Cleopatra VII: a biography<\/strong><\/h4>\nBorn:<\/strong> c69 BC<\/p>\nDied: <\/strong>30 BC<\/p>\nReigned:<\/strong> She assumed control of Egypt in 51 BC after the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, intially co-ruling with her brother XIII. Her reign ended with her death in 30 BC.<\/p>\nKnown for: <\/strong>Being the last pharaoh of Egypt, being a fabled beauty,\u00a0 her love affairs with Julius Caesar<\/a> and Mark Antony<\/a>, and \u2013 alongside Mark Antony \u2013 waging a war on Rome, which she ultimately lost.<\/p>\nOutside Europe, in Africa and in Islamic tradition, she was remembered very differently<\/a>. Arab writers refer to her as a scholar, and 400 years after her death a cult statue of Cleopatra was being honoured at Philae, a religious centre that also attracted pilgrims from further south, outside Egypt.<\/p>\nCause of death:<\/strong> Took her own life, possibly with poison. Legend has it that she encouraged a snake to bite her<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section>
Cleopatra VII: Ancient Egypt\u2019s most famous daughter, and its last active Pharaoh. A woman immortalised in film, on canvas and in print. An enigmatic heroine to whom William Shakespeare<\/a> devoted one of his greatest tragedies. Her story is one that has been retold throughout history \u2013 full of romance and love, riches and betrayal. But beneath the gold and glamour lies a far darker tale of sibling rivalry taken to the extreme, and a thirst for power that would change the course of history.<\/p>\nBorn c69 BC, Cleopatra was the third of a possible six children, all of whom shared a common father, Ptolemy XII. The Ptolemaic dynasty, a Macedonian-Greek royal family that had ties to Alexander the Great<\/a>, had ruled Egypt since 305 BC. Traditionally male rulers took the name Ptolemy, while Ptolemaic Queens were usually named Cleopatra, Arsino\u00eb or Berenice.<\/p>\nHow did Cleopatra become queen?<\/h2>\n
For Cleopatra, life as a royal daughter was one of luxury. The Egyptian capital Alexandria, the seat of Ptolemaic power, was a thriving cultural centre, attracting scholars, artists and philosophers from all over the world. It was also home to the great Pharos of Alexandria \u2013 the 137-metre-tall lighthouse that towered over the city and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world<\/a>.<\/p>\nCleopatra\u2019s first taste of power came at the tender age of 14, when she was made co-regent with her father, following his restoration to the throne after three years in exile, albeit with limited powers. Ptolemy XII\u2019s return to the throne had cost Cleopatra\u2019s elder sister, Berenice \u2013 who had seized power in his absence \u2013 her life.<\/p>\n
There may have been a further elder sister, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena, but she too had died by this point. All of this meant that it was 18-year-old Cleopatra who became co-regent with her brother, Ptolemy XIII (aged ten), when her father died in March 51 BC.<\/p>\n
In true pharaonic tradition, which aimed to keep the royal bloodline as pure as possible, Cleopatra married her younger brother and co-ruler, but it soon became clear that she had no intention of sharing power with him. Within months, Ptolemy XIII\u2019s name had been dropped from official documents and Cleopatra\u2019s face appeared alone on coins.<\/p>\n Cleopatra: what is the real legacy of the last pharaoh?<\/a><\/h4>\n\nFor more than 2,000 years Cleopatra VII, final ruler of Egypt\u2019s Ptolemaic dynasty, has been portrayed as a manipulative but tragic beauty. Yet, as Joann Fletcher reveals, such simplistic portrayals obscure her true legacy as a strong, politically astute monarch\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p><\/div>
![\""Carved\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2018\/12\/Cleopatra-last-of-the-pharaohs-1-5641d1b.jpg?quality=45&resize=556,556"\" "\\"\"This\\"")
<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>Cleopatra is often portrayed by Hollywood as a glamorous femme fatale. <\/strong>Mary Hamer argues that most of what we think we know about Cleopatra is merely the echo of Roman propaganda. <\/strong>Here, she reveals six lesser-know facts about the Egyptian ruler\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cleopatra made an ally of Julius Caesar, who helped to establish her on the throne<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
