Transcript of the college class lecture „The Roman Empire“ in 2003, University of Minnesota, USA

[Prof. Saramotti speaking]

Alright, welcome back from our break. Let’s continue right ahead – we have little time left.

The year 38 BC started with difficulties for Octavian. Marc Anthony’s brother Quintus had become one of the two consuls and started to act against Octavian, trying to gain his power. Octavian wasn’t too flattered about a rival trying to humiliate a triumvir and after turmoil broke out in Rome once again, the young Caesar brought his troops to Rome. Marc Anthony was actually pretty angered that one of his siblings operated against his legal political partner. Octavian chased Quintus to the town Luca with Anthony’s blessings and there he laid siege against him. In May it became clear that Quintus had overstretched his authority and he had no chance of winning against Octavian’s legion, so he eventually committed suicide. Ancient historians portrait Quintus as a tragic figure who tried to set a warning for his brother against the ruthless Octavian. I personally believe that they just wanted to add some tension to the events. Quintus was just as ruthless and opportunistic as his brother or his enemy Octavian. He gambled that he could defeat Octavian and replace him, making himself and his brother Marc Anthony the sole rulers of the Roman Republic. But Quintus lost and Octavian emerged ever more powerful out of the conflict.
While Octavian defeated Quintus, Marc Anthony married Cleopatra in a large ceremony in Alexandria. We will talk about Cleopatra a little bit later. After the marriage Marc Anthony immediately returned to Rome once again, after hearing numerous reports that Octavian was building a large naval fleet that could threaten his superiority at sea. In July the two triumvirs met in Tarent. Octavian took the initiative and immediately proposed a joint disarmament. Of course Octavian wasn’t after a permanent peace settlement, but tried to use the effects of propaganda to his cause. Octavian was trying to get the people of Rome behind him, after all he was still rather unpopular with the masses. Nevertheless Marc Anthony agreed, announcing that he planned another campaign against the Parthians that would continue where Caesars sudden death had put a stop. For Anthony the backing in Tarent was important because he could take additional troops from Greece to the east. For Octavian this conference was a huge propaganda effort, he returned to Rome and was cheered as the new peace saviour who had prevented civil war. Of course much of this image was staged by Octavian, but for now it did the trick.
And indeed after the conference the situation seemed to stabilise. Octavian was gaining more support; Anthony had the powerful riches of the east at his disposal and an army ready to invade Parthia.
And in 37 BC Anthony did start his campaign. After immediate smaller victories he marched into the Parthian lands and met the enemy army at Dabane on the forth of May.

The battle of Dabane - 37 BC


Anthony's army facing the Parthians.
Anthony had brought strong cavallry from Gaul to counter the Parthian Cataphracts.




Syrian elite archers firing at the enemy.


The left flank saw a massive Parthian cavalry build up.


Parthian archers getting into position.


The Roman auxiliary troops had become uneasy over the massive cavarly build up.


Anthony did not attack the enemy line and gave away the initiative to the enemy.


The feared Cataphracts punching against the Roman main line.


Roman elite troops getting ready to support the centre of the battle.


The Cataphracts are doing the trick; the center of the Roman line is getting completley pierced through.


Meanwhile the right flank saw a massive Parthian charge and the defense broke away. The right flank was completley open.


Anthony realises that he has lost the battle and orders to withdraw.


Anthony did not wait with his troops to withdraw, but rode away leaving his troops to die.





The rest of the Roman army is cut down by the Parthians.


The Roman eagle shortly before it gets into Parthian hands.


The battle of Dabane is lost.

The loss at Dabane changed the political course of Anthony. He returned to Alexandria and despite his loss he celebrated a Roman triumph in the Egyptian city. The message to the masses was that Anthony had prevented another Parthian invasion.
The curious thing about this triumph was that both he and his wife Cleopatra were dressed as the old Egyptian gods Isis and Osiris. All of the sudden Anthony started to embrace ancient, let’s call it un-roman, traditions and install his reign in the form of a Hellenistic monarchy. His first son was given the Name of Caesarion with the title King of Kings to underline the defacto heritage of Caesar. If that was not enough to anger Octavian Anthony also pronounced that he received an oracle which told him that the two parts of the Roman Empire would soon re-unite.
Now it’s really hard to judge for us historian what really happened here. Before Dabane we have an able, intelligent and charismatic Anthony and after his loss he suddenly falls for weird customs that provoke Octavian to the limits. What is wrong here? Let’s not forget that the sources we have were written after Octavian won the last civil war so it should be obvious that there is a lot of anti-Anthony propaganda added to it. But as historians we have to subtract the propaganda details, and if we do that we still see that Anthony was embracing an eastern Hellenistic monarchy and it was obvious that Cleopatra influenced him.

Anyway, how did Octavian react to this? He set for total confrontation by exiling about a hundred Senators out of Rome who supported Anthony. Then he did something unheard of, he forced the Vestalines to publish Anthony’s last-will. This text actually only said that Anthony wished to be buried next to Cleopatra in Alexandria and that Caesarion was his sole successor. But rumour had it, partly staged by Octavian’s propaganda, that Anthony planned to make Cleopatra the queen of Rome and that their sons would get large portions of the east. While these rumours may sound absurd to us, it did the trick with the masses. In a rare event for antiquity there was something like a national outrage against Anthony.
This enabled Octavian to rise to supreme power, he was elected as a consul sine collega, which means that he would become sole consul. The young Caesar now set all flags for war. And with the first January 36 BC Octavian had become consul and dictator, gathering troops all over Italy. In the meanwhile Anthony and Cleopatra had arrived in Greece preparing their side for the upcoming civil war. All over the year both sides gathered large masses of troops and set their fleets to patrol the sea. It became clear that Octavian’s troops where not ready for battle yet so he extended his consul- and dictatorship for another year without anyone objecting it.
In 35 BC it finally came to it. In the most ancient tradition Octavian declared war against Cleopatra – notably not against Anthony – by throwing a spear against her fictional territory in the Temple of the war goddess Bellona. He let all Italy swear an oath to his person. We do not know the exact oath but in his auto-biography he tells us: iuravit in mea verba tota Italia – which means “all of Italy swore an oath of allegiance to me.”

Alright people, looks like we ran out of time already. Prepare for next week, we got the high noon grand finale of the civil war upon us, so don’t miss out on that one. See you all next week.