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Cleopatra VII of Egypt

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"Cleopatra" redirects here. For other uses of this name, see Cleopatra (disambiguation).
Cleopatra VII Philopator (in Greek:Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ; January 69 BC – August 12 30 BC), later Cleopatra Thea Neotera Philopator kai Philopatris, was queen of Ptolemaic Egypt, the last member of the Ptolemaic dynasty and hence the last Hellenistic ruler of Egypt. Although many other Egyptian Queens shared the name, she is usually known as simply Cleopatra, and all of her similarly named predecessors have been mostly forgotten.

Cleopatra was a co-ruler of Egypt with her father (Ptolemy XII Auletes), her brothers/husbands Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV and later her son Ptolemy XV Caesarion. Cleopatra survived a coup engineered by her son Ptolemy XIII's courtiers, consummated a liaison with Gaius Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne, and, after Caesar's assassination, aligned with Mark Antony, with whom she produced twins. She later married Mark Antony and gave birth to another son. In all, Cleopatra had 4 children, 3 by Antony and 1 by Caesar. Her unions with her brothers produced no children.

After Antony's rival and Caesar's legal heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian, brought the might of Rome against Egypt, Cleopatra took her own life on August 12, 30 BC. Her legacy survives in the form of numerous dramatizations of her story, including William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and several modern films.

Contents

Life

A Greek by language and culture, Cleopatra is reputed to have been the first member of her family in their 300-year reign in Egypt to have learned the Egyptian language.

An ancient stone tablet depicting Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar, Alexandria, Egypt
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An ancient stone tablet depicting Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar, Alexandria, Egypt

Birth and rule with father

"Cleopatra" is Greek for "father's glory," and her full name, Cleopatra Thea Philopator, means "the Goddess Cleopatra, the Beloved of Her Father." She was the third daughter of the king Ptolemy XII Auletes, probably born to her fathers sister, making her third in line to rule after her two other sisters died. When Cleopatra VII ascended the Egyptian throne, she was only 18. She reigned as Queen Cleopatra and Pharaoh between 51 and 30 BC, and died at the age of 39 from the venom of an asp.

Rule with Ptolemy XIII

On their father's death in the spring of 51 BC, when she was only 18, and as Auletes' oldest child (two older sisters having died), she became co-ruler with her younger brother Ptolemy XIII. She married her brother and consummated the marriage to strengthen her hold on the throne; a normal thing in Ptolemaic Egypt, where royal marriages among siblings were very common. [link]

Fall, recovery, Caesar

By August 51 BC she was dropping his name from official documents, which flew in the face of Ptolemaic tradition that female rulers be subordinate to male co-rulers. Furthermore, it was Cleopatra's face alone that appeared on coins. Perhaps because of her independent streak, a cabal of courtiers, led by the eunuch Pothinus, removed Cleopatra from power — possibly in 48 BC, possibly earlier — a decree exists with Ptolemy's name alone from 51 BC. She tried to raise a rebellion around Pelusium but she was soon forced to flee Egypt. Her only surviving sister, Arsinoë accompanied her.

In the autumn of 48 BC, however, Ptolemy imperiled his own power by injudiciously meddling in the affairs of Rome. As Pompey, fleeing the victorious Julius Caesar, arrived in Alexandria seeking sanctuary, Ptolemy had him murdered in order to ingratiate himself with Caesar. Caesar was so repelled by this treachery that he seized the Egyptian capital and imposed himself as arbiter between the rival claims of Ptolemy and Cleopatra. (It should be noted that Pompey had been married to Caesar's only daughter, Julia, who died giving birth to their son). After a short war, Ptolemy XIII was killed from drowning and Caesar restored Cleopatra to her throne, with another younger brother Ptolemy XIV as new co-ruler.

Caesar wintered in Egypt in 48 BC–47 BC, and Cleopatra shored up her political advantage by becoming his lover. Egypt remained independent, but three Roman legions were left to protect it. Cleopatra's winter liaison with Caesar produced a son whom they named Ptolemy Caesar (nicknamed Caesarion, little Caesar). However, Caesar refused to make the boy his heir, naming his grand-nephew Octavian instead.

Cleopatra and Caesarion visited Rome between 46 BC and 44 BC and were present when Caesar was assassinated. Before or just after she returned to Egypt, Ptolemy XIV died mysteriously (possibly poisoned by Cleopatra). Cleopatra then made Caesarion her co-regent and successor (44–30 BC).

Mark Antony & Cleopatra: final fall, last stand, and suicide

In 42 BC, Mark Antony, one of the triumvirs who ruled Rome in the power vacuum following Caesar's death, summoned Cleopatra to meet him in Tarsus to answer questions about her loyalty. Cleopatra arrived in great state, and so charmed Antony that he chose to spend the winter of 42 BC–41 BC with her in Alexandria. During the winter (25 December 40 BC), she gave birth to twins, who were named Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene (II) .

Four years later, in 37 BC, Antony visited Alexandria again while on route to make war with the Parthians. He renewed his relationship with Cleopatra, and from this point on Alexandria would be his home. He married Cleopatra according to the Egyptian rite (a letter quoted in Suetonius suggests this), although he was at the time married to Octavia Minor, sister of his fellow triumvir Octavian. He and Cleopatra had another child, Ptolemy Philadelphus. At the Donations of Alexandria in late 34 BC, following Antony's conquest of Armenia, Cleopatra and Caesarion were crowned co-rulers of Egypt and Cyprus; Alexander Helios was crowned ruler of Armenia, Media, and Parthia; Cleopatra Selene (II) was crowned ruler of Cyrenaica and Libya; and Ptolemy Philadelphus was crowned ruler of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Cleopatra also took the title of Queen of Kings.

