The Second Triumvirate and the Birth of Empire

• After his murder, the friends of Caesar, especially his second-in-command Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) and Octavian, Caesar’s adopted son, rally against the assassins.

• Brutus and Cassius flee to Greece and raise an army of citizens “loyal to the Republic”.

• In 42 BC, at the Battle of Philippi, Antony and Octavian win easily. Brutus and Cassius commit suicide.

• Along with a minor politician, Marcus Lepidus, Antony and Octavian form a second triumvirate.

Antony OctavianLepidus

(Notice the hair?)

• Lepidus was involved in a scandal and went into exile in 36 BC.

• In the same year, Octavian won a battle against pirates led by Pompey’s son and gained great fame from it.

• Octavian gave his sister, Octavia, to Antony in marriage as a sign of friendship and political alliance. The marriage, like the alliance, did not last long.

• Antony and Octavian split all Roman territory in half—Antony took the east and Octavian the west.

• Antony divorced Octavia and moved to Egypt to marry his mistress, Cleopatra.

• Octavian, in a brilliant political move, turned public opinion against his rival.

• The entire political conflict came to a final decision in 31 BC off the coast of Actium, Greece.

• Antony’s Egyptian fleet was defeated. He and Cleopatra flee to Egypt and commit suicide.

• For the first time in almost 500 years, there is one man in charge of Rome and he is accepted by all as their savior from decades of civil war.

• The Roman Republic is dead. Power now and forever lies in the hands of one man.

• In 27 BC, the Senate grants Octavian the title “Augustus”, which means “the revered one”.

• He becomes a figure of hope and prosperity to all Romans, and solidifies the government and its territories under one, unified empire.

• Augustus eventually begins to call himself Imperator, which simply means “commander”. From this we get the word “emperor”.