Cleopatra VII ruled ancient Egypt for almost three decades. She was the last in a dynasty of Macedonian rulers. Well-educated and clever, Cleopatra could speak various languages and served as the dominant ruler in all three of her co-regencies. Her various romantic liaisons and military alliances with the Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, as well as her supposed exotic beauty and powers of seduction, earned her an enduring place in history and popular myth.
Not much is known about her early life, hence there is only contemplation. Born in 70 or 69 B.C., Cleopatra, daughter of Ptolemy XII (Auletes) and Cleopatra V Tryphaena, supposedly became the queen in 51 B.C., upon the apparently natural death of Auletes, the Egyptian throne passed to 18-year-old Cleopatra and her 10-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII.
Ptolemy’s advisers acted against Cleopatra who was then forced to flee Egypt for Syria in 49 B.C. where she raised an army and returned to face her brother’s forces. Meanwhile, after allowing the Roman general Pompey to be murdered, Ptolemy XIII welcomed the arrival of Julius Caesar, to Alexandria.
In order to help her cause, Cleopatra sought Caesar’s support, reportedly smuggling herself into the royal palace to plead her case with him; who needed to fund his own return to power in Rome, and needed Egypt to repay the debts. About after four months of war Roman reinforcements arrived and Ptolemy was forced to flee Alexandria and was believed to have drowned in the Nile River. Caesar, then restored the throne to the equally unpopular Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolemy XIV (then 13 years old) and remained in Egypt with Cleopatra and around 47 B.C. she gave birth to a son, Ptolemy Caesar. He was believed to be Caesar’s child, and was known as Caesarion, or Little Caesar.
Cleopatra travelled with Ptolemy XIV and Caesarion to Rome to visit Caesar and after he was murdered in March 44 B.C., they returned to Egypt, where Ptolemy XIV died and the three-year-old Caesarion was named co-regent with his mother, as Ptolemy XV. By this point, Cleopatra had strongly identified herself with the goddess Isis, the sister-wife of Osiris and mother of Horus.
Mark Antony summoned Cleopatra to the Cicilian city of Tarsus, where Cleopatra sailed in an elaborate ship, dressed in the robes of Isis. Antony, who associated himself with the Greek deity Dionysus, was seduced by her charms and He agreed to protect Egypt and Cleopatra’s crown, pledging support for the removal of her younger sister and rival Arsinoe.
Cleopatra returned to Egypt, followed by Antony, who left behind his third wife, Fulvia, and their children in Rome. He spent the winter of 41-40 B.C. in Alexandria. In 40 B.C., after Antony’s return to Rome, Cleopatra gave birth to twins, Alexander Helios (sun) and Cleopatra Selene (moon).
In 37 B.C. Antony again met Cleopatra to obtain funds for his long-delayed military campaign against the kingdom of Parthia. In exchange, he agreed to return much of Egypt’s eastern empire, including Cyprus, Crete, Cyrenaica (Libya), Jericho and large portions of Syria and Lebanon. They again became lovers, and Cleopatra gave birth to another son, Ptolemy Philadelphos, in 36 B.C.
After a humiliating defeat in Parthia, Antony publicly rejected his wife Octavia and instead returned to Egypt and Cleopatra. In a public celebration in 34 B.C. Antony declared Caesarion as Caesar’s son and rightful heir and awarded land to each of his children with Cleopatra. This cauased a war of propaganda between him and the furious Octavian, who claimed that Antony was entirely under Cleopatra’s control and abandoned Rome and found a new capital in Egypt. In late 32 B.C., the Roman Senate stripped Antony of all his titles, and Octavian declared war on Cleopatra, in which Octavian’s forces soundly defeated those of Antony and Cleopatra in the Battle of Actium in September 2, 31 B.C.
On August 12, 30 B.C., after burying Antony, Cleopatra, closed herself with 2 of her servants and used a poisonous Egyptian asp, a symbol of divine royalty to commit suicide.
According to her wishes, Cleopatra’s body was buried with Antony.
Source: History.com
By: Archa Dave
