The suicide of Cleopatra. Heliogravure after H. Beham.

The suicide of Cleopatra: the asp wriggles around Cleopatra's left arm and is about to bite her in the breast. Heliogravure after H. Beham. Cleopatra VII (69 BC-30 BC), Egyptian Queen, lover of Julius Caesar and later the wife of Mark Antony. After the Roman armies of Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus) defeated their combined forces, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, and Egypt fell under…