Author Description

*Includes famous art depicting Antony and important people, places, and events in his life. *Discusses Antony's relationships with his most famous contemporaries, including Caesar, Cleopatra, Cicero and Octavian. "And when my own Mark AntonyAgainst young Caesar strove,And Rome's whole world was set in arms,The cause was,-all for love." - Robert Southey, All for Love A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' Legends of the Ancient World series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of antiquity's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. Mark Antony (83-50 B.C.) is one of the most unique and best known figures of antiquity, a man whose relationships with some of history's giants ensured his own legacy. A protégé of Julius Caesar's, a lover of Cleopatra's, a sworn enemy of Cicero's, and a foil for Octavian, Antony has long been remembered for the role he played in others' lives more than for his own accomplishments. Fittingly and ironically, Antony might be best remembered today for the words Shakespeare put in his mouth for Caesar's eulogy. While Antony's relationships with Rome's most famous leaders and history's most famous woman were central components in his lives, the fact that his legacy has been intertwined with them belies the fact that he was a powerful man in his own right. Coming up as a capable and competent military man who Caesar trusted as his right hand, Antony parlayed that into governing Rome itself while Caesar fought Pompey. After Caesar's assassination in 44 B.C., Antony deftly navigated from tenuous footing as a declared enemy of the state to become one of Rome's two most powerful leaders, arguably its most powerful, in just a matter of years, outmaneuvering and getting the best of enemies like Brutus and