Cleopatra Essay, Research Paper
Cleopatra
Cleopatra was queen of Egypt, last ruler of the dynasty founded by Ptolemy, a
Macedonian general of Alexander the Great, who took Egypt as his share in dividing
Alexander?s empire. Her capital, Alexander, founded by Alexander the Great, was
the center of Hellenistic Greek culture of the world at that time, as well as a great
commercial center. Although she imagined as a ?beautiful and glamorous woman
today, she was not very attractively depicted on ancient coins, having a long hook
nose, and masculine features? (Flamarion 181). She deemed to be a strong-willed
Macedonian queen who was brilliant and dreamed of a greater world empire. Highly
intelligent, this shrewd politician almost achieved this goal. Her contributions as the
last of the Ptolemaic Greek rulers of independent Egypt, were the endless expansion
of the Roman Empire throughout the Mediterranean, and at her death left behind ?a
rich, imperial province which continued to flourish as the center of commerce,
science, and learning under Roman rule? (Newman 554). This natural born leader
was the oldest living daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes and of his sister and wife
Cleopatra Tryphaena. Such brother-sister marriages were common among members
of the Egyptian ruling house. Her father, who died in 51 BC, requested the
Cleopatra and his oldest son, Ptolemy XIII, become joint rulers, and made Rome the
guardian of the Egyptian state. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the life of a
prominent Egyptian figure, who through her determination and strong will,
established herself as a pharaoh and queen of Egypt.
Problems arose when the young Ptolemy began to serve as a puppet for
power-hungry advisers, who much have found him far more easy to command and
dictate than Cleopatra who was older and more intelligent. Cleopatra and her
brother started a civil war between themselves, which resulted in her being forced
into exile to Syria. In Syria, she raised an army and started back to Egypt to regain
her throne. In 48 BC, this ambitious monarch was in Pelusium, on the eastern
frontier of Egypt, with her newly acquired army preparing to attack her brother and
his associates. This battle was never fought, however, because Julius Caesar, who
had arrived at Alexandria in pursuit of Pompey, ?claimed the right to arbitrate the
quarrel? as the representative of Rome (Hoobler 28). Both Ptolemy and Cleopatra
were to dismiss their armies and meet with Caesar, who would settle their dispute.
Meanwhile, there was also a civil war going on between Caesar and Pompey.
Pothinus, knowing that Caesar would win, convinced Ptolemy XIII that it would be
best to have Pompey beheaded and have his head presented to Caesar, as a way to
convince him to join their side in the their civil dispute. Caesar had not been
?enchanted, and being friends with Pompey, did not desire to have him treated so
disrespectfully? (Foreman 61). Determined to present her case, Cleopatra sailed to
Alexandria in a small boat with only a few assistants. There she had herself rolled up
in to a carpet and carried to Caesar?s palace by one of her attendants who told the
guards it was a present for Caesar. She did this because it would have been
impossible to gain access to the palace without Ptolemy XIII discovering and killing
her. Cleopatra realized that in order to gain power she would have to remain on
good terms with Rome and its leaders so she successfully set out to captivate him.
Both Caesar and Cleopatra used each other to gain something, because he wanted to
obtain money, and her main concern was gaining power.
What had begun as a war between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII evolved into a
war between Ptolemy XIII allied with Arsine, his sister, against Caesar, and became
known as the Alexandrian War. Caesar read Aulete?s will to Ptolemy and forced
him to restore her to the throne. When Ptolemy XIII drowned in the Nile, Caesar
declared that ?Cleopatra should marry her younger brother, then eleven years old,
and rule as queen? (Newman 556) in order to please the Alexanderians and the
Egyptian priests. He remained in Egypt, ignoring his affairs in Rome and in the East,
?out of arrogance and his desire to get his hands on Egypt?s vast resources?
(Foreman 99). On his return to Rome, Caesar asks the tribune of the people, Helvius
Cinna, to introduce into the Roman Senate a law permitting Caesar to marry
Cleopatra and make their son, Caesarion, his heir. Many were upset that he was
planning to marry Cleopatra regardless of the laws against bigamy and marriage to
foreigners. It took Caesar two years to defeat Pompeian opposition, and as soon as
he returned to Rome, they celebrated a four-day triumph, or a ceremonial parade
held to honor victorious generals. This quick-witted woman arrived in Rome with
Ptolemy XIII and Caesarion, and they lived in Caesar?s villa, where he visited her
constantly. Cleopatra had started calling herself the New Isis and was the subject of
much gossip. A golden statue of her had been put in the Temple of Venus Genetrix,
the anchantress of the Julian family to which Caesar belonged. On the Ides of March
in 44B.C., Caesar was assassinated outside the Senate building in Rome, ?due to the
threat that he posed to the well-being of the republic, because they believed that he
was going to declare himself king? (Foreman 83). Shortly after Caesar was stabbed,
Cleopatra left Rome, and one year later Ptolemy XIII died, just before he would have
reached the legal age at which he could be expected to participate in the government,
and some say she may have poisoned him. On Ptolemy?s death, Cleopatra had her
son, Caesarion, or ?Little Caesar,? made co-ruler at the age of four.
