Marcus Antonius-Caesar's Successor?

"Friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your ears...I come to bury Caesar not to praise him." So begins one of the greatest interpretations of the speech (here Marlon Brando plays Anthony in Shakespeare's play) that put Marcus Antonius (Mark Anthony) on the road to joint rulership of Rome. With his moving speech, and control of Julius' legions, and after a brief conflict, he and Caesar's adopted son, Octavian, quickly seized control of the Roman Government.

After destroying their many enemies, Antonius and Octavian ruled Rome together. Coins were even minted with both their images to show how united they and the Empire were. Antonius even went so far as to marry Octavian's sister Octavia.

But peace was not to be. After taking control of the Eastern half of the Empire, Antonius fell under the spell of Cleopatra VII. They soon married, a great insult to Octavius, the people of Rome and Octavia. The couple had several children and proclaimed themselves living gods on Earth (on his coins Antonius called himself Amen the sun god, while Cleopatra VII was proclaimed the goddess Isis). Only one action could meet such disregard for Roman traditions and the dire threat to the Empire Antonius and his foreign queen posed, WAR!

The war was basically settled with the overwhelming victory

by Octavian’s forces at the sea battle of Actium on the second of September, 31 BCE. The inspired leadership of Octavian’s General, Marcus Agrippa, was key to the victory. With their defeat, and no other options available, Cleopatra VII and Marcus Antonius chose death by suicide rather than to be captured by Octavian’s forces. With his victory, and the deaths of Cleopatra VII, Caesarion and Marcus Antonius, Octavian became the sole ruler of the Roman World. He would soon earn a new name from the grateful people of Rome-Augustus.

Aqueducts-the Water of Life

The Roman aqueduct system was one of the greatest of the Roman engineering feats. Every city in the Empire needed an adequate water supply, if nature did not provide local sources than Roman engineers used aqueducts to solve the problem. The Segovia Aqueduct still suppled water to the city in the 19th century.

The Pont du Gard in France is an excellent example of the skills of the Roman engineers.

A multi-tiered system guaranteed that water would flow to the most vital aspects of a city's water system first (drinking, bathing, toilets). The upper tier was for less necessary water usage (private homes, gardens etc.). In time of drought the water was diverted from the upper tiers to only the lower until the crisis abated.

Rome itself was served by seven great aqueducts. Each serviced the needs of the cities million inhabitants. The great baths, public fountains, toilets, and sewers all relied on the millions of gallons of fresh water the aqueducts brought to the city every day.

The Divine Julius-Last "Dictator" of Rome

After conquering Gaul, and invading both Britannia and Germania for fame and tribute, Julius Caesar turned his eyes towards the true prize-Rome. Crossing the Rubicon River with his

 army was a direct challenge to the power of the Senate, and his former ally, Pompey Magnus. Pompey Magnus (Pompey the Great) had been a successful general with powerful allies in the Senate. He had also been Caesar's friend, ally and son-in-law. That all changed with the death of his wife, Julia, in childbirth. Now there was to be only war between Julius and Pompey. The winner would be the undisputed ruler of the "Republic" of Rome and her Empire. After a short but bloody civil war, the winner was Julius Caesar. Julius then set out remaking the Roman Government with the popular support of the army and the common citizens. He was proclaimed "Dictator for Life" by a happy populace. This angered the powerful Senators who feared that in all but name Julius Caesar would be "King of Rome." 

No king had ruled in Rome since the founding of the Republic centuries before and the Senate would not allow a king by any name to rule Rome! The solution was clear-the only way to remove a "Dictator for Life"-give him death. Julius died at the hands of the Senators and at the feet of the statue to Pompey Magnus dedicated when the latter was the hero of Rome. In the end Caesar defeated even death in the eyes of his people. So popular was his memory and family that his killers were hunted and destroyed and Julius Caesar was proclaimed "Divine." Temples were dedicated to the god Julius by the people of Rome. His adopted son Octavian would not repeat the mistake of becoming Dictator for Life, he would take a new title-Imperator (Emperor).

Cleopatra VII-Caesar's Bane

Julius Caesar and Cleopatra VII, queen of the Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, are the true stuff of legends, as countless Hollywood and television productions (here the 1950's, Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh version) have told their audiences.

