Triumvirate, << try UHM vuhr iht, >> in the history of ancient Rome, was a group of three men who attempted to seize control of the government. Rome had two triumvirates. The first, formed in 60 B.C., was an informal, personal alliance made up of Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, and Marcus Licinius Crassus. The second had official legal standing. It was formed in 43 B.C., after Brutus and Cassius had murdered Caesar. Its members were Octavian (Augustus), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony.
The Roman republican form of government suffered severely under the first triumvirate and was destroyed by the second. Both triumvirates ended in civil war to decide the supremacy of one member of the group. In the first war, Caesar defeated Pompey. In the second, Octavian overcame Mark Antony.
See also Antony, Mark ; Augustus ; Caesar, Julius ; Crassus, Marcus Licinius ; Pompey the Great .
