Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII

Cleopatra was born in the year 69 BC and died August 12 in the year 30 BC. Her real name was Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator. Cleopatra was born in royalty as being the daughter of Auletes, who was the descendent of the Ptolomies and Alexander the Great. With the blessing of the people of Alexandria and the support of the Romans Cleopatra was the first queen of Egypt and was the last person to order as the Egyptian pharaoh. Although, Cleopatra was not allowed to rule on her own because the law stated that every queen needed a king, so she had to marry her brother, Ptolemy XIII. Marrying within the family was common in this era because the family wanted to keep close ties of the royalty. At this time, Ptolemy XIII was 12 years of age and Cleopatra was 18. Cleopatra being older than her brother, already knew all the techniques of ruling due to watching her father rule in the past. She was well educated, ambitious and fluent in nine languages. This made her very likeable. For the first year and a half of their reign, Cleopatra became the dominant monarch pushing her brother to the side, which angered her brother. Her brother and the powerful court officials both disagreed with her actions on being a sole monarch because it went against the Ptolemaic tradition. Therefore, Cleopatra was exiled in favor of her brother.

Cleopatra was not one to give up and let her brother win. Cleopatra was manipulative and knew how to get people to do whatever she wanted. She then manipulated her way back to the throne by seducing Julius Caesar, who was around 30 years older than her, and eventually beginning a sexual relationship with him. Cleopatra seduced him by sneaking into his palace and wrapping her self in a carpet, and as Caesar walked in, she unrolled it exposing her naked body to him. This relationship had solidified her to have her hands on the throne because of Caesars great fame and reputation throughout this civilized world. Caesar needed Egypt’s wealth...