Comparing Ancient Female Rulers Chrystal Hamrick Strayer University Humanities 111 Dr. Elaine Friedrich November 28. 2015 Introduction Cleopatra the Seventh, born in 69 BC (69- 30 BC) and Wu Zetian, born in 624 in Wenshui County, (624-705) were both women who ruled over the Egyptian and Tang Dynasties respectively. They ruled over their empires a time when women were not supposed to rule unless they did so by their husbands. Both were great leaders who seized the moment and eventually rose to power. They were intelligent and made unique achievements that improved the prosperity of their regions. The following paper compares their rise to power, leadership styles, and accomplishments and provides lessons to today’s women in business …show more content…
Instead of running the government herself, she found the best people to do it on her behalf. Consequently, she treated those who acted as she pleased fairly. She used scholars to rule and advice the government instead of military men. She rewarded the local officials who developed their areas like in the field of agriculture (Tian & Yang, 1997). On the other hand, she punished those officials who imposed high taxes on their constituents. Cleopatra, on the contrary, did not use other people to rule. She was a brilliant ruler who had the power to subjugate anyone (Wassynger, 1996). History remembers her a ruler who knew how to talk, negotiate and forge partnerships with strong dynasties. Without a doubt, she was a great intellect who could speak at least nine languages and rarely needed an interpreter even when she travelled abroad. While Wu concentrated in her empire alone, Cleopatra went abroad to create partnerships with other great leaders like Caesar of …show more content…
She also made some radical changes in the government. For instance, she reduced the influence of aristocratic military men on the leadership of Tang. People had to take exams to work for the government. Moreover, she was a fair ruler who lowered oppressive taxes and regarded peasants with respect. More importantly, she raised agricultural production and had a major influence in strengthening public works. Wu also reformed education and the systems of selecting personnel. Similarly, Cleopatra was a great ruler who had great influence in Egypt and Rome. She had the ability to create a great army, match into war and come back victorious. Cleopatra made Egypt and Rome wealthier and more powerful than they had been before. She forged a great partnership with Rome, and together they became two of the most powerful civilizations of that
Stacy Schiff author of Cleopatra strives through her book to denounce all historical myths surrounding Cleopatra. With the rigor of a true historian she is able to distinguish historical veracity from historical myth surrounding the queen from antiquity. The author highlights Cleopatra’s role as a powerful woman and in particular how she attempts to manage the various political or economic predicaments she faced. Stacy Schiff gives us a story that is masterfully reconstructed, allowing the reader insight into the historical context of the time- shedding new light on a woman whose greatest fault was not being a man.
During the time of Ancient Egypt, having strong Pharaohs was essential to the maintenance and growth of the civilization, as the Pharaohs were believed to be living Gods. Although leadership of Ancient Egypt was often male dominated, there were admirable female Pharaohs who successfully gained power and left behind a positive legacy; one woman to achieve this was Hatshepsut, meaning ‘foremost of female nobles’. Her innovation and determination allowed her to maintain her position of Pharaoh for about twenty years (1479-1458 BCE). Hatshepsut was considered to be a very successful leader because of her confidence and ambition, magnificent building projects, and establishment of a strong trading network.
Women were very important to the development of the Republic in the United States. Although their influences were indirect they had a big impact. Women were not allowed to participate in elections or hold office; however they were wives of politicians and “mothers of republic”. Despite being legally ineligible for the above roles they were granted the right to education and a small amount of freedom, which in turn enabled them to become more intellectually acceptable on the topics of government.
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,
What would do if someone raped you or sexual harassed you? Most likely you would prosecute them in court. What would you do if you were told you couldn’t prosecute them because you were a lower class woman? This was the scenario in Ancient Rome. Everything depended on your gender, status, and job. Even though women have fewer rights than men, women still had a legal and social position in Ancient Rome. Women had a position in marriage and family life. There were also a lot of women that were in religious groups, were prostitutes, and were slaves.
"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.
Henrik Ibsen once said, “A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view.”(Notable Quotes) Ibsen’s statement exemplifies what life was like for women during ancient times. In many of the organized ancient civilizations, it was very common to find a primarily patriarchal civilization in government as well as in society. The causing factors can be attributed to different reasons, the main being the Neolithic Revolution and the new found dependence on manpower it caused. As a result of this, a woman found herself to be placed into an entirely different view in the eye of society. In comparison to the early Paleolithic matriarchal societies, the kinds of changes that came about for women due to the introduction of agriculture are shocking. Since the beginnings of the Neolithic era, the role and rights of women in many ancient civilizations began to become limited and discriminatory as a result of their gender.
For the most part, women in today's society hold a position equal to that of a man;
In the Greek society women were treated very differently than they are today. Women in ancient Greece were not allowed to own property, participate in politics, and they were under control of the man in their lives. The goddess Aphrodite did not adhere to these social norms and thus the reason the earthly women must comply with the societal structure that was set before them. Aphrodite did not have a father figure according to Hesiod, and therefore did not have a man in her life to tell her what to do. She was a serial adulteress and has many children with many men other than her husband. She was not the only goddess from the ancient Greek myths to cause doubt in the minds of men. Gaia and the Titan Rhea rise up against their husbands in order to protect their children. Pandora, another woman in the Greek myths, shows that all evil comes from woman. Aphrodite, Gaia, Rhea, and Pandora cause the ancient Greek men to be suspicious of women because of her mischievous and wild behavior.
The woman, by definition is the nurturer of life. She labors through birth, tends to the needs of her family, and assumes unending responsibilities. And while women have given birth to the ancient and modern day male heroes we've come to glorify to this day, we must remember that some of those same women have also been tremendously influential and invaluable all throughout the depths of history. One such woman is Cleopatra, the temptress whose ambition and seduction both augmented her empire's prestige and brought about her theatrical downfall.
All in all Cleopatra was a powerful queen who left a meaningful impact on society.
... Egyptian women were looked at differently than men; their role was that of the nurturer and the caregiver, the bearer of a family’s future. They were just as important to the society as the men. Ancient Egypt was a very complex world, and just as complex was the role that women played in its society. They were not free, but they also were not enslaved. They were vital, but only in terms of their husbands and their children. Egypt offered women a far more free life than the rest of the ancient world. In the end, women played a secondary role to men putting their desires for achievement aside so their husband could be king.
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...
Born in Alexandria, Egypt in 69 BCE, Cleopatra VII Philopator was one of the seventh Cleopatra in the family. She was the third daughter of King Ptolemy XII Auletus, and her family was known as the Ptolemies, they ruled Egypt for over 300 years. The Ptolemies were Greek rulers, which descended from General Ptolemy who took control over Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE. At the age of 17 Cleopatra assume the throne when her father King Ptolemy XII died, he left in his will that she ought to marry her 10 year old brother Ptolemy XII (whom she detested) in order to keep the power within the family (Remler, 1996). Queen Cleopatra VII wasn’t known for her beauty, but many men found her intelligence and personality be one of
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 become 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.