Intercepting the Gladiators
- sulla80
- 22 hours ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 15 hours ago
Today's coin was issued in Antioch and comes with the story of the governor of Syria, blocking a team of gladiators from supporting Mark Antony after Actium. Anthony and Cleopatra died in August of 30 BC and the Syrian year started in the month of Hyperberetaios (roughly October). In this new year (Oct 30 BC – Sept 29 BC), with the war over, Quintus Didius, Governor of Syria, issued coins to pay troops and solidify Roman control. This coin was issued in Antioch under Quintus Didius and is dated "K" in exergue on the reverse - the 20th year of the Caesarean Era 30/29 BC.
Roman Syria, Seleucus & Pieria, Antioch, AR Tetradrachm (14.76g, 25mm), posthumous Philip I Philadelphos type issued 47/6-14/3 BC. Dated year 20 of the Caesarean Era (30/29 BC).
Obv: Diademed head of Philip right.
Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟV / ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟVΣ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΟV, Zeus Nikephoros seated left on throne, holding sceptre; all within wreath. Controls: Monogram to inner left and below throne; K (date) in exergue.
Ref: Prieur 14; McAlee 13; RPC I 4137; SC 2491.10; HGC 9, 1360j.
The Triumvirate Expires
The Triumvirate legally expired on December 31, 33 BC. In January, the new consuls (Gaius Sosius and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus), both partisans of Antony, attempted to censure Octavian in the Senate. Octavian responded by entering the Senate house with armed guards. Realizing the political avenue was closed, both consuls and over 300 senators fled Rome to join Antony in Ephesus. The government was now split in two.
Reading of Antony's Will
In the Summer of 32 BC, Octavian forcibly entered the Temple of Vesta, a gross violation of the Roman religion, and seized Antony’s private will. He read selected passages to the Senate, allegedly revealing that Antony planned to shift the capital to Alexandria and wanted to be buried there beside Cleopatra. This shattered Antony's support among the Roman populace, framing him not as a Roman rival, but as a foreign agent.
Declaration of War
To avoid the stigma of another civil war, Octavian did not declare war on Antony. Instead, he had the Senate declare war solely on Cleopatra. Octavian revived an archaic ritual, acting as a fetial priest. He went to the Temple of Bellona and hurled a blood-dipped spear into a patch of ground symbolizing "enemy territory" (Egypt). This legally framed the coming conflict as a foreign war against a barbarian queen, with Antony merely being "bewitched" by her.
The Military Campaign
Combat began early in 31 BC. Antony and Cleopatra moved their massive fleet to Greece (intending to invade Italy), Octavian's admiral, Agrippa, launched a preemptive strike. Agrippa sailed across the Ionian Sea and captured Methone (a key supply base in the Peloponnese). This cut Antony’s supply lines and effectively trapped his massive fleet in the Ambracian Gulf. The armies stared each other down for months while disease and desertion whittled away Antony's forces.
The Aeneid
Writing from shortly after Actium until his death, Virgil places the Battle of Actium in the center of the Shield of Aeneas surrounded by other foundational scenes of Roman history:
"The likeness of the swollen sea flowed everywhere among these [scenes],
in gold, though the flood foamed with white billows,
and dolphins in bright silver swept the waters
round about with arching tails, and cut through the surge.In the centre bronze ships could be seen, the Battle of Actium,
and you could make out all Leucate in feverish
preparation for war, the waves gleaming with gold."
-Virgil, Aeneid 8.671Augustus Caesar and all that is good on one side and Mark Antony a barbarous traitor on the other - "and his Egyptian consort follows him (the shame)". The Aeneid, was commissioned by Augustus, weaves Augustus into Rome's foundational myth, and presents him not only as a historical figure but as the divinely sanctioned hero whose journey culminates in the re-founding of Rome after civil war. We can see that Virgil was not exactly an impartial historian.