She then invited him to join her on a voyage up the Nile, and when she subsequently gave birth to a son, she named the baby Caesarion \u2013 \u2018little Caesar\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\nIn Rome this caused a scandal. This was, firstly, because Egypt and its pleasure-loving culture were despised as decadent. But it was also because Caesar had no other sons \u2013 though he was married to Calpurnia, and had had two wives before her \u2013 and he had just made himself the most powerful man in Rome. Elite Romans<\/a> were meant to share power, but Caesar seemed to want to be supreme, like a monarch. It was a doubly unbearable prospect: Caesarion, an Egyptian, just might grow up to claim to rule over Rome as Caesar\u2019s heir.<\/p>\n\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fantasies about Cleopatra\u2019s beauty are just that<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Plutarch, the Greek biographer of Mark Antony, claimed it wasn\u2019t so much her looks that were so compelling, but her conversation and her intelligence.<\/p>\n
Cleopatra took control of the way she appeared<\/a>, coming across differently according to political need. For example, at ceremonial events she would appear dressed as the goddess Isis: it was common for Egyptian rulers to identify themselves with an established deity. On her coins minted in Egypt, meanwhile, she chose to be shown with her father\u2019s strong jaw line, to emphasise her inherited right to rule.<\/p>\nSculptures don\u2019t give us much of a clue to her looks either: there are two or three heads in the classical style, but also a number of full-length statues in Egyptian style, and her appearance in these is quite different.<\/p>\n
- Read more | What did Cleopatra really look like?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> A coin with the head of Cleopatra. (Photo by Werner Forman\/Universal Images Group\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cleopatra was living in Rome, as the mistress of Julius Caesar, at the time that he was assassinated<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Caesar\u2019s assassination in 44 BC<\/a> meant Cleopatra herself was in danger, so she left at once. With her little son, Caesarion, she had been living in a palace of her own on the other side of the river Tiber from Caesar\u2019s household (though it is likely she hadn\u2019t taken up permanent residence there, but returned on regular visits from Egypt).<\/p>\nNot surprisingly, Cleopatra had been much disliked in a city that had got rid of its kings, for she\u2019d insisted on being addressed as \u2018queen\u2019. It can\u2019t have helped that to honour her, Caesar had placed a statue of Cleopatra covered in gold in the temple of Venus Genetrix \u2013 the goddess who brings forth life, who was held in high regard by his family.<\/p>\n
- Read more |<\/strong> 8 ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses that you (probably) didn\u2019t know about<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cleopatra was a mother as well as the ruler of Egypt<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
She had Caesarion, her eldest son, represented on the temple wall at Dendera alongside her, as sharing her rule. After her death, the Roman emperor Augustus<\/a> lured Caesarion back with promises of power, only to have him killed. He was aged 16 or 17, though some sources say he was as young as 14.<\/p>\nMark Antony was the father of Cleopatra\u2019s other children, Ptolemy Philadelphus and the twins, Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios. The twins were aged 10 and Ptolemy six when their mother died. They were taken to Rome and treated well in the household of Mark Antony\u2019s widow, Octavia, where they were educated.<\/p>\n
- 10 things you (probably) didn\u2019t know about ancient Egypt<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
The adult Cleopatra Selene was married to Juba, a minor king, and sent to rule with him over Mauretania. She gave birth to another Ptolemy \u2013 Cleopatra\u2019s only known grandchild. He died in adulthood by order of his cousin, Caligula, so none of Cleopatra\u2019s descendants lived to inherit Egypt.<\/p>\n
![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> A colossal head of Caesarion (Little Caesar), the son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, from the 1st century BC. The head went on show in Los Angeles in 2012. (Photo by World History Archive \/ Alamy)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we refer to the eighth month as \u2018August\u2019, we are celebrating the defeat and death of Cleopatra<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Augustus founded his reign on the defeat of Cleopatra. When he had the chance to have a month named in his own honour, instead of choosing September \u2013 the month of his birth \u2013 he chose the eighth month, in which Cleopatra died, to create a yearly reminder of her defeat.<\/p>\n
