simple words in a letter to Atticus: ìNo plan. No thought. No method.î
The murder of Caesar is often viewed as a noble act in the defense of a venerable institution. But what institution? The conspirators would have said the senate, and the right of the people to be ruled by a quasi-democratic form of government. Others, more accurately, would suggest it was in defense of what the senate represented to the wealthy and privileged ó a guarantee that they would rule Rome. Caesar not only planned to keep supreme power himself, but he would have ìpollutedî the senate and top administrative and military posts with men of humble origins, allowing the common man to take a share in power. Thus, it was the preservation of status for the wealthy and aristocratic ó not the liberation from tyranny ó that was the heartfelt motive of the conspirators.
Brutus and Cassius occupied the Capitol after the murder, while Antony convinced the senate on March 18 to declare a general amnesty and also prevented Lepidus (whose troops had occupied the Forum) from taking military action. But these were not acts of generosity by Antony, for he did not want this great opportunity to slip by with a quick execution of the conspirators. Instead, he planned to use it as a springboard for the advancement of his own career.
Antony delivered an emotion-filled funeral oration for Caesar, and public sentiment turned against the conspirators. Seeing no safety in Rome, Brutus and Cassius left for calmer parts of Italy. They also ignored their menial senatorial appointments (Brutus was first given a grain commissionership in Asia, and subsequently the governorship of Crete). Indeed, they stayed in various cities along the western coast of Italy until they finally fled to the East in August of 44 B.C.
Cassius went adventuring along the coast of Asia Minor and Syria while Brutus went to Greece. There he gained the support of the governor of Macedon, and also the support of the senate, which granted him and Cassius proconsular commands, apparently late in February of 43 B.C. In March, Brutus captured Gaius Antonius, the brother of Marc Antony, and in the summer campaigned against the Bessi in Thrace, where he was hailed Imperator.
While Antony and Octavian crossed over to Illyricum, Brutus and Cassius met at Smyrna early in 42 B.C. and planned for the conflict by attacking the Rhodians and Lycians, both of whom had formidable fleets that could pose a threat to their rear. In the spring of 42 B.C. Cassius captured Rhodes, and Brutus ravaged Lycia with the help of his fleet commander Casca. Brutus and Cassius met at Sardes in the summer after their campaigns, and then departed to Greece to wage war against Antony and Octavian.
Meanwhile in Rome, the political climate had changed. Antony and Lepidus had joined forces with Octavian, and together they began to persecute the conspirators who remained in Italy. Among the first to fall was Cicero, who, although not a conspirator, had openly opposed the tyranny of Antony and supported the Republican cause with his Philippics. In response, Brutus executed Antonyís brother, Gaius Antonius, and became somewhat fatalistic about his role in history. In a letter to Atticus, he suggested there was no more noble a position than his own, for if victorious he would be the champion of the Republican cause, or he would be freed from slavery by his death.
In the late summer of 42 B.C., the opposing armies met at Philippi in northern Greece. Brutus and Cassius had agreed to a death pact in their campaign against Marc Antony and Octavian. It occurred in two battles in October, about three weeks apart. The first battle was won through some fast action by Brutus, but ended with the suicide of Cassius, who seemingly misinterpreted the outcome. The second began well for Brutus, who alone faced Antony and Octavian, but soon turned against him. His forces routed, Brutus sped away with a handful of close friends and committed suicide on October 23, thus fulfilling his pact with Cassius.
There are two versions concerning what happened to Brutusí body. Plutarch tells us that Antony gave it a respectful funeral and sent the ashes back to his mother in Rome. However, Suetonius and Dio Cassius suggest that Octavian ó bent on revenge ó sent Brutusí severed head via ship back to Rome so it could be thrown at the feet of Caesarís statue, but that it was thrown overboard by superstitious sailors en route.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Brutus is best known to numismatists for his ìIdes of Marchî denarii, which on the obverse bear his own portrait and on the reverse shows a liberty cap flanked by two daggers above the inscription EID. MAR. In the opinion of many numismatists, this is the most impressive of all Roman coins, for its reverse promotes the murder of Caesar as a selfless act in defense of the Republic, yet the obverse features Brutusí portrait in the same fashion as that of the dictator he had killed. So remarkable was this coin type that it was even described by the ancient historian Dio Cassius.
The other coins Brutus struck in gold and silver while preparing for war with Antony and Octavian usually feature the goddess Libertas (Liberty), military trophies, priestly implements or have naval references. The obverse design of aurei of the Thracian or Scythian king Koson are blatant copies of Brutusí coinage as moneyer, and some of them bear a monogram that almost certainly represents the name of Brutus. Therefore, they should be associated with Brutusí actions in Thrace, where he was hailed Imperator.
Brutusí portrait appears on three issues, and though they all seem to be derived from the same sculptural prototype, they differ in their treatment. Some are rather ìBaroqueî in appearance (the aurei of Servilius Casca), others seemingly neo-Classical in their treatment (the aurei of Pedanius Costa). The EID MAR denarii of Plaetorius Cestianus offer two distinctly different busts: the so-called ìplasticî type with softened features, and the ìlinearî type with strongly defined facial features.
A final mention is due the denarius of Lucius Servius Rufus, the moneyer of 41 B.C. who otherwise is unknown to history. The portrait on this issue is certainly that of Brutus, as it compares so favorably with the inscribed portrait issues Brutus himself struck. That there is no identifying inscription makes perfect sense, for it would have been too blatant an affront to the Triumvirs. However, it was struck at an opportune moment, for in 41 B.C. the partisans of Antony and Octavian were very much at war: Antonyís brother, Lucius Antonius, had extorted permission from the senate to wage war on Octavian (resulting in the ìPerusine Warî); and Antonyís wife, Fulvia, was doing her best to undermine Octavian, who had been saddled with the difficult task of settling 100,000 veterans. Amid all this chaos and infighting, a portrait of Brutus ó representing the orderly Republic he had hoped to restore ó is daring, but not out of place.
CASSIUS
IMPERATOR, 43ñ42 B.C.
CO-CONSPIRATOR AND BROTHER-IN-LAW OF BRUTUS
HUSBAND OF TERTULLA
Gaius Cassius Longinus, d. 42 b.c. From the start of his career, Cassius proved himself an able commander. When Crassus embarked for his invasion of Parthia in 53 B.C., Cassius was his quaestor. Indeed, it was Cassius who warned Crassus that his final advance was foolhardy, but Crassus did not listen, and forged on. In the engagement, both Crassus and his son were killed, and it was incumbent upon Cassius to rally the retreating armies.
Considering how severely shattered the Roman army had been, it is a testimony to Cassiusí level head that he organized a successful retreat for what remained of the legions. Cassius ó who reputedly was often sarcastic and ill-tempered, and certainly was a harsh disciplinarian ó remained in Syria, and two years later, in 51 B.C., repelled the invasion led by the Parthian prince Pacorus I. For all he had done to protect Roman interests in the east, Cassius established a fine reputation quite early in his career.
In 49 B.C. he served as tribune, and commanded a Pompeian fleet in the Civil War of 49ñ48 B.C. However, he was not persecuted after Pompeyís defeat at Pharsalus, but instead was pardoned by Caesar, who appointed him as one of his legates. Indeed, Cassius may even have accompanied Caesar on his lightning campaign against the Pontic king Pharnaces II.
Back in Italy in 44 B.C., Cassius was appointed praetor peregrinus, the second-highest command in the city of Rome; the highest office, praetor urbanus, was given to another protégé of Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus. Not only were Brutus and Cassius political allies, but Cassius was married to one of Brutusí half-sisters, Junia Tertulla. The two praetors were also designated to share the consulship of 41 B.C. Little could Caesar have known that these two young men whom he had supported, and indeed promoted to the two highest offices in Rome, would conspire against him.
After his return from the Battle of Munda, Caesar was hailed ìdictator for lifeî by the senate on February 14, 44 B.C. Though he turned down the golden diadem thrice offered to him by Marc Antony, Caesar had made it clear that he would like to have that distinction bestowed upon him for the time when he was outside of Italy. Furthermore, in January he had placed his image on coinage ó yet another unprecedented action. A conspiracy to murder Caesar, which appears to have been formed by Cassius, came to fruition on the Ides (15th) of March, 44 B.C., as a mob of 60 senatorial conspirators, including Brutus, stabbed Caesar to death in the Theater of Pompey.
Immediately after the murder, Cassius and Brutus occupied the Capitoline, while Antony, who had shared the consulship with Caesar, convinced the senate to declare a general amnesty and prevented Lepidus (whose troops had occupied the Forum) from taking military action. In the aftermath, Cassius and Brutus went to rural locations in Italy, and ignored their degrading senatorial appointments (Cassius was first given a grain commissionership in Sicily, to which he responded ìAm I the man to accept an insult as if it was a favor?î and subsequently the governorship of Cyrenaica). Instead, he and Brutus stayed in cities along the western coast of Italy until they fled to the East in August of 44 B.C.
Cassius, having fled to Syria, was in familiar territory where his name still commanded respect, and so he seized Syria from the legitimate governor. Many others who either were involved in the conspiracy or who sympathized with the Republican cause, joined up with the refugee coconspirators. Among those who offered their armies to Cassius were Marcius Crispus, Staius Murcus and Caecilius Bassus.
Cassiusí ranks swelled by four additional legions from Publius Cornelius Dolabella, the treacherous consul suffectus who had replaced Caesar and subsequently gained the governorship of Syria. Dolabella confronted Cassius in the Summer of 43 B.C., but committed suicide after he was defeated by Cassius.
