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The culture of Cleopatra
POlitical story of Antony and Cleopatra
The culture of Cleopatra
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Cleopatra’s father was Ptolemy XII, who began his rule of Egypt in 80 BC but he was not respected and thought to be weak. His nickname was “Auletes”, which means flute player in Greek. Cleopatra’s mother could possibly be Cleopatra V, who either died or disappeared in 68 BC. Cleopatra had two older sisters, two younger brothers, and one younger sister.
Ptolemy XII ruled until his death in 51 BC. His will said that Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII were heirs to the throne. The two married and jointly ruled Egypt. Ptolemy II had established these brother-sister marriages as custom, when he married his sister Arsinoe II. Cleopatra and her brother ruled jointly, though the marriage was solely in law. Cleopatra was about 18, and Ptolemy XIII was about 10. They were named King and Queen of Egypt in 51 BC. Cleopatra did most of the ruling and left her brother out it.
Ptolemy served as a puppet for power-hungry advisors and in 48 BC kicked Cleopatra out of the palace. Cleopatra retaliated by building her own army outside the city. Cleopatra knew that she had to get to Caesar and tell her side of the story. She had herself smuggled into the palace in a rug. The young Queen enchanted Caesar, and the two spent the night together. Ptolemy XIII was called to the audience and was dismayed to see that Cleopatra was at his side.
What was a war between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII, evolved onto a war between Ptolemy XIII and Caesar? Caesar had given Cyprus back to Egypt, and Arsinoe IV and Ptolemy XIV were named rulers. Arsinoe appeared to believe that she should also be Queen of Egypt, because of her alliance with Ptolemy XIII against Caesar.
Caesar may have had Pothinus beheaded because of what he did to Pompey, or he may have died in the fighting. Way, he was either dead or missing. Ptolemy XIII, hearing of this, threw his crown down and stormed out of the palace. He supposedly later drowned trying to leave the city. Caesar took prisoner Arsinoe IV.
Cleopatra was then restored to the throne and again married to her brother, Ptolemy XIV. It was 47 BC, and Cleopatra was 22 years old, and Ptolemy XIV was 12. Cleopatra again acted as sole ruler, and this time managed to keep Ptolemy XIV from influence. Since Arsinoe IV was considered a traitor, Cyprus was now under the direct rule of Cleopatra
Changing social habits of a contemporary society have seen Cleopatra depicted in many different ways. Whilst few artefacts remain of the true image of Cleopatra, we see from her portrait on the coins (Fear, 2008, p, 21 Fig 1.4) that despite being no legendary beauty, she had the power to captivate two of the greatest Romans of her time. Cleopatra consummated her union with Julius Caesar, which strengthened her grip on the throne, following his assassination; she formed alliance with Mark Antony, in opposition to Octavian, a coalition that would lead to her downfall as both Antony and Cleopatra’s combined forces would be defeated against Octavian in the battle of Actium in 31 BCE. (Fear, 2008, p.7)
Cleopatra II. Summary: After the completion of the book, it had let me to believe the book was written for the general audience. Although the author provided many resources, the information was taken from literature that was written during the time.
According to biography.com, “complications arose between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII.’ So Cleopatra fled to Syria. In Syria, she formed her own army of soldiers to attack her brother and take back the throne for herself only. In 48 BC, Cleopatra came back to Egypt and faced her brother at Pelusium. While Cleopatra was facing her problems, the famous, Julius Caesar was battling Pompey to see who takes over Rome. So Pompey went to Egypt to recover and Caesar followed him there. In Egypt Julius Caesar met Cleopatra and according to text, “ he eventually fell in love with Cleopatra.” So Caesar helped Cleopatra to beat her brother and she did. According to the article, “ Ptolemy XIII fled and drowned in the Nile River.” Around 47 BC, Cleopatra and Caesar had a son, named “ Caesarion”. When Julius Caesar died, Cleopatra and her son went back to Egypt to
Much of Cleopatra’s life and her intentions remain a mystery. The aforementioned, thus raises questions about the early life influences that caused her to ascend to the throne. Cleopatra’s education, heritage, and personality all factor into her ascension as queen of Egypt.
They had a son together named Ptolemy XV Caesar, whom they called Caesarian. After the death of Roman dictator, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra had her brother killed so that her young son, Caesarian, could be her co-ruler. Three men were currently in power in Rome, Octavian, Marcus Lepidus, and Marc Antony. Cleopatra always feared Rome taking over Egypt, so she aligned herself with Marc Antony. They supposedly fell in love and had three kids together, which caused Rome to fear that Antony was becoming too loyal towards Egypt. Marc Antony was married to Octavia, the sister of Octavian, so the love and possible illegal marriage of Cleopatra and Antony angered Octavian. This is when Romans started to spread rumors about Cleopatra to make her seem horrible, and that was what soon led to her
In 34 BCE Antony donated the territories of Armenia, Syria and Cyrenaica to the Egyptian empire in the “Donations of Alexandria”. This donation represented a large fraction of Rome’s Eastern territory and was all land Antony was charged with protecting. Shortly thereafter Octavian convinced the republic to declare war on Egypt and Mark Antony.
