Cleopatra Vii

Cleopatra VII’s life is shrouded in myth and mystique; she ruled Egypt for 22 years.  There are many reasons her life has sparked people’s interest.  She had high profiled relationships with two famous men of her time; close friends Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.  Stacy Schiff writes in her biography of Cleopatra that she was not exceptionally beautiful, but the queen (who lived 69-30B.C.E.) was charismatic, intelligent, shrewd, and ruthless.  She was concerned less with love than with maintaining her kingdom, which was threatened by Rome's civil wars. The tragic end of her life is something that countless movies and plays have been based on.  The fact that Cleopatra was the most powerful woman in the ancient world cannot be contested.   She was a queen with compelling personality and authority.   The historical facts of her life lead to a truly remarkable story, one more entertaining than any fictional play or movie.

Cleopatra VII was born in 69 B.C.; she was the third child of Ptolemy XII, also called Auletes.  Egypt was still rich, but the empire was slowly failing.  Auletes would go to Rome to seek advice on how maintain his throne.  He would take Cleopatra along, and she would see the inner workings between Egypt and Rome.  Schiff writes that Cleopatra would watch the Romans charge nearly twice Egypt's annual revenue, for services to be rendered.  Cleopatra “came of age in a world shadowed by Rome.” (Schiff  2).  She grew up with immense riches, and inherited a kingdom in decline.  

Schiff writes in her article entitled, Rehabilitating Cleopatra, published in the Smithsonian, that while she may be one of the most recognizable figures in history, we have very little factual information of what Cleopatra looked like. Only her coin portraits, like the one on the title page of this paper, “were issued in her lifetime, and which she likely approved--can be accepted as authentic.”  (Schiff 89).  It is possible that she was black.  Barbara Holland points out that there could be possible influences of Africa on Greek and Roman culture, and since she was a Macedonian Greek, it is possible.  She writes that since, “nobody knows anything about (Cleopatra’s) paternal grandmother, except that she wasn't legally married to Ptolemy IX; it is possible that she was black.” (Holland 59).

She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family with Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great’s death. The Ptolemies spoke Greek, and refused to speak Egyptian.  Holland writes that the:

“Ptolemies were wicked snobs, so proud of their bloodline that they tended to marry their brothers and sisters to keep it untainted. When they picked mistresses, they customarily chose upper-class Greeks. They felt so superior to the Egyptians, in fact, that after 300 years in Alexandria, they couldn't say much more than "good morning" to the locals in their native tongue; Cleopatra was the first in her family to learn the language.” (Holland 65).  

She received a first class education.  “The Arab historian Al-Masudi tells us she was the author of learned works, a princess well versed in the sciences, disposed to the study of philosophy…She spoke at least seven languages.”  (Holland 57).

Cleopatra grew up in quite a dysfunctional family.  Schiff writes that while she descended from a long line of murderers that upheld the family tradition, she was, for her time and place, remarkably well behaved.  Her father, Auletes, could not control his subjects or his children. “While he was away his eldest daughter, Tryphaena, grabbed the throne. After she got assassinated, second daughter Berenice grabbed it next--until Auletes came back with Roman help and executed her.” (Holland 61).  Cleopatra knew Egypt needed Roman help, but she was not going to pay for it.  Cleopatra also murdered her siblings, and married her brothers Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, as was the custom.  She co ruled Egypt with them but eventually she became sole ruler. Having a child with Roman general Julius Caesar solidified her grip on the throne.  She would later elevate her son with Caesar, Caesarion, to co-ruler in name.  (Schiff 267).  

Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Cleopatra aligned with Mark Antony.  “He was an important supporter and the loyal friend of Julius Caesar as a military commander and administrator, despite his blood ties, through his mother Julia, to the branch of Caesars opposed to the Marians and murdered by them.”  (Hindley 125).  After Caesar's assassination, Antony married Cleopatra, intending to use the wealthy Egypt as a base to dominate Rome.  With Antony, she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios, and another son, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Her relations with her brothers produced no children.

It could be said Cleopatra and Caesar were brought together by political need.  She had no children and Caesar had no male children, so an heir was needed. The product was a son named Caesarion, who remained Cleopatra's principal heir for the rest of her life. In 51 B.C., when Cleopatra was 18, her father died and left the kingdom to her and her 10-year-old brother (and fiancé) Ptolemy XIII.  Her father was a supporter of Pompey the Great and when he fled Rome and came to Egypt, the Egyptians killed him and sent his head to Caesar, and he came to collect her father’s debts.  Schiff writes that Caesar: