The Last Queen of Egypt Cleopatra

‘The Last Queen of Egypt’

Cleopatra

Cleopatra was born during a time dominated by men, but she overcame her stereotype by becoming one of Egypt’s most successful leaders. The most notable thing about Cleopatra was not that she was just a successful ruler, but rather that she was the most influential woman of her time.

Cleopatra’s Father, Ptolemy XII was the seventh Pharaoh in a line of unmemorable Ptolemaic rulers. Because of her father, she was exposed to royalty at an early age. This affected her decisions, as she always put Egypt before herself. Eventually, Ptolemy XII had to flee to Rome, because the people of Egypt hated him. The throne was left to Cleopatra’s sister Berenice. Berenice did her best to keep Ptolemy XII out of Egypt, and away from the throne. But Berenice was beheaded by Ptolemy XII’s army. Ptolemy had the throne for five more years, until he died and the throne was left for joint rule by Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XIII. This was exactly what Cleopatra needed to achieve her dream of conquering the world.

Cleopatra was only 18 when she started her reign, her brother was only 12. They were soon married, as it was a Ptolemaic tradition. Cleopatra was in an ideal position - her brother was not old enough to make any decisions and she did not have enough power for the people to want to overthrow her. Cleopatra and Ptolemy grew to hate each other. They struggled over the throne for three years, this ended when Ptolemy and his guardians gathered supporters and kicked Cleopatra out of Egypt and into Syria. While she was in Syria, she gathered her supporters and formed an army to prepare for war. During this time, Caesar had started his long voyage to Egypt.

Caesar and Pompey fought for the power of Rome, which ...

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... died, Egypt was conquered by Rome, making her the last ruler of Egypt. She was buried with Antony in a tomb, which to this day, has never been found. But archaeologists have found buildings that she would have visited in her everyday life.

Cleopatra was the most fascinating woman of her time. Her high profile affairs, powerful leadership and everlasting plan to keep Egypt as its own Empire, were only some of the things that made her so remarkable. Even great historians are still amazed at how powerful Cleopatra was, such as Blaise Pascal, who said “If Cleopatra's nose had been shorter, the whole history of the world would have been different.” Cleopatra’s life was one of the Gods, and the bite of an asp was said to be the demise to bring her back to them. Cleopatra will always be remembered as one of the only women to fight, and almost break the might of Rome.