Caesar?s assassination caused anarchy and civil war in Rome. Eventually the
empire was divided among three men: Caesar?s great-nephew, Octavian, Marcus
Lepidus, and Marc Antony. Antony, as one of the new rulers of the Eastern empire,
summoned Cleopatra to Tarsus to answer charges that she had helped republican
forces. Antony was in need of money to launch a campaign against the Parthians,
and hoped Cleopatra would give him the funds he desperately needed. She set out
for Tarsus in Asia Minor with lots of gifts, and entered the city on a magnificently
decorated boat. She sailed with silver oars, purple sails, and dressed as Aphrodite,
the Goddess of Love. She already new enough about his ?limited strategic and
tactical abilities, his blue blood, the drinking, his womanizing, his vulgarity and his
ambition,? (MacUrdy 79) to know how to get to him. After much feasting and
entertaining for days, Egypt remained an independent country instead of becoming a
Roman province, as Antony intended. This very seductive woman agreed to provide
him with money on the condition that her sister, Arsinoe IV, be executed. Forgetting
his responsibilities and duty to the Roman empire, he accompanied this charismatic
individual to Alexandria and spent the winter with her there. In the spring of 40 BC,
Mark Antony left Cleopatra and returned home, after giving her much land,
including Cyprus, the Cilcian coast, Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Judea, and Arabia,
which was very essential to Egypt.
After the formation of the Second Triumvirate between Antony, Octavian, and
Lepidus, Antony married Octavia, Octavian?s sister, in 40 BC to seal a deal with
Octavian. It stated that ?after the Triumvirate ended the two would both rule the
Roman world, though they allowed Lepidus to remain in northern Africa and govern
the area? (Foreman 95). Octavian held all of western Europe and Antony held the
eastern end of the Roman world. Upon forming this pact, he then went east to meet
with Cleopatra again, because he needed money for his campaign, and later made a
huge mistake by marring her, ?which was not morally wrong, but by Roman law was
invalid? (Hoobler 32). In 37 BC, however, Antony?s march eastward led to renewed
friendship and an understanding between both Antony and Cleopatra. From then
on, Cleopatra?s influence over Marc Antony grew, and she wore Egyptian clothing
that represented the goddess Isis and is reported to have adopted the following oath:
?As surely as I shall one day dispense judgment in the Roman Capital? (Newman
556). When Antony arranged for Caesarion, and his own three children by
Cleopatra, to share ruling both Egypt and Roman provinces in Asia Minor and
formally divorced Octavia, the Romans were furious. Octavian declared war not
against Antony, but against Cleopatra, and announced Antony into the Senate.
Romans felt it was much better to declare war on the foreign queen that they believed
was influencing him, than on Antony himself. Cleopatra prevented Antony from
leaving her to fight Octavian, who was winning much of his eastern territory from
him. At the battle of Actium in 31 BC, Cleopatra?s Egyptian forces, together with
Antony?s Roman forces, faced Octavian?s fleet, commanded by Marcus Vipsanius
Agrippa. During this naval battle, when Cleopatra retreated and Antony, infatuated
as he was with her, quickly followed, and Octavian won a great victory. Antony
joined his legions in Cyrene, and Cleopatra turned to Alexandria to recruit more
troops and to raise new fleet. Octavian offered Cleopatra favorable treatment if she
would kill Antony, but she refused. She believed, however, that if he thought she
were dead that he would commit suicide, and she was right, his last words being,
?Now, Antony, why delay longer? Fate has snatched away your only reason for
living? (Flamarion 219). With that, he plunged a dagger into his stomach, however
did not die instantly.
She was a mysterious and intriging woman who seemed that she would do
anything to keep Alexandria under Egyptian rule no matter what the consequences.
Rather than have to face the humility of attending her enemy?s triumph, she
committed suicide by being intentional bitten by an asp, which was an Egyptian
cobra, and was buried at Antony?s side as she had requested. She died on August 12,
30 BC, at the age of 39. The Egyptian religion declared that ?death by snakebite
secured immortality, allowing her to achieve her dying wish, not to be forgotten?
(MacUrdy 129). Her death was the mark of the end of Egyptian Monarchs, as well
as the last Egyptian Pharaoh, because after her death, Egypt became a Roman
province, however her legacy still lives on.
nces.
Works Cited
Foreman, Laura. Cleopatra?s Palace: The Search for the Real Queen of the Nile.
New York: Cambridge UP, 1973.
Flamarion, Edith. Cleopatra: The Life and Death of a Pharaoh. New Jersey:
Macmillan, 1981.
Hoobler, Thomas. Cleopatra. London: Random, 1989.
MacUrdy, Grace Harriet. Hellenistic Queens: A Study of Woman Power in
Macedonia, Seleucid, Syria, and Ptolemaic Egypt. New York: Little, 1984.
Newman, Robert. The Warrior Queens. Toronto: McGraw, 1977.
Foreman, Laura. Cleopatra?s Palace: The Search for the Real Queen of the Nile.
New York: Cambridge UP, 1973.
Flamarion, Edith. Cleopatra: The Life and Death of a Pharaoh. New Jersey:
Macmillan, 1981.
Hoobler, Thomas. Cleopatra. London: Random, 1989.
MacUrdy, Grace Harriet. Hellenistic Queens: A Study of Woman Power in
Macedonia, Seleucid, Syria, and Ptolemaic Egypt. New York: Little, 1984.
Newman, Robert. The Warrior Queens. Toronto: McGraw, 1977.