There are a number of unverifiable but famous stories about Cleopatra, of which one of the best known is that, at one of the lavish dinners she shared with Antony, she playfully bet him that she could spend ten million sesterces on a dinner. He accepted the bet. The next night, she had a conventional, unspectacular meal served; he was ridiculing this, when she ordered the second course — only a cup of strong vinegar. She then removed one of her priceless pearl earrings, dropped it into the vinegar, allowed it to dissolve, and drank the mixture.

Antony's behavior was considered outrageous by the Romans, and Octavian convinced the Senate to levy war against Egypt. In 31 BC Antony's forces faced the Romans in a naval action off the coast of Actium. Cleopatra was present with a fleet of her own. Popular legend tells us that when she saw that Antony's poorly equipped and manned ships were losing to the Romans' superior vessels, she took flight and that Antony abandoned the battle to follow her, but no contemporary evidence states this was the case.

The Death of Cleopatra by Reginald Arthur
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The Death of Cleopatra by Reginald Arthur

Following the Battle of Actium, Octavian invaded Egypt. As he approached Alexandria, Antony's armies deserted to Octavian on August 12, 30 BC.

Antony committed suicide, having been told Cleopatra was dead. A few days later Cleopatra died as well by her own hand. The ancient sources generally agree that she was bitten by an asp, as were two of her servants. Octavian, waiting in a building nearby, was informed of her death, and went to see for himself.

Cleopatra's son by Caesar, Caesarion, was proclaimed pharaoh by Egyptians, but Octavian had already won. Caesarion was captured and executed. Thus ended not just the Hellenistic line of Egyptian pharaohs, but the line of all Egyptian pharaohs. The three children of Cleopatra with Antony were spared and taken back to Rome where they were reared by Antony's wife, Octavia.

What did Cleopatra really look like?

Despite coins and beliefs based on her reputation, it is difficult to know exactly what Cleopatra looked like in real life. In all likelihood, she was not as beautiful as often thought. However, it is generally believed that it was not her physical attributes that made her desirable, but rather her personality, confidence, and intelligence. She is believed to have been physically attractive and well kept, but not of outstanding beauty. [link]

Her language skills certainly assisted in her alliances, being that she spoke almost all of the common Mediterranean languages spoken at the time. She was assertive, outspoken, and strategic in her political and military stance. It is, therefore, most likely that one of her most distinguishing characteristics was her powerful yet manipulative nature. [link]

Cleopatra in art, film, TV, and literature

Cleopatra's story has fascinated scores of writers and artists through the centuries. No doubt, much of her appeal lay in her legend as a great seductress who was able to ally herself with two of the most powerful men (Caesar and Antony) of her time.

Literature-Drama

Among the more famous works on her:

Literature-other

Films

Films on Cleopatra
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Films on Cleopatra

The earliest Cleopatra-related motion picture was Antony and Cleopatra (1908) with Florence Lawrence as Cleopatra. The earliest film on Cleopatra as the main subject was Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, starring Helen Gardner (1912).

Among the film/TV works inspired by the Queen of the Nile:

A longer discussion of Cleopatra films is at: Cleopatra (movie).

Opera

Ancient art - triumph painting, sculpture

The most famous painting of Cleopatra is one that almost certainly no longer exists now: because the queen died in Egypt well before Augustus' triumph could be put on in Rome, in which she would have walked in chains, he commissioned a large painting of her, which was carried in his triumphal procession, and which may have represented her being poisoned by an asp. The sources for the story are [Plut. Ant. 86] and [App. Civ. II.102], although the latter may well refer to a statue, and [Cass. Dio LI.21.3] reports that the "image" was of gold, and thus not a painting at all. The purported painting was seen and engraved in the early 19th century: it was in a private collection near Sorrento. Since then, this painting is said to have formed part of a collection in Cortona, but there no longer appears to be any trace of it; its quiet disappearance is almost certainly due to its being a fake. For comprehensive details on the entire question, see the external links at the end of this article.

Busts and other sculpture are portrayed throughout this page.

Paintings, Renaissance onwards

Cleopatra and her death have inspired hundreds of paintings from the Renaissance to our own time, none of them of any historical value of course; the subject appealing in particular to French academic painters.

The suicide

The Death of Cleopatra, Guido Cagnacci, 1658
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The Death of Cleopatra, Guido Cagnacci, 1658

Other

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
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Notable Ancient Egyptians

Old Kingdom Rulers: Narmer | Hor-Aha | Djoser | Sneferu | Khufu | Khafra | Menkaura | Pepi II Middle Kingdom Rulers: Mentuhotep II | Mentuhotep IV | Senusret III | Amenemhat III | Sobekneferu New Kingdom Rulers: Hatshepsut | Thutmose III | Amenhotep III | Akhenaten | Tutankhamun | Ramesses I | Seti I | Ramesses II Other Rulers: Shoshenq I | Piye | Taharqa | Psammetichus I | Ptolemy I | Cleopatra VII Consorts: Tetisheri | Ahmose-Nefertari | Ahmose | Tiy | Nefertiti | Ankhesenpaaten | Nefertari | Mark Antony Court officials: Imhotep | Weni | Ahmose, son of Ebana | Ineni | Senemut | Yuya | Maya | Yuny | Manetho | Pothinus

 

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