Key Takeaways
For being one of the most famous women in history , the material Cleopatra ( 69 to 30 B.C.E. ) is shrouded in whodunit . She ruledEgyptfor 22 years , commanded riches nonpareil in the ancient earth , bore kid to two of the most knock-down men in Rome , and yet the stories of her passed down over the century — Cleopatra as the cunning , wanton seductress — were mostly propaganda pen by her enemies .
We spoke with Prudence Jones , history prof at Montclair State University and author of " Cleopatra : A Sourcebook " to get the real scoop on Cleopatra VII . Here are five facts that may shatter some myth .
1. Cleopatra Wasn’t Egyptian
Here ’s one thing we eff for sure — Cleopatra was n’t Egyptian . Cleopatra wascleopatra">the last in a long line of Macedonian Greek kings and queenswho ruled Egypt startle with the conquest ofAlexander the Greatin 332 B.C.E. After Alexander ’s death , his universal Ptolemy I was installed as king of Egypt , which he ruled as a Greek from the Hellenistic Washington of Alexandria . Cleopatra , who was born in 69 B.C.E. , was a daughter of Ptolemy XII . The identity of Cleopatra ’s mother is unknown , though it is thought to have beencleopatra - black - biography-3528680#toc - Cleopatra - mother - cleopatra - v">Cleopatra V Tryphaena , who was Ptolemy XII ’s married woman and also his baby or half - sister , as was common among Egyptian royalty at the meter .
Although Cleopatra was n’t ethnically Egyptian , she made explicit overtures to Egyptian religious belief and civilisation , such as key out herself with the goddess Isis . Cleopatra was also the first queen in the centuries - recollective Ptolemaic Dynasty to inconvenience to discover how to speak Egyptian .
" The rest were n’t very motivated , " allege Jones .
2. She Wowed with Brains and Charm, Not Beauty
The Roman enemies of Egypt sought to denigrate Cleopatra by paint her as a lady of pleasure fag who entrance great piece likeJulius Caesarand Mark Antony with her physical smasher alone . But even the Roman historian Plutarch , writing a century after Cleopatra ’s death , said there was much more to Cleopatra than her flavor , which he described as " not all uncomparable … as to strike those who saw her . "
" [ B]ut [ to ] converse with her had an irresistible appeal , and her presence , combine with the persuasiveness of her discourse and the character which was somehow soft about her behaviour towards others , had something stir about it , " save Plutarch . " There was sugariness also in the tones of her part ; and her tongue , like an tool of many strings , she could pronto sour to whatever language she please , so that in her audience with Barbarians she very seldom had need of an spokesperson . "
In addition to speak Greek and Egyptian , Cleopatra was liquid inat least six other languages . A highly educated char , she published two known text , one on the care of the body , and the other on weightiness and measures for medicine and trade .
Compared to the military - minded Antony , who was " not know for being the sharp tack in the boxwood , " says Jones , " Cleopatra was famed for her intellect . "
3. Her ‘Love Affair’ With Caesar Was a Strategic Alliance
Cleopatra was not the " lustful fury " described by the Roman poet Lucan find only by her promiscuous passions . She had only two amorous partner in her short , 39 - year life , and both family relationship were political as well as personal , says Jones .
When Cleopatra take the Egyptian throne at 18 , she inherit a realm in decline . Rome was the ascendant big businessman in the Mediterranean and Egypt ’s independence was under threat . To make topic bad , her younger brother and carbon monoxide - ruler ( and husband – it ’s complicated ) was attempt to advertise her out .
When Julius Caesar came to Egypt in pursual of his rival Pompey , Cleopatra saw an opportunity to make headway a powerful Roman ally . According to Plutarch ’s famous account , a middle - aged Caesar first lay eyes on Cleopatra when she smuggle herself into his quarters and tumbled out of a carpeting ( or more likely , a basket of washables ) .
The unseasoned Cleopatra won Caesar ’s warmness , took back the throne , and sealed the alliance with the birth of a Logos , whom she not - so - subtly named Caesarion ( " Little Caesar " ) . She now had phratry ties to Rome .
4. Her Affair with Antony? Also Political
Cleopatra ’s later kinship with Mark Antony ( 2d in command to Caesar ) was immortalized by Shakespeare in the play " Antony and Cleopatra " as one of the most legendary and tragic love affair in history , but it , too , primarily assist a political purpose .
Egypt may have enjoy large wealthiness and resource , but after Caesar ’s assassination , Cleopatra lie with that her land was still at the whimsey of Rome , the reigning superpower .
" Cleopatra was well cognisant that in order for Egypt to remain independent at all , it needed a powerful defender , " aver Jones .
Caesar ’s last had left a power void in Rome and two outstanding men — Caesar ’s take inheritor and nephew Octavian , and Antony , the ambitious political leader and general — were fighting a civil war to fill it . Octavian had the fiscal funding of the Senate , but Antony urgently need money to pay his troops . Once again , Cleopatra saw an " in . "
Writing of the first meeting between Antony and Cleopatra , Plutarch paints a pictureof an older , wiser Cleopatra intent on winning her prize :
Cleopatra did n’t need magic at all . Jones tell that Antony needed money and Cleopatra was therichest woman in the earth . In exchange for her financial support , Antony became Egypt ’s friend and protector against papistic impingement and apply Cleopatra ( whom he eventually married ) three more heirs.ich
5. Suicide by Snake? Come On!
The real - life duple suicide of Antony and Cleopatra , as commemorate by Plutarch , provided a suitably tragic ending to Shakespeare ’s play . But it credibly did n’t go down precisely as Shakespeare write it .
Antony , falsely believing Cleopatra to be dead after a failed ocean battle against Octavian , falls on his own sword and finally dies in her arms from the wound . Cleopatra , not willing to be troop in the street of Rome as a prisoner of warfare , has a poisonous snake smuggled into her quarters . In the final setting of the play , she embrace the snake to her breast .
In Plutarch ’s version , the ophidian ( an Vipera aspis , specifically ) is hide in a basketball hoop of large FIG .
But even Plutarch admits that there were various accounts of Cleopatra ’s death and that " the truth of the matter no one knows ; for it was also say that she carried about poison in a hollow comb and kept the combing conceal in her hair . "
Modern Cleopatra scholarssay that poisonous substance would have been a much simpler and firm way to go , but that Cleopatra likely include the more striking Hydra story in her suicide short letter to Caesar .
After Cleopatra ’s dying , Egypt became a responsibility of the Roman Empire . Octavian was later lie with as Caesar Augustus , emperor moth of Rome .
