The artwork
This work depicts the Battle of Philippi, fought in two phases in 42 BC in Macedonia; it was the decisive clash of the Roman civil wars that followed the assassination of Julius Caesar. It pitted Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius (the Republican "liberators") against the members of the Second Triumvirate: Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus (supporters of the power inherited from Caesar).
In the first phase, Brutus's forces defeated Octavian, but at the same time Antony prevailed over Cassius, who took his own life. Three weeks later, in the second battle, Antony and Octavian decisively defeated Brutus, who likewise took his own life.
The consequences were immense: the definitive end of the Roman Republic, the consolidation of the Triumvirate's power and a new division of the Roman world between Octavian (West) and Antony (East), laying the foundations for their future clash and the advent of the Roman Empire.
Unique quality material
