Cleopatra Biography: Ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt,biography of cleopatra Vll,

                                             

                        biography of Cleopatra

 Cleopatra VII is one of the most famous womenwho has ever lived. Her story has inspired poets, dramatists,and artists for more than 2,000 years. Through cunning and guile, she survived torule Egypt as all of her siblings perished by the wayside. Her famed beauty and charm led to one of themost celebrated romances in history -and the Ancient world’s ultimate tragedy. In this week’s Biographics, we get up closeand personal with the original Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra. The Early YearsBy the time of the birth of Cleopatra VII in 69 BCE, Egypt had a 3000-year-old historyof power and decline. The country was rued by a dynasty of pharaohs,each with the name of Ptolemy, who had arrived from Macedonia in 323 BCE. Now, however, they faced the danger of invasionfrom the menacing Roman empire. The first Ptolemies had ruled benevolently,but their descendants, including Cleopatra’s father proved to be weak, even foolish leaders.

As a result, Cleopatra’s early years wereunsettled. She knew that her family was at war – withthe people it ruled, and with itself. The people suffered under the cruelty of PtolemyXII, Cleopatra’s father, and they resented his alliance with Rome. When Cleopatra was just four years old, thecitizens of Alexandria rioted and chased Ptolemy out of Egypt. He fled to Rome and Cleopatra’s older sisterBerenice became queen. Three years later Ptolemy returned to Egypt. With the help of Roman general Pompey, hesnatched back power from Berenice and ruled again as Pharaoh. One of his first orders was for his oldestdaughter to be executed. Cleopatra now had two surviving sisters andtwo younger brothers. All of Ptolemy’s children hoped to eventuallyrule, which made them rivals. Shortly after the execution of Berenice, thenext oldest daughter of Ptolemy, Cleopatra Tryphana died in mysterious circumstances.

Many historians believe that she was poisonedby one of her siblings. Now Cleopatra had only one sister still alive– the youngest Arsinoe. She must have wondered how long she wouldsurvive. Her two younger brothers were both named Ptolemyaccording to the custom. They would both eventually become rulers ofEgypt – as Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV. By the time she was fourteen, Cleopatra wasPtolemy’s oldest living daughter. When he died she would become queen as thewife of her younger brother Ptolemy XIII. For the young girl, the prospect filled herwith both excitement and terror. Vividly recalling the fate of her two sisters,she feared that enemies might try to also kill her. But the young girl was clever. She had made friends with powerful courtierswho she felt would protect her. Cleopatra was groomed for rulership from herearly teens. She learned new languages, including Egyptian,which surprisingly was not spoken in the royal court – all her family members spoke Greek. She also used religion to support her claimto the throne, claiming to be the daughter of the Sun-God, an ancient royal title. Cleopatra and her husband-brother, with theirfather having died, began their reign.
                                                          
 It was 51 BCE and she was nearly 18 yearsof age, 10 years older than the new king. This allowed her to assume full responsibilityfor ruling the country. It was a particularly complex time. In addition to domestic problems, which includeda discontented peasantry, brought to its knees by famine, not to mention the hostility ofother members of her own family, there were problematic foreign relations. The most pressing issue was the unrelentingdemand for taxes coming Rome. In spite of the requirement of having herhusband, Ptolemy XIII, appointed to rule with her, she didn’t take kindly to having himtagging along. Her solution was to oust him from his positionand rule alone for the next eighteen months. Sibling RivalryOne thing that Cleopatra knew was that she could not beat the Romans at their militarygame at this point, so she had to take off where her father had left off and keep appeasingthe Roman overlords. She attempted damage control by working withthe Roman oppressors in the hope that they would give up Egypt entirely. Like her father she chose survival, but shehad one advantage over him – Cleopatra was quite clever, and she knew how to play thecards she was dealt to her best advantage. She would continue to do so throughout herreign, up until the very end. She wasn’t about to fold her hand if shecould see any way to play to the best of her ability, and she would bluff if necessary. She would eliminate every other foe in thegame and keep a few aces up her sleeve by winning key Alexandrians, Romans and the priestsover to her side. She was a brilliant strategist, even at theyoung age at which she became co-regent. Of course, given that she was ruling Egypt,and given the tempestuous history of her family, nothing was going to come that easy to a newruler, especially a female one.

