A Great Queen or Conniving Power Monger?

After Ptolemy Auletes died, he passed down the dynasty of Egypt to his daughter Cleopatra and son Ptolemy XII and later Ptolemy XIII. At this point Egypt was in turmoil, under anarchy, poverty and famine, so all of the problems were left in the hands of his inheritants. Cleopatra was above many other monarchs, in the sense that she was diligent, passionate and ambitious to provide a greater world empire. She did what was necessary to try and save Alexandria from plummeting into ruins. Cleopatra soothed the nationalistic ruins of her kingdom by being the last of her dynasty. She was certainly an able rule and under her successful economic reforms, Egypt prospered.

The Ptolemies were of Macedonian descent; however they ruled Egypt as Pharaohs. Her family was Greek but she spoke Egyptian and declared herself to be the daughter of the Egyptian Sun God, Ra. Cleopatra spoke 8 different languages fluently,(Hebrew, Roman, Latin, Native Greek, Egyptian, Ethiopic, Aramaic, and Arabic) she had an interest towards literature and philosophy and she inherited the ambition and aspirations that her ancestors possessed for power.


In 48 BC, Cleopatra had coiled with the court officials of Alexandria, for having her mercenaries kill the Roman governor of Syria's son when they came to ask for their father against the Parthians, which angered the council. Achillas and his group of men decided to overthrow her in favor of her brother, because they believed he was much stronger than her. Meanwhile, there was a drought which caused the failure of the Egyptian grain crop and the Nile flood, vital for fertilizing and irrigating the soil didn’t happen. Ptolemy XIII banned the export of grain from Alexandria, as a result, this infuriated the Romans. Supporters of Ptolemy XIII forced Cleopatra to relinquish power and leave Egypt. Soon after, Ceasar seized Alexandria. Cleopatra had no intention of being overthrown so she smuggled herself over the enemy lines to confront Ceasar and negotiate face to face. Her motives were quite ambiguous which made it hard to decipher whether she was doing it to save Ptolemaic dynasty or whether she acted from her own lust for power.

Evidently, Julius Ceasar and Cleopatra tied the knot as lovers, which strengthened her grip on the throne. After the death of Ptolemy XIII, she was the sole ruler of Egypt. However, in order to please the Alexandrians and Egyptian priests, she married her younger brother Ptolemy XIV. Ceasar restored her position out of the desire to get his hands on Egypt's vast resources along with the fact that he was completely in love with her. At this time, Cleopatra conceived a child with Ceasar; Ceasarion. Soon after she was worshipped as the 7th Pharoah amongst many people. After his birth, Cleopatra called herself the new Isis, and got notoriously recognized. She lived a pretentious, glamorous life and had a statue made of gold placed by Ceasar in the temple of Venus Genetrix. In 44 BC Ceasar was assassinated in a conspiracy because his Senators thought that he was a threat to the republic's well-being.


The death of Julius Ceasar plunged Rome into a new round of civil wars. Mark Antony, Ceasar’s chief general and Octavian, Ceasar’s grandnephew, joined forces to hunt down the murderers. The two men soon quarreled however, setting off a bitter struggle for power. In 31 BC, Octavian finally defeated Antony and his powerful ally, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. In 31 BC Mark Antony marries Cleopatra. Cleopatra had an immense influence on Marc Antony. He gave her much land which was very essential to Egypt; Cyprus, Cicilian coast, Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Judea, and Arabia. This allowed Egypt to build large fleets for battle. When he put her name on the Roman coinage he effectively ended his allegiance to Rome. Soon after, Octavian declared war for this betrayal. The Greek evidently defeated the Egyptians at the famous Battle of Actium. In less than a year, Antony defended Alexandria against the advancing army of Octavian. After the defeat, Antony committed suicide by falling on his own sword. Soon after his death, she was declared as a slave of Octavian. Life was hopeless after that so evidently she had an asp(snake) brought in a basket hidden between figs. The Egyptian religion declared that death by snakebite would secure immortality. She achieved her wish as become a perpetual legacy.

Cleopatra was the last ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Her reputation as the ‘great seductress’ is largely the result of propaganda generated by an ambitious and vengeful Roman Emperor. In reality, she was both a competent queen and a sensible mother anxious to protect the birthright of her children. By the end of her reign, she had managed to restore much of Egypt’s wealth and power, which had previously been squandered by her father Ptolemy XII. She is a rare example of a monarch whom raised armies and conducted wars. She had harnessed Rome’s power.


In conclusion I believe that Cleopatra was a great queen because of her struggle to keep Egypt in its best shape and condition. Although she was a conniving power monger, she definately succeeded in bringing prosper to the kingdom of Egypt during her time. Her ambition and diligence helped reached the height of her power. Cleopatra’s charm and wit captivated the two of the most powerful men of ancient times, which seemed to have guaranteed her immortality as an classic femme fatale. Cleopatra’s love affairs symbolized strategic alliances as well as historical romances. She is a woman who became to be known as one of the world’s greatest political figure and romantic heroine, of ancient time. Cleopatra was the last rule of Egypt for the Macedonian dynasty and her death marked the close of an important era of Egyptian history.