In the annals of world history the story of Cleopatra VII stands among the most fascinating
tales ever told.
Admired for her divine beauty and her unconquerable intelligence, as well as famous for her relationships
with the Roman generals Mark Antony and Julius Caesar, the name Cleopatra is forever written
into the fabric of the human narrative.
Though at the age 39 she took her own life, and today we’ll find out why.
Cleopatra VII Philopator was born sometime between 69 BC - 68 BC, a long time after Alexander
the Great took control of Egypt in 332 B.C.
Following Alexander’s death, one of his generals, Ptolemy the first, would come to
rule over Egypt.
Ptolemy had been a great friend of the Macedonian ruler Alexander, and when Egypt became part
of his empire Ptolemy became pharaoh.
But let’s fast forward a bit.
Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy XII, died in 51 BC, and after that Cleopatra along with
her 10-year old brother, Ptolemy XIII, became the rulers of Egypt.
The two were married, a tradition back then that was unavoidable.
As the story goes, though, Cleopatra fled to Syria in 49 B.C, after her brother’s
advisers plotted against her.
It’s said there she got together an army of mercenaries and did her own plotting to
return to Egypt and take back power.
At around this time the Roman general Pompey was in battle with the Roman leader Gaius
Julius Caesar.
Pompey was defeated at the battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC and then fled to Egypt.
Things didn’t go to well there for him as Ptolemy gave the order to assassinate him.
Caesar then went over to the Egyptian capital Alexandria, with Ptolemy believing he had
done a good deed by killing Caesar’s rival.
Perhaps myth, perhaps the truth, the story goes that Cleopatra sneaked into the quarters
of Caesar and asked him for his help to defeat her brother.
She must have said something right, because war between Caesar’s Roman forces and Ptolemy’s
forces ensued.
The latter lost and he had to flee the city and it’s believed Ptolemy ended up drowning
in the Nile river.
After this Caesar restored the throne to Cleopatra and she took it with her younger brother Ptolemy
XIV who was then 13.
Cleopatra then bore Caesar a child, but he never publicly admitted it was his.
This child would be named Caesarion, sometimes called Little Caesar.
Cleopatra followed Caesar to Rome, where as you probably know, he was assassinated, being
stabbed 23 times by a group of Roman senators.
Cleopatra didn’t hang around Rome after that and she returned to Egypt.
Ptolemy XIV died young, and the circumstances were said to be mysterious.
So now we have Cleopatra as ruler with her son, Caesarion, as co-regent.
He became Ptolemy XV and to strengthen her position as leader, Cleopatra began to identify
herself with the goddess Isis.
Royalty in Egypt and all over the world have claimed links to the divine as it gives them
more power and a stronger claim to their thrones.
It seemed that Cleopatra now had a firm hold on her position as ruler.
But things were never easy for Cleopatra.
Her people were hit hard when flooding of the Nile led to the destruction of crops.
What followed were rising prices and a lot of hungry people.
Meanwhile in Rome three men allied to the great now-dead Caesar, Mark Antony, Octavian
and Lepidus, were busy butting heads with the people that plotted to kill him.
Both sides wanted the help of Cleopatra and she made the decision to send four Roman legions
that had previously been taken to Egypt by Caesar to go to Rome and support the three
men, often referred to as the second triumvirate.
The combined forces defeated those who had plotted against Caesar at the battle of Philippi
in 42 BC.
Mark Antony and Octavian then divided power.
Antony invited Cleopatra to the Cilician city of Tarsus, and as the story goes she sailed
into the city on a beautiful ship.
Antony was to welcome Cleopatra with open arms because of the role she had played in
helping him.
It’s said she sailed while dressed in the robes of the Goddess Isis.
Like Caesar, Antony saw the mesmerizing lady and soon fell in love with her.
He pledged his support to her and also said he would help her defeat her rivals.
One of those rivals was her exiled sister, Arsinoe.
In fact, Antony was so seduced by the charms of Cleopatra that he ended up leaving his
wife and kids in Rome and sailed for Egypt.
At the same time Antony was having a dispute with Octavian over who would have the most
power in Rome.
After the Battle of Philippi the two had virtually split the Roman republic between them, with
the third part of the triumvirate, Lepidus, seemingly getting the short end of the stick.
Meanwhile, Antony was enjoying his time with Cleopatra.
The two spent the winter of 41-40 B.C. in Alexandria, and there they got busy.
During this time Antony gave back some Roman territories to Cleopatra, and in return she
pledged to provide him with 200 ships for his campaign against the Parthian Empire.
Antony left to fight his battles and the two would not see each other for a few years,
but they managed to stay connected in their own ways, it’s said she had spies based
in his camp and they also wrote to each other with some regularity.
Cleopatra had two children, one a boy named Alexander Helios and the other a girl named
Cleopatra Selene II, both of whom Antony said were his.
The boy was named after the sun and the girl the moon, which was symbolic of Cleopatra’s
power.
