Cleopatra: Three Decades of Reign, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony
According to Egyptian philosopher and historian Plutarch, Cleopatra the 7th was known for her exotic beauty and powers of seduction during her three-decade reign over Egypt, despite repeated attempts to overthrow her rule.
Born in 69 BCE, when her father Auletes died of natural causes, Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolemy the 13th ruled Egypt as co-regents, until Ptolemy’s advisors forced Cleopatra to flee into Syria after a power coups. In response, Cleopatra raised an army of mercenaries, who regained power with the assistance of Julius Caesar during a civil war at Pelusium.
Julius Caesar and Cleopatra
Caesar and Cleopatra became lovers in the process, and when the couple gave birth to a child, Egyptians nicknamed the boy Little Caesar. Sometime around 46 to 45 BCE, Cleopatra traveled to Rome to visit Caesar, returning in March of ’44 after the leader was murdered by Brutus and Cassius. According to Plutarch—and later famously dramatized by William Shakespeare—in 42 BCE, after Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius in the battles of Philippi, Mark Antony summoned Cleopatra to Turkey where he was seduced by her charms.
Mark Antony
After leaving his wife and children in Rome, Mark Antony spent the winter of 41 and 40 BCE with Cleopatra in Alexandria, during which the two formed a drinking society called “The Inimitable Livers.” Their union would give birth to twins.
After Antony’s first wife passed away, in 37 BCE they were reunited as lovers yet again, giving birth to a son nine months later. After a humiliating defeat at Parthia, Antony publicly rejected his forced marriage to Octavia and instead returned to Egypt and Cleopatra, awarding land to his children with Cleopatra, while turning his back on his children with Octavia.
In late 32 BCE, the Roman Senate stripped Antony of all his titles, while his disowned son Octavian declared war on Cleopatra. On September 2nd, 31 BCE, Octavian’s forces defeated those of Antony and Cleopatra in the Battle of Actium, and after Antony heard rumors that Cleopatra had committed suicide, he fell on his sword and died, just as news arrived that the rumor was false.
How Did Cleopatra Die?
On August the 12th, 30 BCE, after burying Antony and meeting with the victorious Octavian, Cleopatra retreated to her chamber with two of her female servants, committing suicide at 39 years of age, by allowing herself to be bitten by a poisonous asp. According to her final wishes, Cleopatra was buried next to Antony, forever cementing one of the earliest love affairs in recorded human history.