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Cleopatra VII ascends the throne of Egypt around 51 BC: the last ruler of a dynasty descended from a general of Alexander the Great. She is thus not one of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs but a member of the Greek-descended Ptolemies; yet unlike her ancestors she learns the Egyptian language and presents herself as a reincarnation of the goddess Isis. Contemporaries praise not so much her beauty as her sharp mind, her learning and her rhetorical skill; she is said to have mastered several languages. Cleopatra rules at a time when Rome is rising to become an overwhelming world power. To secure Egypt's independence she allies herself with the most powerful men in Rome. First she wins over Julius Caesar (legend has it she had herself smuggled in to him) and bears him a son. After Caesar's assassination she joins forces with the Roman general Mark Antony, with whom she also has children. The bond with Antony proves her undoing: they become locked in a power struggle with Caesar's heir Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus. In the decisive naval Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Antony and Cleopatra are crushingly defeated. In 30 BC Cleopatra takes her own life, according to tradition by the bite of a venomous snake. With her death, independent Egypt comes to an end: the country becomes a Roman province. But Cleopatra lives on as one of the most famous women of antiquity; a shrewd, strategic ruler whose story has been retold in literature, art and film across two millennia.
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last pharaoh of Egypt
With her, Egypt's independence ended and the country became a Roman province.
💡 Did you know? Cleopatra was the last ruler of independent Egypt, with her death the land became a Roman province.
Ptolemies
Cleopatra came from the Ptolemies, a Greek-Macedonian dynasty and was one of the few of them to learn the Egyptian language.
💡 Did you know? Unlike her ancestors, she learned the Egyptian language.
Julius Caesar
She bore him a son, Caesarion.
💡 Did you know? By legend Cleopatra had herself smuggled to Julius Caesar rolled in a carpet, to win him over.
Mark Antony
She had several children with him; the alliance became her political undoing.
💡 Did you know? Her love for Mark Antony and their shared bid for power drew both into a deadly conflict with Rome.
Battle of Actium
Their opponent was Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus.
💡 Did you know? In the naval Battle of Actium in 31 BC the fleet of Cleopatra and Antony was decisively defeated by Octavian.
Octavian (Augustus)
He was the heir of Julius Caesar.
💡 Did you know? Octavian, the later Emperor Augustus, wanted to parade Cleopatra through Rome in triumph: her suicide denied him it.
her intelligence and learning
Contemporaries praised less Cleopatra's beauty than her sharp mind: she spoke several languages and was highly educated.
💡 Did you know? She is said to have mastered several languages.
suicide (snakebite, by tradition)
With her death Egypt finally became a Roman province.
💡 Did you know? By tradition Cleopatra had herself bitten by a venomous snake: though this is not historically certain.
Foto: José Luiz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII (69 to 30 BC) was the last pharaoh of Egypt, famous for her alliances with Caesar and Mark Antony.
💡 Did you know? Cleopatra lived closer in time to the invention of the smartphone than to the building of the Great Pyramids: already over 2,000 years old in her day.
69 BC
Born: 69 BC in Alexandria
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