 Her little brother had his supporters, orshould I say, his controllers, and they wanted to have the power in their hands, not Cleopatra’s. When I say ‘they’, I am speaking mainlyof a man named Gnaeus Pompey, who at the time was the supreme controller of Rome, the manwho gave her father the title king, and the person to whom was given the right to possessCyprus. It is highly likely that Pompey saw Cleopatraas too smart to be simply mollified as her father had been. She would be hard to control and a constantthreat to Roman dominance over Egypt. Her little brother needed some assistanceand this was given in the form of Roman support: Pompey would show up occasionally to formallyrecognize the little brother over the big sister as ruler of Egypt. With Pompey’s backing, Ptolemy XIII wentto war with his big sister, driving her from power. In 49 CE, Cleopatra discovered that her husbandwas plotting with Pompey to send soldiers to kidnap and possibly kill her. She knew that she must leave Egypt and soset sail for Syria.
                                                               
There she hoped to recruit an army to helpher win back the throne from her now sixteen-year-old husband/brother. Cleopatra chose to flee to Syria because thePtolemies had once ruled there. The king of Syria was also an enemy of Rome. Like Cleopatra, he feared that his own countrywould be taken over by the mighty Roman empire. She took her only surviving sister, Arsinoe,into exile with her. This was partly to protect the younger girlfrom her brother’s wrath, but also to stop her from seizing the throne for herself. Enter Julius CaesarWhile these dramas were playing out in the Ptolemaic dynasty, up north a bloody civilwar was taking place. General Julius Caesar battled and defeatedthe forces of General Pompey.

 Pompey arrived in Pellucidum, Egypt hopingto get money, food, men and ships because he was running low on what he needed to defatCaesar. Up until that time the Egyptians had beenon the receiving end of much support from Rome due to the relationship established betweenCleopatra’s father and Pompey before Caesar rose up to challenge the Roman general. And now that Pompey had just lost badly toCaesar in Pharsalus, he needed Egypt’s help. Meanwhile Caesar was in pursuit and also lookingfor aid for his military needs. He arrived in Alexandria with a rather modestmilitary force. However, it seemed to the young Egyptian kingand his advisers that Caesar was going to be eventual victor in Rome. If the king continued to support Pompey tocontinue his war against Caesar on Egyptian soil, the battles could devastate Egypt. And, if Pompey eventually lost, Caesar wouldbe enraged against the Egyptian rulership. Caught between a rock and a hard place, assoon as Pompey landed with his troops at Pelessium, Ptolemy XIII had Pompey ambushed and killed. He then delivered Pompey’s head to Caesar.

However, the king miscalculated how happyCaesar would be to see his enemy’s head presented to him by the Egyptian king. Pompey may have been his rival, but it wasup to Caesar to decide Pompey’s fate, not have the upstart Egyptian king usurp the right. Even though he was horrified by the brutalmurder of Pompey, Caesar wanted to keep the peace – he had come to Egypt to collecta huge sum of money that he claimed Cleopatra’s father had owed him. He ordered both Ptolemy and Cleopatra to meetwith him to discuss a peace treaty. The now twenty-one-year-old queen saw heropportunity to act. She slipped past Ptolemy’s general Achillas,who was blocking Pellucidum, and sailed along the coastline to Alexandria by way of theNile. Then she went to see Caesar at the palace. Cleopatra had developed into a very matureand savvy young woman. Legend tells us that she secreted her in arolled-up bedroll in order to get into the palace, but this has largely been debunked. She did not need to go to quite so covertlengths to get an audience with Caesar in Alexandria. She had been communicating with him from herpost over the border.
                                                            
 Surely, before sneaking past Achillas, andheading toward Alexandria, she had sent word to Caesar that she was coming or he had sentword to her telling her to come; either way, it likely was no surprise that Cleopatra wasarriving in the harbour that night. Apparently, Cleopatra donned her most impressiveoutfit and took great effort to look her most beautiful for her audience with Caesar. Whatever she did, it worked a treat and Caesarordered that she be restored to her throne. Naturally, when Ptolemy arrived to find Cleopatrain the palace reinstalled as co-regent he was not at all pleased. In fact, he threw a right royal fit. As impressed as Caesar was with the queen,he wisely took into consideration the support thst her brother had among many of the uppercrust Alexandrians, and so handled the situation quite astutely. He wisely read to brother and sister the willof their father, which stated that he wanted them to rule together. But the young king was not appeased. He ran out of the palace and threw down hiscrown in a terrible rage. An amused Caesar allowed Ptolemy to leavethe city and join his sister, Arsinoe, in Sicily.
                                                               
