Cleopatra Commits Suicide
Cleopatra VII, the last pharaoh of Egypt, committed suicide on August 30, 30 B.C., marking a significant event in ancient history. Born in 69 B.C. in Alexandria, she was the daughter of Ptolemy XII and part of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which had ruled Egypt since its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. Cleopatra rose to power after a tumultuous reign characterized by political intrigue, including her marriage to her younger brother Ptolemy XIII. Her relationships with powerful Roman leaders, notably Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, were pivotal in her attempts to secure her reign and Egypt's independence.
Following Antony's defeat by Octavian, Cleopatra faced the loss of her power and the impending humiliation of being paraded in Rome. In a final act of defiance, she chose to end her life, traditionally believed to have been by poison or through a snake bite. Her death not only marked the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty but also led to Egypt becoming a province of the Roman Empire. Cleopatra remains a fascinating figure, symbolizing the complexities of female power and the intersection of Egyptian and Roman histories.
On this Page
Cleopatra Commits Suicide
Cleopatra Commits Suicide
Cleopatra, also known as Cleopatra VII, committed suicide on August 30, 30 b.c. She was the last pharaoh of Egypt.
Egypt is located in the northeastern corner of the African continent. In 332 b.c., Alexander the Great conquered the country, founded the city of Alexandria, and incorporated Egypt into the Greek empire. Ptolemy became governor of Egypt in 323 b.c., and in 305 b.c. he assumed the title of Egypt's ancient rulers by naming himself Pharaoh, thereby beginning the Ptolemaic dynasty of pharaohs, the last dynasty of pharaohs in Egypt's history. At some point, Egypt allied itself with Rome, and by the reign of Ptolemy XII the Egyptian pharaohs were paying tribute to Rome.
Cleopatra, the daughter and third-oldest child of Ptolemy XII, was born in 69 b.c. in Alexandria. Her mother may have been her aunt Cleopatra V, since members of the Ptolemaic dynasty often married their siblings. Her two older sisters had died by the time Ptolemy XII passed away in 51 b.c., so Cleopatra inherited the throne. As was her dynasty's tradition, she married her 12-year-old brother Ptolemy XIII, and the two were considered to be the joint rulers of Egypt. It has been said that Cleopatra was charismatic, intelligent, educated, and musical. Unlike the Ptolemaic pharaohs before her, she could actually speak Egyptian.
For the first three years of their reign, Cleopatra was the primary ruler, until Ptolemy, encouraged by his advisors to assume sole rulership, drove her into exile. She went to Syria and assembled an army to fight her brother for the throne. After Ptolemy, in an attempt to gain favor with Julius Caesar, authorized the assassination of Caesar's rival and former friend Pompey, an angry Caesar ordered the warring siblings to meet with him to settle their dispute.
Not wishing to enter Alexandria openly, Cleopatra smuggled herself into Caesar's quarters rolled up in an oriental rug. It is said that Caesar was charmed by her and that they may have become lovers that same day. When Ptolemy saw them together the following day, he felt betrayed. Caesar had him arrested but then released him after some followers, including Ptolemy's and Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe, laid siege to the palace. War continued for almost six months. Finally, Ptolemy drowned while trying to flee, and Caesar was able to reinstate Cleopatra as pharaoh. She adhered to custom and married another brother, Ptolemy XIV.
Once her rule was secure, Cleopatra and Caesar embarked on a two-month cruise on the Nile, after which she gave birth to a son (Ptolemy XV) whom she named Caesarion, claiming he was Caesar's son. In 46 b.c. Cleopatra, her brother-husband, and her son traveled to Rome, where she resided in a villa that Caesar provided for her for nearly two years. When Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 b.c., Cleopatra returned with her son to Egypt. Around this time Ptolemy XIV died, and it is possible that Cleopatra had a hand in his death. Nevertheless, Cleopatra could now name the young Caesarion as her coregent, thus gaining virtually sole rulership of Egypt for herself.
In 42 b.c. Cleopatra met Caesar's co-consul Mark Antony, who fell in love with her and lived with her in Egypt. Antony eventually returned to Rome, where, for political reasons, he married Octavia, the sister of his principal rival Octavian, Julius Caesar's nephew and heir. In 36 b.c., when Antony's forces were defeated by the Parthians, a people from what is roughly modern-day Iran, he sought the aid of Cleopatra rather than Octavia, whom he now abandoned. Antony and Cleopatra had three children together, and after Antony's victory over Armenia in 34 b.c., the couple announced that Alexander the Great's old kingdom in the Middle East would belong to Cleopatra's children.
Antony divorced Octavia, and Octavian declared war against Cleopatra and Antony in 31 b.c. Antony and Cleopatra were defeated and fled separately to Alexandria with Octavian in pursuit. When Antony heard a false rumor that Cleopatra had killed herself, he committed suicide by falling on his sword. Following Antony's death, Cleopatra tried to seduce Octavian but failed. When she learned that Octavian intended to parade her and her children through the streets of Rome, she killed herself, either with poison or through the bite of a poisonous snake known as an asp. Following her death on August 30, 30 b.c., Octavian had her son Caesarion killed, and Egypt became a Roman province.