In the last video, we followed Caesar's adopted
son and political heir Octavian as he returned to Rome fresh from his victory at Philippi. The city he came back to was one unfamiliar
to him, in the midst of a catastrophic economic depression and a famine. Casual, brutal violence gripped the entire
region. Over the next 6 years, Octavian made a series
of misguided decisions that deepened and prolonged the crisis, resulting perhaps hundreds of
thousands of additional deaths. But finally, with a run of good luck, he was
able to defeat the rebel Boat King Sextus Pompeius and seize control of Sicily, which
slowly began to ease the famine. The conflict brought Octavian to the very
edge of ruin, but peace brought with it popularity, and he emerged from the crisis as the unrivalled
leader of a unified Roman West. Antony's situation over this same period was
entirely different, as if it were taking place in a parallel universe. The Roman East relied heavily upon the cooperation
of local warlords and aristocrats, but over the last decade, Roman negligence had allowed
petty disputes between these groups to fester and grow. Trust was low, and by the time Antony got
there, the entire region felt like it was on the verge of being ripped apart by factionalism. After Philippi, Antony took a leisurely tour
through the Roman East, aiming to settle these disputes and meet with as many local leaders
as possible. In time, a message went out to Cleopatra,
Queen of Egypt, inviting her to come and meet with Antony in the city of Tarsus. Egypt was still an independent kingdom, although
that independence seemed to be hanging on a knife's edge. Up until very recently the country had been
compelled to play host to several Roman legions, and there was a concern within Egypt that
with the end of their civil war, the Romans might just decide to bring the legions back,
maybe permanently. Egypt under Cleopatra had to navigate an impossible
path. She had to assert Egypt's independence from
a position of relative weakness, but she couldn't do so in a way that provoked a Roman intervention. Cleopatra was well prepared for this moment. She had already placed informants inside Antony's
inner circle, who explained to her that Antony was extremely vain, easily influenced by flattery,
and not a skilled negotiator. This was enough for Cleopatra to formulate
a strategy. She set sail for Tarsus. When Cleopatra's royal barge appeared on the
horizon, the residents of Tarsus could not believe their eyes. The ship had been plated with gold, and was
being propelled through the water by a set of silver oars. The sails had been dyed purple, which we may
not find very impressive, but purple dye was so rare in the ancient world that it was literally
worth its weight in gold. Children dressed as Eros or Cupid, the god
of desire, crowded the deck of the ship surrounded by a flock of musicians playing flutes. At the centre of it all sat Cleopatra, reclined
under a golden canopy, dressed as Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. To the residents of the city of Tarsus, it
appeared as if the gods themselves had personally come to seek an audience with Antony. It was a flattering image, and exactly the
kind to which Antony was susceptible. Antony and Cleopatra spent the next 4 days
locked in "aggressive negotiations." The only thing that Antony really cared about
was Parthia. Caesar had been on the Parthian warpath at
the time of his death, and as far as Antony was concerned this was unfinished business. Also, it must be said that Antony wanted a
war. Caesar had shown that successful conquest
can be a platform from which one can seize power. Octavian had his war with Sextus in the west,
but that was nothing compared to Parthia. A victory here would outshine Octavian a hundredfold. There was no bigger prize. Even though Egypt was an independent kingdom,
Cleopatra agreed to help supply a future Roman campaign into Parthia. This was exactly what Antony wanted. But Cleopatra had some concerns of her own. Rome was holding several Egyptian political
prisoners, including Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe. Her sister had briefly sat on the Egyptian
throne, which made her a potential rival. A potential replacement. Rome was holding her for a reason. Cleopatra wanted her dead. Antony agreed. Cleopatra then invited Antony to come and
spend the winter in Alexandria. It was around this time that the two began
a romantic relationship. It's hard to know Cleopatra's precise motivations
because we can't be inside of her head, but it seems based on her actions that flattering
and perhaps even seducing Antony was all part of the plan. Military preparations for a Roman invasion
of Parthia continued all winter, and Antony made no attempt to conceal his plans. And so maybe it shouldn't have come as a surprise
when the Parthians launched a preemptive attack and invaded Syria in the spring of 40 B.C.E. Antony immediately abandoned his little Egyptian
vacation and went to Greece to raise additional legions. When he arrived, he learned that the man that