- The bloody rise of Augustus<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Augustus would have liked to lead Cleopatra as a captive through Rome, as other generals did with their prisoners, in the formal triumphs that celebrated their victories. But she killed herself to prevent that.<\/p>\n
Cleopatra didn\u2019t die for love. Like Mark Antony, who killed himself because there was no longer a place of honour for him in the world, Cleopatra chose to die<\/a> rather than suffer the violence of being paraded, shamed and helpless, through Rome. Augustus had to make do with an image of her that was carried through the streets instead.<\/p>\n\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cleopatra\u2019s name was Greek, but it doesn\u2019t mean that she was<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Cleopatra\u2019s family was descended from the Macedonian general Ptolemy, who had picked up Egypt in the shareout after Alexander died. But 250 years then passed before Cleopatra was born \u2013 12 generations, with all their love affairs and secret assignations.<\/p>\n
Today we know that at least one child in 10 is not attributed to their correct biological father \u2013 \u201cMomma\u2019s baby, Poppa\u2019s maybe\u201d, as they say. Egypt\u2019s population included people of many different ethnicities, and naturally that included Africans, since Egypt was a part of Africa. So it\u2019s not at all unlikely that long before Cleopatra was born, her Greek heritage had become mixed with other strains. And since the identity of her own grandmother is unknown, it is foolish to think that we\u2019re sure of her racial identity.<\/p>\n
Mary Hamer is the author of Signs of Cleopatra: Reading an Icon Historically<\/em> (Liverpool University Press, 2008)<\/strong><\/p>\nWhat are the key moments in Cleopatra\u2019s reign?<\/h2>\n
51 BC | Ptolemy XII dies<\/strong><\/p>\nHaving recovered his throne with Roman help in c55 BC, Ptolemy XII dies, leaving Egypt with considerable debts. Before his death, he declares that Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII are to co-rule.<\/p>\n
48 BC | Cleopatra seduces Julius Caesar<\/strong><\/p>\nDesperate to enlist Rome\u2019s help to restore her to the throne, the banished Cleopatra smuggles herself into the presence of Julius Caesar, allegedly being delivered to him in a bed-sack.<\/p>\n Cleopatra, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony: how the last pharaoh\u2019s love affairs shaped Ancient Egypt\u2019s fate<\/a><\/h4>\nExplore Cleopatra\u2019s relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony \u2013 and why they had such fundamental consequences for both Egypt and Rome\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>
![\""Julius\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2020\/08\/GettyImages_464443075-73c54d3.jpg?quality=45&resize=556,556"\" "\\"\"Julius\\"")
<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>47 BC | Caesar\u2019s son is born<\/strong><\/p>\nCleopatra gives birth to her first child, whom she names Ptolemy Caesar \u2013 known as Caesarion. Although named after his father, Caesarion\u2019s claim to Rome is never acknowledged by Julius Caesar.<\/p>\n
41 BC | Cleopatra meets Mark Antony<\/strong><\/p>\nAfter initially refusing Roman General Mark Antony\u2019s requests for a meeting, Cleopatra travels to Tarsus where the two meet for the first time. Antony is keen to secure Egypt\u2019s financial help with his military campaigns. He is immediately smitten with the Egyptian Queen\u2019s charm and beauty.<\/p>\n
40 BC | Cleopatra bears twins<\/strong><\/p>\nCleopatra gives birth to twins, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, fathered by Mark Antony. After Cleopatra\u2019s surrender and suicide in 31 BC, the pair are captured by Octavian and paraded through Rome in gold chains, behind an effigy of their mother.<\/p>\n
37 BC | The lovers are married<\/strong><\/p>\nAfter separating from his wife Octavia (sister of Octavian), Antony meets Cleopatra in Syria and the pair are said to have married. A third child, Ptolemy Philadelphus, is born the following year.<\/p>\n
- Antony and Cleopatra, and 6 more of the best couples in history<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