After the Battle of Mutina (at which Octavian defeated Lucius Antonius, the brother of Marc Antony), the senate gave Brutus and Cassius supreme authority in the eastern provinces. But after Octavian forcibly assumed power in Rome, the senate quickly reversed its decision and outlawed the renegade Republicans. Meanwhile, both rebels were campaigning in the East to gather resources and allies for the struggle against Antony and Octavian, who had since joined forces with Lepidus to found the Second Triumvirate.
Cassius met with Brutus at Smyrna early in 42 B.C., after which he subdued the island of Rhodes in the spring. In the summer he joined forces with Brutus (who in the meantime had ravaged Lycia) at Sardes in Lydia, and the two made their way to the northern Greece with their armies. Upon arriving in Thrace, they encountered the Triumviral armies headed by Antony and Octavian. The Republicans had the advantage, for not only were they better equipped, but one of the opposing generals, Octavian, was seriously ill. However, Brutus and Cassius had agreed to a suicide pact in the event they lost the battle, and it was this agreement, seemingly, that proved to be their undoing.
The armies clashed in two battles ó the first, at the beginning of October, proving fatal for Cassius, the second, on October 23, proving fatal for Brutus. Though the first battle was won by some clever actions by Brutus, Cassiusí camp was captured, and when he saw messengers approaching, he committed suicide. It is reported that he feared the worst, that Brutus had been defeated and that all hope was lost. And so, Cassius fulfilled his end of the suicide pact without wasting another moment.
This left Brutus in a bind, for now he had to lead both armies, and he was the lesser general in any case. The next battle occurred about three weeks later, and though it began in Brutusí favor, it ended with his defeat, after which he fulfilled his end of the suicide pact. One can only imagine how the course of the western world might have been altered had Brutus and Cassius emerged victorious, and Antony and Octavian (the future Augustus) had perished.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Though Cassius did strike several issues of coinage, none of them bear his portrait. The two daggers on the reverse of Brutusí EID MAR denarius not only represent the act of regicide, but more specifically represent Brutus and Cassius as the principal conspirators. His most interesting issue is a denarius that shows a rose and a diadem, above which a crab holds an aplustre in its claws. His naval victory is represented by the aplustre, the location by the crab (the symbol of Cos, near where the signal battle occured) and the spoils of victory by the kingly diadem and the rose (the symbol of Rhodes).
CORNUFICIUS
IMPERATOR, 42 B.C.
Quintus Cornuficius (Cornificius), d. 42 B.C. Cornuficius ranked among the leading literati of the late Republic, and as a poet and orator was a friend of Cicero and Catullus. But his talents were not limited to the written and spoken word, for he was a capable governor and general. In 48 B.C., Julius Caesar appointed him propraetor of Illyricum, in which capacity he played an important part in defending his province from the Pompeians. Caesar subsequently rewarded him in 47 B.C. with the augurship, a permanent priestly office.
In 46 B.C. he was appointed to governorships in Syria and Cilicia, and subsequently was made governor of Africa Vetus in 44 B.C. Following the murder of Julius Caesar early in that year, Cornuficius refused to acknowledge the authority of the Triumvirs, and sided with the senate in the War of Mutina (43 B.C.). From his base in Africa, Cornuficius gave military support to Sextus Pompey and gave refuge to many who had been targeted in the Triumviral proscriptions.
In 42 B.C. Cornuficius was attacked by Titus Sextius, the governor of the adjacent province of Africa Nova, and though initially successful in his defense (for which he was hailed Imperator), he was defeated and killed near Utica late in 42 B.C. He should not be confused with Lucius Cornuficius, the friend of Augustus and consul of 35 B.C. who is best remembered for his unusual habit of riding an elephant in the streets of Rome.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Although no portrait coins of Cornuficius were struck, he is represented as the standing figure being crowned by Juno Sospita on the reverse type he adopted. The coinage must date to 42 B.C., and it is one of the last issues that can be considered Republican in character. Cornuficius makes reference to his province of Africa, to his augurate and Imperatorship, and presumably to his Lanuvine origin (explaining his choice of Juno Sospita for a reverse type).
SALVIDIENUS
IMPERATOR, 42 B.C.
Quintus Salvius Salvidienus Rufus, d. 40 B.C. A boyhood friend of Octavian, Salvidienus was named a legate in 42 B.C. to protect Italy against Sextus Pompey, who had blockaded the Italian coast with the navy placed under his command. Initially, Salvidienus was successful in his task, defeating Sextus Pompey at Rhegium and being hailed Imperator. But shortly thereafter he was defeated off the coast of Messana, not far from his original victory; Octavian, we are told, observed the latter battle.
Thus, Romeís efforts to contain Sextus Pompey by force came to an end. In 39 B.C., at the pact of Misenum, the Triumvirs gave Sextus Pompey control of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and Achaea in exchange for his promise not to blockade grain shipments destined for Italy. (This arrangement lasted until 37 B.C., when Octavian took command of the fleet and waged war against Sextus Pompey.) In the meantime, Salvidienus joined Octavian in the ìPerusine Warî of 41ñ40 B.C. against Lucius Antonius, the youngest brother of Marc Antony. The Caesareans were victorious, though it required a cruel siege of Perusia (from which the name of the war is derived).
For his extraordinary service at Perusia, Octavian rewarded Salvidienus with the governorship of Gaul and designated him to be a consul in 39 B.C. But Octavianís fair-weather friend did not live long enough to enjoy the latter honor, for during a siege of Brundisium he engaged in a treasonous relationship with Marc Antony, who subsequently revealed the details of his correspondence to Octavian. In 40 B.C., Octavian had the senate declare Salvidienus a public enemy, upon which he seems to have committed suicide to avoid execution.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: No portrait coins of Salividienus are known, though he is mentioned by name on denarii of Octavian (Augustus) struck in 40 B.C. On that coinage, his upcoming consulship is noted.
CALVINUS
IMPERATOR, 39 B.C.
Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, lifespan unknown. Calvinus began his political career as an outspoken opponent of the First Triumvirate, as a Tribune of the Plebs in 59 B.C. Although bribery was a normal part of attaining public office in the late Republic, Calvinus and his fellow candidate, Gaius Memmius, brought the concept to a new level of blatancy when, in the corrupt elections of 54 B.C., they bought the support of the incumbent consuls Ahenobarbus and Appius Claudius Pulcher. Though this fact was later revealed by Memmius, and Calvinus was not successful in his bid of 54 B.C., he did win election in July 53 B.C., and was consul for the rest of that year.
In achieving this, Calvinus demonstrated remarkable courage, and was the only candidate to withstand the threats and the very real aggressions of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus. However, in the civil war that later erupted, Calvinus was one of the few ex-consuls who supported Caesar. Calvinus fought for Caesar against Metellus Pius Scipio in Thessaly (just before Pharsalus), later against Pompey at Pharsalus, and later still against the Pontic king Pharnaces II (by whom he was defeated at Nicopolis in 48 B.C. while serving as governor of Asia).
Calvinusí promising career under Caesar (who planned on appointing him as Lepidusí replacement as magister equitum, ìMaster of Horseî) was cut short by the dictatorís murder in 44 B.C. He remained loyal to the Caesareans (Triumvirs), and though Antony and Octavian emerged victorious at Philippi, it was due in no measure to Calvinus who, early in 42 B.C., lost his entire fleet in the Adriatic to the Republican admirals Ahenobarbus and Murcus. Calvinus barely escaped the defeat by sailing to Brundisium, after which he apparently made his way back to Antony and Octavianís camp in time for the Battle of Philippi in October, 42 B.C.
Despite his embarrassments, Calvinus attained a second consulate in 40 B.C., after which, in 39 B.C., Octavian appointed him to a proconsulship in Spain. While serving in that capacity, he treated his soldiers with great severity, but but won a triumph in 36 B.C. for his victories against the Cerretani, who had rebelled. Of the later history of Calvinus little is known, except that he held a priestly office in 20 B.C.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Calvinusí Oscan-inspired denarii were struck for his campaign against the Cerretani in 39 B.C., and conspicuously make no mention of Octavian, who had appointed him proconsul. The priestly implements on the reverse refer to his status as Pontifex, granted c. 45 B.C.
MURCUS
IMPERATOR, C. 45ñ42 B.C.
Lucius Staius (Statius) Murcus, d. 39 B.C. During the civil war between Caesar and the Pompeians, Murcus served as a legate for Julius Caesar in Gaul and Africa from 48 to 46 B.C. In 44 B.C., he was appointed proconsul of Syria, where he was sent to restore order, for early in 46 B.C., Q. Caecilius Bassus (formerly a supporter of Pompey) had rebelled, causing the death of the governor Sextus Caesar (a young relative of Julius Caesar) and the defeat of the replacement governor L. Antistius Vetus. Murcus. With the help of Q. Marcius Crispus (proconsul in Bithynia and Pontus), Murcus captured the armies of Bassus at Apameia shortly after his arrival, and he was possibly hailed Imperator at this time.
After Caesar was murdered early in 44 B.C., Murcus supported Octavian, who had been named Caesarís heir. But he soon switched his allegiance to the Republican cause led by the renegades Brutus and Cassius. Thus, in July of 43 B.C., Murcus gave his Syrian legions to Cassius, who was campaigning in the region at the time. In gratitude, Cassius made Murcus commander of his fleet, and in the spring of 42 B.C. Murcus seems to have directed the siege of Rhodes.
