Cleopatra used her beauty, intelligence and determination to capture the hearts of a leader and a general. She was by no means a recluse to the social world. She loved music, art, dancing, and spoke many languages. Cleopatra used these interests to gain the attention of many admirers. One of the most memorable was her first encounter with Julius Caesar. She had someone help her get rolled and tied in a carpet as a way of presenting herself. Caesar was quite astonished by her daring scheme and shortly thereafter became her lover and father of her son Caesarian. Caesar, out of love, helped Cleopatra obtain Egypt for herself. She accepted Caesar's invitation to travel to Rome where she stayed as his mistress until his murder.
Mark Antony was a general under the command of Julius Caesar. After Caesar's death, he sent several messages to Cleopatra asking her to meet with him. Cleopatra sent the messages back after laughing at his feeble attempt to question her involvement with Caesar's war plans. One of his messengers sent an invitation for her to dine with him, but it was Cleopatra who won by having Antony dine with her. Their encounter was a successful one and they stayed in Alexandria for the winter. Cleopatra was aware of Antony's’ wife Fulvia, but it only made her more determined to consume his time and make him forget about all his troubles and hard times in Rome. How could a general refuse her offer and choose the alternative? However, he left upon hearing news of invasion. Over the years, she bore him three children, including a set of twins. Although business affairs and politics took much of Antony's attention away from Cleopatra and their children, she never faltered in her devotion and stood by him completely. She had lent hundreds of soldiers and several ships for his disposal as well as gold and political power. Upon hearing of inevitable defeat, Antony and Cleopatra fled to Alexandria. The Roman Emperor Augustus had taken the palace where they were hiding and misinformed him of Cleopatra's suicide. After hearing the news, Antony ran onto his sword like a Roman soldier killing himself. Cleopatra was devastated when told. Determined not to be made a fool of by Augustus, she hid herself in a mausoleum and committed suicide. There have been many speculations and rumors surrounding her death. Some believe that while still in the mausoleum, she had a servant girl hide an asp under a basket of fruit so that the guards at the door wouldn’t think anything suspicious. Once inside she said her goodbye’s and let the asp bite her eventually killing her. Others have said that it wasn’t the asp that killed her, but poison that she took voluntarily in a drink or on a piece of fruit. No one really knows for certain although there’s more of a tendency to believe she was poisoned for the sake of accuracy.
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