The thing had been quickly done. The messengers came at full speed, and found the guards apprehensive of nothing; but on opening the doors, they saw her stone-dead, lying upon a bed of gold, set out in all her royal ornaments. Iras, one of her women, lay dying at her feet, and Charmion, just ready to fall, scarce able to hold up her head, was adjusting her mistress's diadem.
And when one that came in said angrily, 'Was this well done of your lady, Charmion? Cassius Dio relates that, after the naval defeat at Actium 31 BC , Cleopatra hurriedly returned to Egypt to forestall any revolt at home. Once there, she killed those who had rejoiced at her disaster and "proceeded to gather vast wealth from their estates and from various other sources both profane and sacred, sparing not even the most holy shrines" Roman History , LI.
Her son Caesarion, together with a portion of the royal treasury, were sent up the Nile with the intention that he cross overland by way of Ethiopia and sail on to India.
But he was overtaken and executed LI. To gain time, emissaries also were sent Caesar with entreaties that her children be allowed to succeed to the throne.
Antony himself professed that he was willing to retire to private life or even prepared to kill himself if it would save the queen.
The accompanying bribes were retained but the replies evasive. The lives of Cleopatra's three children by Antony were spared, however; and Cleopatra Selene was allowed to marry the son of Juba, king of Numidia. Even so, Octavian was concerned that they both "might destroy their wealth, which he kept hearing was of vast extent; for Cleopatra had collected it all in her tomb which she was constructing in the royal grounds, and she threatened to burn it all up with her in case she should fail of even the slightest of her demands" LI.
Without this treasure, his soldiers could not be paid. Privately, therefore, he intimated to Cleopatra of pardon and even of love, so that "by this means at least On August 1, 30 BC, Antony confronted Octavian, but his fleet and cavalry surrendered without a fight, and the infantry was defeated. Cleopatra fled to her mausoleum and sealed herself and her treasure inside, accompanied only by her maidservants Iras and Charmion and, says Dio, a eunuch.
A message then was sent to Antony that she had committed suicide, perhaps to prompt him to do the same and so curry favor with Octavian. 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 Cleopatra's servants were slaves and they had to obey or else. From the evidence of the ancient writers, it seems that she had a bit of a temper, because during the visit by Octavian, one of her slaves let it out that Cleopatra did not turn over all the jewels that she had said she did, and she began to beat him.
From this you could infer that she demanded strict obedience from her servants. In the Shakespeare play Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra and her servants Iris and Charmian commit suicide by causing poisonous snakes to bite themselves. Many say that she committed suicide, by having her servants bring her an asp a type of snake to bite her, but this is nothing but a myth which was started by Octavian himself.
No one knows how Cleopatra actually died. Cicero attended one of the receptions where Cleopatra presided. He was not impressed with her and in fact, complained to his friend Atticus that she was indolent and in addition, was insulted by one of her servants a day later.
We only know of three personal servants of Cleopatra. One was a man named Appolodorus, who is supposed to have helped her get into to Caesar's presence.
The other two were her personal servants who died with her. Their names were Iras and Charmion. We don't know how many people Cleopatra ruled. There was no census taken during Cleopatra's reign. Cleopatra was a very common Macedonian name, so many women were named Cleopatra. She didn't. Cleopatra actually weakened the country by her confiscation of its wealth and doling it out to her favorites.
Proof of this is in the quick way that her army and navy surrendered to Octavian and the disloyalty of her servants and slaves. Cleopatra had only one tomb.
How many would she need? Antony comes back to Alexandria after a humiliating defeat in the Battle of Actium. Antony thinks Cleopatra is dead so he commits suicide. Cleopatra is still alive. After being captured by Octavian, Cleopatra commits suicide, herself, with the help of a few servants.
Cleopatra had four children in all. Cleopatra had 14 cats. Although Cleopatra had three sons, she had only one daughter, Cleopatra Selene. There was forty three servants on he Titanic. The wealthy took their servants along. The servants were given second class accommodations. Log in. Cleopatra's foreign policy goal, in addition to preserving her personal power, was to maintain Egypt's independence from the rapidly expanding Roman Empire.
By trading with Eastern nations—Arabia and possibly as far away as India—she built up Egypt's economy, bolstering her country's status as a world power. Ancient sources make it clear that Cleopatra and Antony did love each other and that Cleopatra bore Antony three children; still, the relationship was also very useful to an Egyptian queen who wished to expand and protect her empire. Though some modern historians have portrayed Cleopatra as a capable, popular Egyptian leader, we tend to imagine her through Roman eyes.
During her lifetime and in the century after her death, Roman propaganda, most of it originating with her enemy Octavian, painted Cleopatra as a dangerous harlot who employed sex, witchcraft and cunning as she grasped for power beyond what was proper for a woman.
The poet Horace, writing in the late first century B. After Roman tempers cooled, the Greek historian Plutarch published a more sympathetic biography. Cleopatra became a tragic heroine, with love of Antony her sole motivation.
Over the next two millennia, countless paintings and dramatizations—including Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and John Dryden's All for Love —focused on the fantastic details of her suicide after Octavian defeated Antony. We know almost certainly that Cleopatra, along with her two most trusted servants, killed herself on August 12, 30 B. However, since the facts of her death were unclear even to the men who found the bodies, we will never know if it was the famous asp that killed the queen, or a smuggled vial of poison.
The asp legend has prevailed, however, and the image of her death, more than anything else, gave Cleopatra immortality.
In February , a recently discovered coin bearing a portrait of Cleopatra went on display at Newcastle University in England, sparking renewed interest in the queen and a debate about whether she was really as beautiful as we imagine. The coin, dated to 32 B. She looks nothing like Elizabeth Taylor. But ancient historians never characterized Cleopatra as a great beauty, and in her time she was not considered a romantic heroine.
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