Days after the Alexandrian war ended, theabdicated king’s body was found lying in the harbour. Seducing CaesarFor the first time in years, Cleopatra now felt safe. Her enemy husband, along with his advisors,were dead and Caesar had promised to protect her and her new husband – her surviving11-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIV. With Caesar, she sailed down the Nile in orderto meet her subjects and impress them with her power. Rumours spread that she was pregnant withCaesars’ child which came to be named Caesarion. When Caesar returned to Rome, he left 15,000of his finest soldiers to guard the queen. After taking control of Egypt, Cesar returnedto Rome, where he was hailed as a hero. Before long, Cleopatra had come north to joinhim. She claimed that the trip was to negotiatea peace treaty between Egypt and Rome, but she also wanted to make sure of Caesar’sprotection. She did not want her younger brother or hisadvisors to try to seize power in Egypt while she was away. Many Romans chafed the relationship betweenCleopatra and Caesar. It was widely feared that Caesar would nameCaesarion as his heir and that Cleopatra would then have a hold on the Roman Empire throughher son.
                                                             
 Caesar celebrated his victories by paradinghis captives through the streets of Rome. Cleopatra’s sister Arsinoe, who had ledthe Egyptian army against Caesar, was dragged through the streets bare headed and in chains. It was a disgrace for a woman to appear inpublic this way – it was the custom for Egyptian women to wear a long cloak and veiloutside of their homes. However, Arsinoe was lucky – unlike otherprisoners she was not killed. Caesar felt that the Romans might riot ifthey saw a princess publicly executed. To give thanks for the victory at the battleof Pharsalus, Caesar built a new temple in Rome. He also paid for a beautiful statue of Cleopatrato be put on display in the temple – it showed her as a mother holding Ceasarion inher arms. CrisisAs a reward for his victories, the Senate made Caesar dictator for life. But some Romans feared that Caesar was becomingtoo powerful and that he wanted to be king. About sixty conspirators decided that Caesarhad to be killed. The plot, which was led by Brutus and Cassius,was carried through immediately following a Senate meeting in 44 BCE. The shocking news of Caesar’s murder spreadthrough the Roman empire like wildfire. Cleopatra – who was in Rome at the timeof the assassination – lost no time in hurrying back to Egypt. Now that Caesar, her protector, was dead,her kingdom was once more in danger. Many hostile natiions saw Egypt as a richprize and hoped to conquer it.
                                                               
 Cleopatra kept her son, Caesarion close byher side, because she feared tht he might be murdered by Caesar’s enemies. On her return to Egypt, Cleopatra found thather sister Arsinoe, who had been released from roman captivity, was plotting with ananti-Caesar faction in the hope of seizing power. Many of the nobles in the Egyptian court supportedArsinoe and joined her in her conspiracy against Cleopatra. At this time, the nation was suffering a crisisdue to failure of Nile floods. There was not enough water in the river tospread rich mud over the fields to irrigate them. As a result, farmers crops and animals died,and many families suffered from famine and disease. Many nobles and officials were angry thatCleopatra did not take moves to help the famine victims. The tenuous situation for Cleopatra requireda new Roman protector who she could lean on. It came in the form of Mark Antony. Caesar’s murder led to three terrible tearsof warfare in Rome, as different groups of Roman senators and members of leading Romanfamilies struggled to take control. The rival armies were led by three powerfulmen, and each hoped to take Caesar’s place as ruler. Their names were Octavian (who was Caesar’snephew), Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidas. Finally, in 42 BCE, the Roman lands were dividedamong the three.
                                                           
