Cleopatra VII
queen of Egypt
Years: 69BCE - 30BCE
Cleopatra VII Philopator (late 69 BCE – August 12, 30 BCE) is the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
The most well known by far of the queens called "Cleopatra", she is the one usually meant when this name is mentioned.
She is a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period.
The Ptolemies, throughout their dynasty, speak Greek and refuse to speak Egyptian, which is the reason that Greek as well as Egyptian languages are used on official court documents such as the Rosetta Stone.
By contrast, Cleopatra does learn to speak Egyptian and representes herself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian goddess, Isis.
Cleopatra originally rules jointly with her father Ptolemy XII Auletes and later with her brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, whom she marries as per Egyptian custom, but eventually she becaomes sole ruler.
As pharaoh, she consummates a liaison with Julius Caesar that solidifies her grip on the throne.
She later elevates her son with Caesar, Caesarion, to co-ruler in name.
After Caesar's assassination in 44 BCE, she aligns with Mark Antony in opposition to Caesar's legal heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (later known as Augustus).
With Antony, she bears the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios, and another son, Ptolemy Philadelphus.
Her unions with her brothers produce no children.
After losing the Battle of Actium to Octavian's forces, Antony commits suicide.
Cleopatra follows suit, according to tradition killing herself by means of an asp bite on August 12, 30 BCE.
She is briefly outlived by Caesarion, who is declared pharaoh by his supporters, but he is soon killed on Octavian's orders.
Egypt becomes the Roman province of Aegyptus.
To this day, Cleopatra remains a popular figure in Western culture.
Her legacy survives in numerous works of art and the many dramatizations of her story in literature and other media, including William Shakespeare's tragedy Antony and Cleopatra, Jules Massenet's opera Cléopâtre and the 1963 film Cleopatra.
In most depictions, Cleopatra is portrayed as a great beauty, and her successive conquests of the world's most powerful men are taken as proof of her aesthetic and sexual appeal.
In his Pensées, philosopher Blaise Pascal contends, evidently speaking ironically because a large nose has symbolized dominance in different periods of history, that Cleopatra's classically beautiful profile changed world history: "Cleopatra's nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed."
