Cleopatra Essay, Research Paper

In the springtime of 51 BC, Ptolemy Auletes died and left his kingdom in his

will to his eighteen year old daughter, Cleopatra, and her younger brother

Ptolemy XIII who was twelve at the time. Cleopatra was born in 69 BC in

Alexandria, Egypt. She had two older sisters, Cleopatra VI and Berenice IV as

well as a younger sister, Arsinoe IV. There were two younger brothers as well,

Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV. It is thought that Cleopatra VI may have died as a

child and Auletes had Berenice beheaded. At Ptolemy Auletes’ death, Pompey, a

Roman leader, was left in charge of the children. During the two centuries that

preceded Ptolemy Auletes death, the Ptolemies were allied with the Romans. The

Ptolemies’ strength was failing and the Roman Empire was rising. City after city

was falling to the Roman power and the Ptolemies could do nothing but create a

pact with them. During the later rule of the Ptolemies, the Romans gained more

and more control over Egypt. Tributes had to be paid to the Romans to keep them

away from Egypt. When Ptolemy Auletes died, the fall of the Dynasty appeared to

be even closer.

According to Egyptian law, Cleopatra was forced to have a consort, who was

either a brother or a son, no matter what age, throughout her reign. She was

married to her younger brother Ptolemy XIII when he was twelve, however she soon

dropped his name from any official documents regardless of the Ptolemaic

insistence that the male presence be first among co-rulers. She also had her own

portrait and name on coins of that time, ignoring her brother’s. When Cleopatra

became co-regent, her world was crumbling down around her. Cyprus, Coele-Syria

and Cyrenaica were gone. There was anarchy abroad and famine at home. Cleopatra

was a strong-willed Macedonian queen who was brilliant and dreamed of a greater

world empire. She almost achieved it. Whether her way of getting it done was for

her own desires or for the pursuit of power will never be known for certain.

However, like many Hellenistic queens, she was passionate but not promiscuous.

As far as we know, she had no other lovers other than Caesar and Antony. Many

believe that she did what she felt was necessary to try to save Alexandria,

whatever the price.

By 48 BC, Cleopatra had alarmed the more powerful court officials of

Alexandria by some of her actions. For instance, her mercenaries killed the

Roman governor of Syria’s sons when they came to ask for her assistance for

their father against the Parthians. A group of men led by Theodotus, the eunuch

Pothinus and a half-Greek general, Achillas, overthrew her in favor of her

younger brother. They believed him to be much easier to influence and they

became his council of regency. Cleopatra is thought to have fled to Thebaid.

Between 51 and 49 BC, Egypt was suffering from bad harvests and famine because

of a drought which stopped the much needed Nile flooding. Ptolemy XIII signed a

decree on October 27, 50 BC which banned any shipments of grain to anywhere but

Alexandria. It is thought that this was to deprive Cleopatra and her supporters

who were not in Alexandria. Regardless, she started an army from the Arab tribes

which were east of Pelusium. During this time, she and her sister Arsinoe moved

to Syria. They returned by way of Ascalon which may have been Cleopatra’s

temporary base.

In the meantime, Pompey had been defeated at Pharsalus in August of 48 BC. He

headed for Alexandria hoping to find refuge with Ptolemy XIII, of whom Pompey

was a senate-appointed guardian. Pompey did not realize how much his reputation

had been destroyed by Pharsalus until it was too late. He was murdered as he

stepped ashore on September 28, 48 BC. The young Ptolemy XIII stood on the dock

and watched the whole scene. Four days later, Caesar arrived in Alexandria. He

brought with him thirty-two hundred legionaries and eight hundred cavalry. He

also brought twelve other soldiers who bore the insignia of the Roman government

who carried a bundle of rods with an ax with a blade that projected out. This

was considered a badge of authority that gave a clear hint of his intentions.