Immediately thereafter, Murcus joined Brutusí admiral Ahenobarbus in the Adriatic, and together they defeated Calvinus, a Caesarean commander who was delivering soldiers and supplies to Antony and Octavian in Illyricum. As important a victory as this was (Ahenobarbus was hailed Imperator as a result), it did not prevent the defeat of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in October of 42 B.C., after which Murcus continued to oppose the Triumvirs. Eventually, in 41 B.C., he joined the renegade Sextus Pompey in the western Mediterranean. Though warmly received at first, Murcus fell out of favor with Sextus Pompey and consequently was murdered at Syracuse in 39 B.C. Opinions vary about when and why Murcus was hailed Imperator in 45, 44, 43 or 42 B.C.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Murcusí first coinage was tetradrachms of Antioch struck while he was in command in Syria. Later he struck denarii during his independent command from 42 to 41 B.C., after the Republican defeat at Philippi but before his joining up with Sextus Pompey.
AHENOBARBUS
IMPERATOR, 42 B.C.
Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, d. 31/30 B.C. Gnaeus Ahenobarbus was the son of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (meaning ìbronze beardî), a commander with strong connections in Gaul who violently opposed the First Triumvirate of Pompey, Caesar and Crassus, and who died at Pharsalus in 48 B.C. However, the most famous member of the Domitii, the emperor Nero (A.D. 54ñ68), was not to be born for nearly 70 years after Ahenobarbusí death.
Like his father, Gnaeus Ahenobarbus fought on the Pompeian side at Pharsalus, but was pardoned by Julius Caesar after the battle. Several months after Caesar was murdered, Ahenobarbus accompanied Brutus to Macedon in their flight from Italy. During the proscriptions of the Caesarians in 43 B.C., Ahenobarbus (perhaps unjustly) was named as a participant in the murder of Caesar. Thus, the early commitment he had made to the cause of Brutus and Cassius now became his only option.
Brutus put Ahenobarbus to good use as a commander of 50 ships in his fleet, and had him patrol the Adriatic, where he soon teamed up with Murcus, one of Cassiusí naval commanders. Early in 42 B.C. the two defeated the fleet of Caesarean commander Calvinus, who was in the process of delivering troops and supplies from Italy to Illyricum, where Antony and Octavian had already landed their armies. This action not only hindered the Caesarean war effort, but also made their return to Italy virtually impossible. It was for this naval engagement that Ahenobarbus was hailed Imperator.
After the defeat of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in October, 42 B.C., Ahenobarbus remained a threat in the Ionian Sea, where he maintained his fleet until 40 B.C., when he allied himself with Marc Antony (then in the East) shortly before Antony became reconciled with Octavian at the Treaty of Brundisium in October of that year.
As an ally of Antony, Ahenobarbus was appointed governor of Bithynia and Pontus, and participated in the disastrous expedition Antony mounted against the Parthians in 36 B.C. He next served in the effort to eliminate Sextus Pompey, who in that same year had fled to the East after being severely defeated by Octavian near Sicily. The triumviral pact expired at the end of 33 B.C., and just as Ahenobarbus and Sosius (both of whom favored Antony) assumed their duties as the elected consuls of 32 B.C., hostilities came to a head between the supporters of Octavian and Antony. Ahenobarbusí and Sosiusí efforts to censure Octavian were opposed by Octavian, who occupied Rome and marched into the Senate House with a complement of soldiers. Ahenobarbus, Sosius and some 300 senators fled Rome to the East to seek asylum with Antony at Ephesus. Civil war was now inevitable.
Though there was a privileged place for Ahenobarbus in the 30 legions gathered by Antony, he was opposed to the involvement of Cleopatra VII, the queen of Egypt whom Antony had taken as common-law wife. Already suffering from a deadly fever, Ahenobarbus defected to Octavian at the last moment before the Battle of Actium (September 2, 31 B.C.), and died of his illness either late in 31, or early in 30 B.C.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Ahenobarbus struck coins on two occasions, though neither issue seems to bear his portrait. The first was in 41 B.C. as a renegade commander in the Ionian Sea following the Republican defeat at Philippi and before he joined the cause of Antony in 40 B.C. This issue includes an aureus and a denarius, both with portraits of different men ó presumably his ancestors. Next, after joining Antony, he struck coins for the Triumvir that bore Antonyís portrait on the obverse, and on the reverse featured his own name and a prow, an allusion to his own naval supremacy.
PLANCUS
IMPERATOR, 40 B.C.(?)
Lucius Munatius Plancus, C. 90/85-after 22 B.C. Plancus enjoyed a long and varied career as a commander and politician during the late Republic and the early Principate. He began his career in 54 B.C. as a legate of Julius Caesar in Gaul (during the Gallic War) and in Africa (during the civil war).
From 46 to 45 B.C. he served as praefectus urbi, and from 44 to 43 B.C. was proconsul of Transalpine Gaul, where he founded colonies at Lugdunum and Augusta Rauricorum (near Basel, Switzerland) for veterans. During the course of the War of Mutina (43 B.C.), in which Decimus Brutus (who had issued coins as a moneyer five years before, see Cr. 450 and 451) fought Marc Antony, Plancus allied himself with Antony. As a reward for his service in that war, Plancus celebrated a triumph for his victories in Gaul and was named consul with Lepidus in 42 B.C.
Plancus next fought for Antony in the Perusine War of 41ñ40 B.C., and early in 40 B.C. was sent to Asia as proconsul, where he had to defend his territory from a Parthian invasion by the turncoat Quintus Labienus and the Parthian prince Pacorus I. Plancus was successful enough to be hailed Imperator (apparently for the second time), but later had to withdraw because of troop defections. Labienus now had free run, and only was defeated in 39 B.C. by another of Antonyís commanders, Ventidius, who knew Plancus from their service in the Perusine War.
In 35 B.C., while governing Syria as a legate of Antony, Plancus acted with Ahenobarbus in capturing Sextus Pompey, who by then had run his course and was hoping to establish a new ìEmpireî in Asia. Though he had enjoyed a decade of service under Antony, in 32 B.C. Plancus switched his allegiance to Octavian because he objected to the participation of Cleopatra VII in the upcoming campaign at Actium. His defection was especially damaging to Antony, for he revealed the existence and contents of Antonyís will (which favored Cleopatra, Egypt and the east). This gave Octavian the ammunition necessary to galvanize Italy in opposition to Antony.
Under Octavian Plancus enjoyed a fruitful career, and was noted for his associations with poets, including Horace. It was Plancus who proposed in 27 B.C. that Octavian be given the name Augustus. Though the date of his death is unknown, Plancus survived at least until 22 B.C., when he was censor. His magnificent tomb at Gaeta is inscribed with his accomplishments, and specifically mentions his having been consul, Censor, twice general of the army, a victor over the Rhaeti, and the builder of the Temple of Saturn.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Munatius Plancus, the brother of Plautius Plancus (the moneyer who struck denarii in 47 B.C.; Cr. 453/1) struck coins on two occasions. The first was an issue of gold for Julius Caesar in 45 B.C. (while praefectus urbi), which included an entirely new denomination, the half-aureus (quinarius). The Caesar issue may have been a donative for the veterans of Munda. His final issue, aurei and denarii under Antony in 40 B.C., is associated with an issue of Ahenobarbus.
VENTIDIUS
IMPERATOR, 41 or 39(?) B.C.
Publius Ventidius Bassus, c. 89ñc. 38 B.C. The life of Ventidius was adventurous from birth, for he was born at the beseiged city of Asculum during the height of the Social War. Indeed, while still an infant he was captured and featured in the triumph of Pompeius Strabo, the cruel and avaricious consul (and father of Pompey the Great) who had directed the siege of Asculum.
Though Ventidiusí origins may have been respectable, he subsequently had a difficult life, and seems to have earned a living either as an army contractor or as a muleteer (mulio), as he is often described (or perhaps slandered?). As such, it comes as no surprise that he gravitated toward the populist political movement of Julius Caesar, who saw great promise in him, and gave him sufficient support so that he became a member of the senate.
After his benefactor Caesar was murdered early in 44 B.C., Ventidius allied himself with Marc Antony. In 43 B.C. Ventidius became a praetor and raised three legions in his native Picenum, which he devoted to the defense of Antony following the latterís defeat at Mutina in 43 B.C. Later in that year, Ventidius was rewarded by being chosen to fill the consulship which had been made vacant by Octavian. Naturally, the meteoric rise of a man of such humble origins was resisted by the high-born senators.
Ventidius later returned to the field as a commander in Gaul, where in 41 B.C. he fought for Antony in the Perusine War. After Antony and Octavian had agreed to terms at Brundisium in October of 40 B.C., Venditius was sent to Asia as a proconsul to take over the duties of his comrade-in-arms Plancus, who had failed to repel the Parthian invasion led by the rebel Quintus Labienus and the Parthian prince Pacorus I.
In 39 and 38 B.C. Ventidius won successive victories against the invaders. In 39 he captured and killed Labienus in Cilicia, where he was victorious at Mount Taurus and at the Cilician Gates. For this Ventidius was hailed Imperator, after which, still in 39 B.C., he managed to drive Pacorus out of Syria and the Levant. When Pacorus renewed his assault in 38 B.C., Ventidius defeated and killed the Arsacid prince that same year at the Battle of Gindarus in Cyrrhestica.