Cleopatra VII is always beautiful, seductive and ruthless in these versions (Liz Taylor is this movie reincarnation). In reality Cleopatra did have a way of turning men into her willing aides. Julius was very smitten with her to the point of ignoring his wife and Roman traditions dealing with relationships with non-Roman women. When she claimed her child, Caesarion, was in fact the son of Caesar many of Rome's Patrician Senators were disgusted. This alienated more Senators from Caesar and added fuel to the fire that Caesar was no longer a true Republican of Rome. It was feared Caesar would marry the Queen of Egypt-that would make him a "King," the type of ruler the Senators most despised. The loss of Senate support was to have fatal consequences for Julius.

The actual Cleopatra VII was uncommonly pretty in her youth according to most sources and the limited physical evidence such as statues and wall carvings. She did use all her abilities, including her body, to attain her goals; the rulership of Egypt and maintaining Egypt's power in the Ancient World.

But after multiple children, the stress of leadership (including a civil war, murdering at least two brothers two sisters and consistent hostilities with Rome) and age began to tell. Her visage on coins of the time show her as much more "mature" queen.

Cleopatra VII was the last independent ruler of Egypt until the mid-20th century. Her attempts to keep Egypt independent of Rome through her very personal relationships with, first Julius Caesar and later Mark Anthony, were in the end futile and lead to her death and the fall of her kingdom to Octavian and the Romans in 30 BCE.

All Roads Lead to Rome

The Romans were the greatest road builders of the Ancient World. Built to move the Army quickly to areas of need and transport goods at rates of more than twenty mile per day, roads tied the Empire together.

Building the base of the road was a fine science that included a strong foundation with proper drainage. The roads were so well constructed that many are sections are still in use today.

The standard road was 1 meter thick and 2.4 meters wide(up to 5 meters on turns and other special situations). and as straight as possible.

Up to 50,000 miles of paved road crisscrossed the Empire. It was not until the mid 20th century that any country on Earth passed this amount (the US with the construction of the interstate highway and street paving for automobiles).

Heavily used roads often showed the damage caused by iron clad chariot and wagon wheels.

Roman Days of the Week

Saturday-Saturni Dies-Day of the god Saturn
Sunday-Dies Solis-Day of the Sun
Monday*-Monandaeg-Moon Day
Tuesday*-Tiwesdaeg-Day of Tyr (war god)
Wednesday*-Wodnesdaeg-Day of Woden chief of the gods)
Thursday*-Thorsdagr-Day of Thor (thunder god)
Friday*-Frigedaeg-Friggs Day (Woden’s wife)

*these days were named to honor the Germanic/Norwegian gods

As with the months of the year, we owe the names of our week days to the Roman and the German Barbarian gods.

The Roman Legion

Marching from their fortified camps, the Roman Army Legions battled the enemies of the Empire for more than six centuries.

The basic fighting unit of the Roman Army, the legion, held from 5000 to 6000 legionnaires. The standing army normally had between 28 and 33 legions for a strength of around 150,000 legionnaires and up to an additional 300,000 auxiliary troops. At its greatest height the entire Roman Army numbered over half a million soldiers. 
In addition to fighting, Legionnaires were expected to assist in the construction of both temporary daily fortified camps and more permanent government projects such as roads, walls and aqueducts.  Besides their traditional infantry soldiers, every legion included trained specialists, such as surgeons, engineers, surveyors, bookkeepers, and craftsmen (blacksmiths, carpenters, farriers and the like). Due to their specialized duties these men were exempt from normal camp and hard labor duties.

Centurions (leader of a century-eighty legionnaires) were the officers that ran the fighting machine that was the legion. Each legion would have sixty of these indispensable officers.

Every legion was numbered and given a name such as Legion XIII-Gemini or II Augustus

The Aquilifer carried the legions Eagle-the sacred symbol of the Roman Legion.

Roman legionnaires carried two weapons for melee (hand to hand combat) the "Gladius" and the "Pilum." The Gladius Hispaniensis, or Sword of Spain, was the true killing weapon of the Roman soldier. Each legionnaire was brutally trained to ruthlessly plunge the 60cm blade into the vitals of the enemies of Rome.

The pilum was a heavy throwing javelin that Roman soldiers would throw into the enemy at point blank range. Specially designed to bend upon impact, the pilum was both difficult to remove from a shield or wounded warrior it also could not be reused against the Romans by an enemy.

Every legion was equipped with an artillery unit armed with catapults and the deadly Scorpion ballista. The latter could kill individual targets at ranges up to 300m.

The legionnaires of the Roman Legions were paid a yearly salary and were the world's first true professional soldiers. Each soldier served twenty to twenty-five years before retirement. Upon retirement, each soldier received a cash payment and a plot of farm land, often in a frontier province to help "Romanize" the territory. While the legions remained strong the Empire was secure.