The last of a series of rulers called the Ptolemies who ruled ancient Egypt for nearly 300 years was Cleopatra VII. Cleopatra ruled an empire that included Egypt, Cyprus, Libya and other territories in the Middle East.
Modern-day depictions of Cleopatra VII tend to show her as a woman of great physical beauty and seductive skills, as well as her romantic involvements with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. A number of ancient records and historical research tell a different story. Cleopatra was an intelligent, multilingual female pharaoh who affirmed her right to rule Egypt and other territories.
Her own beauty, as they say, was not, in and of itself, completely incomparable, nor was it the sort that would astound those who saw her.
According to an article in the book Cleopatra: A Sphinx Revisited, Cleopatra was not just a sexual predator, but a plaything of Caesar.
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She was queen of Egypt, Cyrene and Cyprus, heir to the long and proud dynasty of the Ptolemies, and a very astute woman who maneuvered Rome again.
The royal dynasty was troubled when Cleopatra was born. The Ptolemies were descended from a Macedonian general. Although they had ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries, their kingdom was overtaken by the power of Rome and there was a great deal of internal dissension that eventually led to Cleopatra fighting against her own brother.
Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy XII and a mother who we do not know. Ptolemy XII was under a lot of pressure from the Romans and struggled to hold onto power.
The rule of Ptolemy XII was under increasing scrutiny from the Egyptian elite due to his dependence on the Romans. Ptolemy XII was exiled in 58 B.C. and a woman named Cleopatra Tryphaena became ruler of Egypt. She was succeeded by another woman.
Ptolemy XII took his daughter Cleopatra VII as his co-ruler in 55 B.C. after the Romans supported him. Cleopatra should share the throne with her brother Ptolemy XIII according to the will of the king.
Cleopatra was forced to flee the royal palace after fighting broke out between Ptolemy XIII and his advisers. Julius Caesar helped Cleopatra regain her throne.
Caesar's arrival in Egypt was an accident, he was 30 years older than Cleopatra. He was fighting a war against a Roman general.
Pompey fled to Egypt in 48 B.C., hoping to get support from Ptolemy XIII. Pompey was executed by the young pharaoh because he was more trouble than he was worth.
When Caesar landed in Alexandria, he was presented with Pompey's head, something that he was said to be unhappy about. Caesar stayed in Egypt to deal with the dispute between Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra. Caesar saw a stable Egypt as being in Rome's interest because Rome depended on Egypt for its grain supplies.
Ptolemy XIII tried to convince Caesar that he was the sole ruler of Egypt. Ptolemy XIII was surprised that Cleopatra sneaked into the palace in Alexandria to plead her case to Caesar.
She had smuggled herself inside the palace in a bed-sack, which is sometimes translated as a carpet. Apollodorus tied the bed-sack up with a cord and took it to Caesar. It is a source of debate among historians whether Cleopatra was actually smuggled into the palace.
"Ptolemy XIII had gone to bed that night a happy lad, secure in the knowledge that his sister, trapped at Pelusium, would be unable to plead her case before Caesar," wrote Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley in her book.
He woke up the next morning to find his sister at the palace. Tyldesley writes that she was already on the most intimate of terms with Caesar and that she persuaded him to support her cause.
It was too much for a thirteen-year-old boy. The crowd surged forward, intent on mobbing the palace, but Caesar would not be intimidated. He made it clear that he expected the older brother and sister to rule Egypt together.
Cleopatra was returned to power by Caesar. The two became intimate and had a son named Caesarion, although Caesar never acknowledged the child as his own. Ptolemy XII died in a failed rebellion in 47 B.C. and was replaced as co-ruler by his younger brother Ptolemy XIV.
The child of Caesar's son became Cleopatra's co-ruler because of their mother's power.
With a son by her side, Cleopatra VII could abandon any thought she might have had of adopting the role of a female king and could develop instead a powerful new identity as a semi-divine mother.
The goddess Isis was to be identified with Cleopatra, who had already become a goddess.
Cleopatra was in an awkward position after the assassination of Julius Caesar. According to ancient writers, she returned to Egypt after the assassination in Rome.
There was a civil war between the forces of Antony and Octavian. The western half of the Roman Republic was ruled by Octavian after they prevailed.
Caesarion became co-ruler of Egypt in July 44 B.C. after Ptolemy XIV was killed. Arsinoe IV was killed in 41 B.C.
In 41 B.C., after Antony took power in the east, he summoned Cleopatra to Asia Minor to question why she had not given support to his troops.
Cleopatra said that she had assembled a fleet to attack the assassins, but it couldn't reach the battlefield in time.
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Antony and Cleopatra had three children together, including the twins Alexander and Cleopatra Selene in 40 B.C., as well as a third child, Ptolemy Philadelphus, in 36 B.C.
Between 40 B.C. and 36 B.C., Rome was at war with the Parthians, and Antony led Roman troops in the Middle East with Cleopatra sending supplies to aid him.
Antony had children with Cleopatra, but he was still legally married to his sister. In 35 B.C., Antony told Octavia to go back to Rome after she arrived in Alexandria. It was awkward for him in Rome because he was upset at Antony's behavior and had honors bestowed upon him.
In 32 B.C., Antony and Octavian went to war, with Antony putting much of the blame on Cleopatra.
The leaders in Rome voted to pardon and praise Antony's supporters if they desert him, and they declared war on Cleopatra if they did not. Prudence Jones wrote the translation.
At the temple of Bellona, they performed all the rituals for declaring war according to the custom. War was declared on Cleopatra, but it was actually aimed at Antony.
