powerful generals controlling rome. mark antony meets and -- and falls in love with cleopatra, and establishes his base of operations in alexandria in egypt. >> he is a bit of what we today call a player. he was master of horse, cavalry commander for julius caesar. >> mark antony and herod the great, they're old war buddies. and herod the great actually saved mark antony's skin on one occasion. so, they owe each other quite a bit. >> mark antony and herod had had a very intimate relationship that, of course, cleopatra knew of and was very, very jealous. >> and cleopatra wants what herod the great has -- jerusalem. >> cleopatra wants jerusalem under egyptian control because it gives her another kind of a gateway to the east.