Marc Anthony and His Legionary Coinage

Marcus Anthony was born in about 83 BC to a prominent political family. His mother, Julia, was the sister of Julius Caesar and both his father and grandfather were politicians. Throughout his life, he was a loyal ally of his uncle and fought with Caesar in Gaul. As tribune of the plebs in the Roman Senate, he once vetoed a Senate decree that would have stripped Caesar of his command. He was a skilled soldier who commanded Caesar’s left wing at Pharsalia. His own political fortunes culminated in the year 44 BC when he served as Consul with Caesar. However, when Caesar was assassinated in the Roman Senate on March 15 of that same year, Marc Anthony found himself in a power struggle that was to consume the rest of his life.

Initially, Anthony formed the Second Triumvirate with his rivals Octavian and Lepidus. In forming this unlikely union, each hoped to eliminate his enemies and in doing so over 2,000 Roman citizens were executed, including Cicero.

After Caesar’s assassins Brutus and Cassius were killed at Philippi, Anthony went to his province in Asia. It was there at Tarsus that he met Cleopatra of Egypt in 42 BC. At that point, relations between Anthony and Octavian deteriorated further. In an effort of political reconciliation, Anthony married Octavian’s sister Octavia in 40 BC. This proved to be an unhappy union of less than eight years and Octavia ultimately returned to Rome in 32 BC with Anthony now openly allied with Cleopatra, both politically and personally. This set the stage for the famous Battle of Actium, held in 31 BC in Western Greece.

In preparing for this battle, Anthony assembled a mighty naval force in the Bay of Actium to meet Octavian’s advancing navy. At first, it seemed as though Anthony might outmatch his foe’s troops, under the command of Octavian’s general Agrippa. However Anthony, a cavalry soldier, was immediately surrounded by Agrippa’s fleet with no exit. The resulting losses were large and humiliating. Anthony retreated to Alexandria, Egypt where he committed suicide along with his wife Cleopatra in late 31 BC.

The coins struck under Marc Anthony are numerous and usually honor family and political friends and foes alike. However, as the Battle of Actium approached, Anthony hurriedly struck a new, somewhat crude series of coins to pay for his vast military machine. The result is what is now known as Anthony’s Legionary Series.

To borrow from Keats, Is this the coin that launched a thousand ships? Marc Anthony raised a sizable force to do battle with Octavian and such an army must be paid. Most likely using a portable mint, coins were struck to honor several of the legions under Anthony’s command and to pay the soldiers for their service. This series of coinage was struck in the silver denarius denomination. A denarius was roughly equivalent to a day’s pay for a professional soldier. The obverse featured a war galley under way. Inscribed above the galley is “ANT.AUG,” standing for Anthony Augustus. Below the ship is inscribed “III.VIR.R.P.C.”  The reverse pictures a legionary eagle between two war standards with the name of various legions in the lower field (Leg. XI in the above example).

Because of the sheer number of troops and legions involved, a huge amount of this coinage was struck. The fact that so many specimens may still be found is testament to the quantity of coinage but also to the fact that Anthony’s coins were used after his death. One wonders at the thought of some poor soul stamping out these coins in the heated rush preceding the great battle. But was it the coin that lured soldiers to fight or was it the fight that made the coin?

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