What made Octavian turn on Antony!? Was it simply because of Antony's treatment of Octavia, Octavian's sister!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
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Position:Home>History> Why Did Octavian Hate Antony?Question: Why Did Octavian Hate Antony!? What made Octavian turn on Antony!? Was it simply because of Antony's treatment of Octavia, Octavian's sister!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: He didn't hate Antony because of how Antony treated Octavia!. Marriages in those days were mostly for political alliances between families!. Octavian and Antony had a power struggle from the beginning they even went to battle!. Octavian felt he deserved everything that was Juluis Caesar's because he was his successor; therefore, he deserved his political power as well!. Antony was Caesar's second in command and greatly experienced with ruling as he served as Co-Consul with Caesar often; therefore, he felt he should rule!. They settled on an equal alliance that rewarded the three men involved equally!. When Antony and Octavian agreed to be in the Triumverate (with Lepides) they worked well together for awhile, so Octavian didn't always hate Antony!. Once Antony went to Egypt and became involved with Cleopatra things went south, Marc Antony lost a few battles in the MIddle East and rumors were spread about him "being under Cleopatra's thumb," plus he was cheating on Octavia with Cleopatra!. All of this hurt Antony's reputation and Octavian saw this as an opportunity to seize soul power for himself (since Lepidus had been sentenced to house arrest already for something else)!. So once Antony announced the divorce between Octavia and himself (ending the marriage alliance among the families) Octavian used that as the excuse to declare war on Cleopatra, not Antony, but he knew battling Cleopatra would remove Antony in the same swipe because Antony would no doubt defend her!. He had to wait for a moment where he could attack lagitamitly where the people of Rome would understand his reason and he would not lose their support, which he would need after winning to take control and slowly give himself Imperical power!. So Octavian did not really hate Antony, they were simply rivals for the power of Rome and Octavian just saw the opportunity to take soul power for himself which he successfully held the rest of his life!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I think Antony's treatment of Octavia perhaps could have contributed to Octavian's feelings on a personal level, but to regard it as the main cause of his actions would be a great oversimplification!. As a Roman politician, it is very unlikely that Octavian would be so ruled by his emotions; you can bet that his reasons were much more political than that!. Octavian had a cunning mind, and Antony represented a threat to his rise to power!. The breaking of the triumvirate was natural, and arguably, inevitable from the beginning!. Wikipedia has some interesting articles about this: http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Augustus#Fi!.!.!. http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Mark_Antony!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com He sung an octave too low!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |