Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (; c. 89 BC – late 13 or early 12 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who formed the Second Triumvirate alongside Octavian and Mark Antony during the final years of the Roman Republic. Lepidus had previously been a close ally of Julius Caesar. He was also the last pontifex maximus before the Roman Empire, and (presumably) the last interrex and magister equitum to hold military command. Though he was an able military commander and proved a useful partisan of Caesar, Lepidus has always been portrayed as the least influential member of the Triumvirate. He typically appears as a marginalised figure in depictions of the events of the era, most notably in Shakespeare's plays. While some scholars have endorsed this view, others argue that the evidence is insufficient to discount the distorting effects of propaganda by his opponents, principally Cicero and, later, Augustus. Family Lepidus was the son of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (consul in 78 BC); his mother may have been a daughter of Lucius Appuleius Saturninus. His brother was Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus (consul in 50). His father was the first leader of the revived populares faction after the death of Sulla, and led an unsuccessful rebellion against the optimates in 78–77 (he was defeated just outside of Rome and fled to Sardinia where he died in 77). Lepidus married Junia Secunda, half-sister of Marcus Junius Brutus and sister of Marcus Junius Silanus, Junia Prima and Junia Tertia, Cassius Longinus's wife. Lepidus and Junia Secunda had at least one child, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the Younger. Biography Ally of Caesar Lepidus joined the College of Pontiffs as a child. He started his cursus honorum as triumvir monetalis, overseeing the minting of coins, from c. 62 to 58 BC. Lepidus soon became one of Julius Caesar's greatest supporters. He was appointed as a praetor in 49 BC, being placed in charge of Rome while Caesar defeated Pompey in Greece. He secured Caesar's appointment as dictator, a position that Caesar used to get himself elected as consul, resigning the dictatorship after eleven days. Lepidus was rewarded with the position of propraetor in the Spanish province of Hispania Citerior. Lepidus was also nominated interrex by the Senate in 52, being the last known Roman to hold this office. In Spain, Lepidus was called upon to quell a rebellion against Quintus Cassius Longinus, governor of neighbouring Hispania Ulterior. Lepidus refused