The Romans were immensely furious with Cleopatra and had primary influence over what sources were left behind about her. So certainly this is going to lead to biases and inaccuracies in the depictions we have. Furthermore, we are all well aware of how Hollywood likes to dramatize and embellish stories in order to generate ticket sales and is not worried about the accuracy of the historical anecdote. Because of this and her popularity, our knowledge of Cleopatra has been flooded with twisted truths. When examining Cleopatra’s full reign beyond her love affairs, reveals Cleopatra put all of her effort forth in order to solve the conflict between Egypt and Rome and should be recognized for her masterminded and commanding leadership
Cleopatra family was a part of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek family of Macedonian origin who ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great. Cleopatra originally ruled with her father Ptolemy XII. She later had to rule with her brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV to whom she had to marry as part of her Egyptian family custom. Her marriage with her brother, Ptolemy XIV, ended quickly after he died from unknown sources. She had, even more, problems with her second marriage to brother, Ptolemy XIII. He had worked
Stacy Schiff author of Cleopatra strives through her book to denounce all historical myths surrounding Cleopatra. With the rigor of a true historian she is able to distinguish historical veracity from historical myth surrounding the queen from antiquity. The author highlights Cleopatra’s role as a powerful woman and in particular how she attempts to manage the various political or economic predicaments she faced. Stacy Schiff gives us a story that is masterfully reconstructed, allowing the reader insight into the historical context of the time- shedding new light on a woman whose greatest fault was not being a man.
Cleopatra. Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Perf. Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Rex Harrison. Twentieth Century Fox Productions, 1963.
Cleopatra was immediately established from the second she burst out of the womb as a member of the royal family of the Ptolemy's; the family which had controlled the Egyptian throne since the rule of Ptolemy I which began in 323 BC. She was born the daughter of Ptolemy XII, King of Egypt, in 69 BC, her full name being Cleopatra VII, or "Thea Philopator" in Greek: a name, which literally translates to "a goddess loving her father." She did most definitely loved her father, so dearly, in fact, that he granted the throne to Cleopatra upon his death in 51 BC. From the moment she set foot on the throne, co-ruling Egypt with her brother and obligatory husband Ptolemy XIII, she was intent upon coercing her, and only her, influence upon all of Egypt. More specifically, she wished to possess a less influential bridegroom so that she could impose more of her ideas and policies upon Egypt. It is for this reason that Cleopatra initiated one of the most notorious and controversial relationships of all time with one of the most prominent figures in history; Julius Caesar. Caesar fell in love with Cleopatra from the moment he saw her. Even though she was not known to be exceptionally beautiful, it is derived from many accounts that she was the definition of a wicked temptress, the defining characteristic that obviously won Caesar's heart. Naturally, Caesar aided Cleopatra after Ptolemy XIII's advisors had driven her from the throne, and declared war upon Ptolemy XIII. Caesar and Cleopatra were victorious and Cleopatra returned safely to the throne. Shortly after the coup, Cleopatra was noticeably pregnant. The product of this pregnancy was a son, named Caesarion, who is widely believed to belong to Caesar.
Once in Syria and situated Cleopatra began constructing an army. She knew that an army alone wouldn’t get her power back. Cleopatra would need some outside help too to get the job done. She needed a powerful ally and Julius Caesar was just that person. She reached out many times to seek Julius Caesar’s support. After many failed attempts at getting his support he finally came through and agreed to help Cleopatra restore her po...
Cleopatra VII had four known siblings, two brothers and two sisters. Her brothers were Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator, and Ptolemy XIV of Egypt. Her sisters were Arsinoe IV of Egypt, and Berenice IV of Egypt. Berenice IV took power away from her father and became ruler of Egypt in 58-55 B.C.E. When her father came back to Egypt he became ruler again and executed her. Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator was Cleopatra’s younger brother, when he was 12 and she was 18 they married each
From the early years of her life, Cleopatra learned that to gain the thrown in the dynasty of the Ptolemies it took a lot more then sheer knowledge. She did however have a very good education in which she knew how to speak seven different languages and was the only Ptolemy to have know how to speak Egyptian and Greek ("The Unsolved Death of Cleopatra"). It is clear that even from such a young age Cleopatra was driven to succeed. It appears that it wasn't enough for her to just be educated, but to surpass her siblings and quite possibly her own parents. This was soon proven to be so once she inherited the throne and problems began to ensue. With the title of pharaoh came the marriage to her younger brother, though neither one was willing to share that power together. Soon after taking the throne her brother was found murdere...
A. A. From Alexander to Cleopatra: The Hellenistic World. New York: Michael Grant Publications Ltd, 1982. Jones, Prudence J. Cleopatra: The Last Pharaoh. London: Haus, 2006.