he had appointed governor in Syria had been captured and executed by the Parthians. In Greece, Antony began receiving regular
updates from the Roman West once more. The rebellion instigated by his brother Lucius
and his wife Fulvia had just ended in failure, which means that at their greatest moment
of peril, Antony had been hanging out with his girlfriend in a different country with
his phone turned off! Was this on purpose? Did he strategically make himself unreachable
at this time? Perhaps. Antony and Fulvia reunited in Greece, but
within a few months Fulvia fell ill, and died. We're told that she died of natural causes,
but we're also told that she "aggravated her illness deliberately," to which I say..."what?" Here's another data point. The moment that Fulvia fell ill, Antony had
just learned that Cleopatra gave birth to twins. We know that the couple thought that this
was an historic occasion because they would later name the children Alexander Helios and
Cleopatra Selene. The Sun and the Moon. It was at this pivotal moment that Fulvia
mysteriously fell ill and died. I'm not sayin' there was foul play, I'm just
sayin' that Antony definitely murdered his wife. Meanwhile, Antony received a letter from his
mother in Rome. She claimed that Sextus Pompeius had contacted
her, and wanted to form an alliance with Antony against Octavian. Antony replied noncommittally. Sextus must have found this answer a little
confusing, since Antony's wife and brother had just attempted to stage a coup. This decision to keep Sextus at arm's length
started looking like a mistake almost immediately, because when one of Antony's generals in Gaul
unexpectedly died, Octavian used the opportunity to move against him and seize control of 11
of his Gallic legions. Antony dropped his preparations for the Parthian
campaign at once, and departed for Italy with whatever strength he could muster. After a brief standoff, the two agreed to
re-split the Roman world. The Treaty of Brundisium gave Antony the east,
Octavian the west, and Lepidus the province of Africa. The idea behind this new arrangement was to
prevent future incidents like this by giving everybody clearly defined areas of influence. Antony was fine making these concessions. His entire focus was on the upcoming Parthian
campaign, The treaty was finalized with a marriage between
Antony and Octavian's sister. It's really a weird coincidence that this
alliance was only made possible by the untimely death of Antony's wife. Again, I'm not saying that Antony murdered
his wife, but he did do that and I am saying that and he should be in jail! Antony stuck around for a while and helped
Octavian negotiate a new deal with Sextus. When that wrapped up, Antony returned to Greece. In the mean time, the Parthians, facing minimal
opposition, had penetrated deep into Roman territory. After taking the province of Syria, they split
their invasion force and launched simultaneous attacks against Asia Minor to the north, and
Judea to the south, which was a semi-independent puppet kingdom under Roman influence. The southern offensive into Judea was personally
lead by the son of the Parthian king. The northern offensive into Asia Minor was
lead by none other than the son of Caesar's old right hand man Labienus. Antony's reorganization of the Roman East
left him deeply unpopular with some aristocrats, and so each Parthian army was able to pick
up local support as they advanced. While Antony was struggling to mobilize a
large-scale response, he placed a small advance force of maybe 2 legions under the command
of a general named Ventidius and sent him east to slow the son of Labienus down. With very little resources and an impossible
task ahead of him, Ventidius exceeded everybody's expectations. He occupied a narrow mountain pass called
the Cilician Gates, and provoked a Parthian attack. The superior Roman infantry held their ground,
and then attacked downhill, turning the Parthian army and securing a minor victory. But even more importantly, the son of Labienus
was captured during the confusion. Ventidius ordered him put to death. In one move, the northern Parthian advance
had been stopped in its tracks. In the aftermath, each side scrambled for
control of another key choke point called the Amanus Pass, but when Ventidius threw
all of his strength into it he won that battle as well. Ventidius's job had been to slow the Parthian
advance while Antony built his strength. But that wasn't what was happening. Ventidius was accidentally winning the entire
campaign. In two moves, the Parthians had been pushed
all the way back to Syria. Off to the south, the son of the Parthian
king heard about the collapse of the northern campaign, and pulled out of Judea. By the time Ventidius reached Syria he had
received some reinforcements from Antony. How many reinforcements? Hard to say. When did this happen? Also hard to say. The sources surrounding this incident are
bad! The two Parthian armies combined their forces
and advanced once more. The Romans awaited them at a site called Mount
Gindarus. In each of the two previous battles, as soon
