Cleopatra's suicide

Background

After the defeat at Actium on September 2, 31 BC. e. Mark Anthony returned to Egypt and did nothing to continue the struggle with Octavian . He wasted his energies in drinking parties and sumptuous festivities, and together with Cleopatra announced the creation of the "Union of Suicide bombers" (synapothanoumenoi), whose members vowed to die together. In this union had to enter their close. “There is no doubt that this kind of sect had a mystical character, in the spirit of Hellenistic syncretism, it could fulfill the function of transformation, as if preparing Anthony and Cleopatra for the transition to the afterlife, into the bosom of physical rather than political death” ^[3] , which was especially important , since during their joint reign Anthony and Cleopatra presented themselves as "Aphrodite and Dionysus", a divine pair of rulers. Plutarch writes that Anthony lost when Dionysus left him.

Alexander Kabanel. Cleopatra tests poisons on death row, 1887

In addition, preparing for death, Cleopatra tested the poisons, trying to figure out which poison brings a quicker and more painless death. Plutarch writes about this in detail: “Meanwhile, Cleopatra was collecting all kinds of deadly potions and, wanting to find out how painless each of them was, she tested on criminals detained awaiting execution. After making sure that strong poisons bring death in torment, and weaker ones do not have the desired speed of action, she set about experimenting on animals that were poisoned or let one on top of the other in her presence. She also did this day after day, and finally came to the conclusion that, perhaps, only an asp bite causes oblivion and numbness similar to drowsiness, without groans and convulsions: a slight sweat appears on the face, feelings become dull, and little by little the person weakens, with displeasure rejecting any attempt to stir him up and raise him, as if sleeping a deep sleep ” ^[4] .

In the spring of 30 BC e. Octavian moved to Egypt. By the end of July, Octavian’s troops appeared under Alexandria itself. The last parts that remained with Anthony, one after another, went over to the side of the winner. Plutarch writes that the loser Cleopatra has already begun to prepare for her death. As soon as Octavian took Pelusius , the queen “ordered the transfer of all the most valuable of the royal treasury - gold, silver, smaragdas, pearls, ebony, ivory, cinnamon - to her tomb, it was a tall and magnificent building, which she had erected for a long time near the temple of Isis. A pile of tow and a resinous torch were piled there. ” ^[five]

The death of Anthony (August 1)

On August 1, defeat became apparent, and Cleopatra, with trusted servants Irada and Harmion, locked herself in the building of her own tomb. False news of her suicide was transmitted to Anthony, and he threw himself on his sword. Soon, he, a dying woman, was brought to the tomb, and the 53-year-old Roman died the same day in the arms of Cleopatra sobbing above him. According to other sources, he was brought to the building of the mausoleum already dead.

The tsarina herself, holding a dagger in her hand, showed her readiness for death, but entered into negotiations with the envoy of Octavian, allowed him to penetrate the tomb building and disarm it. Apparently, Cleopatra still retained a faint hope of seducing Octavian, or at least agreeing with him, and holding the kingdom. Octavian was less susceptible to seduction than earlier Julius Caesar and Anthony.

On this day, Cleopatra threatened the Romans that she would die on fire in her mausoleum, full of countless treasures. However, the servants of Octavian climbed into the mausoleum, grabbed Cleopatra, pulled out a dagger from her hands. She was transferred back to the royal palace, she was held in custody with honors, but all life-threatening items were taken away. Thus ended the day of August 1 ^[6] .

Guarded

Octavian allowed Cleopatra to embalm to bury her lover; her own fate was still unclear. She said she was sick and made it clear that she would starve herself to death - but Octavian’s threats to kill the children, who were also in his hands, forced her to accept treatment. “A few days later, Caesar (Octavian) visited Cleopatra himself to console her in any way. She lay on the bed, depressed and dejected, and when Caesar appeared at the door, jumped up in one tunic and rushed to his feet. Her long-tidy hair hung in shreds, her face went wild, her voice trembled, her eyes went out. ” ^[7] Octavian advised Cleopatra with encouraging words and withdrew.

“The queen rushed to Caesar’s feet, trying to seduce the commander’s gaze. In vain! Chastity for princesps was beyond beauty ” ( Lucius Anney Flor ).