The Breakaway
The Battle of Actium was really a desperate breakout attempt on September 2, 31 BC. The plan from the start must have been to escape, as Antony and Cleopatra's ships brought masts and sails with them - which normally are left behind in battle. The fleets emerged from the Straits of Preveza shortly after dawn, and held their positions for several hours due to heavy seas and a lack of wind. Fighting commenced around noon.
Cleopatra and Antony broke through Agrippa's lines to flee between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM, once a north-westerly wind picked up. They headed to Egypt to regroup.
The flight from the waters of Actium did not signal an immediate resolution, but rather commenced a prolonged and deliberate dismantling of Antonian authority. It was a year characterized less by heroic confrontation than by the calculated attrition of loyalty across the East. Octavian methodically closed the net, isolating Antony and Cleopatra.
Quintus Didius
Immediately after Actium, Octavian sent Quintus Didius to hold command in Syria. Didius secured the betrayal of Antony's former allies. Cassius Dio reports that "the Arabians, instigated by Quintus Didius, the governor of Syria, burned the ships in the Arabian Gulf which had been built for the voyage to the Red Sea, and the peoples and princes without exception refused their assistance to Antony".
Intercepting the Gladiators
Dio also writes about a group of Gladiators, preparing to celebrate Antony's ultimate victory, who were the last to remain loyal to Antony.
"Indeed, I cannot but marvel that, while a great many others, though they had received numerous gifts from Antony and Cleopatra, now left them in the lurch, yet the men who were being kept for gladiatorial combats, who were among the most despised, showed the utmost zeal in their behalf and fought most bravely. These men, I should explain, were training in Cyzicus for the triumphal games which they were expecting to hold in celebration of Caesar’s overthrow, and as soon as they became aware of what had taken place, they set out for Egypt to bear aid to their rulers."
-Cassius Dio, Roman History, 51.7.2-4They were blocked by Quintus Didius who eventually succeeded in settling them in a suburb of Antioch (Daphne).
The Death of Antony and Cleopatra
The climax of the story in Alexandria, August of 30 BC, was less a battle than a collapse. Antony’s forces defected en masse, driving him to a desperate, self-inflicted end in the arms of the Cleopatra. She survived him only briefly, engaged in a high-stakes psychological duel with Octavian, and when she realized that neither her charm nor her treasury could purchase anything better than a role as a chained trophy in a Roman triumph, she also took her own life.
he Execution of the Heirs: Late August, 30 BC
Whether by the legendary asp or a concealed poison, her suicide on August 12 severed the last link to the Hellenistic age, transforming Egypt from a sovereign kingdom into the personal estate of the new Emperor.
Eliminating Rivals
About two weeks later, Octavian ordered the execution of Ptolemy XV Caesarion, Cleopatra's son by Julius Caesar in late August, 30 BC. Marcus Antonius Antyllus
Caesarion was not the only potential rival to die. Marcus Antonius Antyllus (Antony’s eldest son by Fulvia) sought sanctuary inside the Temple of Divus Julius (the deified Julius Caesar) in Alexandria. Roman soldiers dragged him from the statue of Caesar and beheaded him.
Epilogue
Three children of Mark Antony and Cleopatra would survive and many of their descendants would rule as kings. Mark Antony's children with Octavia eventually usurped Octavian's own lineage to take over the Empire.
Antonia Major (The Elder) married Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, a wealthy and arrogant aristocrat. Her son Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (was the father of Emperor Nero).
Antonia Minor (The Younger) became one of the most formidable women in Roman history. She married Drusus the Elder (the brother of Emperor Tiberius and Octavian’s stepson). She was the mother of the famous general Germanicus (who married and Emperor Claudius, grandmother of Emperor Caligula and Agrippina the Younger (who was the mother of Emperor Nero).
The Empire was ultimately ruled not by the heir of Augustus (whose bloodline died out), but by the heirs of the defeated Mark Antony.
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