👑 Queen Cleopatra – The Last Pharaoh of Egypt and the Legend Behind the Crown

You've probably heard of Queen Cleopatra, the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. She is depicted in popular culture as an Egyptian queen, and that's not really accurate. You see, Cleopatra was Greek, not Egyptian. Her ancestors were actually from the city of Alexandria, which was founded by Alexander the Great. And they spoke Greek, not Egyptian. They never even ruled over all of Egypt. In fact, during the reign of Cleopatra VII, the Egyptian pharaohs only controlled the Nile Delta and a small part of the eastern Nile Valley. The rest of Egypt was controlled by Rome and was called Roman Egypt. Cleopatra was born in 69 BC in the city of Alexandria and was the daughter of Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra V. Try to keep up with the names because it can get confusing. When Cleopatra's father died when she was just 14 years old, she became co-regent with her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII, but they had to share power with their older sister, Cleopatra VI and, who was the wife of their uncle, Ptolemy VIII. However, Cleopatra VI was more interested in astrology and fortune-telling than ruling and left most of the work to her husband. Still, the two sisters got along pretty well and worked together to improve trade relations with the Roman Republic. When Ptolemy VIII died in 58 BC, the teenage lovers decided to wed, but that was against the law in their royal family. It said that no two people from the same line could marry each other except for siblings. Since Cleopatra was still underage, the marriage was annulled. She would later marry her brother, Ptolemy XIII, but he would end up murdering her younger sister, Cleopatra VI, so that Cleopatra and him would be the only rulers left. Well, at least he tried to murder her. Cleopatra VI survived the attempt on her life, fled to Rome and took her own life, rather than live under the rule of her deranged brother. After that, Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII officially married each other and gave each other a lot of cool titles, such as pharaoh, ever-powerful king of kings, lord of the two lands, great of praises, beloved of Ra, and the list goes on. Now, while they were married, Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII didn't exactly get along. He was addicted to alcohol and gambling and was a failure as a ruler, so Cleopatra had to do most of the work, and she wasn't even his wife at this point, so clearly she wasn't supposed to be doing most of the work. Things took a turn for the worse when Cleopatra went to visit her sister in Rome. She was basically held hostage there by Pompey the Great, who had declared himself dictator of the Roman Republic. While Cleopatra was stuck in Rome, Ptolemy XIII made some bad decisions. First, he cut off the supply of grain to the city of Alexandria, which caused a famine. Then, he started construction on a new canal that would connect the Nile River to the Red Sea. But he spent so much money on the project that he devalued the currency and ruined the economy. When Cleopatra found out what her brother had done, she fled Rome and returned to Alexandria, where she and her brother reconciled, and things seemed to be going well for them. That is until Ptolemy XIII accused his sister of sleeping around and having affairs with several men. And get this, one of those men was supposedly Marcus Antonius, who was a Roman general and one of the triumvirs that had just come to power after a brutal civil war. According to Plutarch, Cleopatra had an affair with him before he came to power. But she also allegedly had an affair with his brother, Gaius Cassius Longinus, when he was the governor of Syria. But then, when Cassius was murdered by assassins, Cleopatra had an affair with Mark Antony's friend, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, who became her lover for a few months until he was killed in battle against Octavian. And then Cleopatra had an affair with another one of Caesar's friends, Titus Labienus, who stayed with her for about two years until he too was killed in battle. See, all of these men were part of the second triumvirate alongside Mark Antony. And now back to Cleopatra. After accusing her of sleeping with all of these Romans, Ptolemy XIII threw her in jail. But a few days later, he regretted his decision and went to her cell to apologize. However, on his way to her cell, he was killed by one of his own guards. Some sources say that Cleopatra ordered the hit, but there is no evidence to support that claim. Regardless, Cleopatra and her son Ptolemy XIV became the sole rulers of the Ptolemaic kingdom. But that wouldn't last long. See, Mark Antony, the man that Cleopatra allegedly had an affair with, had become very powerful. When he learned of Cleopatra's imprisonment, he raised an army and marched on Alexandria. Although he defeated Ptolemy's forces, Cleopatra did not accept his help and instead continued to resist the Roman siege of Alexandria. But when her forces were defeated and her ships were burnt, she finally surrendered. According to Plutarch, Cleopatra tried to persuade Antony that she was the reincarnation of his deceased wife, Fulvia. And since she was his reincarnation, they were allowed to wed according to Roman custom. However, that marriage was never accepted by Octavian, aka Augustus, and it was considered illegal. So technically, Cleopatra and Mark Antony weren't married. But they did have three children together, twins named Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, and a daughter named Ptolemy. All three children were given powerful titles like king and pharaoh. But if you ask me, it sounds like they were more likely to be future dictators than pharaohs. After surrendering Alexandria to Mark Antony, Cleopatra apparently set out to please him in every way possible. There is a story told by Plutarch that Mark Antony gifted Cleopatra a pearl the size of a pigeon's egg. And in return, she gave him a banquet on a barge worth 100 talents of silver. To put that into perspective, one talent of gold was equivalent to around 75 pounds of gold. So 100 talents of silver would be worth roughly 10 million dollars. Anyway, Cleopatra hosted lavish parties and banquets for Antony and his friends. She dressed as the goddess Isis and paraded through the streets of Alexandria. She commissioned statues and coins to be made in her likeness. But Antony's friends never really accepted her. Even after she gave them millions of dollars worth of gifts, they wanted her dead. In 32 BC, Octavian started a war against Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Octavian painted propaganda depicting Cleopatra as a foreign invader trying to take over Rome. And the best part of it all was that it worked. The Roman people really believed it. At the time, Rome was being ravaged by a plague. The economy was in sharp decline and there was food and water shortages. People were desperate for someone to blame and Octavian gave them just the right scapegoat. The war between Octavian and Antony lasted for three years. And in 31 BC, the naval battle of Actium took place. This was a decisive battle because it was here that Octavian defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra's combined fleet. They both fled to Alexandria and committed suicide soon after. We don't know for certain how Cleopatra died, but we do know that she was bitten by an Egyptian snake. Whether that snake was a venomous snake or an ordinary snake that didn't kill her isn't known. But I think that's beside the point because she was already pretty much dead inside. On the other hand, Mark Antony's suicide is better documented. Apparently, he fell on his sword after mishearing news about Cleopatra's death. After the city fell and he was brought before Octavian, he was given the choice of being executed or to commit suicide. In exchange for sparing the lives of his children and giving them estates, he chose the latter. Mark Antony's half-brother, Octavian, later became the first Emperor of Rome and ushered in the Pax Romana, a period of peace and prosperity that lasted throughout the entire Empire. As for Cleopatra, she never even had the chance to start her own dynasty. When her forces fell to Octavian, he ordered the execution of her children and confiscated her wealth. He then forced the citizens of Alexandria to pay for the cost of the war and left them in poverty. So in conclusion, Cleopatra is sometimes portrayed in books and movies as an Egyptian queen, but she wasn't. She was Greek. And although she was a shrewd businesswoman and an intelligent diplomat, she was also an entitled, pampered teenager for most of her life. Despite whatever propaganda the Romans spread about her, I think she should be remembered as the last pharaoh of Egypt and the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Thank you for watching and subscribing. Bye.