October 3: Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Philippi in Macedonia, among the triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian who confronted the murderers of Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cassius.

After the second battle at Philippi, Octavian went back to Rome to get things under control, and Mark Antony headed eastward with the intention of carrying out Julius Caesar's plan to conquer Parthia.  Octavian reached his destination, but Antony was sidetracked.

On October 3, 42 BC, the Roman main conspirators against Julius Caesar were Marcus Junius Brutus and Cassius, who once killing Caesar were to invade the Roman eastern provinces in the Balkans and as far as Syria.

Philippi location

The three leaders who took the Roman power were Lepidus, Antony and Octavius. They formed a triumvirate (system of government by three allied people).

First Battle of Philippi

Marco Emilio Lepidus, with the same name as his father, wanted to outdo his two allies and seized Sicily. There he put his tombstone! Then Antony and Octavian divided the Roman Empire in half. Marco Antonio took the East and so ended up where Cleopatra ruled in Egypt.

The Via Egnatia linked the Aegean and Adriatic seas and connected Rome with its eastern empire.

In the battle of Philippi, the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia served as supply camps for the Caesareans.

Finally, Octavian defeated Antony's army who committed suicide believing that Cleopatra had committed suicide first. When she learned of the suicide of her lover Marco Antonio, she grabbed one of her poisonous snakes, maybe a cobra which bit one of her breasts was thus was found dead in her quarters.