as the Parthians were forced to confront the Roman infantry directly, they fled. Ventidius suspected that this might happen
a third time, and so he tricked the Parthians into believing that his little army had been
badly weakened, when in fact they had only been strengthened by reinforcements. As predicted, the Parthians pulled back when
they encountered the Roman infantry, but this time they ran straight into an ambush. The Parthian invaders were obliterated, and
the son of the Parthian king was killed. The Senate and People of Rome would later
reward Ventidius with a Triumph. Well deserved, in my opinion. Antony moved quickly to re-establish control
over the Roman East. He brought Judea back under Roman influence
by elevating a pro-Roman ruler named Herod and helping him purge Parthian sympathizers
from the kingdom. Around this time, Antony travelled back west
and offered to give Octavian some ships in exchange for some legions. We now fully understand why. Antony had just seen the Roman East overrun
by the Parthians, and as I covered in the last video, Octavian had his own problems
with the Boat King. Unfortunately for Antony, Octavian never got
around to sending his legions east. Or...let's just say that when he did get around
to sending his legions east, it was not in the way that Antony expected! Antony's long-awaited invasion of Parthia
finally came in 36 B.C.E. Antony had spent years thinking about how
to approach this campaign. The last Roman general to attempt an invasion
had been soundly defeated by the Parthian cavalry at the Battle of Carrhae. This defeat taught Antony a valuable lesson. Instead of pushing east, Antony would march
north and cut through Rome's ally Armenia. Antony's basic theory was that the open plains
of Mesopotamia made the Parthian cavalry virtually unstoppable. The hills and mountains of Armenia, on the
other hand, would be much more conducive to Roman infantry and their style of fighting. If the Parthians were foolish enough to throw
their cavalry against the mountains of Armenia, let 'em. If not, Antony could march east, and then
south, and then he would have a Roman army on the Persian Plateau, threatening the heart
of the Parthian Empire. I've gotta say...I don't hate this strategy! Say what you will about Antony, and I have
and I will, but he did the work of studying previous Roman defeats and actually learned
something. If Antony was going to march all the way into
the heart of the Parthian Empire, he would need Egypt's full support. Cleopatra had already promised to supply the
upcoming campaign, but Antony needed to be sure. He couldn't have the most powerful kingdom
in the region doing anything unexpected while he was thousands of kilometres away. Antony and Cleopatra got together and discussed
the future of Egypt. Rome would support Egypt acquiring a bunch
of new territory up the Mediterranean coast. From Antony's perspective, this would guarantee
Egyptian cooperation if the Parthians ever invaded again. From Cleopatra's perspective, this elevated
Egypt to its most powerful position in two centuries. Everybody was happy. Speaking of being happy, it was around this
time that Cleopatra became pregnant once more. With somewhere between 15 and 18 legions under
his command, Antony launched his invasion of Parthia. As planned, he marched north and cut through
the friendly kingdom of Armenia. The first phase of the campaign appears to
have been successful, because the Parthians in the Mesopotamian Lowlands were caught completely
flat-footed. As Antony advanced through the mountains of
Armenia, he knew that time was of the essence. For the sake of speed, he allowed the baggage
train to lag behind while the main army marched ahead. Eventually, they emerged into Parthian territory,
where he immediately laid siege to the city of Phraata. Just a side note, this was technically the
capital city of a separate kingdom called... oh boy...we're just gonna throw it away with
confidence... Media Atropatene which was closely aligned
with Parthia. This is not an important distinction since
every map I've seen just goes ahead and counts this as part of the Parthian Empire, but I
only mention it because Antony's objective here may have been to split Media Atropatene
away from Parthia and into the Roman sphere of influence. As Antony was settling into the siege of Phraata,
Roman supplies were still slowly snaking their way through the mountains of Armenia. With no warning, the Parthians attacked. But they didn't attack Antony, they attacked
the baggage train. A small military force under the command of
the Armenian king was quickly defeated, and the majority of Roman supplies were taken
or destroyed. And by Roman supplies I mean Cleopatra's supplies,
since Antony had asked her to back this entire campaign. Oopsie doopsie! All accounts of this event come to us through
pro-Antony sources, so it shouldn't be too surprising that they blame everybody except
Antony. There's an accusation made that the Armenian
king stabbed Antony in the back and tipped off the Parthians. There's also some talk that there may have
been a Parthian spy in Antony's inner circle. Maybe this is true, but the likeliest scenario
