Roman Empire: New Wars Old Enemies Part Seventeen

In the spring of 36 BC, when Antony left for Parthia with 60,000 legionaires, to take long overdue revenge for Crassus's defeat in 53 BC, many of these republican diehards hoped that he would achieve a great triumph over the enemy and few doubted that he would and thus restore his predominance in the Triumvirate. Mark Antony did indeed announce victory of the Parthians in the autumn of that same year. Octavian kept up with his colleagues doings in the east. Communications were slow but a variety of individuals from businessmen to state officials wrote home with news and gossip. At this point in his life Octavian obviously had great power already but he was expected to keep the Senate informed and Mark Antony involved. Octavia was back in Rome while Antony was on his military campaign. Octavia was an intelligent and adoring mother, sister and wife, so she worked hard to not only be a good mother to her six children and stepchildren, but also to advocate Antony's interests and try to dull the sharp edges in relations between her husband and brother. Mark Antony also engaged in geopolitics in the east. In 40 BC, Parthian cavalry led by Pakur, the intelligent and capable son of King Urud had invaded the province of Syria killing the governor.

This invasion represented the greatest challenge since Mithridates of Pontus fifty years before to Roman hegemony. Antony realized that the client states that acted as a bulwark between the Parthians and Rome needed to be stronger. So Mark Antony created a new map, slicing up great territories for men he could count on. These men were all Greek speaking west Asians. Amyntas in Galatia, Polemo in Pontus, Archelaus-Sisiness in Cappadocia, and Herod in the tiny but very strategically important kingdom of Judea. If Antony was going to be responsible for the eastern part of the Roman empire he needed leaders steadfast enough to repel military stikes and powerful enough to react effectively to them. Still the royal figure that Antony placed his greatest trust in was Cleopatra in Egypt. The pair renewed their allegiance ( it would be wrong to think of it as a love affair at this point) when Antony was forty-five and Cleopatra thirty-three. The two came to a quick agreement about the future of their partnership (with equal speed Cleopatra became pregnant again). Egypt's resources would be at Antony's beck and call. In return for her letting Antony make use of Egypt's substantial resources Cleopatra received fittingly substantial territories. Among these were coastal cities from Mount Carmel )in the south of modern Lebanon), part of Cilicia(southeast modern Turkey), and other areas to the north and south of Judea.

Cleopatra had every reason to be greatly pleased with herself. She had made enormous strides towards rebuilding the Ptolemaic empire as it had been at the height of its power two centuries before. It is very important to note that in Rome at this time no one saw anything wrong with Antony's statecraft. His reorganization of the east showed great political forethought and made sense. Also, Antony appeared to be an able judge of the men best suited to lead the client kingdoms of Rome. Cleopatra was hardly what you would call well-liked by the Roman political class. But they had known her since the days of Julius Caesar and it was apparent she was a competent ruler. It mattered not a whit to mot that Antony had replaced Caesar as Cleopatra's lover. Octavian, however, had a much different view of the restored relations between the two. First of all it was an insult to his dear sister, Octavia. He also couldn't help but notice the semi-divine names that Antony's illegitimate children were given around this time: Alexander Helios (Greek "Sun") and Cleopatra Selene (Greek "Moon"). Due to their illegitimate status the children had no hereditary claims in either Rome or Egypt, but the new cognomens had to make one think about what was being planned for their future. An even greater embarrassment and possible threat to Octavian was growing up quickly in Egypt. Cleopatra's co-monarch, Ptolemy XV Caesar or Caesarion was the child of Julius Caesar.

He was now eleven years old and was the murdered "gods" real, not adoptive son. For a quick study like Octavian, he must have realized the implications of this down the road if Cleopatra and Antony should ever hatch some grand political scheme. Octavian, in this particular case, must have wished the Roman idea of marriage was not so unsentimental. This is not to say love didn't flower in many Roman marriages, but a Roman couple were almost always locked into a marriage of convenience(many times second or later marriages allowed for freer choice). The Romans had a largely unsentimental view of sexual relations, and romantic love, so glorified in later ages was rare. As for expressing feelings of affection in public and immoderate sexual activity, Marcus Porcius Cato the Censor (or Cato the Elder, father of the Cato that has already been mentioned on this blog) who lived in the second century BC, once expelled a man from the Senate for kissing his wife in public. A Roman man did not feel feelings of guilt about taking a different sexual partner and didn't feel bound to a particular sexual object of his desire. He would not have understood such modern terms as "heterosexuality" and "homosexuality", which put people in sexual groups. What the man did was what mattered, not what he was.

Some ancient sources reveal that it didn't matter whether the husband chose a young man or woman-as long as he did not play the "passive" or "receptive" role with another man. The previously mentioned poet Horace shows thoughts fairly common of his age: "When your organ is stiff, and a servant girl or a young boy from the household is near at hand and you know you can make an immediate assault, would you sooner burst with tension? Not me. I like sex to be there and easy to get." I find the word "assault" he used (or at least the way it translated) very interesting. For I can't imagine what the helpless servant girl or boy must have felt during these sessions where they were made, it would seem, less than human by their masters-simply objects to quench a desire-an object under ''assault." Besides the adulterer or fornicator only supposed to play the "active" role in sexual relations, their was a second rule that the men were supposed to only give their lustful attentions to non-citizens and slaves. Freeborn boys and women were supposed to be off-limits. There is a large amount of evidence that this custom was broken quite a few times.

The image is of Mark Antony's donations of territory to Cleopatra and his illegitimate children with her as of 34 BC. I hope to be back with more fairly soon. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!