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Mark Antony, or Marcus Antonius, to give him his proper name, was most famous for two reasons: One is his friendship with Julius Caesar and his revenge on the men who murdered Caesar; the other is his love affair with Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.
Mark Antony was born in about 83 B.C. and brought up by his stepfather Lentulus. When he was about 30 Antony joined Julius Caesar's army in Gaul. He became very fond of Caesar and supported him in everything, being forced on one occasion to flee from Rome because people disapproved of the way he used his power to help Caesar. In the year 44 B.C. Antony and Caesar were elected as consuls. At a festival before great crowds of the Roman people, Antony tried to make Caesar King of Rome, and offered him a crown. This made many Romans angry, they didn't want to return to the pre-Republic days of being ruled by king. Because of this Caesar was murdered.
Antony then tried to win for himself the power Caesar had had. He made a speech at the funeral and read Caesar's will to the people. However, Caesar had an heir — his great-nephew Octavian, who later became the Emperor Augustus. Antony and Octavian quarreled, but later joined together to fight an army commanded by Brutus and Cassius, who had led the plot to murder Caesar. Antony and Octavian defeated them at Philippi, in Greece, in 42 B.C.
After this, Antony went to the East, where he fell in love with Cleopatra and followed her to Egypt. In an attempt to forge a binding truce Octavian had Brutus marry Octavia, Octavian's sister.
However, the marriage was not a success, for Antony soon went back to Cleopatra. He lived with her in great luxury and splendor, not at all like a Roman. Octavian then sent an army against Antony. At the naval Battle of Actium, fought in 31 B.C., Antony's fleet was defeated. Antony escaped to Egypt with Cleopatra, where they later both committed suicide than hand themselves over to Octavian.
Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter (born circa 320 BC) was a Roman Republican Consul in the year 284 BC.He was either the son or the nephew of Quintus Caecilius, and the first in which the cognomen Metellus appears linked to the gentilic nomen Caecilius. He was the father of Lucius Caecilius Metellus.He led an army against the Senones led by Britomaris in the Battle of Arretium.There is some conflict as to the date of Metellus Denter's death, with some sources claiming he died as Consul in 284 BC in the Battle of Arretium, whereas others have him dying the year after, as Praetor, in the next battle against the Senones.The controversy lay in that it was not customary for a Proconsul to be elected Praetor in the year after his Consulship, especially if he had been defeated in battle.
Marcus Lollius Paulinus, was a Roman general, the first governor of Galatia (25 BC) and served as consul in 21 BC.In 16 BC as governor of Gaul he was defeated by German tribes who had crossed the Rhine (the Sicambri and Tencteri and Usipetes). This defeat is compared by Tacitus to the disaster of Publius Quinctilius Varus, but it was disgraceful rather than dangerous.Lollius was subsequently attached in the capacity of tutor and adviser to Gaius Caesar on his mission to the East (2 BC). Gaius was a son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder. His maternal grandparents were Augustus and his second wife Scribonia.According to Marcus Velleius Paterculus and Pliny, he was a hypocrite and cared for nothing but amassing wealth. Lollius was accused of extortion and treachery to the state, and denounced by Gaius to the Roman Emperor. To avoid punishment he is said to have taken poison.
Titus Didius was a Roman general and politician.He first held office in 103 BC as a Tribune of the Plebs.Two years later he was elected a Praetor. During this time he fought in Macedon, defeating the Scordisci and earning his first triumph upon his return in 100 BC. In 98 BC Didius was elected Consul alongside Q. Caecilius Metellus Nepos. Along with restoring the Villa Publica, he enacted a law which disallowed combining two unrelated proposals in one bill.After his term as consul, he was rewarded with the governorship of the province of Hispania Citerior, where he served from 97 BC to 93 BC.Nearly his entire proconsul term over Spain was spent at war with the Celtiberi. In the four years Didius governed Spain he achieved multiple victories and is said to have slain 20,000 Arevaci, quelled the rebellious city of Termes and successfully executed a nine month siege of Colenda, ending in the selling the city’s women and children as slaves.After concluding his service in Spain, Didius served as a legate in the Social War, under Lucius Julius Caesar in 90 BC, then Lucius Porcius Cato and Sulla in 89 BC. Shortly following a successful capture of Herculaneum, he died in battle June 11, 89 BC.
Gaius Antonius, younger son of Marcus Antonius the orator, and uncle of Mark Antony. He was a colleague of Cicero during the latter's praetorship (66 BC) and consulship (65). Appointed governor of Macedonia in 62, he returned to Rome in 59, when he was charged with implication in the Catiline conspiracy and extortion in his province. Defended by Cicero, he was condemned and went into exile. Recalled probably by Caesar, he was censor in 42 BC.
Side note: Mark Antony also had a brother named Gaius, Antonius who was the governor of Macedonia in 44 BC. In 43 he was taken prisoner by Marcus Junius Brutus, who put him to death in the following year.
Quintus Lutatius Catulus (c. 152-87 BC), Roman general, and consul with Marius, 102 BC.The following year the united armies of Catulus and Marius defeated the Cimbri, but Catulus's part in the victory was ignored.This led to resentment, and Catulus joined Sullar in the civil war. He was among those proscribed by Marius in 87 BC, and committed suicide.
Drusus Caesar (15 BC - AD 23), son of the Emperor Tiberius and Vipsania Agrippina. In AD 14 he quelled a mutiny of troops in Pannonia: was governor of Illyricum in 17; and in 21 received tribunicia potestas, which marked him out as heir to the throne.Sejanus seduced his wife Livia (daughter of Nero Claudius Drusus) and secured her co-operation in poisoning Drusus.
