Cleopatra and Mark Antony

Mark Antony became Caesar’s heir apparent, though Caesar’s great-nephew Octavian was still alive. Antony sent for Cleopatra so that she might explain her role in the aftermath of Caesar's assassination. She delayed her departure, but eventually went to him bearing gifts. He was captivated and despite already being married, returned to Alexandria with Cleopatra. She was treated as an independent monarch rather than a “protected” sovereign.

Though costly, Antony celebrated a triumphal return to Alexandria from his recent military conquests in 34 BC. In the celebration that followed, Antony proclaimed Ptolemy Caesar to be Caesar’s son which meant that he was first in line for Caesar’s throne, not Octavian. Antony also announced the division of most of the civilized world to his family in Alexandria (Cleopatra and her children). Octavian stole what he claimed to be Antony’s will and revealed to the Roman people that upon his death, Antony intended to give Cleopatra Roman possessions and requested to be buried beside her in Egypt.

Antony and Cleopatra spent the winter of 32 – 31 BC in Greece. The Roman Senate declared war against Cleopatra the following year. Octavian faced the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC at the naval Battle of Actium and won. Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt. While Antony was fighting what would be his last battle, he received false news that Cleopatra had died and attempted to take his own life. He was brought to Cleopatra and died in her arms. His last words were a plea for her to make peace with Octavian.

Cleopatra buried Antony and then committed suicide. Though the means of her death is uncertain, it is believed that Cleopatra allowed herself to be bitten by an asp, an Egyptian cobra. She was thirty-nine years old and had been a queen for twenty-two years and Antony's partner for eleven. They were buried together, as both of them had wished.

Ptolemy Caesar, the last member of the Ptolemy dynasty, was put to death by Octavian, and Egypt became a Roman province.