The Battle of Actium was fought on the Ionian Sea and Antony held a numerical advantage. According to ancient writers, the ships of Antony were heavier and could hold more troops, but the ships of Octavian were better at maneuvering and had more experienced crews.
Before the battle, the city of Methone in Greece had been seized by the forces of Octavian. Problems were created for re-supplying Antony and Cleopatra's fleet. Some of Antony's top advisers defected and he had a shortage of rowers.
The lack of manpower and supplies meant that Antony had to burn some of his ships before the battle began, and he was likely trying to withdraw from Actium and move his fleet to a more sustainable position when the battle occurred.
It is not clear what happened during the battle. From what can be inferred from records, the fleet of Octavian used its superior mobility to swarm parts of Antony and Cleopatra's fleet. Due to the lack of rowers and supplies, Antony and Cleopatra's ships struggled to conduct successful ramming attacks.
According to ancient sources, Cleopatra fled the battle and Antony followed with the fleet being routed.
The battle ended Antony and Cleopatra's lives. After taking control of the sea, he landed troops in Egypt and marched on Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. Antony and Cleopatra were trapped because Antony won a small battle on land.
Antony heard that Cleopatra had killed herself. Antony told Cleopatra that he would be where she was, but that he would be inferior to a woman in courage. He was wounded and taken to Cleopatra, where he would die with her.
She tore her clothing over him, beat her breast and scratched her face with his blood when she laid him on the couch.
Cleopatra found it intolerable that she would be taken to Rome and paraded as a war trophy when she tried to reason with him.
After two failed attempts to kill herself, she settled herself next to Antony in a sarcophagus filled with aromatic perfumes and dressed herself in her richest attire. In the second century A.D., she put snakes to her veins and slipped into death as if asleep.
Both Suetonius and Plutarch claimed that Antony and Cleopatra were buried together. The body of Cleopatra should be buried with that of Antony, according to the words of Plutarch.
Sources have told Live Science that the tomb and bodies of Cleopatra and Antony are most likely underwater or underneath modern structures in Alexandria.
Most scholars told Live Science they didn't agree with the idea of the tomb being at the site of Taposiris Magna. There is a cache of coins that bear the image of Cleopatra VII.
Caesarion was killed but the children of Cleopatra and Antony were spared. They were sent to live with someone else.
While the three kids were allowed to live, the two oldest kids had to take part in a parade in Rome with an effigy of their dead mother.
Two of the children, Alexander and Ptolemy Philadelphus, died in childhood, while a third, Cleopatra Selene, survived and was married to a ruler. Greek language and culture was brought to that kingdom by her.
The priests of Egypt did not believe in the idea that Cleopatra was the last Egyptian pharaoh.
The Temple of Isis at Philae has a stele with a name written in a cartouche, an honor reserved for a pharaoh. Future Roman emperors would be depicted as pharaohs in Egypt.
Even though Cleopatra was dead, Egyptian priests continued to believe that Egypt had a pharaoh as ruler even though the country was being incorporated into the Roman Empire as a province.
In an interview that was published, a reader atSwansea University said that the priests had to have an acting pharaoh, and the only one they could have was Octavian.
The question of whether or not Cleopatra was black is open, and scholars are not certain of her appearance. The identity of Cleopatra's mother and paternal grandmother is unknown.
Cleopatra was of course part Greek, but it must also be noted that she was not the mother of Ptolemy XII, which is why she was thought to be African.
The casting of Israeli actress Gal Gadot to play Cleopatra in a movie has caused a lot of controversy. Some members of the public want an actress with darker skin to play the queen instead of an Egyptian actress.
Cleopatra VII was born in 69 B.C.
Ptolemy XII, the father of Cleopatra VII, was exiled and a woman named Cleopatra Tryphaena became ruler of Egypt.
Ptolemy XII is put back on the throne by the Romans.
Ptolemy XII named his daughter Cleopatra VII as his co-ruler.
Ptolemy XII died and Cleopatra VII and her husband/brother Ptolemy XIII became rulers. Ptolemy XIII's advisors did not approve of this and she was forced into exile.
Ptolemy XIII must be co-ruler with Cleopatra VII, says Caesar when he arrives in Egypt. Ptolemy XIII and his supporters are killed in 47 B.C.
Cleopatra gave birth to their son, Caesarion, after a romance with Julius Caesar. Caesar never acknowledges the child as his own.
Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Roman senate. At the time, Cleopatra VII is in Rome.
Ptolemy is killed by Cleopatra VII. Caesarion becomes co-ruler of Egypt with Cleopatra.
Cleopatra and Antony met at Tarsus in Turkey. The birth of three children is a result of the romance between the two. Arsinoe IV is the sister of Cleopatra.
The twins Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios were born in 40 B.C. Mark Antony is their father.
Ptolemy Philadelphus, the third child of Cleopatra and Antony, was born in 36 B.C.
In 32 B.C., Antony and Cleopatra VII are at war.
The Battle of Actium gave Octavian control of the Mediterranean Sea.
Antony and Cleopatra died by suicide in 30 B.C.
Sally-Ann Cleopatra and Egypt. Blackwell Publishing is a publishing house.
Margaret Miles wrote Cleopatra: A Sphinx Revisited. The University of California Press.
The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra and Octavian at Actium was written by Barry Strauss. Simon and Schuster.
Joyce Cleopatra was the Last Queen of Egypt. The books are called Profile Books.
The article was updated on March 24, 2022.
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