But his accomplishments were tainted by rumor that he had taken bribes from Antiochus, the king of Commagene, who he was beseiging. Antony became concerned not only about the alleged improprieties, but also about the glory Ventidius was accumulating, and so he personally replaced him in about July of 38 B.C. Upon returning to Rome, Ventidius celebrated his Parthian triumph. This was the first of many Parthian triumphs to be celebrated in Rome over the next quarter-millenium, and was long-remembered by those who attended. He died shortly thereafter and was granted a public funeral.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: The excessively rare denarii of Ventidius, seemingly known from only two obverse and two reverse dies, were struck at an uncertain mint in the East in 39 B.C., and are to be associated with his campaigns against Labienus and Pacorus.
LABIENUS
IMPERATOR PARTHICUS, 40/39 B.C.
Quintus Labienus ìParthicus,î d. 39 B.C.. Quintus Labienus was son of Titus Labienus, the legate who Julius Caesar relied upon so heavily during his famous Gallic campaigns of 58ñ51 B.C. That his father abandoned Caesar to join Pompeyís cause in 49 B.C. (and eventually died at Munda with remnants of the Pompeian Party) no doubt influenced his son to oppose the Caesareans, and later to traitorously defect to the Parthians rather than face the consequences of his wartime allegiances.
Labienus was sent to Parthia by Brutus and Cassius late in 43 or early in 42 B.C. to seek military support from king Orodes II (whose general Surenas had decimated the armies of Crassus in 53 B.C.) for their struggle with Antony and Octavian. But time ran short, and Labienus was unable to arrange any assistance before the battles of Philippi were fought in October 42 B.C., at which both Brutus and Cassius committed suicide. Labienus was consequently in a bind, for he was now unable to return to the West.
In the meantime, however, Labienus convinced Orodes II to invade Syria, and to allow himself to share the command with the kingís own son, Pacorus I. Pacorus had invaded Syria more than a decade before, in 51 B.C., during the governorship of the famous orator Cicero (in nearby Cilicia). But that invasion had failed. Pacorus had been defeated by the future tyrannicide Cassius, who had remained in the East after surviving the debacle of Crassus in 53 B.C.
Together, Labienus and Pacorus invaded Syria. Some scholars place the invasion late in 41 B.C., but most agree it began early in 40 B.C., during Antonyís absence. The invasion required some 20,000 horsemen, and was a success from the start. The first to be defeated was Antonyís governor, Lucius Decidius Saxa, whose soldiers subsequently defected to Labienus. Saxa fled to Antioch, then to Cilicia, where he was captured and executed. The cities of Apamaea and Antioch quickly surrendered, after which the two leaders pursued separate attack routes ó Labienus invading Asia Minor, and Pacorus invading Palestine and Phoenicia.
Labienus overran much of Asia Minor, and in the process was hailed Imperator. He was initially hindered by Antonyís ally Plancus, but soon forced him to withdraw. Pacorus seized the coastal cities of Palestine and Phoenicia (except Tyre, which was notoriously difficult to take) and deposed the high priest John Hyrcanus II, replacing him with Mattathias Antigonus, who had by bribery invited the Parthian invasion of Jerusalem.
However, early in 39 B.C., a new legate of Antonyís arrived, Publius Ventidius Bassus. Ventidius drove Labienus and Pacorus out of Roman territories with remarkable success. He first pursued Labienus, defeating him at Mount Taurus and at the Cilician Gates in 39 B.C., when the outlaw was captured and executed. Ventidius next drove the Parthians across the Euphrates, and when Pacorus invaded Syria yet again, in 38 B.C., he also was defeated and killed by Ventidius in battle at Gindarus in Cyrrhestica.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: The historical circumstance and engraving style of Labienusí aurei and denarii point to Antioch as the probable mint. Though they may have been struck early in 39 B.C., they most probably belong to the latter half of 40 B.C., before he and Pacorus pursued separate routes of conquest. Local tetradrachms and aes of Antioch dated to the period of his occupation may also be ascribed to Labienus.
SCARPUS
IMPERATOR, 31 B.C.(?)
GREAT-NEPHEW OF JULIUS CAESAR
Lucius Pinarius Scarpus, lifespan unknown. A member of the Pinarii, one of the oldest and noblest Roman families, Scarpus was also a great-nephew of Julius Caesar. Though it was another of Caesarís great-nephews, Octavian, who received his political legacy (by being adopted as his son) and three-quarters of his wealth, Caesar bequeathed the remaining quarter to two other of his great-nephews, Quintus Pedius and Scarpus.
At first, Scarpusí allegiance was to Octavian, but after Philippi (October, 42 B.C.), he became more closely allied with Antony, who, in 31 B.C., placed him in command of four legions in Cyrenaica to defend Egypt from any invasion launched from the West. After Antony lost to Octavian at Actium (31 B.C.), he sought the support of Scarpus, who declined Antony and instead turned his legions over to the governor of Africa, Cornelius Gallus. Scarpus remained in high office in Cyrenaica until 27 B.C.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Scarpusí issues of 31 B.C. are of considerable interest. First, they are struck at a significantly reduced weight (as such, they are possibly the only silver issues of the late Republic which were not struck to the normal weight standard); second, they are struck in the names of both Antony and Octavian. These two former allies were then formally at war during the period of Scarpusí coinage, and we must therefore assume that his coinage for Antony was struck shortly before the Battle of Actium, and that his coinage for Octavian was struck thereafter.
LEPIDUS
MEMBER OF THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE, 43ñ36 B.C.
BROTHER-IN-LAW OF BRUTUS
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, 90/89ñ13/12 B.C. The ìthird wheelî of political power in Rome during the Second Triumvirate, Lepidus hailed from a very important (but somewhat maligned) family that had been of consular status since 285 B.C. By far the most important of his ancestors were Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, consul in 187 and 175 B.C. This manís grandson held the consulship in 78 B.C., but died in exile for his strong support of Sulla. The family continued to be of importance long after the death of Lepidus the Triumvir, for he was married to Junia, a sister of Brutus, and by their offspring they were forebears of Nero (emperor, A.D. 54ñ68).
But equal fame was achieved by Marcus Lepidus, the Triumvir. Lepidus served as praetor urbanus, the highest post in Rome, in 49 B.C., and was appointed governor of Nearer Spain in 48 B.C. His remarkable career continued with the consulship in 46 B.C., followed by an appointment by Julius Caesar as his magister equitum (Master of Horse) from 46 to 44 B.C. Indeed, only one day before it occurred, it was Lepidus who warned Caesar to be wary of a plot against his life; but Caesar did not pay heed, and was murdered on March 15, 44 B.C.
As magister equitum, it was Lepidus who controlled the soldiers in Rome when Caesar was murdered, and had Marc Antony not restrained him, Lepidus no doubt would have executed the many conspirators. In the aftermath, Antony had named Lepidus pontifex maximus, and named him governor of Nearer Spain and Gallia Narbonensis. While serving in that capacity, Lepidus reconciled the senate with the Pompeian renegade Sextus Pompey, who was campaigning in Lepidusí territories.
Shortly thereafter, very late in 44 B.C., Antony left Rome to take possession of Gaul, but found the previous governor, Decimus Brutus, would not leave. And so began the war to forcibly remove Decimus Brutus, who soon was besieged at the city of Mutina, in Cisalpine Gaul. During the course of the war, Lepidus joined forces with Antony, for, at the urging of Cicero and Octavian, both men had been declared public enemies by the senate. Antony and Lepidus were defeated by a senatorial army led by Octavian and the two consuls, Pansa and Hirtius (both of whom were killed in the war), and retreated to exile in Gaul as Octavian and Decimus Brutus returned to Rome.
While this warfare was going on, the senate was temporarily in control and it began to dole out extraordinary powers to the Republican rebels Brutus, Cassius and Sextus Pompey. Octavian felt betrayed, and so, with his army, extorted the consulship and a command against Antony. But when Octavian confronted Antony, they agreed to join forces with Lepidus and formed the Second Triumvirate much like Caesar, Crassus and Pompey had done before. Lepidus got much of Gaul and Spain as his domain in this initial agreement.
Subsequently, the Triumvirs forced the senate to ratify their private pact, and the trio prepared for the war against Brutus and Cassius. In 42 B.C., Antony and Octavian departed for Greece, leaving Lepidus (consul, for a second time) to manage affairs in Italy. From the outset Lepidus was the least important member of the Triumvirate, and this only made it more obvious. After the Triumvirs were victorious at the battles of Philippi in October 42 B.C., they returned to restructure their arrangement. The loser was Lepidus, who was almost expelled for suspected collusion with Sextus Pompey, but later was allowed to rule in North Africa.
Although Lepidus supported Octavian in the Perusine War (41ñ40 B.C.), and subsequently in the war against Sextus Pompey in 36 B.C., he was denied the spoils of war, for Octavian had no intention of sharing. In the war against Sextus Pompey, Lepidus landed 14 legions in Sicily in August 36 B.C., ostensibly to engage the rebelís land forces while Octavian challenged him at sea. But before any such naval victory had been gained by Octavian, Lepidus demanded Sicily be added to his own North African territories. Octavian ó no doubt feeling threatened and betrayed by the lack of cooperation ó challenged the third Triumvir. Lepidusí legions swiftly deserted to Octavian, who subsequently humiliated Lepidus by stripping him of all authority except the title of Pontifex Maximus, which he held until his own death in 13 or 12 B.C.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Lepidus first struck coinage in 61 B.C. as a moneyer. Three types are attributed to his term as moneyer, though some researchers believe that the two of them with the exceptional inscription SC were actually struck at later dates (in the 50s B.C.) under special commission from the senate. While in alliance with Octavian and Antony, Lepidus struck coins jointly with them. The issues with Antony have uninspiring designs, whereas those with Octavian (though not of great artistry) at least offer portraits of both men. The portrait of Lepidus occurs only once on provincials: on small bronzes of Ephesus on which he shares the canvas with Marc Antony and Octavian. There are three non-portrait provincial issues: two from Gaul that bear his name and were struck while he was governing there; and one series from Spain, presumably struck while he was governing Hither Spain, but with the added attraction that the city of issue (Celsa) was renamed Colonia Lepida in his honor. The cityís name reverted to Colonia Celsa after Lepidusí downfall in 36 B.C.
