page_title: Reign of Cleopatra
section_title: Downfall and death
hierarchical_section_title: Reign of Cleopatra / Downfall and death
context_page_description: The reign of Cleopatra VII of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt began with the death of her father, the ruling pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes, by March 52 BC. It ended with her death on 10 or 11 August 31 BC. Following the reign of Cleopatra, the country of Egypt was transformed into a province of the Roman Empire and the Hellenistic period came to an end. During her reign she ruled Egypt and other territories as an absolute monarch, in the tradition of the Ptolemaic dynasty's founder Ptolemy I Soter as well as Alexander the Great of Macedon, who captured Egypt from the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
  Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolemy XIII acceded to the throne as joint rulers, but a fallout between them led to open civil war. Cleopatra fled briefly to Roman Syria in 48 BC but returned later that year with an army to confront Ptolemy XIII. As a Roman client state, Roman statesman Pompey the Great planned Ptolemaic Egypt as a place of refuge after losing the 48 BC Battle of Pharsalus in Greece against his rival Julius Caesar in Caesar's Civil War.
context_section_description: While Octavian occupied Athens, Antony and Cleopatra landed at Paraitonion in Egypt. The couple went their separate ways. Antony went to Cyrene to raise more troops. Cleopatra sailed into the harbor at Alexandria in a misleading attempt to portray the activities in Greece as a victory. Conflicting reports make it unclear if Cleopatra had financial difficulties at this juncture or not. Some claims, such as robbing temples of their wealth to pay for her military expenditures, were likely Augustan propaganda. It is also uncertain if she actually executed Artavasdes II of Armenia and sent his head to his rival Artavasdes I, king of Media Atropatene, in an attempt to strike an alliance with him.
  Lucius Pinarius, Mark Antony's appointed governor of Cyrene, received word that Octavian had won the Battle of Actium before Antony's messengers could arrive at his court. Pinarius had these messengers executed and defected to Octavian's side, surrendering to him the four legions under his command that Antony wanted to obtain. Antony nearly committed suicide after this news but his staff officers stopped him. In Alexandria he built a reclusive cottage on the island of Pharos. He nicknamed it the Timoneion, after the philosopher Timon of Athens, who was famous for his cynicism and misanthropy. Herod the Great, who had personally advised Antony after the Battle of Actium that he should betray Cleopatra, traveled to Rhodes to meet Octavian and resign his kingship out of loyalty to Antony. Impressed by his speech and sense of loyalty, Octavian allowed him to maintain his position in Judea, further isolating Antony and Cleopatra.
  Cleopatra perhaps started to view Antony as a liability by the late summer of 31 BC, when she prepared to leave Egypt to her son Caesarion. As an object of Roman hostility, Cleopatra would relinquish her throne and remove herself from the equation by taking her fleet from the Mediterranean into the Red Sea and then setting sail to a foreign port, perhaps in India where she could spend time recuperating. However, these plans were ultimately abandoned when Malichus I of Nabataea, as advised by Octavian's governor of Syria Quintus Didius, managed to burn Cleopatra's fleet, in revenge for his losses in a war with Herod largely initiated by Cleopatra. Cleopatra had no option but to stay in Egypt and negotiate with Octavian. Although most likely pro-Octavian propaganda, it was reported at this time that Cleopatra had begun testing the strengths of various poisons on prisoners and even her own servants.
  Cleopatra had Caesarion enter into the ranks of the ephebi. This, along with reliefs on a stele from Koptos dated 21 September 31 BC, demonstrate that she was now grooming her son to become the partial ruler of Egypt. In a show of solidarity Antony also had Marcus Antonius Antyllus, his son with Fulvia, enter the ephebi at the same time. Separate messages and envoys from Antony and Cleopatra were then sent to Octavia, still stationed at Rhodes, although Octavian seems to have replied only to Cleopatra. Cleopatra requested that her children inherit Egypt and that Antony be allowed to live there in ecstasy. She offered Octavian money in the future and immediately sent him gifts of a golden scepter, crown, and throne. Octavian sent his diplomat Thyrsos to Cleopatra after she had threatened to immolate herself and vast amounts of her treasure within a tomb already under construction. Thyrsos advised her to kill Antony so that her life would be spared. When Antony suspected foul intent, however, he had this diplomat flogged and sent back to Octavian without a deal. From Octavian's point of view, Lepidus could be trusted under house arrest. Antony, however, had to be eliminated, and Caesarion, the rival heir to Julius Caesar, could not be trusted either.
  After lengthy negotiations that ultimately produced no results, Octavian set out to invade Egypt in the spring of 30 BC. He stopped at Ptolemais in Phoenicia where his new ally Herod entertained him and provided his army with fresh supplies. Octavian moved south and swiftly too
caption: Cleopatra and Octavian, a painting by Louis Gauffier, 1787
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