Civil War

The Fall of the Roman Republic

The Aftermath of Caesar

We left off with the assassination of Caesar – Mark Antony had claimed the support of the Populares, those who had loved Caesar

He gave a passionate speech and stirred up a mob against the conspirators!

Flight & a New Alliance With most Romans up in arms

against them, the conspirators were forced to leave Rome and flee to Greece

Antony prepared to follow the assassins with an army

Gaius Octavius, now 20, returned to Rome after hearing that he had been named Caesar’s successor in his will, and raised an army to avenge his uncle/adoptive father

Flight & a New Alliance Despite some brief disagreements, Mark Antony and Gaius

Octavius had the same goals (at least for now).. Avenging Caesar

In 43 BCE (within a year of the murder), they had agreed to form an alliance. Antony, Octavius and his ally, Lepidus, created the Second Triumvirate – despite the opposition of the senate!

Antony even married Octavia, Octavius’ sister..

The Second Triumvirate

Created in 43 BCE, the Second Triumvirate, was, unlike the first, an official institution

A five year term was given to the three co-rulers, who had no other limits on their power

The next year, 42 BCE, Lepidus was left in control of Rome and Antony and Octavian set out for Greece to confront Marcus Brutus and the other conspirators!

By this time, Brutus and Cassius had taken over most of the Eastern provinces, including Greece, Macedonia and Syria

The Meeting at Philippi

• In October, 42 BCE, Antony and Octavian finally clashed with Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in Macedonia

• Each side is estimated to have had about 100,000 soldiers in battle

• The conspirators were hesitant to go into battle – they were more inclined to find a defensible position and try to cut off the triumvirs communication lines to Italy

The First Battle at Philippi

The first battle came on October 3rd. Antony, a more experienced general than Octavian, was able to storm Cassius’ camp – Cassius suffered 9,000 casuaties

Octavian fared less well. He was surprised by Brutus’ attack and his

army fled. They

suffered 18,000

casualties.

End of the First Battle

The First Battle was not decisive – a leader from each side could claim a victory

However, when Cassius (who had lost his conflict) climbed a hill to look around and see how his companion Brutus had fared, he couldn’t make out much due to all the dust.

He assumed that his side had suffered an all around defeat and he ordered his freedman to kill him so he wouldn’t be taken prisoner

The conflict clearly wasn’t finished, but Brutus was now alone, facing Antony and Octavian

The Second Battle at Philippi

After winning the first battle, Brutus wanted to delay as long as he could and hope to tire out Antony and Octavian

His soldiers, though, wanted to fight and end the battle, and Brutus was pushed to attack on October 23, 42 BCE

Aftermath of Philippi

Brutus’ attack on Antony and Octavian failed. Ranks broke and Octavian captured the gates to his camp

Brutus fled with a few surviving legions, but fearing capture or death, he committed suicide

Many other notable figures committed suicide as well, but a large number of the survivors negotiated peace with Antony and entered his army

Antony stayed in the East, while Octavian was sent back to Rome soon after the battle

Division of Provinces

In 40 BCE, Antony, Octavian and Lepidus formally divided up the provinces they would be responsible for governing

Lepidus had very little say at this point – he was given only Africa

Antony kept control of the East – Greece, Macedonia, Syria & Asia

Octavian got control of the West – Italy, Gaul and Hispania

Octavian & Lepidus In the West, Octavian had to deal with Sextus

Pompeius, the surviving son of Pompey Sextus had taken control of Sicily and was engaging

in piracy – endangering the transport of Egyptian grain to Europe

Lepidus defeated Sextus in Sicily in 36 BCE, and ignored the fact that Octavian had declared that surrender would not be allowed (he was still avenging Caesar in his mind)

Angry about Lepidus’ decision, Octavian bribed Lepidus’ army to desert and join him. This took away the little political and military power Lepidus had

Antony in the East Antony was campaigning in the East against the Parthians during this

time. He met with Cleopatra, supposedly to determine her loyalties Cleopatra charmed him and he spent the winter of 41-40 BCE with her

in Egypt – she soon had two children with him Eventually, he had an Egyptian marriage with her, and a third child

(even though he was already married in Rome to Octavia, Octavian’s sister!)

Rome turns against Antony In 34 BCE, Antony did more to anger Octavian and Rome than just

taking up with the Egyptian queen He divided up almost all of the Roman East among Cleopatra and

their children Antony made his children with Cleopatra rulers of Libya, Armenia,

Parthia, & Syria He also named Caesarion Caesar’s legitimate son and heir – this threatened Octavian personally,

since he claimed power largelythrough being Caesar’s adopted son and heir!

Rome turns against Antony Then, in 32 BCE, Antony formally divorced and

deserted Octavia, Octavian’s sister – this was yet another big personal blow to Octavian, his former ally

Then, a document was discovered in which Antony asked to be buried in Alexandria – making the Romans feel like he had chosen to be Egyptian instead of Roman

Octavian and Antony ended up in a big propaganda war. Antony was accused of starting wars without approval, distributing lands that weren’t his to give, and being completely in Cleopatra’s control

The Last Civil War Begins

In 32 BCE, the senate took away Antony’s powers as a triumvir and declared war on Cleopatra, who was blamed for most of what had gone wrong with Antony

About a third of the senate left to side with Antony and Cleopatra, the rest stayed with Octavian

After several skirmishes, the final confrontation between Antony and Octavian would take place in September 31 BCE at Actium

The Battle of Actium

• Antony had 230 very large ships heading away from Greece toward the open sea. Octavian and his general Marcus Agrippa drew up against him with much smaller ships, but manned with more experienced and fresh rowers and soldiers

• Cleopatra’s fleet was supposed to be backing Antony’s up, but when she saw the battle turning against him she retreated to open sea and waited.

• Antony managed to escape with a few ships and join Cleopatra

• Octavian captured and sank every one of Antony’s ships left behind

Aftermath of Actium

After Antony’s crushing defeat, most of the rest of his army deserted

Octavian slowly followed Antony and Cleopatra back to Egypt, stopping to make sure the Roman governors and leaders in the East would accept him as the victor and leader of Rome

In 30 BCE he met Antony in battle outside Alexandria and before Antony could be captured, he committed suicide – believing that Cleopatra herself had already been captured or killed

Octavian Grows Stronger Within a couple of weeks, Cleopatra had killed herself as

well Octavian also had Caesarion killed later that year, to

prevent him from ever making a claim to be Caesar’s real son and heir

Over the next couple of years, Octavian replaced the governors of the frontier provinces (where most troops were stationed) with men loyal to him. He also purged the senate of those who didn’t support him

Although he left the Republican institutions (senate, consuls, tribunes, etc) untouched, he had gathered all the real power in Rome to himself

The Fall of the Republic It seemed that the people were

so tired of civil war by this point that they were ready to give up republican rule by the senate and people’s assembly for the security of one strong ruler

By 27 BCE, the republic had ended. Octavian made a show of offering back to the senate all the power he had gained and they refused, giving him the title “Augustus” = revered one.

He also took the titles princeps (first citizen) and imperator (a victorious military commander) – He had officially become emperor, ending the Roman Republic!