Cleopatra VII (Cleopatra VII) Philopator, also known as Cleopatra, was the last of the Ptolemies, a group of rulers who ruled ancient Egypt for nearly 300 years.
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| Cleopatra VII |
She belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty and was a descendant of its founder, Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and Alexander the Great's companion.
Cleopatra ruled an empire that included Egypt, Cyprus, a portion of modern-day Libya, and other Middle Eastern territories.
She spoke several languages, was said to be extremely charming, and was an effective diplomat and administrator.
Her romantic liaisons and military alliances with Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, as well as her alleged exotic beauty and seducing powers, earned her a permanent place in history and popular myth.
Alexander the Great died in June 323 BC, and his vast empire was divided among his generals. Ptolemy I Soter, a fellow Macedonian who founded the Ptolemaic Dynasty in ancient Egypt, was one of these generals. The Macedonian-Greek Ptolemaic line would rule Egypt until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, when it was conquered by Rome.
Cleopatra's life, like all lives that lend themselves to poetry, was full of upheavals and disappointments. She grew up in unparalleled luxury and inherited a declining kingdom. She and her 10-year-old brother took control of a country with a troubled past and an uncertain future. Cleopatra almost certainly introduced Julius Caesar to the pyramids, which already had graffiti. More than 1,000 years ago, the Sphinx had undergone a major restoration. And the once-great Ptolemaic empire's glory had faded.
Cleopatra was born in 69 BC and ruled alongside her father, Ptolemy XII Auletes, for a time. Her father died when she was 18 years old, leaving her the throne. Ptolemy XIII, her twelve-year-old brother, was ceremonially married to her because Egyptian tradition held that a woman needed a male consort to reign. Cleopatra, on the other hand, quickly removed his name from all official documents and ruled alone.
Ptolemy XII was restored to the throne in 55 BC, with the help of the Romans, and took his 17-year-old daughter Cleopatra VII as his co-ruler. Cleopatra was to share the throne with her brother (and husband) Ptolemy XIII after the king died in 51 BC, according to his will.
Egypt became involved in the Julius Caesar-Pompey conflict in Rome in 48 BC. Pompey fled to the Egyptian capital Alexandria, where he was assassinated on Ptolemy's orders. Caesar soon followed, and he and Cleopatra fell in love. Cleopatra, who had been exiled by her brother, was reinstalled as queen with the help of the Roman military. Ptolemy was killed in the fighting, and his brother was given the title Ptolemy XIII. Caesarion was born in 47 BC to Cleopatra, though Caesar never publicly acknowledged him as his son.
Beginning in 46 BC, Cleopatra joined Julius Caesar in Rome, and her presence appears to have caused quite a stir. Caesar didn't hide the fact that she was his mistress—she even came to the city with their lovechild, Caesarion—and when he erected a gilded statue of her in the temple of Venus Genetrix, many Romans were outraged. Cleopatra was forced to flee Rome after Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman senate in 44 BC, but she had already left her mark.
Cleopatra meets Antony in Tarsus, Turkey, in 41 BC. The two fall in love, which leads to the birth of three children. Arsinoe IV, Cleopatra's sister, is assassinated the same year.
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Cleopatra gave birth to twins named Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene in 40 BC. Antony had already left Alexandria for Italy, where he was forced to reach a temporary truce with Octavian. As part of the agreement, he married Octavia, Octavian's sister (Fulvia having died). After three years, Antony was convinced that he and Octavian would never be able to reconcile. With his marriage to Octavia no longer relevant, he returned to Egypt and remarried Cleopatra.
Octavian's forces soundly defeated Antony and Cleopatra's forces in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. Cleopatra's ships deserted the battle and fled to Egypt, and Antony quickly broke away and followed her with a few ships. While Octavian's forces were attacking Alexandria, Antony heard a rumour that Cleopatra had committed suicide. He fell on his sword and died just as word came that the rumour was false.
After burying Antony and meeting the victorious Octavian in 30 BC, Cleopatra shut herself away in her chamber with two of her female servants. Her cause of death is unknown, but Plutarch and other writers advanced the theory that she committed suicide at the age of 39 by biting a poisonous snake known as an asp, a symbol of divine royalty. Cleopatra's body was interred alongside Antony's, leaving Octavian (later Emperor Augustus I) to celebrate his conquest of Egypt and consolidation of power in Rome.
The Latinized form Cleopatra comes from the Ancient Greek Kleopátra (Κλεoπάτρα), meaning “glory of her father”, from κλέος (kléos, “glory”) and πατήρ (patḗr, “father”). The masculine form would have been written either as Kleópatros (Κλεόπατρος) or Pátroklos (Πάτροκλος). Cleopatra was the name of Alexander the Great’s sister, as well as Cleopatra Alcyone, wife of Meleager in Greek mytholog.
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