After Antony's death, Cleopatra was a prisoner of Octavian. Rather than let him kill her and parade her through Rome, she tricked Octavian into leaving her alone and arranged her suicide. On her final evening, she was alone in a room with her two attendants. A man brought in a basket of figs, which guards at Cleopatra's door commented on but did not try. Cleopatra then sent a message to Octavian requesting burial next to Antony. When Octavian returned, Cleopatra along with one of her attendants was already dead, the other was dying. Two small marks were found on Cleopatra's arm which were thought to be the bite of an asp a poisonous snake. This would be appropriate because the asp was the animal sacred to the Sun-god Amon-Ra and any person killed by the asp was thought to be in the company of the gods. The attendants probably died of poisoning.
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