Death of Cleopatra.
The death of Cleopatra, the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, occurred in 30 BC in Alexandria, when she was 39 years old. According to Greek and Roman historians, she poisoned herself using either an ointment or a sharp implement such as a hairpin. Modern scholars debate the validity of these accounts, and of ancient reports involving snakebites as the cause of death. Cleopatra's death effectively ended the final war of the Roman Republic between triumvirs Octavian (Augustus) and Mark Antony, in which she aligned herself with Antony, father to three of her children. Her suicide circumvented the humiliation of being paraded as a prisoner in a Roman triumph celebrating the military victories of Octavian, who in 27 BC became Rome's first emperor. Cleopatra's death marked the end of the Hellenistic period and Ptolemaic rule of Egypt, as well as the beginning of Roman Egypt. The death has been depicted in various works of art throughout history. (This article is part of a featured topic: Cleopatra.)