MARC ANTONY (MARCUS ANTONIUS)
MEMBER OF THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE, 43ñ33 B.C.
BROTHER OF GAIUS ANTONIUS AND LUCIUS ANTONIUS
HUSBAND OF FADIA, ANTONIA, FULVIA, OCTAVIA AND QUEEN CLEOPATRA VII
FATHER OF MARCUS ANTONIUS JUNIOR AND ANTONIA (w. OF NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS)
Marcus Antonius, c. 83/82ñ30 B.C. Another of the great and tragic figures of Roman history, Marc Antony was a commander of exceptional ability who, after what appears to have been a misspent youth, launched his career in politics and warfare under the guidance of Julius Caesar.
Antony was a natural soldier with a strong constitution that even the ravages of time and battle could not weaken. Furthermore, he had a generous, affable nature that endeared him to his soldiers, and only enriched his natural skills as a tactician. He was married four times to Roman women, and once to Cleopatra VII, the Greek queen of Egypt, and among the five women sired four boys and four girls.
The eldest of three sons of Marcus Antonius ìCreticusî (so named for his ignominious death in 71 B.C., which resulted from battle against Cretan pirates), Antonyís earliest position of note was as a cavalry commander for Aulus Gabinus in Palestine and Egypt from 57 to 55 B.C. After that assignment, Antony served his quaestorship of 52 B.C. in Gaul with Julius Caesar, who saw promise in him, for he soon gave Antony important responsibilities.
When civil war between Caesar and Pompey the Great was imminent in 49 B.C., Antony (then a tribune) defended Caesar in the pro-Pompey senate. When war broke out in 49 B.C., Antony fought at Caesarís side in Italy and Greece. After Caesarís victory at Pharsalus (August 9, 48 B.C.), at which Antony commanded the left wing, he returned to Italy as Caesarís magister equitum.
Thereafter, Antony became Caesarís top man in Rome, administering his affairs during his lengthy absences. From 48 to 44 B.C., Caesar returned only occasionally to Rome, for he was busy restoring Cleopatra VII to the throne of Egypt, defeating Pharnaces II of Pontus, settling Roman affairs in Asia Minor and Syria, as well as defeating the Pompeian remnants in North Africa and Spain.
In October of 45 B.C., Caesar returned to Rome, never to leave again. As reward for his loyal service, Antony was named Caesarís co-consul for 44 B.C. In grandiose (and perhaps staged) gestures, Antony thrice offered the golden diadem of a king to Caesar, who refused it each time. However, by this time Caesar had been granted the title ìdictator for lifeî and had placed his image on coins, and so had already broken two of the most sacred Republican traditions.
Antony was helping Caesar prepare for the invasion of Parthia he so greatly desired. No doubt it came as a great shock to Antony when, on March 15, Caesar was murdered. Antony restrained Lepidus (another distinguished follower of Caesar, whose troops had occupied the Forum) from taking military action, and called for amnesty for the conspirators. Indeed, this was too great an opportunity for his own political ambitions to let it be solved by mob violence or decisive soldiering. Five days later, on March 20, Antony delivered a funeral eulogy for Caesar. This stirred the public against the conspirators, many of whom left Rome quickly, and fled Italy by mid-summer.
But Antony now had two new foes, a newly independent senate and 19-year-old Octavian, the heir to Caesarís political legacy and most of his fortune, who had abandoned his studies in Greece and arrived in Rome in May or June of 44 B.C. to collect his inheritance. Antony immediately thwarted the efforts made by Octavian for recognition. But Octavian was resourceful, and managed to raise an army of Caesarís veterans, with which he occupied Rome in November, 44 B.C.
Because of Octavianís aggressive actions, Antony had to leave Rome, and so he headed to Gaul with the aim of assuming the proconsular duties he had recently awarded himself. But Gaul was staunchly defended by Decimus Brutus, who had been made proconsul of Gaul by Caesar, and so a war resulted in which Antony besieged Decimus Brutus at Mutina in Cisalpine Gaul. Joining Antony in his campaign was the governor Lepidus, who was second only to Antony within the Caesarean party.
Meanwhile, the orator Cicero had emerged from retirement to defame Antony, and the senate responded to his powerful words. Octavian (who had been named propraetor) and the two consuls, Pansa and Hirtius, were sent with an army to relieve Decimus Brutus. Though both consuls died in battle, the senatorial army was victorious. Decimus Brutus was allowed to celebrate a triumph, and Octavian was hailed Imperator.
Antony, meanwhile, exiled himself in Gaul until it was safe to emerge. In the aftermath, the senate granted extraordinary powers to Brutus and Cassius in the east, and gave command of the fleet in the west to Sextus Pompey. Octavian was given nothing, and so he used his military might to extort the consulship and a command to march against Antony, who since February of 43 B.C. had been declared a public enemy. But when he arrived, Octavian came to an agreement with Antony and Lepidus, and no fighting occurred.
A political alliance known as the Second Triumvirate was formed by Antony, Lepidus and Octavian on November 11 of 43 B.C., an alliance unwillingly ratified by the senate. By this arrangement, the trio would rule Rome and its territories for the next five years. Then followed the infamous proscriptions, spearheaded by Antonyís wife, Fulvia, in which some 130 senators and 2,000 equestrians were executed (with Cicero being among the first).
In preparation for war against Brutus and Cassius, the two lead assassins of Julius Caesar who now controlled the eastern Roman territories, Antony and Octavian departed for Greece in the spring of 42 B.C., leaving Lepidus in charge in Italy. When the armies clashed several months later, in October, Antony and Octavian were victorious. Afterward, Antony went to the East and Octavian returned to the West.
While at Tarsus, Antony met Cleopatra VII, the queen of Egypt who formerly had been a lover of his mentor, Julius Caesar. Antony and Cleopatra, though not terribly compatible on a personal level, found they had political motives in common, and they wintered together in Egypt. Exactly at this time, a full-scale invasion of Syria was launched by the Parthians, led by the Republican renegade Labienus and the Parthian prince Pacorus. Many of the legions defected to Labienus, for he represented the Republican cause, and so the invasion was impossible to resist.
Despite the seriousness of the invasion, Antony had equally urgent business in the West, where his brother and Octavian had gone to war. Antonyís brother, Lucius Antonius, had started a war against Octavian in 41 B.C., and was defeated in February of 40 B.C. after a cruel siege at Perusia (from which the ìPerusine Warî derives its name). Octavianís two main antagonists in the war, Lucius Antonius and Fulvia, the wife of Antony, died in the months following. Though their deaths did not directly result from the war, they still affected Antony, who had arrived from Egypt too late to alter the course of events.
Octavian and Antony met at Brundisium in October of 40 B.C. to settle their differences. It was a productive meeting, and the treaty held that Italy was common territory, Antony got the East, Octavian the West, and Lepidus was limited to Africa. To seal the pact, Antony, now a widower, married Octavianís sister, Octavia. In the meantime, Antony had sent his lieutenant Ventidius to restore order in Asia Minor, which he did with remarkable success from 39 to 38 B.C. Antony returned east in 39 B.C., after agreeing to the pact of Misenum, by which the problem of Sextus Pompey was temporarily resolved.
Antony again returned to the West in 37 B.C., when the five-year Triumvirate pact (then expiring), was renewed at Tarentum. The other productive result of the negotiations at Tarentum was that Octavian traded foot soldiers for war vessels ó thus providing Antony with the legions he needed to launch his invasion of Parthia, and allowing Octavian once again to challenge the naval supremacy of Sextus Pompey, a renegade commander who controlled Sicily and other islands in the western Mediterranean.
Antony returned to the East immediately, where, later in the year, he married Cleopatra at Antioch, even though he was still married to Octavia. The marriage was not legally binding in Rome, but it indicated that Antonyís long-term plans were in the East, where he intended to join the fortunes of Rome and Egypt.
The year 36 B.C. was eventful: in the West, Octavian ousted Lepidus from the Triumvirate, and defeated Sextus Pompey in a pitched naval battle off Sicily; in the East, Antony launched his Parthian invasion. Though Antony had some 100,000 soldiers, and an alliance with Artavasdes II of Armenia (which proved treacherous), his campaign was a complete disaster. He lost 35,000 or more of his soldiers, and after a disgraceful retreat, had to avail himself of the relief offered by Cleopatra. Antony later exacted his revenge on Armenia by annexing it in 34 B.C., and shamefully displaying Artavasdes II in his triumph in Alexandria.
Over the intervening years, tensions had grown between Antony and Octavian, now the sole masters of the Roman world. The Triumviral pact expired at the end of 33 B.C., after which (in 32) Ahenobarbus and Sosius (two staunch allies of Antony) took up their consulships. In an act of self-preservation, Octavian occupied Rome, terrifying the senate with his legions and causing the two consuls and about 300 senators to leave Italy and seek Antonyís protection in the East. In 31 B.C., Octavian declared war against Cleopatra, which in essence was also a declaration against Antony.
