Mark Antony: His 3 Greatest Accomplishments In Ancient Rome

Born	14th of January, 83 BC
Died	1st of August, 30 BC
Famous Quote	“My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar”
Known For	Fighting a war against Octavian for control of the Roman World, member of Second Triumvirate, governor of Egypt
Region of World	Rome, Italy, 1st century BC
Further Reading	Julius Caesar: The 3 Reasons He Is Famous Today

Mark Antony proved to be a vital person in helping shift ancient Rome from a republic to an Empire through his 3 major accomplishments. While we remember Octavian winning the war and becoming Augustus it could have gone either way; in another world it would be Mark Antony who would have become the first Emperor.

There are 3 great accomplishments of Market Antony. First, Mark Antony worked his way up to becoming the most powerful man in ancient Rome. Second, Antony managed to secure control over Ptolemaic Egypt. Third, Mark Antony was elected consul along with Julius Caesar and was selected to Govern Rome.

Mark Antony remains a fascinating figure for historians to study. His life provides several key looks at how the elite of Rome lived and behaved during the pivotal transition between Republic and Empire. Potential PhD students will find substantial material to build their dissertations upon.

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Without further ado, here are the 3 greatest accomplishments of Mark Antony in ancient Rome.

Mark Antony Worked His Way Up To Becoming The Most Powerful Man In Ancient Rome

One of the 3 greatest accomplishments of Mark Antony in ancient Rome was how he worked his way up to become the most powerful man in Rome.

At Mark Antony’s peak of power he controlled all Roman land from France to Syria. Octavian only controlled Spain. This gave Antony significant wealth and military power.

This feat was accomplished through several years of political maneuvering along with military prestige gained from being Julius Caesar’s top general.

Mark Antony would obtain his political prestige by allying himself with the faction of Julius Caesar. Here Antony would support Julius Caesar in Rome while Caesar was away by blocking proposed laws. Over time this made Antony’s political power grow considerably with the rise of Julius Caesar.

Further, Mark Antony was an accomplished military commander. Reports of Mark Antony’s tactical prowess is reported by Plutarch who mentions that Antony was Julius Caesar’s reason for winning most of his battles during the Roman Civil war with Pompey.

Because of this prestige in the Roman Senate and his powerful alliance with the Caesarian faction Mark Antony positioned himself to become the most powerful man in Rome after Julius Caesar.

After the passing of Caesar in 44 BC this left Antony as the most powerful man in Rome.

Today this remains one of the greatest accomplishments of Mark Antony in ancient Rome.

Antony Managed To Secure Control Over Ptolemaic Egypt

Another one of the greatest accomplishments of Mark Antony was his success in securing control over Ptolemaic Egypt.

Mark Antony would marry and bear a child with the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII. This allowed him to cement a lasting alliance with the most powerful of Rome’s client kingdoms.

This was a massive accomplishment for Mark Antony. The massive population of Rome had come to depend upon free grain from the Roman Senate. Nearly all of the city’s food came from one location, the Nile river basin in Egypt.

Mark Antony knew that obtaining control over Egypt would mean obtaining power over the grain allotment to the Roman people. This was Octavian’s power basis.

In order to gain control over Egypt however Mark Antony would need help. He found this in his wife Cleopatra. Through statues and monuments Cleopatra would present rhetoric to the Egyptians that Mark Antony was their Roman representative.

As a result of this control over Egypt Mark Antony would have become the richest man in the Republic. The only thing that stopped this was Octavian’s war with Antony to seize power.

However, this control over Egypt remains one of the 3 greatest accomplishments of Mark Antony in ancient Rome.

Mark Antony Was Elected Consul Along With Julius Caesar In 44 BC

One of the greatest accomplishments of Mark Antony was his election to the consulship along with Julius Caesar in 44 BC.

Even though both Mark Antony and Julius Caesar had often fought each other politically they remained close allies.

In 44 BC both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were elected to the consulship. This was symbolic of both the power of these two widely famous popularis politicians.

Julius Caesar was planning for an invasion of Parthia in the middle east. While on this military campaign Mark Antony would remain in Rome to have full control over the state.

This would have made Mark Antony during the time of Julius Caesar the second most powerful person in the entire Roman world. This was a massive accomplishment.

If Julius Caesar would have gone on his Parthian campaign history could have had Mark Antony becoming the Roman Emperor. He was sure ambitions enough.

Being elected to the consulship along with Julius Caesar in 44 BC remains one of the greatest accomplishments of Mark Antony in ancient Rome. Even today historians wonder what would have happened if Mark Antony would have gained full power over the Roman state.

Conclusion

There you have it, an entire article that goes over the 3 greatest accomplishments of Mark Antony in ancient Rome.

The story of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII would inspire later writer William Shakespeare to write his now world famous play Romeo and Juliet. Because of this, students of history should study the lives of the ancient Romans and their magnificent stories.

I hope you enjoyed this article. Here at The History Ace I strive to publish the best history articles on the internet. Feel free to sign up for the free newsletter and share around the internet.

Further, you can check out some of the other articles below. 

Sincerely,

Nick