Jump to content
UNRV Ancient Roman Empire Forums
Sign in to follow this  
guy

Triumph of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, 31 B.C.

Recommended Posts

This is a great article on the alternative history of the scenario in which Marc Antony had defeated Octavian at Actium. I had linked the article before, but I think the GIF adds something:

 

http://web.stanford.edu/group/dispersed_author/docs/NotbyANose_Ober.pdf

Quote

If Antony had won at Actium, Jesus of Nazareth, born just a short generation after the battle, would have come to manhood in a very different society--one administered by highly trained professional Ptolemaic bureaucrats, rather than nervous Roman amateurs like Pontius Pilate. Those Ptolemaic bureaucrats would have had a much closer sense of how Jerusalem politics worked: they might well have found some solution to local concerns about a self-proclaimed messiah that would not have required his crucifixion. They might, for example, have arranged for him to move to Alexandria, where the sophisticated, hellenized local Jewish population would not be scandalized by his audacious ideas. So Jesus might have grown old, gathering to himself a following attracted by his socioreligious message rather than by a dramatic martyrdom. If so, Christianity would have developed quite differently and Alexandria, not Rome, would be its center.

 

 

guy also known as gaius

Anthony2.gif

Edited by guy

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Despite reading this interview with the well-respected and excellent author Adrian Goldsworthy about his book Antony and Cleopatra, I still feel that Antony may have been unfairly and inaccurately depicted by history. There may have been more an element of enlightenment to Antony than his critics (including Augustus) would admit.

 

http://www.unrv.com/book-review/interview-adrian-goldsworthy.php

Quote

Maty: One gets the impression you do not like Mark Antony much.
Adrian: It's hard to like almost anyone in this period. But though Caesar and Pompey were in many ways just as unloveable, at least they had agendas. They had plans for themselves and for Rome. Antony appears simply to want power for its own sake, and the way he goes about getting it makes him one thug among many. As Cicero points out, he is a man with few redeeming features.

 

guy also known as gaius

Edited by guy
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Map of the Roman Empire

×