by Kevin Thalersmith

Created on: May 11, 2010

Very few people from ancient history have captured modern attention quite like Cleopatra.  Many writers have produced many books, novels, plays, and movies about this historical character, yet each portray the queen in a different light.  In truth, Cleopatra was an intelligent and proud queen who did her best to preserve the Ptolemaic state in Egypt and possibly expand it into an Eastern empire.  She used her charm and charisma to woo some of the most influential statesmen of the era: Julius Caesar and Marc Antony.  But it was this very involvement with the great Romans of her time that led to the downfall of an independent Egypt.

Cleopatra’s family, the Ptolemies, originated from the Macedonian general Ptolemy, who seized control of Egypt, Palestine, and Cyprus during the chaos after the death of Alexander the Great.  All the kings of this family took the name Ptolemy after the founder of the dynasty.  Likewise, many of the later Queens of the dynasty took the name Cleopatra.  Most people today know about only one Cleopatra; in fact, she was the really Cleopatra VII.  For the most part, the Ptolemies kept to their Macedonian heritage and their capital city of Alexandria.  They still spoke Greek and introduced their deities to the Egyptians, who combined them with their own to produce various hybrid god/goddesses.  This separation left an uneasy divide between the rulers of Egypt and the natives who never accepted foreign rule that well. 

Although it may seem the reason behind the collapse of Pharaonic Egypt was the direct intervention of Julius Caesar and his contemporaries, in truth the Roman Republic had held a strong influence in Egypt for many years.  Egypt exported more grain than any other area of the Mediterranean.  Rome desired, and in some sense needed, this flow of grain to feed the citizens of the city and to control hungry population.  The weakness of the later Ptolemies allowed Rome to gain a larger economic influence on the country, which would later aid their political conquest.

Cleopatra originally came to power as the Queen of Egypt with her brother/husband Ptolemy XIII.  However, the siblings were never on good terms with each other and a civil war soon broke out in Egypt.  The advisors of Ptolemy arranged for Cleopatra to be removed from power and she had to flee Egypt, leaving her brother in control of the country.  This may have been the end of Cleopatra,

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>