Antony took control of the entire easternMediterranean region, which included Egypt. The Great SeductionThough he had control of Egypt, Antony still needed Cleopatra’s support, and he fearedthat she might support his enemies. He needed gold from Egypt in order to payhis armies to keep control of his share of the empire, along with Egypt’s grain inorder to feed his men. Antony wrote to Cleopatra and when she didnot reply, he summoned her to meet him. Cleopatra was in no hurry to respond to Antony. Instead, she deliberately took her time. She knew that Antony needed Egypt’s goldand in return she planned to ask for his protection. She also wanted his help to kill her enemies– including her sister Arsinoe. As Antony waited for Cleopatra to arrive tothe planned meeting in Tarsus, he heard news of large crowds gathering to witness an amazingsight. Cleopatra was sailing up the River Cydnusin a barge with a gilded poop, its sails spread purple, is rowers urging it in with silveroars to the sound of the flute blended with pipes and lute. The sails were made of silk, a rare and costlycloth from China.
                                                   
It was a floating palace. The queen herself was dressed as the GreekGoddess of Love, Aphrodite. She lay on a couch beneath a canopy of goldcloth. Mark Antony was mesmerized and he invitedCleopatra to dine with him. But the queen refused, insisting thst he joinher on her royal barge. She took great care with her preparations– she wanted Antony to be delighted, astonished and, most importantly, impressed. She arranged for her barge to be decoratedwith thousands of tiny oil lamps and glittering, flickering patterns of lights. Cleopatra met Antony several times duringher visit to Tarsus. On each occasion she dressed as the GoddessAphrodite. She offered Antony crowns of vine leaves,a symbol of Dionysus, the Greek God of wine. She was reminding Antony that, according tolegend, Tarsus was the place where Aphrodite and Dionysus met and fell in love.

 Cleopatra’s seduction worked. Her dramatic visit to Tarsus had won Antony’ssupport in her struggle to remain ruler of Egypt. Antony forgot his war against the Parthiansand hurried to Egypt. They spent the winter of 41 BCE in Alexandriatogether, during which time Cleopatra hardly left Antony’s side. During this time, her two remaining siblings,Arsinoe and Ptolemy XIV were put to death. Shortly thereafter, Cleopatra became pregnant. Antony did not remain in Egypt to see thebirth of his twins – a boy and a girl. In 40 BCE he had to return to Rome becausehis wife, Fulva, was leading a rebellion against Octavian. Cleopatra continued to rule Egypt, but Antonydid not return for another four years. When he sailed back in 36 BCE, after a disastrousdefeat in Parthia, Cleopatra welcomed him. She needed a strong ally to help her keepEgypt independent. Antony planned to set up an empire in NorthAfrica and the Middle east to challenge his rivals in Rome. Cleopatra supported his plans because theywould increase her own power. In 35 BCE, the pair had a third child, a sonwho they named Ptolemy Philadelphus. Early in 34, Antony invaded Armenia, returningto Alexandria in triumph. In a magnificent celebration Cleopatra wascrowned ‘Queen of the Kings.’ The couple’s young children were given royaltitles over Middle Eastern lands.

 A Tragic EndTop Roman politicians, led by Caesar’s nephew Octavian, were shocked by reports of Antonyand Cleopatra’s bid to set up an empire of their own. They were also angry that Antony had divorcedhis Roman wife. An outraged Octavian personally declared waragainst Cleopatra – and all of Egypt. Even though Antony had tried to avoid conflictwith Rome, it had now become impossible to avoid. This was especially so after the Roman Senatefound out about his will, in which he declared his intention to be buried in Egypt besideCleopatra. Antony was dismissed from all public appointments.

Even though the army assembled by Antony andCleopatra was larger, the famous battle of Actium in September of 31 BCE constituteda first fundamental step toward their defeat. By now they were both considered foreignersand enemies of Rome. Antony succeeded in taking Pelusium and gettingclose to the gates of Alexandria in the spring of 30 BCE. A mad whirl of events followed; rumour hadit that Cleopatra – shut in the mausoleum that she had built for herself – was dead. On hearing this news, denied immediately after,but too late, Antony wounded himself fatally and as he was dying was taken to the mausoleum. Cleopatra wept for Antony and tried in variousways to take her own life but she was watched over by Octavian’s men who wanted to takeher back to Rome, alive and in chains, as a symbol of the great Roman triumph over theenemy from the East. A few days before her departure, however,Cleopatra managed to evade surveillance and killed herself, probably with snake poisonbrought into the prison in a basket. Cleopatra was the last independent ruler ofEgypt, and her death marked the end of over 3,000 glorious years of Egyptian civilizationand Egyptian power. Yet, she could not bare to live while foreignersruled her beloved country. At her death, Egypt lost its most famous – andpossibly its greatest – queen.