35 BC story
Cleopatra asks Mark Antony to kill her sister Arsinoe, who has been granted sanctuary as a priestess at Ephesus. Following a tiff, Cleopatra returns to Egypt. Antony follows, as she knew he would. News arrives of Parthian incursions, and that Antony's brother and Antony's Roman wife Fulvia have taken up arms against Octavian. Antony sees this as his chance to unseat Octavian, but Cleopatra counsels caution. Antony goes to fight the Parthians, however he leaves his army in Syria and sails for Athens to meet Fulvia, but she dies of a fever. Antony meets Octavian and they agree to divide the empire, Antony the east, Octavian the west. Octavian suggests, to seal the deal, that Antony marry Octavian's sister Octavia. Cleopatra is furious at the news. Antony looks to continue his war against the Parthians, but needs money to finance it. He leaves Octavia in Athens, and invites Cleopatra to Antioch, where they resume their affair. He promises to acknowledge his two children with Cleopatra, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene. In Alexandria, Antony publicly divides his empire among Caesarion, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, and his and Cleopatra's infant son Ptolemy Philadelphos. He divorces Octavia. Octavian takes this as a personal insult and reacts savagely, despite Octavia (who still loves Antony) pleading with him for moderation. The Senate, at Octavian's behest, divests Mark Antony of his powers and declares war on Cleopatra. Antony's friends begin to desert him. His and Cleopatra's forces are defeated by Octavian at the Battle of Actium and they quarrel. They decide not to flee but to stay in Alexandria to await the end. Cleopatra fears Antony will harm her in a drunken rage, she hides in her tomb and sends word she's dead. Antony stabs himself. Cleopatra has him brought to the tomb on a litter, where he dies. Cleopatra receives Octavian in the throne room and begs him to spare her children, but he refuses. Cleopatra kills herself with an asp, as do her faithful maidservants, Charmian and Iras.
13 total · 1 choice · 5 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| courtly intrigues | choice | The plot turns on people jockeying for power in the royal court of Ptolemaic Egypt and the city of Rome in the years surrounding 35 BC. Cleopatra VII used her beauty and female wiles to manipulate Mark Antony, whom she now fancied as the most powerful man on Earth. She got him to kill her sister and to divorce Octavian's sister. In return, Octavian got the senate in Rome to declare war on Mark Antony. Before killing herself, Cleopatra VII discussed her options with Octavian. |
| civil war | major | Octavian waged war on his co-ruler of the Roman Empire, Mark Antony. Octavian famously routed Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium. |
| coping with the death of a lover | major | Cleopatra VII manipulated Mark Antony into killing himself by sending word, falsely, of her own death. She then had the dying Mark Antony brought to her and tearfully tended to him as he succumbed to his self-inflicted gut injury. |
| life in the ancient Greco-Roman world | major | The story is set in the royal court of Ptolemaic Egypt the city of Rome in the years surrounding 35 BC. |
| romantic love | major | Cleopatra and Mark Antony were mutually besotted. |
| suicide | major | The story famously concludes with the double suicide of the fated lovers Mark Antony and Cleopatra. He stabbed himself in the gut when he thought, incorrectly, that Cleopatra was dead. She let herself be bitten by a venomous serpent after Octavian implied he was going to control her fate. |
| divorce | minor | Mark Antony divorced Octavia to be with Cleopatra, an act which Octavian took as a affront. |
| fratricide | minor | Cleopatra VII manipulated Mark Antony and told him to murder her sister, which he then did. |
| hedonism | minor | Cleopatra and Mark Antony founded a club, which they dubbed "The Inimitables Club", centered around lavish partying and feasting. |
| husband and wife | minor | Mark Antony married Octavian's sister, Octavia, to solidify his alliance him. |