Mark Antony committed suicide on August 1, 30 BC. Cleopatra followed her lover to Hades twelve days later. But it will be interesting to know that the last days of Anthony and Cleopatra became an example, an example of a “feast in the time of the plague”, when, in despair before imminent death, people try to “hide their heads in the sand”, escape reality, indulging in entertainment and debauchery.
This is exactly what happened to them. The forces of Anthony were defeated at Actium, Octavian Augustus was advancing with all the indestructible might of the Roman army against Egypt. Although at first there were hopes of restraining the onslaught of the victor at Aktion, when King Herod went over to the side of Octavian with several legions and cohorts, and after him - other kings, it became clear that the days of Antony and Cleopatra were numbered. And then it began. Anthony decided that if he died, so with the music.
“But none of these news saddened him, on the contrary - as if rejoicing, he renounced all hope in order to put an end to worries together, abandoned his sea haven, which he called the Timon Temple, and, accepted by Cleopatra in the royal palace, began to amuse the city with endless feasts, drinking binges and cash giveaways. He recorded the son of Cleopatra and Caesar in ephebes, and Antulla dressed his son from Fulvia in a man's toga without a border, and on this occasion all Alexandria drank, walked, and had fun for many days in a row.
But, most importantly, Anthony created the first suicide club in history, nineteen centuries ahead of the plan of such clubs of the Art Nouveau era. “Together with Cleopatra, they disbanded the former“Union of the Inimitable”and formed a new one that was in no way inferior to the first in luxury and extravagance, and called it the“Union of Suicide Riders”. Friends who decided to die with them signed up for it, but for now their lives turned into a series of joyful celebrations, which they asked in turn."