33 BC | A crisis looms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\nRelations between Octavian and Antony reached crisis point in 33 BC, when the Roman Senate<\/a> declared war on Egypt.<\/p>\n30 BC | Mark Antony is defeated<\/strong><\/p>\nFollowing humiliating defeat at the Battle of Actium<\/a> by Octavian (later Augustus) and a subsequent battle in Alexandria, Mark Antony attempts suicide. He is brought to Cleopatra\u2019s hiding place where he soon dies.<\/p>\n30 BC | Cleopatra takes her own life<\/strong><\/p>\nUnable to contemplate life as a prisoner of Rome, and without the protection of her Roman lover, Cleopatra takes her own life<\/a>. According to legend, she is bitten by a poisonous snake, which kills her.<\/p>\n
Died: <\/strong>30 BC<\/p>\n Reigned:<\/strong> She assumed control of Egypt in 51 BC after the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, intially co-ruling with her brother XIII. Her reign ended with her death in 30 BC.<\/p>\n Known for: <\/strong>Being the last pharaoh of Egypt, being a fabled beauty,\u00a0 her love affairs with Julius Caesar<\/a> and Mark Antony<\/a>, and \u2013 alongside Mark Antony \u2013 waging a war on Rome, which she ultimately lost.<\/p>\n Outside Europe, in Africa and in Islamic tradition, she was remembered very differently<\/a>. Arab writers refer to her as a scholar, and 400 years after her death a cult statue of Cleopatra was being honoured at Philae, a religious centre that also attracted pilgrims from further south, outside Egypt.<\/p>\n Cause of death:<\/strong> Took her own life, possibly with poison. Legend has it that she encouraged a snake to bite her<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Cleopatra VII: Ancient Egypt\u2019s most famous daughter, and its last active Pharaoh. A woman immortalised in film, on canvas and in print. An enigmatic heroine to whom William Shakespeare<\/a> devoted one of his greatest tragedies. Her story is one that has been retold throughout history \u2013 full of romance and love, riches and betrayal. But beneath the gold and glamour lies a far darker tale of sibling rivalry taken to the extreme, and a thirst for power that would change the course of history.<\/p>\n Born c69 BC, Cleopatra was the third of a possible six children, all of whom shared a common father, Ptolemy XII. The Ptolemaic dynasty, a Macedonian-Greek royal family that had ties to Alexander the Great<\/a>, had ruled Egypt since 305 BC. Traditionally male rulers took the name Ptolemy, while Ptolemaic Queens were usually named Cleopatra, Arsino\u00eb or Berenice.<\/p>\n For Cleopatra, life as a royal daughter was one of luxury. The Egyptian capital Alexandria, the seat of Ptolemaic power, was a thriving cultural centre, attracting scholars, artists and philosophers from all over the world. It was also home to the great Pharos of Alexandria \u2013 the 137-metre-tall lighthouse that towered over the city and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cleopatra\u2019s first taste of power came at the tender age of 14, when she was made co-regent with her father, following his restoration to the throne after three years in exile, albeit with limited powers. Ptolemy XII\u2019s return to the throne had cost Cleopatra\u2019s elder sister, Berenice \u2013 who had seized power in his absence \u2013 her life.<\/p>\n There may have been a further elder sister, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena, but she too had died by this point. All of this meant that it was 18-year-old Cleopatra who became co-regent with her brother, Ptolemy XIII (aged ten), when her father died in March 51 BC.<\/p>\n In true pharaonic tradition, which aimed to keep the royal bloodline as pure as possible, Cleopatra married her younger brother and co-ruler, but it soon became clear that she had no intention of sharing power with him. Within months, Ptolemy XIII\u2019s name had been dropped from official documents and Cleopatra\u2019s face appeared alone on coins.<\/p>\n For more than 2,000 years Cleopatra VII, final ruler of Egypt\u2019s Ptolemaic dynasty, has been portrayed as a manipulative but tragic beauty. Yet, as Joann Fletcher reveals, such simplistic portrayals obscure her true legacy as a strong, politically astute monarch\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p><\/div> Cleopatra is often portrayed by Hollywood as a glamorous femme fatale. <\/strong>Mary Hamer argues that most of what we think we know about Cleopatra is merely the echo of Roman propaganda. <\/strong>Here, she reveals six lesser-know facts about the Egyptian ruler\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n She then invited him to join her on a voyage up the Nile, and when she subsequently gave birth to a son, she named the baby Caesarion \u2013 \u2018little Caesar\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Rome this caused a scandal. This was, firstly, because Egypt and its pleasure-loving culture were despised as decadent. But it was also because Caesar had no other sons \u2013 though he was married to Calpurnia, and had had two wives before her \u2013 and he had just made himself the most powerful man in Rome. Elite Romans<\/a> were meant to share power, but Caesar seemed to want to be supreme, like a monarch. It was a doubly unbearable prospect: Caesarion, an Egyptian, just might grow up to claim to rule over Rome as Caesar\u2019s heir.