Cleopatra began her reign alongside her brother Ptolemy XIII , but falling-out between them led to a civil war. Caesar declared Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIV joint rulers, and maintained a private affair with Cleopatra which produced a son, Caesarion.
Cleopatra traveled to Rome as a client queen in 46 and 44 BC, where she stayed at Caesar's villa. After their meeting at Tarsos in 41 BC, the queen had an affair with Antony which produced three children. Antony became increasingly reliant on Cleopatra for both funding and military aid during his invasions of the Parthian Empire and the Kingdom of Armenia.
The Donations of Alexandria declared their children rulers over various territories under Antony's authority. Octavian portrayed this event as an act of treason, forced Antony's allies in the Roman Senate to flee Rome in 32 BC, and declared war on Cleopatra. When Cleopatra learned that Octavian planned to bring her to his Roman triumphal procession, she killed herself by poisoning contrary to the popular belief that she was bitten by an asp. Cleopatra's legacy survives in ancient and modern works of art.
Roman historiography and Latin poetry produced a generally critical view of the queen that pervaded later Medieval and Renaissance literature. In the visual arts, her ancient depictions include Roman busts , paintings , and sculptures , cameo carvings and glass , Ptolemaic and Roman coinage , and reliefs.
In Renaissance and Baroque art , she was the subject of many works including operas, paintings, poetry, sculptures, and theatrical dramas. She has become a pop culture icon of Egyptomania since the Victorian era , and in modern times, Cleopatra has appeared in the applied and fine arts, burlesque satire, Hollywood films, and brand images for commercial products.
