Cleopatra's Defiant End

Cleopatra's final morning wasn't chaos, it was control. Her army was gone, Antony dead,

Octavian closing in. She knew what Rome wanted, to parade her through

the streets in chains like a prize. But she had other plans. She bathed,

dressed in royal robes, and sent for one thing, a basket of figs.

Hidden inside, an Egyptian cobra. When her guards found her, she was lying on

her golden bed, crown still on her head. Octavian arrived too late.

She'd stolen his triumph. In her last breath, Cleopatra proved something,

even in defeat, a queen decides how her story ends. She didn't beg, didn't run.