Queen Cleopatra

Queen of Ancient Egypt  

In 41 BC, she journeyed to Tarsus, in what is now Turkey, at Antony's invitation, dressed as Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, on a golden boat adorned with purple sails and silver oars. The dramatic stagecraft paid off, and the pair embarked on a passionate love affair that enabled Cleopatra to consolidate her grip on the throne and maintain Egypt's independence. Over the years, the union produced three children, and by 34 BC, the monarch had cleverly assigned kingdoms to all of her children beyond Egypt in a bid to expand her empire.

Reframing the past

Despite Cleopatra's impressive reign over two decades, it was to be the queen's public image -- one of the most important means of sustaining her vast empire against the rising power of Rome -- that would thwart her in the afterlife. Following her death, Roman propaganda circulated by Octavian (the future Roman emperor Augustus I) -- Mark Antony's rival and eventual successor -- cast the queen as a beautiful, scheming temptress to justify the conflict. This distortion, upheld by classical male authors, has endured for centuries, and continues to flourish in popular culture

Her personality was just as vibrant. In "The Life of Antony," the philosopher-biographer Plutarch

 wrote of the "irresistible charm" of her conversation, and noted that "her presence, combined with the persuasiveness of her discourse... had something stimulating about it."

Political strategist

When you consider Cleopatra's longstanding reign, however, it is obvious that there is more at play than her vivacity. In ancient Egypt, foreign and familial ambitions upon the crown were a constant threat, and Cleopatra was astute at resisting both by forging connections to the most powerful Romans of the period. In 49 BC, she fled to Syria to assemble an army after being driven from Egypt by the advisers of Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII, her brother-husband and co-ruler.

Sometime after her return to Egypt in a bid to claim the throne as hers alone, Cleopatra managed to gain a private audience with Julius Caesar, who had traveled to Alexandria to settle the dispute. According to legend, she asked her servant Apollodoros to smuggle her into the palace wrapped in bed linen, gaining direct access to the Roman general. After successfully pleading her case, she gained both Caesar's support and his affections, enabling her to overthrow her brother and gain sole possession of the throne. Within months she fell pregnant, and in 47 BC, her carefully crafted union produced a son and heir: Caesarion.

Following Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, Cleopatra out-maneuvered any of her other siblings' potential designs on her position in ruthless dynastic form. Her younger brother Ptolemy XIV mysteriously disappeared (Tyldesley contends that he was almost certainly murdered), while her sister Arsinoe IV was eliminated by Marc Antony's assassins at her behest, clearing the path for her to install Caesarion beside her as co-regent.

When Marc Antony was later appointed ruler of Rome's eastern provinces, Cleopatra was quick to secure the next political alliance -- and, in true form, she did so with theatrical flair.

Despite Cleopatra's impressive reign over two decades, it was to be the queen's public image

 -- one of the most important means of sustaining her vast empire against the rising power of Rome -- that would thwart her in the afterlife. Following her death, Roman propaganda circulated by Octavian (the future Roman emperor Augustus I) -- Mark Antony's rival and eventual successor -- cast the queen as a beautiful, scheming temptress to justify the conflict. This distortion, upheld by classical male authors, has endured for centuries, and continues to flourish in popular culture.