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What does history tell us about the Queen of the Nile?
Sunday, October 22, 2000 By Marylynne Pitz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Cleopatra possessed keen intelligence, striking beauty, a low, musical voice and a level of political acumen that Machiavelli would have envied.
In his "Lives," Plutarch, the Greek writer, described the Queen of the Nile this way:
"The contact of her presence, if you lived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person, joining with the charm of her conversation, and the character that attended all she said or did, was something bewitching."
Best of all, Cleopatra knew who she was, what she wanted and how to get it because she had read that Egyptian self-help classic: "Awakening the Goddess Within."
So what if she had to poison a brother and order her sister's execution to become one of the world's most powerful women? Cleopatra was femme and fatale.
For 22 of her 39 years, Cleopatra ruled an Egypt brimming with wheat and barley, amethysts and emeralds, rare spices, exotic fruits, eye-popping glassware, wool, linen and the papyrus needed by scribes and scholars.
Brilliant and ambitious, the warrior queen enchanted Julius Caesar and Mark Antony while laying claim to much of the civilized world.
For more than a decade, she was Mark Antony's partner in empire building and ecstasy. Contrary to popular myth, the strong, visionary queen was more focused on seizing power than seducing Caesar or Antony.
As a young girl, Cleopatra learned the Greek classics and showed aptitude for arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and medicine. Her talents included drawing, painting, singing, dancing, playing the seven-stringed lyre and horseback riding.
The first ruler of her dynasty to learn Egyptian, Cleopatra also spoke Ethiopian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Median, Parthian and Troglodyte.
Born in late 70 or early 69 B.C., Cleopatra was one of six children born to Ptolemy XII Auletes. A descendant of Hellenistic queens, Cleopatra had Macedonian, Persian, Greek and Syrian blood in her veins.
When her father died in 51 B.C., Cleopatra was 18 and became co-ruler of Egypt with her 10-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII, whom she married to preserve the purity of the family's blood line.
After struggling for power with her young brother and his advisers, Cleopatra was exiled from Alexandria in 49 B.C.
As Cleopatra prepared an army to regain the throne, Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria to settle the succession issue and claim Egypt's wealth for Rome.
After learning of Caesar's arrival, Cleopatra returned to Alexandria in secret. According to Plutarch, she wrapped herself in a bedspread or rug and was smuggled into Caesar's rooms.
The 21-year-old queen used her wits and wiles to captivate the 52-year-old Roman conqueror. There was nothing left to do but test-drive those Egyptian cotton sheets.
With Caesar as her ally, Cleopatra was secure. She did not mourn when Ptolemy XIII drowned during the Battle of Alexandria in 47 B.C.
Although tradition dictated that Cleopatra marry her youngest brother, Ptolemy XIV, and take him as her co-sovereign, which she did, everyone knew she was the true ruler of the rich Mediterranean country.
As the Roman army savored a long, luxurious liberty call in Alexandria, Cleopatra and Caesar took other liberties -- a victory celebration/honeymoon during a trip up the Nile.
A year later, in 46 B.C., Cleopatra bore Caesar's son and named him Caesarion.
To mark his birth, Cleopatra issued a coin that depicted her and her son as sacred figures. Cleopatra is portrayed as Isis, a goddess revered as an ideal wife and mother. Isis is suckling Caesarion, who is depicted as Horus, the Sun god of Egypt.
As Caesar's mistress, Cleopatra journeyed to Rome. There, he honored her with a golden statue in the temple of Venus Genetrix, a move that offended his countrymen. Nor were the Romans amused when Cleopatra took up residence at Caesar's country estate.
When Caesar was stabbed to death outside the Roman Senate in 44 B.C., it was the end of Cleopatra's hopes of becoming first lady of the Roman empire.
Cleopatra heard her exit music playing and returned to Alexandria, where the populace was in a foul mood because of disease and famine.
In 42 B.C., Antony and Octavian led the Roman army to Greece. During the battle of Phillipi, they defeated Caesar's assassins, Brutus and Cassius.
Antony stayed on in the East, decided to invade Parthia and sought Cleopatra's support for his military mission. So, he summoned her to the marketplace in the city of Tarsus.
Cleopatra was in no mood to be treated like a palace chamber maid. She would strip, but only in her own district.
The queen invited Antony to dine aboard her magnificent ship. After he drank copious amounts of wine, the Egyptian temptress became his mistress, and they wintered together in Alexandria in 41 B.C.
Then Antony said he needed his space, and the two did not see each other again for four years.
Mark Antony returned to Rome and around 40 B.C. married Octavia, who was Octavian's sister. A few years later, he married Cleopatra, but he did not get around to divorcing Octavia until 33 B.C.
In Italy, Octavian spread rumors that Cleopatra dominated Antony, who intended to make her queen of Rome. Octavian then declared war against Cleopatra. A decisive naval battle was fought at Actium in the Ionian Sea.
Cleopatra sailed toward Egypt and Antony followed. Declaring victory, Octavian claimed Egypt as part of the Roman Empire. Antony committed suicide. Octavian planned to take Cleopatra to Rome in chains. After fruitless negotiations, she chose death instead of dishonor.
In 30 B.C., the Egyptian queen barricaded herself inside Antony's temple. She took a bath and ate a last, sumptuous meal.
Opening a basket of figs, she found an asp, applied it to her breast and died about a half-hour later on a golden couch, dressed in royal robes. They buried her next to Antony in Alexandria.
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