Cleopatra Lying at the Foot of a Tree, with a Term

Cleopatra VII (69–30 B.C.), a celebrated female Egyptian pharaoh, solidified her throne through liaisons with Roman leaders, including Julius Caesar and later Mark Antony. Despite her political acumen and wily manipulation of the men in her wake, she is best remembered for her death, which was purportedly a self-inflicted asp bite. Both this print and Jacopo de’ Barbari’s Cleopatra (1945.59) show her either considering snake-assisted suicide or waiting for the poison to take hold.