Cleopatra
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Cleopatra. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
kleo-pa'tra (99-30 B. C.). A queen of Egypt. The last of the Ptolemies. She was a handsome, profligate, artful woman. Many tales are told of her beauty, of her extravagance, and of her faithlessness, but none, of her good qualities. Her capital was Alexandria. Her kingdom was one of the fragments of the empire of Alexander. It lay, as she well knew, at the mercy of Rome. She murdered her husband that she might be free to intrigue. By personal influence she secured the good will of Rome during the rule of Julius Caesar, who received her at Rome with great magnificence and to whom she bore a son called Caesarion. After the assassination of Caesar, Antony--the same Mark Antony who made the celebrated speech over Caesar's dead body--visited her at Alexandria and fell into her snares. He forsook his Roman wife and lived chiefly at Alexandria the rest of his days, heaping wealth and honors on Cleopatra. Augustus decided to dissolve partnership with Antony and to overthrow him. This he did in a naval battle at Actium, during which Cleopatra fled home with her sixty ships. Antony followed and committed suicide by falling on his sword. Cleopatra tried to make peace with Augustus as she had with Caesar and with Antony. Finding that she was making no headway, and that Augustus designed to carry her home and have her walk in his triumphal procession through the streets of Rome, she caused a slave to bring her a basket of fruit in which a poisonous asp was concealed. Preferring death to humiliation, she thrust in her bare arm, so runs the story, and received a mortal bite. Conscience, she had none; but her pride was unbounded. Thus perished the last of the Ptolemies. Egypt became thenceforth a Roman province. See Ptolemy ; Dido ; Antony ; Alexandria If Cleopatra's death had been caused by any serpent, the small viper would rather have been chosen than the large asp; but the story is disproved by her having decked herself in "the royal ornaments," and being found dead "without any mark of suspicion of poison on her body." Death from a serpent's bite could not have been mistaken; and her vanity would not have allowed her to choose one which would have disfigured her in so frightful a manner. Other poisons are well understood and easy of access, and no boy would have ventured to carry an asp in a basket of figs, some of which he even offered to the guards as he passed; and Plutarch shows that the story of the asp was doubted. Nor is the statue carried in Augustus' triumph which had an asp upon it any proof of his belief in it, since that snake was the emblem of Egyptian royalty; the statue (or the crown) of Cleopatra could not have been without one, and this was probably the origin of the whole story.--Rawlinson.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a Egypt; born 69 b. c., the eldest daughter of Ptolemy Aulētēs. When she was 17 her father died, ied, leaving her as jointheir to the throne with his eldest son Ptolemy, whom she was to marry-such marriages being common among the Ptolemies. Being deprived de of her part in the government (49 B. c.), she won Cæsar to her cause, and was reinstated by his influence. During a second disturbance Ptolemy lost his life, and Cæsar proclaimed Cleopatra Queen of Egypt; though she was compelled to take her brother, the younger Ptolemy, then 11 years old, as husband and colleague. Cæsar continued some time at Cleopatra's court, had a son by her named Cæsarion (afterward put to death by Augustus), and gave her a magnificent reception when she subsequently visited him at Rome. By poisoning her brother she remained sole possessor of the regal power, took the part of the triumvirs in the civil war at Rome, and after the battle of Phillippi sailed to join Antony at Tarsus. Their meeting was celebrated by splendid festivals; she accompanied him to Tyre, and was followed by him on her return to Egypt. After his conquest of Armenia he again returned to her and made his three sons by her, and also Cæsarion, kings. On the commencement of the war between Augustus and Antony the latter lost a whole year in festivals and amusements with Cleopatra at Ephesus, Samos, and Athens, and when at last the fleets met at Actium, Cleopatra suddenly took to flight, with all her ships, and Antony, as if under the influence of frenzy, immediately followed her. They fled to Egypt, and declared to Augustus that if Egypt were left to Cleopatra's children they Augustus, however, demanded Antony's death and advanced on Alexandria. Believing Cleopatra, who had taken refuge in her mausoleum, to be treacherous and dead, Antony threw himself on his sword, and shortly afterward Cleopatra killed herself by applying an asp to her arm to escape the ignominy of being led in a Roman triumph (30 b. c.). With her the dynasty of the Ptolemies ended.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
Queen of Egypt, daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, was celebrated for her beauty. Antony became enamored of her and married her, ignoring his vows to Octavia , the sister of Augustus. He gave her the greatest part of the eastern provinces of the Roman empire. This caused a rupture between Augustus and Antony, and these two famous men met at Actium, when Cleopatra, by flying with sixty ships, ruined the battle for Antony, and he was defeated. Cleopatra destroyed herself by applying an asp to her breast. 2026 Editor's Note: While the text describes Cleopatra as a beauty, she was also a polyglot and the only ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty known to have learned the Egyptian language. Her political alliance and affair with Mark Antony led to the Donations of Alexandria, where Antony granted Roman-controlled territories to her children, an act Octavian used to justify declaring war. Their relationship and eventual suicides in 30 BC later served as the primary source for William Shakespeare's tragedy Antony and Cleopatra . (Ed: BR 2026-07-14)