There were riots that followed in Alexandria. Ptolemy XIII was gone to Pelusium

and Caesar placed himself in the royal palace and started giving out orders. The

eunuch, Pothinus, brought Ptolemy back to Alexandria. Cleopatra had no

intentions of being left out of any deals that were going to be made. She had

herself smuggled in through enemy lines rolled in a carpet. She was delivered to

Caesar. Both Cleopatra and Ptolemy were invited to appear before Caesar the next

morning. By this time, she and Caesar were already lovers and Ptolemy realized

this right away. He stormed out screaming that he had been betrayed, trying to

arouse the Alexandrian mob. He was soon captured by Caesar’s guards and brought

back to the palace. It is thought that Caesar had planned to make Cleopatra the

sole ruler of Alexandria. He thought she would be a puppet for Rome.

The Alexandrian War was started when Pothinus called for Ptolemy XIII’s

soldiers in November and surrounded Caesar in Alexandria with twenty thousand

men. During the war, parts of the Alexandrian Library and some of the warehouses

were burned. However, Caesar did manage to capture the Pharos lighthouse, which

kept his control of the harbor. Cleopatra’s sister, Arsinoe, escaped from the

palace and ran to Achillas. She was proclaimed the queen by the Macedonian mob

and the army. Cleopatra never forgave her sister for this. During the fighting,

Caesar executed Pothinus and Achillas was murdered by Ganymede. Ptolemy XIII

drowned in the Nile while he was trying to flee.

During July of the year 46 BC, Caesar returned to Rome. He was given many

honors and a ten-year dictatorship. These celebrations lasted from September to

October and he brought Cleopatra over, along with her entourage. The

conservative Republicans were very offended when he established Cleopatra in his

home. Her social manners did not make the situation any better. She upset many.

Cleopatra had started calling herself the New Isis and was the subject of much

gossip. She lived in luxury and had a statue made of gold placed by Caesar, in

the temple of Venus Genetrix . Caesar also openly claimed Caesarion as his son.

Many were upset that he was planning to marry Cleopatra regardless of the laws

against bigamy and marriages to foreigners.

However, on the Ides of March of 44 BC, all of that came to an end. Caesar

was assassinated outside the Senate Building in Rome. He was killed in a

conspiracy by his Senators. Many of the Senators thought he was a threat to the

republic’s well-being. It was thought that Caesar was making plans to have

himself declared king. After Caesar’s murder, Cleopatra fled Rome and returned

home to Alexandria. Caesar had not mentioned Cleopatra or Caesarion in his will.

She felt her life, as well as that of her child, was in great danger.

Upon returning to Alexandria, she had her consort, Ptolemy XIV, assassinated

and established Caesarion as her co-regent at the age of four. She found Egypt

suffering from plagues and famine. The Nile canals had been neglected during her

absence which caused the harvests to be bad and the inundations low. The bad

harvests continued from 43 until 41 BC. Trying to help secure recognition for

Caesarion with Caesar’s former lieutenant Dolabella, Cleopatra sent Dolabella

the four legions that Caesar had left in Egypt. Cassius captured the legions

which caused Dolabella to commit suicide at Laodicea during the summer of 43 BC.

She was planning to join Mark Antony and Octavian (who became Augustus) with a

large fleet of ships after Dolabella’s death, but was stopped by a violent

storm.

Cleopatra watched in the time that followed, who would be the next power in

Rome. After Brutus and Cassius had been killed and Antony, Octavian and Lepidus

were triumphant, Cleopatra knew which one she would have to deal with. Octavian

went back to Italy very ill, so Antony was the one to watch. Her son gained his

right to become king when Caesar was officially divinized in Rome on January 1,

42 BC. The main object was the promotion of Octavian, but the triumvirs knew of

Cleopatra’s aid to Dolabella.

Cleopatra and Antony spent the winter of 41 to 40 in Alexandria. According to

some sources, Cleopatra could get out of him whatever she wanted, including the

assassination of her sister, Arsinoe. Cleopatra may not have had so much

influence over him later on. He took control of Cyprus from her. Actually it may

have been Cleopatra who was the exploited one. Antony needed money and Cleopatra

could be generous when it benefited her as well.