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Plutarch, the Greek biographer of Mark Antony, claimed it wasn\u2019t so much her looks that were so compelling, but her conversation and her intelligence.<\/p>\n Cleopatra took control of the way she appeared<\/a>, coming across differently according to political need. For example, at ceremonial events she would appear dressed as the goddess Isis: it was common for Egyptian rulers to identify themselves with an established deity. On her coins minted in Egypt, meanwhile, she chose to be shown with her father\u2019s strong jaw line, to emphasise her inherited right to rule.<\/p>\n Sculptures don\u2019t give us much of a clue to her looks either: there are two or three heads in the classical style, but also a number of full-length statues in Egyptian style, and her appearance in these is quite different.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Caesar\u2019s assassination in 44 BC<\/a> meant Cleopatra herself was in danger, so she left at once. With her little son, Caesarion, she had been living in a palace of her own on the other side of the river Tiber from Caesar\u2019s household (though it is likely she hadn\u2019t taken up permanent residence there, but returned on regular visits from Egypt).<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, Cleopatra had been much disliked in a city that had got rid of its kings, for she\u2019d insisted on being addressed as \u2018queen\u2019. It can\u2019t have helped that to honour her, Caesar had placed a statue of Cleopatra covered in gold in the temple of Venus Genetrix \u2013 the goddess who brings forth life, who was held in high regard by his family.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n She had Caesarion, her eldest son, represented on the temple wall at Dendera alongside her, as sharing her rule. After her death, the Roman emperor Augustus<\/a> lured Caesarion back with promises of power, only to have him killed. He was aged 16 or 17, though some sources say he was as young as 14.<\/p>\n Mark Antony was the father of Cleopatra\u2019s other children, Ptolemy Philadelphus and the twins, Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios. The twins were aged 10 and Ptolemy six when their mother died. They were taken to Rome and treated well in the household of Mark Antony\u2019s widow, Octavia, where they were educated.<\/p>\n The adult Cleopatra Selene was married to Juba, a minor king, and sent to rule with him over Mauretania. She gave birth to another Ptolemy \u2013 Cleopatra\u2019s only known grandchild. He died in adulthood by order of his cousin, Caligula, so none of Cleopatra\u2019s descendants lived to inherit Egypt.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Augustus founded his reign on the defeat of Cleopatra. When he had the chance to have a month named in his own honour, instead of choosing September \u2013 the month of his birth \u2013 he chose the eighth month, in which Cleopatra died, to create a yearly reminder of her defeat.<\/p>\n Augustus would have liked to lead Cleopatra as a captive through Rome, as other generals did with their prisoners, in the formal triumphs that celebrated their victories. But she killed herself to prevent that.<\/p>\n Cleopatra didn\u2019t die for love. Like Mark Antony, who killed himself because there was no longer a place of honour for him in the world, Cleopatra chose to die<\/a> rather than suffer the violence of being paraded, shamed and helpless, through Rome. Augustus had to make do with an image of her that was carried through the streets instead.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Cleopatra\u2019s family was descended from the Macedonian general Ptolemy, who had picked up Egypt in the shareout after Alexander died. But 250 years then passed before Cleopatra was born \u2013 12 generations, with all their love affairs and secret assignations.<\/p>\n Today we know that at least one child in 10 is not attributed to their correct biological father \u2013 \u201cMomma\u2019s baby, Poppa\u2019s maybe\u201d, as they say. Egypt\u2019s population included people of many different ethnicities, and naturally that included Africans, since Egypt was a part of Africa. So it\u2019s not at all unlikely that long before Cleopatra was born, her Greek heritage had become mixed with other strains. And since the identity of her own grandmother is unknown, it is foolish to think that we\u2019re sure of her racial identity.