Antonia, Life and Death of the Matriarch of Rome
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Antonia, Life and Death of the Matriarch of Rome

In 40 BC, Mark Antony married Octavia, sister of Octavian (later known as Emperor Augustus). It was a political marriage approved by the Roman Senate to strengthen the alliance between Octavian and Antony during the Second Triumvirate. Octavia travelled with her husband to many different provinces and lived with him in his mansion in Athens between 40 and 36 BC. Their youngest daughter Antonia, known to historians as Antonia Minor to distinguish her from her older sister Antonia Major, were born in 36 BC. Antonia never knew her father. Antonia's mother moved her and her brothers from Athens to Rome as soon as she was born because Antony abandoned them to be with Cleopatra, a love story that began a year before his marriage to Octavia. However, Octavia’s devotion to her husband and brother never wavered. Octavia was a key figure in an armaments bargain struck at Tarentum in 37 BC, in which Antony and Octavian pledged to support each other in their Parthian and Sicilian wars. Following Antony's catastrophic war in Parthia in 35 BC, Octavia brought new troops, supplies, and money to Athens for her husband. Nonetheless, Mark Antony divorced Octavia in late 33 BC and had men remove her from his home in Rome. Antonia was three years old at the time. She was six years old when Antony died. Read moreSection: NewsGeneralHistory & ArchaeologyHistoryFamous PeoplePremiumPreviewRead Later