In the spring of 40 BC, Mark Antony left Cleopatra and returned home. He did

not see her for four years. Antony’s wife, Fulvia had gotten into a serious

movement against Octavian over veterans’ allotments of land. She fled to Greece

and had a bitter confrontation with Antony. She became ill and died there.

Antony patched things up with Octavian that same autumn by marrying Octavian’s

sister, Octavia. She was a beautiful and intelligent woman who had been recently

widowed. She had three children from her first marriage. In the meantime,

Cleopatra had given birth to twins, one boy and one girl, in Alexandria.

Antony’s first child by Octavia was a girl. Had Octavia given him a son, things

might have turned out different. Antony kept the idea of the treasures of the

Ptolemies and how much he wanted it. When he finally did get the treasures, the

standard interest rate in Rome fell from 12 percent to 4.

Mark Antony left Italy and went to deal with the Parthians. Octavia had just

had another daughter and went with him just as far as Corcyra. He gave her the

excuse that he did not want to expose her to the dangers of the battles and sent

her home. He told her that she would be more use to him at home in Rome keeping

peace with her brother, Octavian. However, the first thing that he did when he

reached Antioch, was to send for Cleopatra. Their twin children were officially

recognized by Antony and were given the names of Alexander Helios and Cleopatra

Selene. Mark Antony gave her much land which was very essential to Egypt. He

gave her Cyprus, the Cilician coast, Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Judea and Arabia.

This allowed Egypt to be able to build ships from the lumber from Cilician

coast. Egypt then built a large fleet. Antony had planned a campaign against the

Parthians. He obviously needed Cleopatra’s support for this and in 36 BC, he was

defeated. He became more indebted to her than ever. They had just had a third

child.

On their return to Syria, she met him and what was left of his army, with

food, clothing and money. Early in 35 BC, he returned to Egypt with her.

Antony’s wife, Octavia was in Athens with supplies and reinforcements waiting

for her husband. He sent her a letter telling her to not come any further. Her

brother, Octavian, tried to provoke Antony into a fight. Octavian would release

troops as well as ships to try to force Antony into a war, which, by this time

was almost inevitable. Antony might have been able to patch things up with

Octavia and her brother had he returned to Rome in 35 BC. Cleopatra probably did

her best to keep him in Alexandria. Octavia remained completely loyal to Antony

through all of this.

After Antony’s death, Cleopatra was taken to Octavian where her role in

Octavian’s triumph was carefully explained to her. He had no interest in any

relationship, negotiation or reconciliation with the Queen of Egypt. She would

be displayed as a slave in the cities she had ruled over. She must have had

memories of her sister, Arsinoe, being humiliated in this way. She would not

live this way, so she had an asp, which was an Egyptian cobra, brought to her

hidden in a basket of figs. She died on August 12, 30 BC at the age of 39. The

Egyptian religion declared that death by snakebite would secure immortality.

With this, she achieved her dying wish, to not be forgotten. The only other

ruler to cast a shadow on the fascination with Cleopatra was Alexander who was

another Macedonian. After Cleopatra’s death, Caesarion was strangled and the

other children of Cleopatra were raised by Antony’s wife, Octavia.

Her death was the mark of the end of the Egyptian Monarchs. The Roman

Emperors came into to rule in Egypt. The Ptolemies were Macedonian in decent,

but ruled as Egyptians, as Pharaohs. Cleopatra was the last Pharaoh of Egypt.

What is often not associated with Cleopatra was her brilliance and her

devotion to her country. She was a quick-witted woman who was fluent in nine

languages, however, Latin was not one of them. She was a mathematician and a

very good businesswoman. She had a genuine respect for Caesar, whose

intelligence and wit matched her own. Antony on the other hand almost drove her

insane with his lack of intelligence and his excesses. She dealt with him and

made the most of what she had to do. She fought for her country. She had a

charismatic personality, was a born leader and an ambitious monarch who deserved

better than suicide.