Download Queen/Pharaoh Cleopatra`s Rule Write

Queen/Pharaoh Cleopatra’s Rule Write-Up
Queen Cleopatra of Egypt is the most well known of all the
ancient Egyptian queens and was part of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Cleopatra was a very popular name in her family, as her mother
had the name as well as an older sister of hers, making her
Cleopatra the Seventh, although she is rarely referred to as such.
Cleopatra and her family were not Egyptian, but rather
Greek, descended through a general of Alexander the Great,
Cleopatra would become the first ruler of her family who could
actually speak the Egyptian language.
Cleopatra VII was born near 69-70 B.C.E in Alexandria to
Ptolemy XII Auletes and, although her mother is unknown they
believe it is Cleopatra V of Egypt. Cleopatra was cast to co-rule
when she was 17 with her 12 year old brother Ptolemy XIII Theos
Philopator, who of which she also married to keep with tradition,
The marriage was not truly legitimate, however and considering
the young age of her new husband and co-inheritor of the throne,
Cleopatra ruled Egypt independently and as she wished because
she was the eldest of the two.
Cleopatra was a highly intelligent woman and a very good
politician, who brought prosperity to Egypt and peace to a country
that was bankrupt and split by civil war. This lasted for only three
short years before Cleopatra received the same fate as her father
and was exiled, along with another younger sister of hers, her
thirteen year old brother and husband remained to rule Egypt.
Cleopatra escaped to Syria, however she did not intend to
give up without a fight. Caesar was about 30 years older than
Cleopatra, and his arrival in Egypt was something of an accident.
He had been fighting a civil war against the Roman general
Pompey. After a series of defeats, Pompey fled to Egypt in 48
B.C., hoping to win support from Ptolemy XIII.
The young pharaoh decided that Pompey was more trouble
than he was worth and had him executed. When Caesar entered
Alexandria with a small body of troops, he was presented with
Pompey’s head — something that he was said to be unhappy
about, for reasons lost to history, Caesar decided to stay in Egypt
and deal with the dispute between Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra. It
could be because Rome depended on Egypt for its grain supplies
and a stable Egypt was seen by Caesar as being in Rome’s
interest. Ptolemy XIII tried to convince Caesar to acknowledge
him as sole ruler of Egypt and barred Cleopatra from seeing him.
Cleopatra, however, managed to sneak into the palace by letting
herself be rolled up in a carpet and presented to Caesar, she then
later presented her cause to get back into full leader ship and
persuaded him to help her in her get back to the throne and exile
Ptolemy XIII. Ptolemy was shocked to find that his sister had
somehow arrived at the palace.
She was already on the most intimate of terms with Caesar
and had managed to persuade him to support her cause,” she
writes. “It was all too much for a thirteen-year-old boy to bear.
Rushing from the palace he ripped off his diadem and, in a wellorchestrated public display of anger, the crowd surged forward,
intent on mobbing the palace.” However, “Caesar would not be
intimidated. Before a formal assembly he read out Ptolemy XII’s
will, making it clear that he expected the elder brother and sister
to rule Egypt together.”
Caesar had saved Cleopatra and returned her to power,
Ptolemy XIII reportedly drowned in 47 BC while attempting to
cross the Nile. Whether he was attempting to flee or was seeking
negotiations remains uncertain from sources of the time.
Cleopatra VII remained the unchallenged ruler of Egypt, although
she named their younger brother Ptolemy XIV of Egypt (40 BC)
her new co-ruler. Cleopatra and Julius Caesar became intimate
and had a son known as Caesarion (although Caesar was said to
have been hesitant to acknowledge that the child was his).
Cleopatra eventually followed Caesar back to Rome, but returned
to Egypt in 44 B.C., following his assassination.
Cleopatra found herself in an awkward position.
A civil war broke out between forces led by Antony and
Octavian (Octavian is Julius Caesar’s great nephew) against
those who had organized Caesar’s assassination. After they
prevailed, Octavian who of which was renamed Augustus Caesar,
ruled the western half of the empire while Antony controlled the
east.
In the years leading up to the Battle of Actium, Antony and
Cleopatra forged a close bond and had three children together,
including the twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene in 40
B.C. The Battle of Actium was the decisive confrontation of the
Final War of the Roman Republic, a naval engagement between
Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra
in 31 BC, on the Ionian Sea near the city of Actium, in the Roman
province of Epirus vetus in Greece. Octavian's naval army was
commanded by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, while Antony's naval
army was supported by the ships of Queen Cleopatra of
Ptolemaic Egypt. What happened during the battle is a mystery.
Ancient sources claim that Octavian and Antony were at a
standstill when Cleopatra, for some reason, fled the battle,
leading to Antony’s forces being routed. Whether this is true or
not is unknown.
The battle sealed Antony and Cleopatra’s fate. With
Octavian in control of the sea, he landed troops in Egypt and
marched on Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. Although Antony
managed to win a minor battle on land, he and Cleopatra were
essentially trapped.
Antony, hearing falsely that Cleopatra had killed herself,
decided to kill himself. He apparently fell on his sword but no one
really knows if he fell on it or just deliberately stabbed himself.
Reporters and archeologists say that he was taken to Cleopatra
but others say he just died on the spot so no one really knows
and most people think it was just lost to history. Cleopatra later
locked herself in a room with two of her female servants, so no
one really knows what happened but Plutarch (a Greek historian)
believes that she let an asp bite her and let her die as if she was
going to sleep. Her body was buried with Antony’s, leaving
Octavian (later Emperor Augustus I) to celebrate his conquest of
Egypt and his consolidation of power in Rome.
Cleopatra’s legacy has lived on throughout the years and
has been showcased in many movies and plays including one by
Shakespeare called Antony and Cleopatra, many archaeologists
have searched for her burial site but have failed and has been
ruled as “lost to history”.
She lived a very eventful life, she was the last ruler of the
Ptolemaic dynasty and was one of the best female rulers of
Ancient Egypt.
Cleopatra’s daughter named Cleopatra Selene, later ruled in
Cyrenaica and Libya with her husband Juba II of Numidia and had
three children but later died to a date that is unknown.
Cleopatra 69 B.C.E-30 B.C.E
Bibliography
April 23, 2015
http://www.livescience.com/44071-cleopatra-biography.html
By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor
April 5,2015
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra
(Other information NOT provided)
April 30 ,2015
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/cleopatra/a/Cleopatra.htm
By N.S. Gill
Ancient/Classical History Expert
April 24, 2015
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/cleopatra
(Other information NOT provided)
May 3, 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cleopatra.shtml
(Other information NOT provided)