Obviously, finally meeting with Octavian face to face, Cleopatra came to the conclusion that she could not repeat with him the same thing that she had managed to do with Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony.

Cleopatra's death (August 10 or 12)

The exact day when the queen committed suicide is not indicated by the ancient authors; modern researchers based on a comparison of various data suggest that this happened on August 10 or 12. The last days of Cleopatra are described in detail by Plutarch according to the memoirs of Olympus, her doctor, available to him. Another version full of details left by Dion Cassius, both stories are slightly different in details.

Cornelius Dolabella, a young Roman officer in love with Cleopatra, informed her that in three days she would be put on a ship and sent to Rome for Octavian's triumph . Cleopatra ordered the commander to write a letter and locked herself with her loyal servants. Octavian received a letter in which he found complaints and a request to bury her with Anthony, and immediately sent people. The messengers found Cleopatra dead, in royal attire, on a golden bed.

... When the messengers ran to the palace and, after catching the guards in complete ignorance, broke the doors, Cleopatra in royal attire lay on the golden bed of the dead. One of the two women, Irada, was dying at her feet, the other, Harmion, already staggering and dropping her head to her chest, straightened the diadem in her mistress's hair. Someone in a rage exclaimed: “Fine, Harmion!” - “Yes, truly beautiful and worthy of the successor to so many kings,” the woman said and, not making a further sound, fell beside the bed ( Plutarch ).

Since before a peasant with a pot of figs , who did not arouse suspicion among the guards, went to Cleopatra, it was decided that a snake was carried in Cleopatra's pot. It was claimed that Cleopatra’s hand was barely visible two light bites. The snake itself was not found in the room, as if it had immediately crept away from the palace. According to Dion Cassius, Octavian tried to revive Cleopatra with the help of psilles , an exotic tribe that knew how to suck out poison harmlessly for themselves ^[8] .

However, the version of the snakebite, although common, was in doubt. For example, it was suggested that Cleopatra stored poison in a hollow head hairpin. This version is reinforced by the fact that both of Cleopatra's maidservants died with her. It is doubtful that one snake killed three people at once. Strabo wrote that there are two versions of Cleopatra's death: from snakebites and from poisonous ointments for rubbing ^[9] .

• Plutarch : “They say that the asp was brought along with the figs, hidden under the berries and leaves, so that he would sting the queen unexpectedly for her,” she ordered. But, having taken out part of the berries, Cleopatra noticed the snake and said: “So here she was ...” - she laid bare her hand and put it under the bite. Others report that they kept the snake in a closed vessel for water and Cleopatra lured and teased her with a golden spindle for a long time, until she crawled out and dug into her hand above the elbow. However, no one knows the truth - there is even a message that she was hiding the poison in a hollow head hairpin, which was constantly in her hair. However, not a single spot on the body appeared, and in general no signs of poisoning were found. However, the snakes were not found in the room, but some claimed that they saw a snake footprint on the seashore, where the windows went. Finally, according to several writers, Cleopatra's hand showed two light, slightly noticeable injections. This probably convinced Caesar, too, because in a triumphal procession they carried the image of Cleopatra with an adid sticking to her hand. Such are the circumstances of her death ” ^[10] .
• Dion Cassius : “No one knows for sure which mode of death she chose: only faint injections were visible on her hand. Some say that she applied to her body that aspect which was brought to her either in a vessel for water or in a bouquet of flowers. Others - that the comb with which she usually combed her hair was smeared with poison, and this poison had a special property: when it touched the body, it did no harm, but if at least a drop of it got into the blood, it immediately poisoned it and caused instant and painless death. Until this time, Cleopatra usually wore this comb, oiled with poison, in her hair, and at that moment, slightly scratching her arm, let the poison into the blood. Whether or in some similar way, Cleopatra died, and with her two her servants. And the eunuch - as soon as Cleopatra was taken into custody - voluntarily subjected himself to the bites of poisonous snakes and, stung by them, rushed into the tomb, which he had prepared for himself beforehand ” ^[8] .