is that Antony simply miscalculated, and the Parthians pounced. Despite this early setback, Antony pressed
on. If they could win the siege of Phraata, all
of their supply problems would be solved. That's a polite way of saying that they would
loot the city. But city was better defended than Antony had
anticipated, and when the Parthians descended on Phraata and began conducting hit and run
attacks, it only made matters worse. The Romans had a hard time building and defending
siege equipment. Antony kept up the fight for as long as he
could, but he was up against the clock. At the last possible moment, he made the heartbreaking
decision to abandon the siege. He turned around and began the long march
back to Armenia. The idea had always been to spend the winter
in Parthian territory, nobody had planned for an early retreat. The Parthian cavalry harassed the Romans all
the way back to Armenia, impeding their progress and exhausting their soldiers. By the time they reached the mountains of
Armenia, the weather had begun to turn. Snowstorms slowed their progress even further,
and food rations were cut to a bare minimum. Antony tried to keep pushing forward, but
nobody had packed any winter clothing. Soldiers were forced to trudge through the
snow in their Mediterranean style sandals, with their bare legs exposed. Through all of this, persistent Parthian cavalry
raids forced the Romans to stop several times a day. By the time Antony limped all the way back
to Syria, he had lost between 25 and 50% of his army to starvation or the cold. The survivors no longer resembled soldiers,
they were disturbingly thin and dressed in rags, many having left their armour behind
in the snow. As soon as Antony was able, he sent a letter
to Cleopatra requesting money, food, and winter clothing. The survivors of the Parthian campaign then
huddled next to the coast, fearful that a Parthian counterattack was imminent. Antony also wrote to Octavian and the Roman
Senate, characterizing the Parthian campaign as a victory. I'll let you decide whether starving to death
on the side of a mountain counts as a victory. He ended by asking for those legions that
Octavian had promised him a year ago. Octavian gave him every excuse in the book,
the legions weren't ready, problems with recruitment, blah blah blah. It was around this time that Antony took to
heavy drinking. Despite having falsely claimed victory, Antony
spent the next year going around and propagating this story about how the Armenians stabbed
Rome in the back. In 34 B.C.E., he used this as pretext for
an invasion. Armenia didn't stand a chance, in no time
at all the Armenian king was captured and the war was over. This recrimination against Armenia stinks
of injured pride and a bruised ego. It also proves that Antony was not a particularly
deep political thinker. The king of Armenia had always favoured an
alliance with Rome, but his son was of a different mind, and favoured an alliance with Parthia. Well, within a couple of years, that's exactly
what happened. This drift toward Parthia left Rome in an
objectively worse geopolitical situation, but hey, at least Antony felt better. Back in Alexandria, Antony celebrated a Triumph,
and humiliated the Armenian king by using him as a centrepiece in the celebration. Unsurprisingly, the earlier defeat at the
hands of the Parthians was not mentioned. Some time after the Triumph, Antony orchestrated
a bizarre event known to history as The Donations of Alexandria. It took place in the Gymnasium of Alexandria,
which was a structure more than 200 meters in length, described by Strabo as the most
beautiful building in the city. Before a packed crowd, Antony and Cleopatra
sat upon thrones, dressed as gods. Antony addressed the crowd, and opened with
an shocking revelation. Years earlier, Caesar and Cleopatra had secretly
been married, which meant that Cleopatra's child Caesarian, now around 13 years old,
was in fact Caesar's legitimate heir. The problem with this claim is that it was
not true. No other source says anything about a secret
marriage, and even if it did, Caesar was already married, it would have been illegal. But Antony made the claim anyways! Why? Because elevating Caesarian served a strategic
purpose. Who would this hurt? Octavian, of course! We'll get around to Octavian's response later,
but for now Antony had more to say. He reaffirmed his support for Cleopatra and
Caesarian as the legitimate rulers of Egypt, and then went one step further and bestowed
new titles upon each of them. Queen of Kings for Cleopatra, and King of
Kings for Caesarian. These titles had a special significance in
the region, it put them up on the same level as the King of Parthia. Cleopatra was to oversee a vast expansion
of Egyptian territory, and preside over a group of lesser kings that would administer
their territory in her name. Some of these lesser kings were to be her
own children. Antony then turned to his son Alexander Helios,
now 5 or 6 years old. To Alexander, he conferred the following titles:
the King of Armenia, the King of Media, and the King of Parthia. Like I said, these titles were to be subordinate