<\/p>\n Mary Hamer is the author of Signs of Cleopatra: Reading an Icon Historically<\/em> (Liverpool University Press, 2008)<\/strong><\/p>\n 51 BC | Ptolemy XII dies<\/strong><\/p>\n Having recovered his throne with Roman help in c55 BC, Ptolemy XII dies, leaving Egypt with considerable debts. Before his death, he declares that Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII are to co-rule.<\/p>\n 48 BC | Cleopatra seduces Julius Caesar<\/strong><\/p>\n Desperate to enlist Rome\u2019s help to restore her to the throne, the banished Cleopatra smuggles herself into the presence of Julius Caesar, allegedly being delivered to him in a bed-sack.<\/p>\n Explore Cleopatra\u2019s relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony \u2013 and why they had such fundamental consequences for both Egypt and Rome\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> 47 BC | Caesar\u2019s son is born<\/strong><\/p>\n Cleopatra gives birth to her first child, whom she names Ptolemy Caesar \u2013 known as Caesarion. Although named after his father, Caesarion\u2019s claim to Rome is never acknowledged by Julius Caesar.<\/p>\n 41 BC | Cleopatra meets Mark Antony<\/strong><\/p>\n After initially refusing Roman General Mark Antony\u2019s requests for a meeting, Cleopatra travels to Tarsus where the two meet for the first time. Antony is keen to secure Egypt\u2019s financial help with his military campaigns. He is immediately smitten with the Egyptian Queen\u2019s charm and beauty.<\/p>\n 40 BC | Cleopatra bears twins<\/strong><\/p>\n Cleopatra gives birth to twins, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, fathered by Mark Antony. After Cleopatra\u2019s surrender and suicide in 31 BC, the pair are captured by Octavian and paraded through Rome in gold chains, behind an effigy of their mother.<\/p>\n 37 BC | The lovers are married<\/strong><\/p>\n After separating from his wife Octavia (sister of Octavian), Antony meets Cleopatra in Syria and the pair are said to have married. A third child, Ptolemy Philadelphus, is born the following year.<\/p>\n 33 BC | A crisis looms<\/strong><\/p>\n Relations between Octavian and Antony reached crisis point in 33 BC, when the Roman Senate<\/a> declared war on Egypt.<\/p>\n 30 BC | Mark Antony is defeated<\/strong><\/p>\n Following humiliating defeat at the Battle of Actium<\/a> by Octavian (later Augustus) and a subsequent battle in Alexandria, Mark Antony attempts suicide. He is brought to Cleopatra\u2019s hiding place where he soon dies.<\/p>\n 30 BC | Cleopatra takes her own life<\/strong><\/p>\n Unable to contemplate life as a prisoner of Rome, and without the protection of her Roman lover, Cleopatra takes her own life<\/a>. According to legend, she is bitten by a poisonous snake, which kills her.<\/p>\nHow did Cleopatra become queen?<\/h2>\n
Cleopatra: what is the real legacy of the last pharaoh?<\/a><\/h4>\n
<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>Cleopatra made an ally of Julius Caesar, who helped to establish her on the throne<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Fantasies about Cleopatra\u2019s beauty are just that<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2018\/08\/GettyImages-152200204-1-71583a7.jpg?quality=90&resize=413%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Cleopatra was living in Rome, as the mistress of Julius Caesar, at the time that he was assassinated<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Cleopatra was a mother as well as the ruler of Egypt<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2018\/01\/DYEDFP_0-49794d2.jpg?quality=90&resize=404%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>When we refer to the eighth month as \u2018August\u2019, we are celebrating the defeat and death of Cleopatra<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Cleopatra\u2019s name was Greek, but it doesn\u2019t mean that she was<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
What are the key moments in Cleopatra\u2019s reign?<\/h2>\n
Cleopatra, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony: how the last pharaoh\u2019s love affairs shaped Ancient Egypt\u2019s fate<\/a><\/h4>\n
<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>
![\""Mural\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2015\/05\/GettyImages-72125683_2-709066f.jpg?quality=45&resize=556,556"\" "\\"\"The\\"")
<\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>