The opposing forces of Antony and Octavian met near Actium on the west coast of Greece, where a battle would eventually be waged to determine which of the two men would rule the Roman world. Antony suffered last-minute defections by Plancus, Ahenobarbus and others, such as Asiatic kings, and found himself blockaded by Octavianís commander Agrippa. By early September, defections were increasing and Antonyís supplies had run so low that he forced a pitched battle. His naval forces were quickly bested by Agrippa, and so he and Cleopatra broke through the blockade and sailed toward Egypt. What remained of his army and navy stayed to fight in his name, and were roundly defeated.
Cleopatra sailed directly for Egypt, while Antony stopped at Cyrene in an effort to get the four legions of his ally Scarpus, but this was in vain, for Scarpus had in the meantime changed his allegiance. So Antony, defeated yet again, made his way to Egypt to join Cleopatra. Antony committed suicide in 30 B.C., shortly before Octavian arrived. Cleopatra waited, but after realizing Octavian had nothing but hostile intentions, she too committed suicide, robbing Octavian of a fine trophy for his triumph.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: If one thing can be said of Marc Antonyís considerable coinage, it is that he was willing to share his glory. Indeed, his famous ìlegionary denariiî were a fitting testimony to the legions that supported his cause. Furthermore, he allowed Ahenobarbus to strike highly personalized issues under his auspices, and he struck coins bearing the portrait of his third wife, Fulvia. But more interesting still is Antonyís fondness for dual-portrait issues, which he struck bearing his own image paired with the busts of Julius Caesar, Octavian, Lepidus, Octavia, Lucius Antonius, Marcus Antonius Junior and Cleopatra VII. It is also worth noting that Antony was the second living Roman to place his image on coins struck at Rome. He did this in 44 B.C., very shortly after Caesarís murder. On this type (the only one struck in 44 B.C. for Antony), he is shown veiled and wears a short beard ó the former indicated his priestly duties, and the latter, which he continued to wear until after Brutus and Cassius were defeated, was a sign of mourning for his fallen mentor.
GAIUS ANTONIUS
BROTHER OF MARC ANTONY AND LUCIUS ANTONIUS
UNCLE OF MARCUS ANTONIUS JUNIOR
BROTHER-IN-LAW OF FULVIA AND OCTAVIA
Gaius Antonius, d. 42 B.C. The second son of Marcus Antonius ìCreticus,î Gaius Antonius was the younger brother of Marc Antony and the older brother of Lucius Antonius. His career began as a legate of Julius Caesar in 49 B.C., during which he was blockaded by the Pompeian fleet on the island of Curicta, and subsequently taken prisoner. Caesar later appointed him praetor urbanus and had him elected to the college of the pontifices in 44 B.C.
After Caesar was murdered in March of 44 B.C., Gaius Antonius assumed the duties of praetor urbanus, the post which had been abandoned by Brutus. Later in 44 B.C., on November 28, Marc Antony was able to secure Gaius Antoniusí appointment as governor of Macedon. This province was then occupied by the Republican renegade Brutus, who late in February seems to have been made governor of Macedon, Illyricum and Achaea by a then-independent senate. Gaius Antoniusí efforts to oust Brutus failed, for the armies at Dyrrhachium and Apollonia deserted to Brutus, and poor Gaius Antonius was blockaded at Apollonia in March 43 B.C. Vigorous actions by Brutus and Marcus Tullius Cicero, the son of the orator Cicero who at age 17 had commanded a cavalry squadron at Pharsalus, caused Gaius Antonius to surrender.
Sometime after his capture, the senate revoked Gaius Antoniusí status as governor, and the unfortunate brother of Marc Antony was executed by Brutus early in 42 B.C. The cause, it seems, was two-fold: firstly, as punishment for having tried to incite Brutusí troops to revolt, and secondly, in retribution for Marc Antonyís proscription and execution of Cicero, the famous orator who had been a strong supporter of the cause of Brutus and Cassius.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Gaius Antonius had only one issue of coinage struck in his name, a denarius of 43 B.C. presumably struck at a mint that traveled with him to Illyricum. Regrettably, it does not bear his portrait.
LUCIUS ANTONIUS
BROTHER OF MARC ANTONY AND GAIUS ANTONIUS
UNCLE OF MARCUS ANTONIUS JUNIOR
BROTHER-IN-LAW OF FULVIA AND OCTAVIA
Lucius Antonius ìPietas,î d. c. 40 B.C. The youngest of three brothers, Lucius Antonius began his career as a quaestor in Asia in 50 B.C., and six years later, in the final year of Julius Caesarís life, served as tribune, giving the dictator even more powers in appointing magistrates. After Julius Caesarís murder, Luciusí oldest brother, Marc Antony, became the unofficial leader of the Caesarean party. But Marc Antony was soon ousted by Caesarís grandnephew, Octavian, and thus had to leave Italy and take up the post he had been granted in Gaul. Lucius Antonius went with him as his legate (as the middle brother, Gaius Antonius, was sent to occupy Macedon), and together, at Mutina, they suffered a degrading loss to the senatorial army led by Octavian.
Through the influence of his brother, Lucius Antonius was elected consul in 41 B.C. Thus began his most noteworthy role in history, first as an antagonist, then as a military opponent of the Triumvir Octavian. Marc Antony had gone East to settle diplomatic matters and confiscate wealth, and Octavian had remained in the West to begin the unsavory task of seizing land from 18 cities so that it could be given to 100,000 veterans who were being discharged. Octavianís task was made more difficult by propaganda that was issued by Lucius Antonius and Fulvia, the wife of Marc Antony.
The verbal and political hostilities of 41 B.C. evolved into a military conflict when Lucius Antonius, by force of arms, gained permission to wage war on Octavian. The Triumvir Octavian responded with legions called in from Spain and with help from his friends Agrippa and Salvidienus (who subsequently was made governor of Gaul and consul designate). Lucius Antonius was besieged at Perusia (mod. Perugia), and the so-called ìPerusine Warî ended in February of 40 B.C. with his surrender. To distance him from the political scene in Rome, Octavian then appointed Lucius Antonius as a promagistrate in Spain, where he seems to have died not long thereafter.
Though a limited engagement, the Perusine War had serious consequences to the relationship between Marc Antony and Octavian. The two men met at Brundisium in October of 40 B.C. to settle their differences so that each could get on with the business of conquering their own enemies.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: The aurei and denarii honoring Lucius Antoniusí consulship were struck at a mint moving in the East with his eldest brother, Marc Antony. Thus, it is likely that Lucius Antonius never handled one of the coins bearing his own portrait. Two issues were struck, both of which bear Marc Antonyís portrait on the obverse. One reverse type depicts Fortuna or Pietas and is inscribed PIETAS COS. The type is a.direct reference to Lucius Antonius because Pietas was his cognomen and because he held the consulship in 41 B.C. The other reverse type features a fine portrait of Lucius Antonius (in which the family resemblance is obvious) accompanied by his name and title as consul. Of great interest is the fact that Marc Antonyís series of 41 B.C. offers equal treatment to Octavian, thus virtually equating him to Lucius Antonius, even though Octavian was a Triumvir and Lucius Antonius was merely a consul.
FULVIA
THIRD WIFE OF MARC ANTONY
MOTHER OF MARCUS ANTONIUS JUNIOR
SISTER-IN-LAW OF GAIUS ANTONIUS AND LUCIUS ANTONIUS
Fulvia, d. 40 B.C. Of the four wives Marc Antony had, his third, Fulvia, was perhaps the most ambitious. She had a penchant for powerful men, and became active in the political intrigues of her husbands whenever the opportunity presented itself ó taking the leading role when possible. She bore five children, two of whom, Marcus Antonius Junior and Iullus Antonius, were by Marc Antony.
Her first marriage was to Publius Clodius Pulcher, one of the most powerful Roman aristocrats in the 50s B.C. He was the most formidable opponent of the First Triumvirate, and indeed, it was his death in the gang violence he so actively promoted that caused the senate house to be set ablaze, thus leading to Pompeyís reign as sole consul in 52 B.C.
She next married Gaius Scribonius Curio Junior, the son of the homonymous orator who helped Sulla besiege Athens, and who served as consul in 76 B.C. As for his son, Fulviaís second husband, he was a reckless but loyal lieutenant of Julius Caesar, fighting for him both in the political circles of Rome and on the battlefield. Indeed, it was Curio who made the proposal in 50 B.C. that Pompey and Caesar disarm simultaneously to prevent civil war. In the year following, Curio died fighting the Numidian king Juba I on behalf of Caesar.
Fulviaís subsequent life was no less turbulent. She married Marc Antony in 46 or 45 B.C., after he had established himself as the first man behind Julius Caesar. Ever active in politics, Fulvia is said to have found her true calling in 43 B.C. as the principal force behind the ruthless proscriptions issued by the Triumvirs (Caesareans).
She found another political cause in 41 B.C., the year her brother-in-law, Lucius Antonius, held the consulship. Since her husband was in the East settling political affairs and beginning an affair of the heart with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII, Fulvia and Lucius Antonius decided to advance his political standing by taking extreme actions of their own.
Much to her chagrin, the Triumvir Octavian had been given the thankless task of finding land upon which to settle some 100,000 veterans who were being discharged. This meant land had to be seized from 18 cities, providing Lucius Antonius and Fulvia a golden opportunity to discredit him. That Fulvia targeted Octavian comes as no surprise: not only was he the main political rival to her husband, but they had a longstanding feud from when a proposed marriage between Octavian and Claudia (Fulviaís daughter by Clodius, and thus Marc Antonyís step-daughter) was called off because of quarreling between Octavian and Fulvia.
