Why does cleopatra kill herself

The queen was distraught but, before he succumbed to death, Antony asked her to make peace with Octavian. He wanted Cleopatra as a trophy to parade in Rome but, rather than submit, she too committed suicide. Legend has it she did this by encouraging a snake to bite her, although her two handmaidens died at the same time, suggesting that some other form of poisoning saw her off. He now had absolute power over the richest kingdom along the Mediterranean Sea.

Egypt had become a mere province for Rome, one of the largest, most powerful empires of the ancient world, to plunder. In , the German historian Christoph Schaefer suggested that Cleopatra may have ingested a fatal mix of hemlock, wolfsbane and opium, based on his studies of ancient documents and his work with a toxicologist.

The truth, however, remains elusive. He certainly had a motive to want Cleopatra dead, as the charismatic queen as long as she was alive posed a potential threat to his dominance in Egypt. Octavian then made Egypt a Roman province, with himself as emperor; he later took the name Augustus.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. The triumvirate, however, continued to deteriorate. In 37 B. In their time apart, Cleopatra had borne him twins, a son and a daughter. To celebrate the victory, he staged a triumphal procession through the streets of Alexandria, in which he and Cleopatra sat on golden thrones, and Caesarion and their children were given imposing royal titles.

Many in Rome, spurred on by Octavian, interpreted the spectacle as a sign that Antony intended to deliver the Roman Empire into alien hands. After several more years of tension and propaganda attacks, Octavian declared war against Cleopatra, and therefore Antony, in 31 B. On September 2, 31 B. After heavy fighting, Cleopatra broke from the engagement and set course for Egypt with 60 of her ships. Antony then broke through the enemy line and followed her.

The disheartened fleet that remained surrendered to Octavian. Although they had suffered a decisive defeat, it was nearly a year before Octavian reached Alexandria and again defeated Antony. In the aftermath of the battle, Cleopatra took refuge in the mausoleum she had commissioned for herself. Antony, informed that Cleopatra was dead, stabbed himself with his sword. Before he died, another messenger arrived, saying Cleopatra still lived.

When the triumphant Roman arrived, she attempted to seduce him, but he resisted her charms. In 27 B. This he did, but the wound was not immediately fatal and, hearing that Cleopatra still was alive, he was taken to her, being hoisted through an upper-story window and dying there in her chamber on August Soon, Octavian sent a member of his staff to the queen, "bidding him, if possible, above all things to get Cleopatra into his power alive; for he was fearful about the treasures in her funeral pyre, and he thought it would add greatly to the glory of his triumph if she were led in the procession" Plutarch, Life of Antony , LXXVIII.

By a ruse, Cleopatra was taken but, dispirited at the death of Antony and her own capture, fell ill says Plutarch and was moved to the palace. Octavian now confronted a dilemma. Although said to have wanted to parade Cleopatra in his triumph Dio, LI. But she could not be allowed to live or Octavian be seen as responsible for her death. Some dissembling, therefore, must have taken place on both sides: Octavian inviting Cleopatra to return to Rome and Cleopatra pretending that she would go cf.

Dio, LI. Instead, she may have been given an opportunity simply to die by her own hand, and this she did on August 12, aged thirty-nine years, wearing her most beautiful garments, her body arrayed on a golden couch and the emblems of royalty in her hands. Although Cleopatra poisoned herself, no-one quite knew how. Plutarch relates that there were two slight pricks on her arm and that poison might have been hidden in a hollow comb knestis , a word used rarely enough to suggest that he may have adhered to an earlier account LXXXVI.

Dio comments upon the marks as well, which may have been caused by a poisonous pin used to fasten her hair LI. Or they may have been from the bite of an asp, which must have been hidden in a basket of flowers or figs or a water jar, although no snake ever was found.

If snakes and figs, the imagery may have been deliberately calculated, given their sexual connotations and the desire to portray Cleopatra as a foreign seductress.