#marc antony

[theantonian]

This Antony art from Total War: Rome II is so sexy, so manly! I am obsessed!

[theantonian]

Cleopatra Sails Ashore To Meet Antony, circa 1900

First official meeting of Antony and Cleopatra, shown in a painting by Gustave Wertheim. Antony and his men wait on shore as the royal Cleopatra arrives with her attendants on a boat. Water nymphs frolic, blessing their meeting.

Here is the colored version.

[incorrectlooneytunesquotes]

They've taken Porky Marc Anthony! Come on, you're gonna be my butthound!

Daffy Duck to Marc Anthony

[theantonian]

Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Funeral Bier of Julius Caesar, 1878

oil on canvas

Lionel Noel Royer

[theantonian]

18th century copperplate engraving of Cleopatra erotically stimulating Mark Antony

Mark Antony sits on a couch or chair. Next to him Cleopatra gives him a handjob while drinking deeply from a kylix during a banquet. Two female attendants or handmaidens flank the couple. One on the left stands near a small basin or tripod table, holding a cloth or vessel, while the one on the right stands behind the seating arrangement, observing or assisting.

From Pierre-Francois d'Hancarville’s Monumens de la Vie Privee des Douze Cesars, Chez Sabellus (Monuments of the Private Lives of 12 Caesars) 1780.

[theantonian]

what got you into antony? when did you realise you loved him?

Hi, ​I don't know if anyone here remembers a digital encyclopedia from Microsoft called Encarta. I was just browsing random history topics as a child when I stumbled upon the entry for Antony. There were only three paragraphs about him, not much to go by, but what struck me most was the reason and manner of his death: "Receiving a false report of Cleopatra's death, he committed suicide by falling on his sword." At the time, I had no idea what "falling on one's sword" actually meant. I could only understand that he did it for Cleopatra. Since we didn't have internet back then, I couldn't look up any more information.

​Some years later, I found a copy of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra in my school library and remembered he was the man I had read about. I read the play and was immediately smitten. I needed to learn more. I borrowed my mother’s Nokia phone, purchased some data, and searched "Mark Antony." I found his Wikipedia page and read everything. It made me so sad that such a heroic man lost everything for love.

​That was the extent of my knowledge for a few years until I got into college and had permanent internet access. I finally found Plutarch's Life of Antony and was stunned by how he twisted everything into negativity. For example, even Antony's preference for the Asiatic style of oratory was warped to mean he was boastful and arrogant. He was framed as a weak man destroyed by wine and desire, while Octavian was painted as the perfect Roman!

​I ignored Plutarch's moralizing and just read the facts. I saw a man who was brave, loyal, generous, open-minded, and noble, the most masculine of men. Everything I loved in a man was in him. I couldn't stop crying when I read about him being pulled up by ropes into Cleopatra's mausoleum because she wouldn't open the gates. It felt like she cared nothing for him, even as he was dying an agonizing death and his last wish was just to see her. With his dying breath, he asked her to survive if possible, yet she still seemed cold. She tried to negotiate with Octavian and disparaged Antony in front of him. I hated her so much for that.

​As I continued to read other primary sources and books by modern historians, I realized I might have been wrong about her. She, too, was destroyed by Octavian's propaganda machine. I studied everything I could find about him to the point that I couldn't read or even think about anything else. I was desperate to meet him or see him, even if only for a moment and I still am. I feel like I would have done anything for his victory. Slowly, I realized that I don't just admire him; I love and worship him.

Thanks for the question and I apologize for a long reply.

[theantonian]

I never liked men with a beard. But this bearded look of Antony made me fall in love with him again. He looks so hot! He is irresistible!

I wish I could have him painted from this look.

[theantonian]

Mark Antony's Gladiators

In the city of Cyzicus in Asia Minor, there was a large gladiator school. Around the time of the Battle of Actium, the gladiators were training for victory games that were expected to celebrate Antony's defeat of Octavian.

When news arrived that Antony had fled to Egypt after the battle, they were shocked and confused. However, they still remained loyal to him. They decided to march all the way to Alexandria so they could offer their services to Antony and fight for him.

During the winter, they reached Galatia, but King Amyntas who had been restored to power by Octavian blocked their path and fought them repeatedly. The gladiators eventually forced their way through Galatia and entered Cilicia, where they again had to battle their enemies as they continued eastward.

In the spring, they reached Syria and sent messengers to Antony. They begged him to come to them and allow them to serve as his bodyguards. However, Octavian's governor in Syria intercepted the messengers, and Antony did not learn of their offer until much later.

Even when they were surrounded on all sides by enemies, not even then would they accept any terms of surrender.

Either because Antony could not contact them or go to them, the gladiators eventually assumed that he had died and so exhausted and discouraged, they abandoned their journey and reluctantly made peace with Octavian, who promised to grant them land near Antioch. Later, however, Octavian broke his agreement with them. On the pretext of recruiting them in the legions, he had them scattered and killed them all.

Another plausibility is that they all died in the fighting on their way to reach Antony but Octavian’s propaganda portrayed them to have betrayed Antony by accepting terms of surrender to diminish their loyalty.

Whatever the case maybe, their unwavering loyalty showed how much Antony was respected and loved by tough fighting men. Their devotion to him must have also made a strong impression on Cleopatra.

The remarkable part of this story is that these gladiators stayed loyal to Antony even after Actium, when most people believed his cause was lost. They were willing to march such long distance and fight their way to him just to die by his side.

Source: Cassius Dio, Roman History: Book 51, 7