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The culture of Cleopatra
Antony and cleopatra analysis
Antony and cleopatra analysis
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Cleopatra's family has been the rulers of Egypt for more than 100 years before she was born around 69 B.C. The stories and myths surrounding Cleopatra's life inspired people to write a number of books, movies and plays, including Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare. Cleopatra has become one of the most well known ancient Egyptians. Cleopatra was born Cleopatra VII Philopator. Her family could be traced back to the Macedonian house of the Lagid Ptolemies, who took the throne after the death of Alexander the Great in 356–323 B.C.E. ( Sally-Ann Ashton, 2008) Cleopatra's father was King Ptolemy XII. Ptolemy XII was heavily dependent upon the Romans and as their ‘friendship’ put an increased strain upon the Egyptian economy. (Lesko, 2017) His rule came under increasing scrutiny from the Egyptian elite. In 55 B.C., with the support of the Romans, Ptolemy XII was put back on the throne and took his 17-year-old daughter Cleopatra as his co-ruler. (Sally-Ann Ashton, 2008). Cleopatra's mother was not mentioned very much, but some …show more content…
Actually the children of rulers were told that they had to marry their siblings. With them being married they would rule together. Most of the times they would be married and rule together so long that they would later have children. When the time would come that one of the parents were to pass the pattern would just keep going. Only way that could change would be if in Cleopatra’s case one of the siblings would be exiled or even killed. Many siblings are out to get each other when the power is in hand. As stated before Cleopatra’s brother had her exiled in which she had to find and build up to take her power back. During those times alliances were very important and is what really kept people together or at war. Most of Cleopatra's wrong doing was through an alliance with someone else. Alliances mean you have to come to the rescue or aid in the time of need as in a war. You really had no
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.
During the Macedonian dynasty, Cleopatra took her reign in Egypt and became a powerful and successful leader. During her reign, she faced many problems, but worked it through and soon it was resolved. When Cleopatra first became ruler of Egypt many believed she wouldn’t be able to do it because she was a woman, was weak, and that she “wasn’t smart.” Her full name was Cleopatar VII Thea Philopator. According to Biography.com, “Cleopatra was born in about 69 BC and died around 30 BC.” Also according to HISTORY.com, “ Cleopatra’s parents were Ptolemy VII and Cleopatra V Tryphaena.” She had many siblings, but some unknown. Some of Cleopatra’s siblings are supposedly Ptomely XIII and Ptomely XIV.
"For Rome, who had never condescended to fear any nation or people, did in her time fear two human beings; one was Hannibal, and the other was a woman" (Lefkowitz and Fant 126). During a time dominated by male rulers, Cleopatra VII Philopator (69 BCE – 31 BCE), the Last Pharaoh of Egypt, stood out among them all. With Egypt’s wealth at her disposal, she was “incomparably richer than anyone else” (Schiff 2). The amount of power a ruler had at the time of Cleopatra’s existence depended highly on the level of financial stability. However, wealth was not all Cleopatra was known for. She exhibited high militant leadership skills equal to that of her male counterparts to keep Egypt a prosperous country.
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,
In 44 BCE, Gaius Caesar was assassinated, leaving a power vacuüm for the leadership of the Roman Republic. A ruling body known as the second triumvirate was established between the potential rulers of Rome: Gaius Octavian, Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus. In 36 BC, Octavian convinced the Senate to exile Lepidus. Shortly thereafter, tensions between Mark Antony and Octavian built. These tensions centered on Antony abandoning Octavian’s sister for Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt and Antony’s lover.
Amy Crawford the author of the article, “Who is Cleopatra?” supports this opinion with several examples from primary and secondary sources to shed light on the type of political leader she was and the motivations behind her actions. She explains that Cleopatra was a well-educated, clever, diplomat, who had deep devotion to her patriotism. Cleopatra made the effort to learn Egyptian, unlike her predecessors, among several other languages. She succeeded in ruthless power struggles with her siblings and created military alliances to maintain Egypt’s independence. Cleopatra sustained a vast,
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
Cleopatra is most often remembered as the lover of two Roman consuls, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, thereby forever connecting the Egyptian queen to the history of Rome. The stories of her relationships with the two men do not always paint a flattering picture of Cleopatra, as her reported promiscuity and presumption give her a colorful reputation. Cleopatra is also sometimes seen as a misunderstood woman, someone who was never given a fair opportunity to be accepted as the wife of Marc Antony nor the mother of Caesar's child. Some historians and authors use the issue of Cleopatra's race as a reason that she was ostracized from Roman society, saying that the Romans were prejudiced against Egyptians, and despite Cleopatra's Greek background, would never accept her as a suitable mate for a Roman consul. This theory, however, is far outweighed by the numerous justifications the Roman people had for their distaste of Cleoaptra. It is not surprising that Cleopatra never found acceptance in Rome, as she offered nothing to the relationship between Egypt and Rome, she stood for everything they were against, and little by little, she succeeded in destroying parts of the society that the Roman people had worked to build.
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.
In 51 B.C.E after the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, 18 year old Cleopatra and her 12 year old brother Ptolemy XIII were in succession for the throne. Cleopatra and her brother married to keep the power within the family. They were to rule Egypt in unison sharing power of the throne. That changed in 48 B.C.E when Cleopatra was forced to escape to Syria after being dethroned by her brother who was told to do so by his advisers, Achillas and Theodotus.
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
In Roman society a woman’s place was to care for children and the home, this was drastically different to the Celtic and Egyptian views of women’s which was far more equal (document called ancient_egypt(1) in downloads). In Celtic society women could rule, fight, inherit property, be a part of legal cases, divorce and chose who they married (although political marriages were still popular) (that sick pdf file ms newtos gave me). Similarly to this ancient Egyptian society a woman could refuse a marriage proposal, get a job, own a business, buy and sell property and women could also request a divorce (Donn L). Therefore through this one instance it has been shown that Roman’s society’s view of women was vastly different from both Celtic and Egyptian society and thus this is a reason for the Roman sources to have such a negative reaction to women such as Cleopatra and Boudicca ruling their people. Boudicca united the Iceni tribe along with various other tribes that surrounded her own. This is considered to be a good testament to her leadership skills as in Celtic culture one would generally prefer individual glory to army or group glory (pdf file ms newtos gave me). Similar to this Cleopatra showed her leadership skills through her ability to create alliances with powerful cities such as Rome
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 became 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. Like her father, she tried to have peace with Rome and maybe even have power over them. She would gain her power by having Caesar one and only son, Caesarion, the loyalty of Marc Antony, a well-known general who was popular among the troops in Rome, and of course by using her intelligence and Egypt’s resources. Cleopatra was a successful ruler because she had a thirst for power.