Octavian complained that Antony had no authority for being in Egypt ; that his execution of Sextus Pompeius was illegal ; that his treachery to the king of Armenia disgraced the Roman name ; that he had not sent half the proceeds of the spoils to Rome according to his agreement ; that his connection with Cleopatra and the acknowledgment of Caesarion as a legitimate son of Julius Caesar were a degradation of his office and a menace to himself.

Octavian was not present, but at the next meeting made a reply of such a nature that the consuls both left Rome to join Antony ; and Antony, when he heard of it, after publicly divorcing Octavia, came at once to Ephesus with Cleopatra, where a vast fleet was gathered from all parts of the East, of which Cleopatra furnished a large proportion.

But, by the publication of Antony's will, which had been put into his hands by the traitor Plancus, and by carefully letting it be known at Rome what preparations were going on at Samos, and how entirely Antony was acting as the agent of Cleopatra, Octavian produced such a violent outburst of feeling that he easily obtained Antony's deposition from the consulship of 31, for which he had been designated, and a vote for a proclamation of war against Cleopatra, well understood to mean against Antony, though he was not named.

Cleopatra visited Rome on more than one occasion, residing in Caesar's villa just outside Rome across the Tiber.

Mark Antony supposedly gave Cleopatra over 200, 000 scrolls ( taken from the great Library of Pergamum ) for the library as a wedding gift, but this is regarded by some historians as a propagandist claim meant to show Antony's allegiance to Egypt rather than Rome.

Leaving Octavia pregnant with her second child Antonia in Rome, he sailed to Alexandria, where he expected funding from Cleopatra, the mother of his twins.

Several times Antony was summoned to Rome, but remained in Alexandria with Cleopatra.

Both consuls, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Gaius Sosius, and a third of the Senate abandoned Rome to meet Antony and Cleopatra in Greece.

Octavian had Caesarion murdered, but he spared Antony's children by Cleopatra, who were paraded through the streets of Rome.

For example, Dryden's All for Love, a redaction of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, attempted to compress the sprawl of action and multiple settings from Egypt to Rome to a single place, and within a 24 hour time frame.

In order to assure this oath, Octavian forced the high priest of the Vestal Virgins in Rome to hand over Antony's will, which give information over the Roman-conquered territories as kingdoms and plans to build a tomb in Alexandria for him and Cleopatra.

* The children of Cleopatra are spared by Octavian and taken back in triumph ; Octavia Minor raised Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene and Ptolemy Philadelphus in her household in Rome.

When Ptolemy went to Rome with Cleopatra, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena seized the crown but died shortly afterwards in suspicious circumstances.

Cleopatra, Ptolemy XIV and Caesarion visited Rome in the summer of 46 BC.

Cleopatra and her entourage were in Rome when Caesar was assassinated on 15 March 44 BC.

In 41 BC, Mark Antony, one of the triumvirs who ruled Rome in the power vacuum following Caesar's death, sent his intimate friend Quintus Dellius to Egypt to summon Cleopatra to Tarsus to meet Antony and answer questions about her loyalty.

Her enemies in Rome feared that Cleopatra, "... was planning a war of revenge that was to array all the East against Rome, establish herself as empress of the world at Rome, cast justice from Capitolium, and inaugurate a new universal kingdom.

* the title character of Cleopatra Jones, a 1973 blaxploitation action film starring Tamara Dobson, and its sequel Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold

Cleopatra, being the complex figure that she is, has faced a variety of interpretations of character throughout history.

Examining the critical history of the character of Cleopatra reveals that intellectuals of the 19th century and the early 20th century viewed her as merely an object of sexuality that could be understood and diminished rather than an imposing force with great poise and capacity for leadership.

Eliot conveys the view of early critical history on the character of Cleopatra.

Doris Adler suggests that, in a postmodern philosophical sense, we cannot begin to grasp the character of Cleopatra because, “ In a sense it is a distortion to consider Cleopatra at any moment apart from the entire cultural milieu that creates and consumes Antony and Cleopatra on stage.

