Cleopatra Pharaohs

Cleopatra, known as one of the most famous female pharaohs in history. In the twenty-one years of her reign, she united the country of Egypt in many different ways. She pieced together the once torn kingdom and also bettered the economy.

Egypt was introduced to Greek methods in 331 BCE when Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria. The country of Egypt was left in the hands of Ptolemy when Alexander died. This was the beginning of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, the divided kingdom between Greek and Egyptian ideology. In the duration of the first three pharaohs, this was known as the kingdom’s golden age. During Cleopatra’s existence, Egypt continued to decline and this came across the minds of aspiring pharaohs that dreamed of recreating

the golden age. This struck Cleopatra as her way of gaining power and making a difference for her kingdom.
According to History.com, Cleopatra VII was born in Alexandria in the year 69 or 70 BCE (Cleopatra). Being only raised by her father, she was very influenced by him. Though, she noticed the way her father carried himself in front of the public eye. His reputation of self-absorbency and having the tendency to handle matters in a cruel manner gave Cleopatra a different image of what true leadership should be. Living in the Ptolemaic court, Cleopatra was living a life of luxury. She had a very keen eye in mastering particular languages and educational techniques that she believed would help her rise to royalty. “She applied herself to her lessons, developed a supple mind, delighted in philosophy, history, and languages, took an ‘almost sensuous pleasure in learning and scholarship.’ writes historian Duane W. Roller” (Frost). Cleopatra particularly mastered the Egyptian language which had not been done by any previous pharaohs of Ptolemaic dynasty. The pharaohs were of Greek descent and did not find the common courtesy of speaking to their subjects, and therefore, they did not learn common Egyptian. Cleopatra believed her subjects were just as important. This gave her more of a reason to better educate herself to one day rule Egypt.
At the age of fourteen, the power of ruling Egypt fell into her and her brother’s hands when their father was exiled due to political matters. With her intelligence, she was given the title of the “People’s Princess” due to her willingness to connect with her subjects and the people of the Egypt.
Cleopatra also had another unique fact about herself that past pharaohs lacked. This was the desirability she had amongst the people of Egypt, especially to men. “A reincarnation of Isis” (Frost) is how she defined herself as a person and most importantly as a leader. She used the sex-appeal she had on these powerful men in hopes to gain advantage of taking the throne for herself. In addition of increasing her royal image to the citizens', she took after the tradition of marrying a family member to solidify the respect and authority she would earn. “Ptolemaic dynasty often married within the family to preserve the purity of their bloodline. In keeping with the custom, Cleopatra eventually married both of her adolescent brothers, each of whom served as her ceremonial spouse and co-regent at different times during her reign” (Andrews). She was more determined than ever to achieve her goal of earning her spot on the throne. Often, pharaohs would be beaten out by their counterparts.
Cleopatra was the seventh queen named Cleopatra in Egyptian history.

The past queens that served under the same name modeled courage and spirit and proved their ability to build armies and bringing the city of Alexandria to great success. She did not fall short of expectation as her concern for the people of Egypt and passion for learning still proved that she was the most well liked leader. Unlike her brother that was in the shadows of his sister’s admiration of the people. When Cleopatra became co-rulers with her brother, it became obvious who was the more dominant ruler. Her brother became aware of the power his sister was gaining. In an attempt to strip that dominant power from her, he banished her from the dynasty. Though Cleopatra was older than her brother, he had ultimate power over her. The male ruler has more authority over the female

ruler.
After being exiled by her brother, Cleopatra realized that she needed to network with men of power in order to rightfully earn her spot back on the throne. In hopes of fighting back to win her spot, she traveled to Thebaid in order to her power and manipulate them into helping her. She wanted to get together an army that was strong enough that she could take back to Alexandria and use to win her power back. Instead of building her own army, she stumbled upon an opportunity that she could not pass up. She came in contact with the sight of victory when she saw Caesar’s army. She recognized his newly founded Roman power was an advantage and decided to return back to Alexandria to negotiate her way back to power. She only thought one way she could get Caesar’s attention in order to state her plan. Her unique ability to attract men with power was her secret tool. She understood that Caesar was a big fan of woman and she decided to use that piece of information to her advantage. She snuck herself into Caesar’s chamber and with her cunning attitude, she talked him into helping her.
After convincing Caesar to help her, she was restored to the throne along with her brother.

