32. Study Questions Copy

Her son (Caesar’s son) made her a potential target of Caesar’s assassins.

He was consul, had been Caesar’s deputy as dictator (magister equitum: master of horse0, and a prominent general. He could be expected to lead the so-called Caesarean party and rely on the popular support that Caesar had enjoyed. Unfortunately, Caesar had named his great-nephew Octavian as heir in his will, much to everyone’s surprise.

He went north to illegally seize the province of Gaul from its appointed governor, Decimus Brutus.

He went with an army, and the two consuls of that year (43 BC), Hirtius and Pansa to take it back. Both consuls were killed, and Octavian was appointed as consul (even though he was only 19 and the minimum age for a consul was meant to be 42).

Antony met with Octavian, and together with a third figure, Lepidus, agreed to form a coalition to share power. This was known as the Second Triumvirate. This was an official agreement (unlike the First Triumvirate, an informal arrangement between Crassus, Pompey and Caesar).

She needed to stabilise her position in Egypt. After the death of Ptolemy XIV in 44BC, Caesarion was crowned as Ptolemy XV and co-ruled with his mother, leaving her in control (as he was only three).

He had been in Greece in 42 BC fighting against the armies of Brutus and Philippi, defeating the assassins of Caesar.

She had been approached for help by Cassius and had refused. Antony had been in Athens during the winter of 42BC moving to Ephesus in 41 BC. He met Cleopatra in 41BC in Tarsus (Cilicia). Besides physical attraction, Cleopatra would have benefited from a continued alliance with Rome and Antony would have seen the wealth of Egypt as attractive (and perhaps, as Plutarch suggests, appealed to something in his character). And it would have provided a base for his activities in the east.