Even though Antony had left his wife Fulvia along with his kids for the arms of Cleopatra,
she was determined to get him back.
Some claim she started a war with his arch enemy Octavian which came to be known as the
Perusine War.
Other historians say the war would have started regardless and it had nothing to do with her
impressing her husband.
His wife and her armies didn’t fair well, and she ended up exiled.
Tragically, it’s said she died on the way to try and meet up with her estranged husband
again.
Things then turned a bit sour for Antony with some of his key allies changing their allegiance
to Octavian, and Antony forced to make up with Octavian.
To do that he married Octavian’s half-sister Octavia.
This wasn’t about love, but mere diplomacy.
Over in Egypt, though, life under Cleopatra was booming.
The people were happy and she had a firm hold on her power.
Antony needed her help again in his fight against the kingdom of Parthia and in return
he awarded her and her children some territories, ones the Romans had taken from Egypt.
These included bits of Syria, Lebanon, and Cyprus, Crete and what’s called Libya today.
When the two met again, Antony got to see his kids for the first time.
They discussed her conflict with a man called Herod, and his campaigns.
Their love reignited, and with her new territories, Cleopatra had never been stronger.
But over in Rome, Octavian was stirring up trouble.
Why, he asked, is this foreign queen being given so much power.
This nettled the public as well as those in charge.
Octavian was sly, and told the people that Antony had forsaken his own good wife and
fallen into the arms of another.
He then made a shrewd move and gave Antony’s deceased wife a lot of respect, including
having statues built of her.
Cleopatra meanwhile was travelling with Antony while he and his army were on their way to
do battle with the Parthian Empire.
On the way she became pregnant again and later had to return home to Egypt to have the child.
The boy would be named Ptolemy Philadelphus.
Antony's Parthian campaign meanwhile, didn’t go well at all, and he lost many thousands
of troops and then retreated to modern day Beirut in Lebanon.
There he and his remaining troops waited for Cleopatra and her troops to come and help
them.
She arrived and he decided that rather than return to Rome with his head down and face
his many enemies there, he would instead go to Alexandria with his beloved Cleopatra.
There he got himself ready again to return to battle with the Parthian Empire, and even
Octavian sent him some troops from Rome to help him.
It was rumored though that Octavian had only done this to embarrass Antony, using it as
a sign of one-upmanship.
Octavian now was very powerful, and he managed to convince the people of Rome and all those
with power that Antony was going to join with Cleopatra and leave Rome for good and start
a new capital in Egypt.
It wasn’t long until the Roman Senate took away all of Antony’s titles.
It was now just Antony and Cleopatra together, and in 32 BC Octavian declared war against
Cleopatra.
This didn’t go well for her, and in 31 BC at the Battle of Actium, Antony and Cleopatra’s
forces were easily beaten by Octavian’s armies.
Both fled to Egypt, but there the couple parted ways.
Antony went off to try and raise more troops, and Cleopatra went to Alexandria.
Soon after, Octavian decided it was time to invade Egypt.
He was helped by Herod, but Antony also turned up in Alexandria and won one small battle
with Octavian’s troops at the city’s hippodrome.
What happened next sounds quite brutal, and we may never know exactly how it happened.
It’s said that Antony was eventually defeated and held captive by Octavian, while Cleopatra
locked herself in a tomb with her closest allies and comrades.
There she sent a message to Antony saying that she had committed suicide.
Her plan was to burn herself along with all her treasure.
She didn’t actually do this, though.
Antony read the message and he either fell on his sword to take his own life or perhaps
just stabbed himself in the stomach with a knife.
According to the historian Plutarch, Antony didn’t immediately die and was taken to
that tomb and to his beloved Cleopatra where he died in her arms at the age of 53.
Cleopatra was then captured by Octavian’s forces before she had the opportunity to follow
in Mark Antony’s footsteps, but she was at least allowed to embalm Antony and bury
him in her tomb before being taken into captivity.
Cleopatra was then held captive by Octavian, and it’s said she told him to his face that
she would not be walked around with him and forced to look at how triumphant he had been.
He decided not to kill her, and she found out from a spy that Octavian was indeed planning
to take her and her kids to Rome so she could be paraded through the streets as the great
queen that he had defeated.
It was then she decided enough is enough, I won’t let that happen, and in August 30
BC she did in fact take her own life in her palace with her servants doing the same.
Popular stories suggest she allowed a highly venomous snake like an asp to bite her, but
it’s more likely she did it herself using a sharp pin covered in poison.
Octavian wasn’t happy of course, having lost his chance to march a captured queen
through the streets of Rome, but he did at least allow her to be buried with her former
lover, Antony.
And so ends the life of a great woman.
So great, in fact, that her story became an enduring real life myth that has lasted two
thousand years right to today.
What do you think about this tragic love story?
Tell us in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out our other video Why Life During The Dark Ages Sucked.
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