Researchers note that suicide had a clear ritual meaning for Cleopatra: “preparing for suicide, Cleopatra dressed in luxurious royal attire, took up the signs of royal power ^[11] . These preparations confirm that the death was a special ritual for Cleopatra, even on the verge of death she wanted to remain the queen, for which she dressed appropriately and even took signs of power. The authoritative British historian Edwin Beaven noted in the first half of the 20th century that the end of Cleopatra turned into a mystery, and the royal attire in which she met death was probably the garment of the “new Isis” ” ^[3] .

Consequences

Cleopatra's death deprived Octavian of a brilliant captive at his triumph in Rome. In the triumphal procession, as the sources testify, they carried only its image (possibly a statue) with a snake.

According to the ideas of that era, Cleopatra's act allowed her to keep her honor and was highly appreciated by contemporaries. The researcher writes: “Cleopatra nevertheless escaped a violent death, managed with dignity - according to the then concepts - to die. And taking into account her political defeat from Octavian, such an end was doubly successful: she originally completed the life of the tsarina and at the same time was a protest, a certain ideological victory over the Roman conqueror, she demonstrated fortitude. No wonder Horace then admired the courageous death of the Queen of Egypt ” ^[3] .

... So Caesar rushed after the monster,
To throw a chain. But even though a woman,
She was not afraid of a sword,
I didn’t look for foreign lands with the fleet, --—

No, wishing to die the queen,
I looked at the fallen house with a smile
And pressed the evil snakes to her chest,
To absorb poison with your whole body:

She decided firmly to go to death
For fear that the Queen has debunked
Its shameful for triumph
Proud Enemy will kill Liburn ^[12] .

Octavian's adopted son, Caesar, executed the allegedly son of Caesar from Cleopatra Ptolemy XV Caesarion in the same year. Children from Anthony walked in chains at the triumph parade, then they were brought up with the sister of Octavian Octavia, his wife Anthony (left by him for Cleopatra), "in memory of her husband." Subsequently, Cleopatra’s daughter Cleopatra Selena II was married to the Moorish king Yuba II , due to which a bust of Cleopatra from Shercell appeared. The fate of Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus remained unknown. They are believed to have died early. Egypt has become one of the Roman provinces .

Burial

Octavian allowed the tsarina’s embalmed body to be buried next to Mark Anthony in a tomb prepared by them earlier, and her maids were also awarded an honorary burial ^[13] .

In 2008, researcher Zaha Hawass reported that he was able to discover the alleged burial place of Tsarina Cleopatra and Mark Anthony ^[14] .

According to his assumptions, they were buried together in the territory of the temple of Osiris in the vicinity of Alexandria. Under the temple is a tunnel 120 meters long. There were statues of the queen and many coins with her image. Two weeks before the opening, Hawass discovered a bust of Mark Anthony and suggested that his burial might be close to Cleopatra's.

In literature:

Horace , having received news in Rome of this event, wrote an ode about him (Hor. Od. I. 37).

In the visual arts:

Images of Cleopatra dying from a snakebite (or just with snakes in her hands) appeared almost immediately. In the triumphant procession of Octavian, her image was taken (possibly a statue). According to the description of Plutarch, it was "with an adid clinging to her hand."

Literary monuments indicate that paintings were also written. Ponnan wrote a dedication to one of these lost works ^[15] :

The face of the Nile Queen is represented by a skillful hand
On a painted board. And it seems: the snake is pleased,
To the breasts that are fully tucked, pour death into it with a bite.
It’s like they’re alive: the body trembles with pain,
And in front of the eyes of the snake venom the picture dies ^[16] .

The theme of the death of Cleopatra was a favorite especially Italian painting of the XVII century. On the canvases, Cleopatra is usually depicted, lying or sitting - and holding a snake (aspid) near her bare chest. She can be surrounded by servants. A basket of dates may be depicted where, it is claimed, a snake was hidden ^[1] .

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  Guido Reni, 1638-1639

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  Guido Cagnacci, 1658

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  Juan Moon, 1881.

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  Reginald Arthur, 1892

• Dion Cassius. Roman history. The end of Anthony and Cleopatra // Monuments of late ancient scientific and fiction. - M., 1964 .-- S. 126-133.