CHARACTER Cleopatra was regarded as a great beauty. What ultimately made Cleopatra attractive were her wit, charm, and “sweetness in the tone of her voice”. “For she was a women of surpassing beauty” (Cassius Dio). When she was in the prime of her youth, she was most striking. She possessed a most charming voice and knowledge of how to make herself agreeable to everyone. She was brilliant, and knew how to use her beauty to influence the most powerful men in the western world. ASCENSION TO THE THRONE Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy XII who was pharaoh until he was killed. After his death 18 year old Cleopatra and her 10 year old brother Ptolemy were left sole rulers. Cleopatra had no intension on sharing power with her younger brother, so Cleopatra dropped Ptolemy’s name from everything, her face appeared alone on coins. What she had done to her brother went against Ptolemaic tradition of female rulers being subordinate to male rulers. Cleopatra was forced to flee Egypt because Ptolemy’s advisers acted against Cleopatra, Ptolemy was left sole ruler of Egypt. Soon after Cleopatra raised an army of mercenaries and returned the following year to face her brother, with forces from Rome. Ptolemy owed Caesar so Caeser decided to help Cleopatra take back her throne. After Ptolemy fleeing the throne was restored back to Cleopatra. CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR After the war with Ptolemy Caesar stayed a while in Egypt, and while his stay in Egypt he grew to like Cleopatra. In 47 B.C. Cleopatra had had given birth to Ceasar’s son Caesarion. Caesar was in war when Cleopatra gave birth so when Caesar returned to Rome Cleopatra traveled with Caesarion to see him, only to find out he has been murdered. After the death of Caesar, Cleopatra went bac... ... middle of paper ... ...EOPATRA’S DEFEAT AND DEATH On September 2, 31 B.C., Rome’s forces defeated Cleopatra’s in the battle of Actium. Cleopatra’s ships deserted the battle and fled to Egypt, Mark Anthony managed to break away from Romes forces, and follow Cleopatra’s ships back to Egypt. With Egypt under attack from Rome’s forces Mark Anthony got rumor that Cleopatra committed suicide, there he fell on his sword, and died just as news arrived that the rumor was false. In 30 B.C., after burying Mark Anthony and meeting with the victorious Octavia, Cleopatra closed herself in her chamber along with two female servants and committed suicide using a snake known as the asp (Egyption cobra snake), a symbol of divine royalty. According to her wishes, Cleopatra’s body was buried next to Mark Anthony’s, leaving Octavia to celebrate his conquest of Egypt and his consolidation of power in Rome.
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)
Antony confirmed this with the taken of his own life after falsely discovering his love, Cleopatra, has taken her own life. Cleopatra was then captured by Octavian right before she tried to take her own life. His plan was to take her back with him to Rome as a trophy of victory triumph over Egypt. However, for the last time, she used her charisma to lead Octavian into believing that she was not going
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.
According to Egyptian tradition, women could not rule without a male co-regent. Cleopatra likely ruled as co-regent with her father for a short time before his death. After the death of Ptolemy XII, Cleopatra's father, eighteen year old Cleopatra and her ten year old brother became the rulers of Egypt. It didn't take long for Ptolemy XIII and his advisers to act against Cleopatra, causing her to flee Egypt. Cleopatra sought the help of Julius Caesar, one of the most powerful men in the world at the time. With the help of Caesar,
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.
The woman, by definition is the nurturer of life. She labors through birth, tends to the needs of her family, and assumes unending responsibilities. And while women have given birth to the ancient and modern day male heroes we've come to glorify to this day, we must remember that some of those same women have also been tremendously influential and invaluable all throughout the depths of history. One such woman is Cleopatra, the temptress whose ambition and seduction both augmented her empire's prestige and brought about her theatrical downfall.
All in all Cleopatra was a powerful queen who left a meaningful impact on society.
Cleopatra’s embodiment, though, does aim for her to become “one of [them.]” Her new body fits in a very specific niche – she does not f...
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
An asp bite creates a particularly awkward, excruciating death. The asp venom causes blood poisoning and an intense burn at the site of the wound. This burning is quickly forgotten, however, as the bite victim fades into a state of giddiness accompanied by nausea and extreme thirst. Blood clots form as the skin becomes speckled with purple spots, and there is usually a considerable amount of swelling. The victim then goes into convulsions, vomiting, urinating, and defecating uncontrollably (Hughes-Hallet 106). This is not a death suitable for a Queen, let alone Queen Cleopatra. Nonetheless, writers throughout history have designated the asp to be Cleopatra's suicide weapon. Her death is described as either an ecstatic orgasm or a serene slip into eternal slumber. Analyzing her death with an eye for accuracy, we can see that it is highly unlikely that Cleopatra would have chosen to kill herself with an asp. "Asp" is an imprecise term, which referred to many various African vipers, all of which would have left her corpse looking less than beautiful. The death that Cleopatra is described to have experienced resembles the death caused by a cobra sting, not an asp bite. A cobra would have had to be at least four feet long to excrete enough venom to kill Cleopatra and her two maids (Hughes-Hallet 107). Since writers have taken liberties with their descriptions of Cleopatra's death scene, representing the asp in various ways, we should ask, "What does the snake symbolize in Cleopatra's suicide, and how does this representation affect the overall portrayal of the Queen and her suicide?"
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...
Around 69 B.C, one of the most famous female rulers ever known was born, she was Cleopatra. She was the descendent of the Egyptian ruler, Ptolemy XII, and she would eventually become the queen of ancient Egypt herself. She was known for being extremely intelligent and very charming, and because of this many romans feared her and viewed her as a threat. When her father died the throne of Egypt was left to her and her brother, Ptolemy XIII, and rivalry formed between the two, making her even more determined to become the sole ruler of Egypt. Cleopatra had trained all her life to be the successor of Egypt, and she hungered for power.
Cleopatra VII, one of the most renowned female ruler in history to be last the last one of her family line of Pharaohs. The myths and stories that surrounded her life have made her the subject of books, movies, and plays. Cleopatra VII has been fascinated people throughout the years, but has been misunderstood by all of them.