celebrity.estateAn EGRET.LAW propertyWorld map3D timeline
Home / Egypt and Africa / Cleopatra filled her tomb with treasure and torchwood so Octavian could not take it from…
Case file s1343 · Egypt and Africa · 30 BCE
See 30 BCE on the timelineSee it in 3D
30 BCE
Cleopatra: Kleopatra-VII.-Altes-Museum-Berlin1
Cleopatra. Louis le Grand. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
30 BC (Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony)
Place
Alexandria, Egypt
Field
Monarchy · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Roman conquest; the victor's disposal of a royal treasure · Roman law · Royal and church law
Historical event
Octavian's capture of Alexandria
Egypt and AfricaBodies, bones and burialsAncient worldMiddle EastEgypt

Cleopatra filled her tomb with treasure and torchwood so Octavian could not take it from her, and the tomb has never been found

Plutarch writes that Cleopatra built a tall tomb near the temple of Isis in Alexandria and filled it with gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, ebony, ivory and cinnamon, and with torchwood and tow. Octavian feared she would burn the treasure and sent her vague hopes of kind treatment as he advanced. She shut herself in and sent word to Antony that she was dead. Antony, wounded and dying, was carried to the tomb, and she and two women hauled him up through a window with ropes. Octavian's officer Proculeius climbed in by the same window and stopped her when she tried to stab herself. Octavian let her bury Antony. She asked to be buried with him. When she died, Octavian ordered her buried beside Antony "in splendid and regal fashion." The site of the tomb is lost. Since 2004 Kathleen Martínez, a Dominican lawyer turned archaeologist, has excavated at Taposiris Magna, a temple west of Alexandria, arguing that the couple were moved there. In December 2024 Egypt's antiquities ministry announced her team's finds, including 337 coins, many showing Cleopatra, and a small marble bust of a crowned woman. The ministry said many archaeologists disagree with her and that the bust's features differ from known portraits of Cleopatra. In 2019 Zahi Hawass said he did not share her view, arguing that Egyptians never buried inside a temple. No tomb has been found.

What the law took from it

An owner who can destroy her property has leverage over the person about to take it.

Sources
  1. University of Chicago, LacusCurtiusScholarship
  2. al-monitor.comPress
  3. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Cleopatra filled her tomb with treasure and torchwood so Octavian could not take it from her, and the tomb has never been found,” story s1343, https://www.celebrity.estate/cleopatra-tomb-30-bc, updated 30 October 2026.

Related cases

Each one shares a person, a kind of fight, a subject, a period or a place with this case. The line under each headline says which.

Map of Turkey, marked on the globe41 BCE · Ephesus (near Selçuk, Turkey)Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe IV fought Caesar, walked in chains in his triumph and was killed at a temple on Antony's orders, and the skeleton said to be hers was a boy'sShared: the same person; bodies, bones and burials; also Egypt and Africa; 11 years apart; also Middle EastIn 48 BC, while Julius Caesar was besieged in Alexandria, Cleopatra's younger sister Arsinoe escaped the palace with her tutor, the eunuch Ganymedes, and proclaimed herself queen.University of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 5 moreCleopatra: Kleopatra-VII.-Altes-Museum-Berlin130 BCE · Alexandria, EgyptMark Antony gave Cleopatra's children kingdoms in 34 BC, and after 30 BC Octavian killed Caesarion and gave the others to his sister to raiseShared: the same person; also Egypt and Africa; the same year; also Middle EastIn autumn 34 BC Mark Antony filled the gymnasium at Alexandria and set two golden thrones on a silver platform, with lower thrones for the children.University of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 5 moreCleopatra: Kleopatra-VII.-Altes-Museum-Berlin140 · Rome, Italy; kingdom of Mauretania (Algeria and Morocco)Cleopatra's grandson Ptolemy inherited Mauretania from his father Juba, and Caligula summoned him to Rome and had him killedShared: the same person; also Egypt and Africa; same era, ancient worldCleopatra VII's daughter Cleopatra Selene married Juba II, and the couple received the kingdom of Mauretania. Their son Ptolemy became co-ruler by AD 21 and sole king when Juba died in AD 23 or 24.University of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 moreEntrance of Tomb KV5 of Ramesses II's sons: This is a view of entrance of the closed Tomb KV5 of the sons of Ramesses II in the Valley of the Kings.1213 BCE · Valley of the Kings, Luxor, EgyptRamesses II outlived his first three crown princes, his thirteenth son succeeded him, and his sons' tomb KV5 has more than 130 roomsShared: bodies, bones and burials; also Egypt and Africa; same era, ancient world; also Middle EastRamesses II reigned from 1279 to 1213 BC. Estimates of his children run to 48 to 50 sons and 40 to 53 daughters. Four of his daughters, Bintanath, Meritamen, Nebettawy and Henuttawy, became his Great Royal Wives.kirkusreviews.com and 4 moreRamses I Mummy, caudal view: This work was uploaded within an activity of Egypt Wikimedians User Group. Feel free to drop your question on the workshop discussion page.1291 BCE · Valley of the Kings, Egypt; Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada; A mummy sold in Luxor around 1860 spent over a century in a Niagara Falls curiosity museum before it was identified as Ramesses I and sent homeShared: bodies, bones and burials; also Egypt and Africa; same era, ancient world; also Middle EastRamesses I founded the Nineteenth Dynasty and reigned about two years. His son was Seti I and his grandson Ramesses II.archive.archaeology.org and 4 moreSarcophagus of Seti I 2023-02-17d: London, United Kingdom: Sir John Soane's Museum, sarcophagus of Pharao Seti I., showing the Book of Gates1279 BCE · Valley of the Kings, Egypt, and London, EnglandSeti I's empty sarcophagus was sold to the architect John Soane in 1824, and Soane obtained an Act of Parliament so his son could not inherit itShared: bodies, bones and burials; also Egypt and Africa; same era, ancient world; also Middle EastSeti I, father of Ramesses II, was buried in tomb KV17 in a sarcophagus carved from one block of calcite. Robbers smashed its lid in antiquity, and priests later moved his body; it was found in the royal cache in 1881.UK Parliament, Hansard and 5 more

Where this case sits

Egypt and AfricaBodies, bones and burialsAncient worldMiddle EastRoman lawRoyal and church lawEgypt