to Egypt, and to Egypt's queen. If you were paying attention you might have
noticed that none of these titles were Antony's to give. Most of this territory was outside of Roman
influence, and even recently defeated Armenia had already gone ahead and selected a new
king. You might say that these titles were aspirational. To Cleopatra Selene, Alexander Helios's twin
sister, Antony granted a much more modest but realistic set of titles. Queen of Cyrenaica and Queen of Crete. Again, these would be subordinate to Cleopatra. While Cyrenaica and Crete weren't exactly
the greatest prizes, they did have the benefit of being territory that was actually under
Egypt's control. Antony and Cleopatra's two year old son, whom
they had named Ptolemy Philadelphus, received titles as well. Again, these would all be subordinate to the
ruler of Egypt. Ptolemy Philadelphus would become the King
of Syria, the King of Phoenicia, and the King of Cilicia. Don't get too thrown off by the title "King
of Syria," it seems that Antony's idea was for the King of Syria to provide a much needed
buffer between the Roman province of Syria and the rest of the world. People sometimes mischaracterize the Donations
of Alexandria as Antony giving away Roman territory, but that's not what happened here. Antony's goal was to fundamentally reorganize
the Roman East into a stable system of alliances that would hold up over generations. The Roman East was a relatively new concept. The first Roman tip-toes into Asia Minor began
only 100 years ago, and the Roman presence in places like Syria was only 30 years old. Regional stability relied on support from
allies like Thrace, Lycia, Galatia, Armenia, and Judea. But recent history had taught Antony that
this system sucked. These allies had no love for Rome, and at
first opportunity they switched sides like it was nothing. The constant threat of a Parthian invasion
meant that Rome couldn't really do anything about this, they just had to accept weak allied
support when they could get it. Antony's idea was to develop an interconnected
system of alliances using Egypt as a central hub. Distant territories like Armenia and Cyrenaica
and Cilicia would be linked together through their relationship with Egypt. The system would be self-policing. Opportunistically switching sides would mean
incurring the wrath of this expanded Egyptian Empire. In order for this system to work, all Rome
had to do was maintain a strong partnership with Egypt. So far so good with Cleopatra. Who was next in line after her? The son of Julius Caesar. A Roman on the Egyptian throne. You can agree or disagree with Antony's strategic
vision, but I wanted to make it clear that the idea was logically sound. I would argue that it was putting a lot of
eggs into one Egypt-sized basket, but that was Antony's decision. He wasn't losing his mind, and he wasn't turning
his back on the people of Rome. It was a real strategy, designed to provide
regional stability far into the future. But that wasn't how things were being characterized
in the west. When Antony submitted his plan to the Roman
Senate for their approval, Octavian threw a fit. His entire political identity was wrapped
up in being Caesar's only son and heir, and now Antony was claiming that Caesar had another
son on the Egyptian throne. It was a direct challenge to Octavian. At this time, Octavian had just recently defeated
Sextus Pompeius and recaptured Sicily. He was popular for the first time in his political
career. He decided to use that against Antony. At Octavian's direction, the Roman Senate
denied Antony's reorganization of the Roman East. This was a massive breach in their agreement. Antony was supposed to have a free hand to
do as he wished in the territory under his control. Now that was being taken away from him. Octavian then went to the people of Rome. He pretended to be outraged over the fact
that Antony staged a Roman Triumph on foreign soil. He used the incident as proof that Antony
had betrayed Rome and thrown in his lot with the Egyptians. He twisted the Donations of Alexandria to
fit this narrative, and told the people of Rome that Antony was setting up a dynasty
for himself at Rome's expense. But of course, that wasn't what Antony was
doing. He was trying to make the Roman East more
resilient. But the truth didn't matter. Maybe Octavian had always planned on turning
against Antony, or maybe the Caesarian thing spooked him into rethinking their relationship,
but either way, his goal was now to pick a fight. When the agreement between Antony and Octavian
came up for renewal in 33 B.C.E., both sides just let it expire. The Second Triumvirate was dead. Bad politics had allowed the combined military
might of the entire Roman Empire to fall into the hands of two people. It was only a matter of time before one began
to see the other as a direct threat to their power, and once that happened, a civil war
became inevitable. Speaking of being happy, it was around this
time that Antony (???) became pregnant once more? Whoops, that's not right! I don't think that happened!