Cleopatra used Caesar’s army to take full control of the kingdom. Cleopatra’s brother, Ptolemy XII and his military forces were no match for Rome’s superior force. The channel of history says, “Ptolemy was forced to flee Alexandria, and was said to have drowned in the Nile River” (history.com). This left the throne ultimately in the hands of Cleopatra. Egypt was always known to be one of Rome’s center attention due to its prosperous farming land that was constantly being replenished by the Nile’s flooding. This gave attention to other foreign countries looking to attain a piece of the rich nutrients the soil had. In addition, Egypt’s trading port was virtually placed where it made trading with other countries very easy. Egypt was known for producing a substantial amount of grain. Due to the fact that their nation was rapidly growing, their were many mouths to

feed.
When Cleopatra gained full power, this was the first order of business she felt that needed to be taken care of. She realized she needed to keep close ties with the Roman Empire, she felt they were the only ones that could help the fragile state that Egypt was in. She married her other brother to use him and his good connections with Rome, this was the only way she could help her dwindling kingdom. Rome has a had a past in helping Egypt with past difficulties the country faced. Rome, having more wealth and power over Egypt entitled them to do anything they wanted to Egypt. Cleopatra and other pharaohs turned to Rome to stabilize their political situations. Collaborating with Caesar, Cleopatra now had a stronger military force and better means of production of resources. Rome knew that Alexandria was a focal point to the Mediterranean trading port. Combining together, they could trade for less and Egypt could acquire valuable and a surplus of items that were a necessity in their lives. This increased the political stability of Egypt since they were better equipped with resources instead of struggling. This ensured that they would be safe because of the Roman military. This also increased Rome’s wealth and control. They knew that if Egypt did not trust them that the Empire would slowly start to dwindle, and become unstable again. Though, Cleopatra knew that she could not give the absolute power to Rome. She used her knowledge of history and determination to build up her armies and gain allies from Rome. She wanted to make sure she, as an individual ruler, was powerful. This in the long run would help herself and the fate of Egypt.
A war broke out in the Roman Empire between Marc Antony, Caesar and Octavian. Due to the close-knit relationship the Ptolemaic dynasty and the Romans, Antony and Cleopatra wanted the Roman Empire to be ruled by Greek/Roman partnership. Antony was capable of making big decisions for his empire and Cleopatra was acquiring many territories and wealth in the East. Octavian believed the Rome should be ruled by the Romans. He was determined to be the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. The war ended with Octavian's military beating Antony’s military and substantially taking over the Roman Empire. Antony then has to prove his loyalty to Octavian by marrying his half-sister. After the war, Cleopatra went back to ruling Egypt and it became more prosperous than ever. They continued to be the main trading port to other countries and lead them to be an independent country that did not need any outside ruling.
This allowed the country of Egypt to be lead in the most successful way possible and that was what Cleopatra set out for when she wanted to become queen. She used her charm to manipulate men with power to do things for her that would benefit Egypt and what it lacked as a country. Through all the things she studied when she was younger, benefited her as a strong, independent ruler. This was proved when she had to make difficult decisions, like marrying her two brothers just so she would have a say in the empire. She powered through the struggles of being exiled by her brother and still had a part of greatly influencing the fate of Egypt.
During her reign, Cleopatra not only made life changing accomplishments in Egypt, but also made personal accomplishments for herself. She discovered what kind of political crisis and hardship Egypt was facing at the time when she was a teenager. With being from a royal family, her studies with personal tutors allowed her to acquire the absolute best that would help her in the future. She wanted to be reflected by the effects she on the people of Egypt. She accomplished that by personally learning the Egyptian language in order to communicate with the citizens of Egypt. This earned her favorability points in the citizens eyes and she became one of the favorites.
Cleopatra was known greatly of the effects she had on men with power. She deliberately put herself out there to get the men on her side and use them to her advantage. With the resources these men had, she was able to fix what problems Egypt was having and always have a sort of protection for the country. She used the trading point as an advantage of having power over other countries. Her knowledge of how the Nile River worked with the crops and how prosperous the resources it was creating made it easier for trading with other countries. She then secured a safe spot with the Roman Empire in terms that Egypt would have the protection that it needed.
Cleopatra is marked as one of the most successful women leaders in the world. The desire for improvement proved the dedication she had for her country. Though she faced many limitations to her power and may of not been the most ethical leader. She used Rome in order to gain full control back over the country of Rome and continued to make Egypt flourish.
Once a torn kingdom, she shook other countries and deliberately forced her way to power in order to make Egypt great again. Through her actions, she was world widely known as one of the most influential women leaders.