Was it murder or was it suicide? The death of the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt is still up for debate…
"Look for Gaius…Proculeius…he will treat you..well…” trailed off Antony as he took his dying breaths. Blood covered his body from the wound he had inflicted upon himself after receiving the note from Cleopatra that she had committed suicide. Her darling Antony was gone, and now it was her time to join him in the afterlife. She forced herself to pull one hand off of her dying lover’s breast and pulled a crystal vile from her belt. Without hesitation, she raised the vile to her lips. It was time.
Before she could tip the vile to drink the amber liquid inside, she heard a deep voice telling her to stop. Startled, Cleopatra turned to look at the source. It was a man dressed in Roman garb who had climbed in through the window with a ladder. He rushed to Cleopatra and dashed the vial from her hands.
“It is not your time to go yet,” he said gruffly, pulling her to her feet. Though she had lost this chance, she was determined to meet her lover in the afterlife, soon…
Though it is not certain how Cleopatra died, what is known is that she was 39 years old and a prisoner of Roman statesmen Octavian in 44 BC. The last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, Cleopatra VII, was married to statesman Mark Antony who had made an enemy of Octavian when he divorced his sister, Octavia Minor in 32 BC.
Antony lost the majority of his forces to Octavian’s army who invaded Alexandria on August 1st, 30 BC. It was then that Cleopatra hid inside her tomb with her closest attendants and had a note declaring her suicide sent to Antony. In response to the note, Antony ordered his slave, Eros, to murder him. Instead, Eros killed himself, leaving Antony to his own devices. In response, Antony stabbed himself and was carried to the tomb of Cleopatra where he told her with his dying words to look for a man named Gaius Proculeius.
Proculeius escorted her to the palace in Alexandria where she met with Octavian who was also detaining three of her children. Octavian told her that her life would be spared but told her no plans for her or her family. Instead, a spy told Cleopatra that Octavian planned to bring her back to Rome as a prisoner and parade her around in triumph. Cleopatra would not stand for this, and chose to end her life.
There are many theories on how Cleopatra died and most of them center around the theme of suicide. One of the most widely recognized theories is that she poisoned herself with snake venom through various methods. Three primary source accounts come from the Roman historians Strabo, Plutarch, and Cassius Dio. Each of them tells a similar tale on how Cleopatra died, but modern scholars debate whether she was murdered or committed suicide.
The historian Strabo believed that Cleopatra committed suicide by the bite of an asp (a name for a number of venomous snakes found in the Nile region) or by poisonous ointment that she put into her skin.
Cassius Dio claims that small puncture wounds were found on Cleopatra’s arm, though he and Plutarch both agree that nobody knew the true cause of the ruler’s death. These puncture wounds could have come from the snake bit or by pricking her skin with a sharp object and then rubbing in the poison.
Another Roman physician named Galen also suggested the story of the asp bite, as well as a version of the story where Cleopatra bit her own arm and inserted the venom herself.
Gregory Tsoucalas (lecturer in the history of medicine at Democritus University of Thrace) and Markos Sgantzos (Associate Professor of Anatomy at the University of Thessaly) suggest that Octavian ordered Cleopatra to be poisoned. A book titled The Murder of Cleopatra suggests that the murder of Cleopatra was covered up by Roman authorities. Another historian, Patricia Southern, suggests that Octavian may have allowed Cleopatra to commit suicide by a method of her choosing.
However she died, in the end, it is recorded that Octavian allowed Cleopatra and Mark Antony to be buried together. Sadly, the location of Cleopatra’s tomb is unknown and all that we have are the historian’s records.
What do you think was the cause of Cleopatra’s death? Let me know in the comments!
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