With the arrival of the conquering Octavian (the future Roman emperor Augustus), Cleopatra’s lover, Mark Antony, died by suicide under the false impression that she was dead. The prevailing view is that, after burying Antony, the 39-year-old Cleopatra took her own life, though how is uncertain. Some claim it was by means of an asp, the symbol of divine royalty. Some scholars have suggested that Cleopatra did not die by suicide but was surreptitiously murdered by Octavian.
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