August 12, 30: Cleopatra commits suicide.
Following the decisive Battle of Actium and Mark Antony’s defeat at the hands of Caesar’s great-nephew and heir, Octavian, large numbers of the former’s forces began to desert in large numbers. Even after a minor victory at Alexandria eleven months later, the desertions continued, and Octavian’s forces closed in Antony’s; soon after, Antony committed suicide with his own sword.
According to ancient sources, Cleopatra was captured by Octavian (who resisted her famous charm) and chose to commit suicide rather than suffer the humiliation of captivity. Plutarch reports that she killed herself with an asp bite to the arm, although a modern scholar argues that a mixture of poisons would have been less painful and a more likely cause of death. Whatever the method, Cleopatra - last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt - died, and her young son and successor Caesarion followed soon after.