Fitz believes that it is not possible to derive a clear, postmodern view of Cleopatra due to the sexism that all critics bring with them when they review her intricate character.

As a result, critics have been much more likely in recent years to describe Cleopatra as a character that confuses or deconstructs gender than as a character that embodies the feminine.

Through his language, he tends to characterize Rome as “ masculine ” and Egypt as “ feminine .” According to Gayle Greene, “ the ‘ feminine ’ world of love and personal relationships is secondary to the ‘ masculine ’ world of war and politics, has kept us from realizing that Cleopatra is the play ’ s protagonist, and so skewed our perceptions of character, theme, and structure .” The highlighting of these starkly contrasting qualities of the two backdrops of Antony and Cleopatra, in both Shakespeare ’ s language and the words of critics, brings attention to the characterization of the title characters, since their respective countries are meant to represent and emphasize their attributes.

Cleopatra ’ s character is slightly unpin-able, as her character identity retains a certain aspect of mystery.

Antony and Cleopatra is essentially a male dominated play in which the character of Cleopatra takes significance as one of few female figures and definitely the only strong female character.

For example, there appears to be continuity between the character of Cleopatra and the historical figure of Queen Elizabeth I, and the unfavourable light cast on Caesar has been explained as deriving from the claims of various 16th century historians.

* Antony and Cleopatra study guide, themes, quotes, character analyses, teaching guide

The character of Domitius Enobarbus in the play Antony and Cleopatra is loosely based on this man.

Alexander Helios is a main character in the book Cleopatra's Daughter, by Michelle Moran, which is about his twin sister Cleopatra Selene.

In Cleopatra's Moon, by Vicky Alvear Shecter, Alexander Helios is also mentioned, along with Ptolemy Philadelphos and Cleopatra Selene, the main character of the book.

Octavian ( Julius Caesar's 18-year old adopted son and heir ), and Cleopatra of Egypt ( Joseph M. Horodyski, Military Heritage, August 2005, Volume 7, No. 1, pp 58 to 63, and p. 78 ), ISSN 1524-8666.

* Cleopatra I Syra ( c. 204 – 176 BC ), princess of the Seleucid Empire and by marriage, queen of Ptolemaic Egypt

* Cleopatra II of Egypt ( c. 185 – 116 BC ), queen ( and briefly sole ruler ) of Ptolemaic Egypt

* Cleopatra III of Egypt ( 161 – 101 BC ), queen of Egypt

* Cleopatra IV of Egypt ( c. 138 – 135 BC ), queen of Egypt

* Cleopatra Eurydice of Macedon ( 4th century BC ), wife of Philip II of Macedon

* Cleopatra of Jerusalem ( 1st century BC ), wife of Herod the Great

* Cleopatra of Macedon ( c. 356 – 308 BC ), sister of Alexander the Great, daughter of Philip II of Macedon and Olympias of Epirus

* Cleopatra of Pontus ( born 110 BC ), wife of Tigranes the Great

* Cleopatra Selene I ( c. 135 – 130 BC ), daughter of Cleopatra III and Ptolemy VIII Physcon

* Cleopatra Selene II ( 40 – 5 BC ), daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony

* Cleopatra Thea ( c. 164 – 121 BC ), daughter of Cleopatra II and Ptolemy VI Philometor

* Berenice III of Egypt ( 120-80 BC ), queen of Egypt sometimes known as Cleopatra Berenice

* Cleopatra Borel-Brown ( born 1979 ), female shot putter from Trinidad and Tobago

* Cleopatra Coleman ( born 1987 ), Australian actress

* Cleopatra Mathis ( born 1947 ), American poet and professor

* Cleopatra Stratan ( born 2002 ), Moldovan singer

* Cleopatra Tucker ( born 1943 ), American politician

* Cleopatra ( 1912 film ), a silent film created in 1912 by Helen Gardner

* Cleopatra ( 1917 film ), an American film directed by J. Gordon Edwards

* Cleopatra ( 1934 film ), an American film directed by Cecil B. DeMille