Lucius Antonius persuaded the senate to give him the necessary permission in 41 B.C. to wage war on Octavian, who in response brought in legions from Spain and called upon his friends Agrippa and Salvidienus for additional help. Lucius Antonius retreated to Perusia (modern-day Perugia), where he awaited the legions from Gaul who were loyal to his brother However, the Gallic legions refused to move against Octavian unless the orders came directly from Marc Antony. The ìPerusian Warî ended in February of 40 B.C. with the surrender of Lucius Antonius, after which Fulvia fled to Greece, where she died later that year.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Fulviaís portrait in the guise of Nike (Victory) occurs on silver quinarii of Gaul, seemingly on Republican denarii of 42 B.C. (Cr. 494/40) and aurei of 41 B.C. (Cr.514/1), and on bronzes of Eumenia (in Phrygia), a city which was renamed Fulvia in her honor during the period of that coinage. Her regular bust also occurs on small bronzes of Tripolis, Syria.
MARCUS ANTONIUS JUNIOR
SON OF MARC ANTONY AND FULVIA
NEPHEW OF GAIUS ANTONIUS AND LUCIUS ANTONIUS
Marcus Antonius the Younger, c. 43ñ30 B.C. The eldest son of Marc Antony and his third wife, Fulvia (who died when he was about three years old), Marcus Antonius Junior was given the name ìAntyllusî by the Greeks. In 37 B.C., as part of the agreements reached by Marc Antony and Octavian at the Treaty of Tarentum, the boy was betrothed to the only daughter of Octavian, Julia, who then was about 3 years old. Since the boyís father was at that time married to Octavianís sister, the betrothal added a further dimension to the dynastic ties.
Because of his youth, little can be said of the boy or his accomplishments. Shortly after his father was roundly defeated at Actium in September of 31 B.C., Marc Antony had his son assume the toga virilis in the event the tide of events would miraculously change. According to Suetonius, after the downfall of his father and of Cleopatra VII early in 30 B.C., Marcus Antonius Junior, then about 13 years old, took refuge near an image of the god Julius (Caesar). Despite his pleas for mercy from Octavian, he was nonetheless executed on April 30, 30 B.C.
Marcus had a younger brother named Iullus Antonius who survived the aftermath of Actium, and was able to live a fuller, though no less tragic life. Iullus married Marcella, the niece of Augustus, in 21 B.C. By her he had a son of his own, named Lucius. Iullus was elected consul in 10 B.C., and seems to have been proconsul in Asia thereafter. Later he was convicted of adultery with Julia, the daughter of Augustus, and after this he committed suicide.
OCTAVIA
FOURTH WIFE OF MARC ANTONY
SISTER OF AUGUSTUS (OCTAVIAN)
GRAND-NIECE OF JULIUS CAESAR
MOTHER OF MARCELLUS (HEIR OF AUGUSTUS) AND ANTONIA (W. OF NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS)
MOTHER-IN-LAW OF , AGRIPPA, JULIA, NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS
AUNT OF JULIA
GRANDMOTHER OF GERMANICUS, CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA
GREAT-GRANDMOTHER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA, JULIA LIVILLA, CLAUDIA OCTAVIA, CLAUDIA ANTONIA, BRITANNICUS, LIVIA JULIA, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS AND GERMANICUS GEMELLUS
GREAT-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER (AND GREAT-GRANDMOTHER) OF NERO
Octavia (Minor), c. 70ñ11 B.C. Octavia, the elder sister of Octavian, was the only daughter of the nobleman Gaius Octavius and his wife Atia, who was a niece of Julius Caesar. While under any circumstance Octavia would have been an important woman in society, she was destined for greatness because of the accomplishments of her great-uncle Julius Caesar and her brother Octavian (Augustus).
Because her family connections were so complex and important, her biography reads somewhat like a laundry list of relatives. What should not be lost in all of this is the strength of her personality. Octavia was dearly loved by the Romans, who admired her humanity and her undying loyalty, even to those who betrayed her.
Octaviaís first husband was Gaius Claudius Marcellus (the consul of 50 B.C.), by whom she had two daughters and one son. Her son, Marcus Claudius Marcellus (see his biography in chapter 2), became an heir-apparent of his uncle Octavian (Augustus). One of the daughters from this marriage, Marcella, was married to Octavianís lieutenant Agrippa.
The year 23 B.C. was one tragic for both Octavia and Marcella, for Octaviaís eldest son, Marcellus, died, a blow from which his mother did not soon recover. It was equally difficult for Marcella, who not only lost her only sibling, but who two years later lost her husband, Agrippa, because he was forced to marry Octavianís daughter, Julia (who, ironically, had only been compelled to marry Agrippa because she been widowed by the death of Marcellus).
In the same year that her first husband died, 40 B.C., Octavia entered into a politically motivated marriage with the Triumvir Marc Antony, who had been married three times before and was her brotherís unwilling political colleague. Octavia spent the winters from 39 to 37 B.C. with Antony in Athens, and was instrumental in bringing about the Treaty of Tarentum in 37 B.C., through which the Triumvirate was renewed. Antonyís subsequent ill-treatment of Octavia contributed greatly to his discredit in the West.
The treaty itself had no beneficial effect for Octavia. Immediately after the treaty had been signed, Antony married Cleopatra VII in Antioch. Even when in 35 B.C. Octavia traveled to Greece laden with troops and supplies, Antony forbade her to proceed beyond Athens, and sent her back to Italy. In 32 B.C. (by which time Antony and Octavian were sworn enemies) their separation became a divorce.
Octavia had two daughters by Antony, both of whom were named Antonia, and thus are often distinguished by the appellations Major and Minor (older and younger). The elder Antonia, born in 39 B.C., married Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, grandfather of the emperor Nero (A.D. 54ñ68) was descended. The younger Antonia, born in 36 B.C., was the future wife of Nero Claudius Drusus (the younger son of Livia and the brother of Tiberius), by whom she had Germanicus, Claudius and Livilla.
Octavia was loyal both to Octavian and Antony, and often undertook grave responsibilities to aid them in their endeavors. She seems to have loved Antony dearly, for even after he had forbidden her to visit him in 36 B.C., she rejected her brotherís advice of 35 B.C. to leave him. Even after Antony divorced her in 32, Octavia became a willing parent to the three step-children (Alexander, Ptolemy and Cleopatra Selene, the future wife of Juba II) whom Antony and Cleopatra had sired.
NOTE: Octavia is often referred to as Octavia Minor, because she had an older half-sister from her fathers previous wife, Ancharia, who also was named Octavia (Major). Thus, Octavia Minor (whose biography is presented above) was a full sister of Octavian, whereas Octavia Major was a half-sister. Since Octavia Major did not figure prominently in Roman history, there is little reason to make the distinction in this book, and so Octavianís sister is simply referred to as Octavia.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Octaviaís portraits on coinage occur in all three metals, though only the silver is commonly found. The gold is represented by two Imperial portrait aurei: one of 40 B.C. which must celebrate her marriage to Antony, and another of 38 B.C., when they lived together for the summer in Athens. Her silver coinage, with the possible exception of a quinarius of Gaul, is exclusively eastern cistophori (three-denarius coins): one shows her bust jugate with Antony; the other places her small bust above a cista on the reverse. The bronze is all of provincial manufacture, and with the exception of a small bronze of Ephesus, is limited to the ìfleet coinageî series of Antony. The most interesting type in this series occurs on the 3-as piece (tressis), which shows the busts of Antony and Octavian jugate on the left, confronting Octaviaís bust on the right.
CLEOPATRA VII
QUEEN OF EGYPT, 51ñ30 B.C.
DAUGHTER OF PTOLEMY XII AULETES
COMPANION OF JULIUS CAESAR
FIFTH WIFE OF MARC ANTONY
MOTHER OF PTOLEMY XV (CALLED ëCAESARIONí), CLEOPATRA SELENE, ETC.
SISTER OF PTOLEMY XIII, PTOLEMY XIV, BERENICE IV AND ARSINÖE IV
Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, 69ñ30 B.C. When Ptolemy XII Auletes (ìthe flute-playerî) died in the spring of 51 B.C., the throne of Egypt was inherited by his 18-year-old daughter, Cleopatra VII, and her eldest brother, Ptolemy XIII, then about 12 years old. Cleopatra proved not only to be the last of the Macedonian (Lagid) rulers of Egypt, but also one of the most remarkable people in the history of the western world.
Cleopatra was perhaps Romeís most dangerous foe after Hannibal, for she nearly conquered Rome twice ó not by force of arms, but by the subtle art of seduction. She was a woman of remarkable courage, skill and intelligence, and was naturally gifted in business and politics. She was an excellent mathematician and was fluent in nine languages, Latin not being one of them. Her charm and ability cast a spell on two of Romeís legendary warlords, Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, which resulted in the survival of Egypt as a sovereign kingdom during the most turbulent period of Roman history.
Throughout Cleopatraís lifetime the political environment in Rome was unstable, so she tried to ally herself with the men she thought would be most willing to allow Egypt to keep its autonomy. She is said to have greatly admired Caesar, whom she considered her intellectual equal. However, she was constantly frustrated by Antonyís vulgarity, emotional instability and apparent lack of intelligence.
Cleopatra, who believed herself to be the New Isis, and was fluent in the local language, was deeply respectful of Egyptian culture. Consequently, this Macedonian queen was popular among her subjects throughout Egypt, but was disliked by much of the population of Alexandria. As such, it is truly remarkable that she was able to manage affairs in Egypt while at the same time adeptly handling the Romans.
