September 20, 2003

The very name ‘Cleopatra’ is surrounded by an aura of alluring beauty and boundless power; gentle strength and vicious strategy. A woman who spellbound indomitable men like Caesar and Mark Antony was the same woman the Egyptians worshiped like a goddess. She lived centuries after she breathed her last in the works of great men like Plutarch who called her ‘the epitome of beauty and voluptuousness’; Shakespeare, in Antony and Cleopatra; John Dryden’s verse drama, All for love, Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra and T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land.

Her exciting story, wreathed with love and war, goes like this: It was a beautiful spring in the year 51BC, when Ptolemy Auletes passed away and left his kingdom, in his will, to his breathtaking, eighteen-year-old daughter, Cleopatra, and her younger brother Ptolemy XIII who was twelve at the time.

Cleopatra was born in 69BC 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, the great Roman leader, was left in charge of the children. The Ptolemies’ strength was failing and the Roman Empire was rising so the Egyptians entered into a pact with the Romans. Material 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 partner, who was either a brother or a son, no matter what age, throughout her reign. She was married to her younger brother Ptolemy XIII (brother-sister marriages to retain power were a common occurrence in Egypt) when he was twelve. As time passed the ambitious Cleopatra removed her brother’s name from all official documents even though the dynasty demanded that the presence of a male be first among co-rulers. She also had her own portrait and name on the coins, ignoring that of her brother’s.

At the time when Cleopatra came to the throne along with her brother there was unimaginable political turmoil in Egypt. Her world was crumbling around her. The areas of Cyprus, Coele-Syria and Cyrenaica were gone. There was anarchy abroad and famine at home. But Cleopatra was a strong-willed Macedonian queen who was brilliant and dreamed of a greater world empire. By 48BC, Cleopatra had alarmed the more powerful court officials of Alexandria by some of her actions. Due to this a group of men overthrew her in favour of her younger brother. These men believed him to be much easier to influence and they became his council of regency. Cleopatra is thought to have fled. She cobbled together an army from Arab tribes. During this time, she and her sister Arsinoe moved to Syria.

In the meantime, Pompey had been defeated at Pharsalus in the August of 48BC. He headed for Alexandria hoping to find refuge with Ptolemy XIII, his charge. However, little did Pompey know that he would be murdered by his enemies as soon as he would step on Egyptian soil on September 28, 48BC. The young Ptolemy XIII stood on the dock and watched the whole scene.

Four days later, the famed Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria. He brought with him thirty-two hundred legionnaires and eight hundred cavalry. Riots broke out all over Alexandria. Ptolemy XIII was gone to Pelusium and Caesar placed himself in the royal palace and started giving out orders. Ptolemy was brought back to Alexandria.

Cleopatra who was well aware of all the developments in Alexandria decided to make sure that she was not left out of any deals that were going to be made. Her clever brain thought of a plan: she set off in a small boat to Alexandria with only a handful of attendants. Then she had herself smuggled in Caesar’s presence rolled in a carpet. 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.

As events would have it, the people who had influence over Ptolemy XIII were executed by Caesar and Ptolemy XIII drowned in the Nile while he was trying to flee.

Because of his death, Cleopatra was now the sole ruler of Egypt. Caesar had restored her position, but she now had to marry her younger brother Ptolemy XIV, who was eleven years old. This was to please the Alexandrians and the Egyptian priests. It is true that Caesar was infatuated with the mesmerizing Cleopatra but he must have also had the desire to get his hands on Egypt’s vast resources. Some believe that he wanted Cleopatra to be a puppet for Rome.

However, Cleopatra’s intelligence and inheritance had great influence. Caesar wanted a son to carry the throne because he had no children by his wife in Rome. Caesar and Cleopatra took an extended trip up the Nile for about two months. Caesarion (Ptolemy Caesar) was born on June 23, 47 BC.

During July of the year 46BC, Caesar returned to Rome. He was given many honours and a ten-year dictatorship. In the meantime 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 and was the subject of much gossip. She lived in luxury and had a statue made of gold of herself placed by Caesar, in the temple of Venus. 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 44BC, all of that came to an end. Caesar was assassinated, by his own senators, outside the Senate Building in Rome.

