Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator (in Greek, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ; (Late 69 BC – August 12, 30 BC) was an ancient Greek queen and the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek royal family which ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great’s death during the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemies, throughout their dynasty, spoke Greek and refused to learn Egyptian, which is the reason that Greek as well as Egyptian languages were used on official court documents like the Rosetta Stone. By contrast, Cleopatra did learn Egyptian and represented herself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian goddess Isis.
Cleopatra became pharaoh in the springtime of 51 B.C. when her father, Ptolemy Auletes, died. He left the throne to his eighteen-year-old daughter, Cleopatra, and to her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII, who was only twelve at the time. Cleopatra took greater power over her brother. She was forced to have a consort throughout her reign. Her consort could either be a brother or a son, no matter what their ages were. Cleopatra married her brother, Ptolemy XIII. She dropped his name from all official documents despite the insistence the Ptolemaic had that the male presence be first among co-rulers. Cleopatra put her name and face on the coins of that time period, ignoring her brother.
A group of men led by Theodotus, the eunuch Pothinus, and a half-Greek general, named Achillas, overthrew Cleopatra in favor of her brother. They believed he could be influenced easier, so they became his council of regency.
The Term Paper on The Story of Cleopatra in Ancient Egypt
... goddess Isis and her brother as ... ceremonies: one Greek with Cleopatra dressed and the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and Ptolemy as Dionysus. The other ceremony was Egyptian, with Cleopatra as the ...
In the early days of the Ptolemy the control region of the Egyptians expanded greatly. This included the island of Cyprus, Cyrenioca, which had already controlled modern day Libya, Syria, and Phoenicia. They also controlled some major cities in Asia Minor and Greece.
After Ptolemy XIII, her brother and husband, died by drowning in the Nile, Caesar restored her power so Cleopatra became the sole ruler of Egypt. Caesar must have been driven by more than simple infatuation for Cleopatra, to have gone through the troubles of restoring her power. To please Alexandrians and she had to marry her younger brother Ptolemy XIV, who was only eleven years old at this time. She became pregnant quickly after the marriage. This was very appealing to Ptolemy XIV to have a son to carry on his rule after his death. After this Caesar and Cleopatra took a two-month trip up the Nile.
In July 46 B.C., Caesar returned to Rome. Upon returning he was given many awards for his ten-year ruling, and then he brought over Cleopatra. Cleopatra coming to Rome, especially the conservative republican when Cleopatra was established in Caesars home offended many. Cleopatra considered herself to be the new Isis, the goddess of motherhood and fertility. The life she lived was very luxurious and she had a golden statue of herself put by Caesar in the temple of Venus Genetrix. Openly, Caesar recognized Caesarion, Cleopatra’s son, as his own. Besides the laws against marrying foreigners and laws of bigamy Cleopatra and Caesar planned to get married. Then in March of 44 B.C., his senators assassinated Caesar outside the Roman Senate Building. Cleopatra fled Rome with her child and returned to home in Alexandria, because she feared for the life of her child and herself.
When she returned to Alexandria she had husband and consort, Ptolemy XIV, assassinated so that Caesarion could become her co-regent at the age o four. During her absence she found that the Nile Canals had been neglected and that caused harvests to be low, plagues, and famine to occur. This continued for about two years.
After Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC, she aligned with Mark Antony in opposition to Caesar’s legal heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (later known as Augustus).
With Antony, she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios, and another son, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Her unions with her brothers produced no children. After losing the Battle of Actium to Octavian’s forces, Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra followed suit, according to tradition killing herself by means of an asp bite on August 12, 30 BC.She was briefly outlived by Caesarion, who was declared pharaoh, but he was soon killed on Octavian’s orders. Egypt became the Roman province of Aegyptus.
The Essay on Early Egypt Cleopatra Caesar Ptolemy
... child Ptolemy XV, called Caesar ion. After the cruise Caesar left for Rome, leaving three legions to protect Cleopatra. A year later Caesar invited ... Rome. During her short life Cleopatra had four children, one with Caesar and three with Antony. Both of the relationships ended ... senate meeting. Cleopatra fled to Egypt thinking that she might be in danger. When they returned she had Ptolemy XIV poisoned ...
To this day, Cleopatra remains a popular figure in Western culture. Her legacy survives in numerous works of art and the many dramatizations of her story in literature and other media, including William Shakespeare’s tragedy Antony and Cleopatra, Jules Massenet’s opera Cléopâtre and the 1963 film Cleopatra. In most depictions, Cleopatra is put forward as a great beauty and her successive conquests of the world’s most powerful men are taken to be proof of her aesthetic and sexual appeal. In his Pensées, philosopher Blaise Pascal contends that Cleopatra’s classically beautiful profile changed world history: “Cleopatra’s nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed.”
