Battle of Philippi
| Battle of Philippi | |||||||||
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| Part of Liberators' civil war | |||||||||
 Philippi Location |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Second Triumvirate |
Liberators, controlling the Eastern provinces of Roman Republic Supported by Ptolemaic Egypt and the Parthian Empire |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Mark Antony Octavian |
Marcus Junius Brutus † Gaius Cassius Longinus † Allienus (Unknown) Serapion (Retreats to Tyre) |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| 19 legions, allied cavalry 33,000; total over 100,000 men, up to 223,000 troops if auxiliary numbers matched legionary numbers |
17 legions, allied cavalry 17,000; total about 100,000 men, up to 187,000 troops if auxiliary numbers matched legionary numbers |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| ? | Surrender of entire army | ||||||||
The Battle of Philippi was the final battle in the Wars of the Second Triumvirate between the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian (of the Second Triumvirate) and the forces of the tyrannicides Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus in 42 BC, at Philippi in Macedonia. The Second Triumvirate declared this civil war ostensibly to avenge Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, but the underlying cause was a long-brewing class conflict between the ancien regime represented in the Senate (Optimates), and the rising class (Populares).
The battle consisted of two engagements in the plain west of the ancient city of Philippi. The first occurred in the first week of October; Brutus faced Octavian, while Antony's forces fought those of Cassius. At first, Brutus pushed back Octavian and entered his legions' camp. But to the south, Cassius was defeated by Antony, and committed suicide after hearing a false report that Brutus had also failed. Brutus rallied Cassius' remaining troops and both sides ordered their army to retreat to their camps with their spoils, and the battle was essentially a draw, but for Cassius' suicide. A second encounter, on 23 October, finished off Brutus's forces, and he committed suicide in turn, leaving the triumvirate in control of the Roman Republic.
After the murder of Caesar, Brutus and Cassius (the two main conspirators, also known as the Liberatores and leaders of the Republicans) had left Italy and taken control of all Eastern provinces (from Greece to Syria) and of the allied Eastern kingdoms. In Rome the three main Caesarian leaders (Antony, Octavian and Lepidus), who controlled almost all the Roman army in the west, had crushed the opposition of the senate and established the second triumvirate. One of their first tasks was to destroy the Liberators’ forces, not only to get full control of the Roman world, but also to avenge Caesar’s death.
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