After Caesar’s murder, Cleopatra fled Rome and returned home to Alexandria. Caesar had not mentioned Cleopatra or Caesarion in his will. She felt that her life, as well as that of her child, was in great danger. Upon returning to Alexandria, she had her brother, Ptolemy XIV, assassinated and established Caesarion as her co-regent at the age of four.

Cleopatra watched patiently, in the time that followed, who would be the next power in Rome. The name of Antony, Octavian and Lepidus emerged as the men who were sharing power in Rome. However, the astute Cleopatra knew that Antony was the one to watch.

Cleopatra was invited by Mark Antony to Tarsus in 41BC. She already knew enough about him to know how to get to him. She knew about his limited strategic and tactical abilities, his blue blood, the drinking, his vulgarity and his ambition. Even though Egypt was on the verge of economic collapse, Cleopatra put on a show for Mark Antony when she sailed with silver oars, purple sails with handmaids steering and she herself dressed as the goddess of love. This was a very calculated entrance.

Cleopatra and Antony spent the winter of 41 to 40BC in Alexandria. According to some sources, Cleopatra could get out of him whatever she wanted. 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 40BC, Mark Antony left Cleopatra and returned home. He did not see her for four years in the duration of which he married a Roman woman for political reasons. She was Octavian's’ sister, Octavia — a beautiful and intelligent woman who had been recently widowed.

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. Four years passed after which Mark Antony reached Antioch, and the first thing he did was to send for Cleopatra. Their twin children were officially recognized by Antony. Mark Antony gave her much land which was very essential to Egypt. Like Cyprus, the Cilician coast, Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Judea and Arabia. Antony had planned a campaign against the Parthians. He obviously needed Cleopatra’s support for this but in 36BC, he was defeated. He became more indebted to her than ever. They had just had a third child.

During this time Octavian, back in Rome, tried to provoke Antony into a fight. Antony might have been able to patch things up with Octavian and Antony’s wife (Octavian’ sister) if he had returned to Rome in 35BC. But Cleopatra probably did her best to keep him in Alexandria. It is said that Octavia remained completely loyal to Antony through all of this.

In 32 to 31BC, Antony finally divorced Octavia. This forced the Western part of the world to recognize his relationship with Cleopatra. He had already put her name and face on a Roman coin which was widely circulated throughout the Mediterranean. By doing this, Antony’s relationship with the Roman allegiance ended and Octavian formally declared war against Cleopatra. Many false accusations were made against Cleopatra l. Consequently, Octavian’ navy severely defeated Antony in Actium, which is in Greece, on September 2, 31BC. Antony half-heartedly defended Alexandria against the advancing army of Octavian. After the defeat, Antony committed suicide by falling on his own sword in 30BC.

After Antony’s death, Cleopatra was taken to Octavian who 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. But the proud Cleopatra, would rather have died than be subject to such humiliation. And she did. She had an Egyptian cobra, brought to her hidden in a basket of figs. She died on August 12, 30BC at the age of 39. The Egyptian religion declared that death by snake-bite would secure immortality. With this, she achieved her dying wish, to not be forgotten.

She dreamt of achieving unimaginable power and become the empress of the world. And she nearly made this dream come true. It is still a mystery whether all that she did in her life was for the pursuit of this power or her own desire for love. However, like many Hellenistic queens, she was passionate but not promiscuous. As far as we know, she had no lovers other than Caesar and Antony. Many believe that she did what she felt was necessary to try to save Alexandria, whatever the price.

What is often not associated with Cleopatra is her brilliance and her devotion to her country. She was a quick-witted woman who was fluent in nine languages. She was a mathematician and a very good businesswoman. She had a genuine respect for Caesar, whose intelligence and wit matched her own. Her country was lucky to have a Queen like her at the helm who had such a charismatic personality, was a born leader and an ambitious monarch. Such a person deserved a better end than suicide. Wouldn’t you say?

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