About the time Cleopatra became queen, in 51 B.C., a serious drought began in Egypt that was to last for two years. In 50 B.C., at the height of this natural disaster, Cleopatra went to war with her brother-husband, Ptolemy XIII, with whom she shared power. By 48 B.C. at the latest, Cleopatra was expelled from Egypt, and with her sister Arsinoe IV, took refuge in Syria, a region that in the previous year had suffered from a Parthian invasion.
Times were equally tumultuous in the West, for the two most powerful warlords of Rome had declared war on each other in 49 B.C. Their dispute reached its climax on August 9, 48 B.C., when Julius Caesar defeated Pompey the Great at the Battle of Pharsalus in Greece. After the battle, Pompey fled to Egypt where, on September 28, the ministers of Ptolemy XIII murdered him as he was disembarking.
The victorious Julius Caesar was in direct pursuit of Pompey, and landed in Alexandria a few days later, on October 2, 48 B.C. With king Ptolemy XIII on the frontier preparing to fight his sister Cleopatra, Caesar took control of the palace, only later to receive the two quarrelsome siblings as his audience. Caesar was unimpressed by Ptolemy XIII and was captivated by Cleopatra, who had had the audacity to be smuggled into the meeting by being concealed in a rolled up carpet.
Thus began Caesarís effort to restore Cleopatra to the throne, which resulted in a small but exceptionally dangerous conflict known as the ìAlexandrian War.î Caesar soon found this to be treacherous work, and in February of 47 B.C. he even had to abandon his purple cloak and swim to safety. But there was also a romantic aspect amid all the danger, for the 52-year-old Caesar had taken the 21-year-old Cleopatra as his lover, with the affair seemingly resulting in the conception of a child.
The turning point in the war occurred on March 26, when Caesar and his legionnaires were rescued by forces led by Mithradates of Pergamum. His arrival was a godsend, and sent Ptolemy XIII into flight, during which the king drowned in the Nile. Caesar then installed Cleopatra on the throne, after which she married her 11-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIV, to maintain the Ptolemaic tradition. Having accomplished his task, Caesar and Cleopatra cruised the Nile for a few weeks, after which Caesar left to campaign against the Pontic king, Pharnaces II, and subsequently to settle various affairs in Syria and Asia Minor, North Africa and Spain.
In the meantime, Cleopatra remained in Egypt. On June 23, 47 B.C., she gave birth to Caesarion (Ptolemy XV), the boy who, we are told, was sired by Caesar. After Caesar returned to Rome late in July of 46 B.C., he summoned Cleopatra to join him. She and her entourage arrived in Rome in time to enjoy the celebrations in September and October of the four successive triumphs and the decade-long dictatorship Caesar had been awarded. Cleopatra stayed in Caesarís villa on the Tiber
Cleopatraís visit was a most unusual affair for the conservative Roman aristocracy, who found the whole affair to be exotic in the extreme. Cleopatraís demeanor, though stately, rubbed many the wrong way. The fact that she stayed in Caesarís villa on the Tiber, with her young brother-husband in company (not to mention the fact that she had borne Caesar a child), was sufficient to keep Rome buzzing with gossip for the entirety of Cleopatraís year-and-a-half stay.
Not surprisingly, Cleopatra departed Rome swiftly after Caesar was murdered in March, 44 B.C., and returned directly to Egypt. Upon landing, she promptly had her younger brother, Ptolemy XIV, murdered, so she could replace him as co-regent with her own 4-year-old son Caesarion, who she married in the Ptolemaic custom. Furthermore, Cleopatraís sister and potential rival, Arsinoe IV, was removed from Alexandrian politics, for Marc Antony, the top lieutenant of Caesar, appointed her regent of Cyprus in 44 B.C.
At long last, Cleopatra gained full control of her kingdom, and did not even have to concern herself with the needs of the Romans, who were occupied with their own political problems. The struggle between Republicans and Caesareans was settled at the Battle of Philippi in 42 B.C., at which the Caesareans emerged victorious, though a number of Republicans and Pomepeians remained renegades from Parthia in the east to Spain in the West.
In 41 B.C., Marc Antony met with Cleopatra in Tarsus. The two, no doubt, had dined together many times in the company of Caesar during the queenís residence in Rome. Though they were not very compatible personally, they shared political ambition, and one of the first things they agreed to do, for both of their best interests, was to execute Cleopatraís sister Arsinoe IV, who had been ruling Cyprus. Cleopatra lost a bitter enemy, Antony had one less loose end to contend with, and Rome recovered the strategically important island.
Antony determined to winter with Cleopatra in Egypt, and thus began the queenís second great affair with a noble Roman. During the course of his stay at Tarsus and Alexandria, Cleopatra was impregnated, which resulted in twins in 40 B.C. While Antony was in Egypt, a massive invasion of Syria was led by the Parthian prince Pacorus I, who was aided by the renegade commander Labienus. The invasion was devastating, and most of Asia Minor, Syria and the Levant were occupied through 39 B.C.
Despite the seriousness of the invasion, and the enjoyment of his stay in Egypt, Antony had equally urgent business in the West, where his brother, Lucius Antonius, and Octavian had gone to war (the ìPerusine War,î ending in February 40 B.C.). Antony left Egypt, perhaps promising to come back soon, but in fact not returning or even seeing Cleopatra for the next four years.
Antony arrived in Italy after the hostilities had ended, and met with Octavian at Brundisium in October of 40 B.C. to settle their differences. One result was that Antonyís lieutenant Ventidius was sent to oust Pacorus and Labienus from Asia, which he did with remarkable success in 39 and 38 B.C. Antony went east in 39 B.C., spending the winter of 38 to 37 B.C. in Athens with his new wife, Octavia (the sister of Octavian), and returned to the West in the spring of 37 B.C., where he renewed the Triumviral pact at Tarentum. Immediately after, Antony returned to the East, where, later in 37 B.C., he married Cleopatra at Antioch (despite the fact he was still married to Octavia). Though this marriage was not legally binding in Rome, it was a signal event by which Antony and Cleopatra hoped to join the fortunes of Rome and Egypt both at the present and, especially, in the future, after Octavian was eliminated.
In the next year, 36 B.C., Cleopatra gave birth to her third child by Antony, who had already embarked on his invasion of Parthia. The campaign was a complete disaster, ending in a disgraceful retreat and the need to ask for the help of Cleopatra in restoring his large, tattered army. It was at this point that Antony cut off all relations with Octavia, forbidding her even to visit him.
In the spring of 34 B.C., Antony led a vengeful invasion of Armenia, whose king, Artavasdes II, had switched his allegiance to the Parthians during the invasion of 36 B.C., triggering the disaster that followed. Upon returning to Alexandria, Antony celebrated his Armenian triumph. In this same year, Cleopatra made her famous ìDonations of Alexandria,î by which she allocated large parts of the East to her children. This alarmed the Romans, for it appeared as though Antony was allowing Cleopatra to give away Roman territory. Since Sextus Pompey and Lepidus had been eliminated, Antonyís only rival was Octavian. Antonyís poor treatment of Octavia, and his open cooperation with Cleopatra made a bad impression in the West and gave Octavian the ammunition he needed to discredit his rival. The Triumviral pact, which expired at the end of 33 B.C., was not renewed.
Cleopatra was firmly allied with Antony as they prepared for war. While this had its advantages, it also offended many soldiers and good commanders, who consequently defected to Octavian. Antony and Cleopatra spent the winter of 32 to 31 B.C. in Athens, preparing for the inevitable conflict. In 31 B.C., Octavian forcibly caused the consuls and senators loyal to Antony to flee to Greece, after which he formally declared war on Cleopatra.
The armies and navies of Antony and Octavian confronted near Actium on the west coast of Greece, and Octavianís commander, Agrippa, blockaded the camp of Antony and Octavian. The blockade was taking its toll by early September, so Antony and Cleopatra burst through and fled to Egypt with their separate fleets. Although Antonyís army and navy stayed to fight Octavian, they were roundly defeated. In a virtual repeat of Pharsalus 17 years before, Octavian pursued his vanquished foes to Egypt.
Though Cleopatra sailed directly for Egypt, Antony first visited Cyrene in hopes of gathering the four legions he had left under the command of his ally Scarpus, but this was in vain, for Scarpus could no longer be counted among his supporters. After returning to Egypt, Antony committed suicide in 30 B.C. shortly before Octavian landed.
Though her husband had lost his Empire and his life, Cleopatra, who was nearing 40 years old, did not give up hope. Indeed, she waited for Octavian to arrive, hoping to work out a new arrangement (and allegedly trying ineffectively to seduce him). But she realized that Octavian had only hostile intentions toward her, her family and toward her kingdom, which he turned into a province, and in the future declared to be the personal property of the emperor.
In her final act of chicanery, Cleopatra managed to commit suicide by the bite of an asp. Suetonius tells us that Octavian was so anxious to have Cleopatra as a trophy in his triumph that he enlisted Psyllian snake-charmers to suck the poison from her wound, but the effort failed. Octavian subsequently murdered Caesarion, Cleopatraís child by Julius Caesar, though her three children by Antony were allowed to live under the care of their step-mother, Octavia.
NUMISMATIC NOTE: Cleopatraís coinage was varied both in location of mint and in typology. Her earliest coins were billon tetradrachms of the standard Ptolemaic design that had been used for more than two centuries (bust of Ptolemy I/eagle standing); however, her coins were generally distinguished by a low silver content and a headdress of Isis before the eagleís legs on the reverse. Her most remarkable coins bear her easily recognizable but often unflattering portrait, which sometimes is paired with the bust of Marc Antony.
