![]() In 32 BCE, Octavian had the Senate deprive Antony of his powers & declare war against Cleopatra. Anthony and Cleopatra soon became allies and lovers and he returned with her to Alexandria in 40 BCE. At the meeting Cleopatra allegedly requested that her half-sister Arsinoë, living in protection at the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, be executed to prevent any future attempts on her throne. For Cleopatra it was another opportunity to achieve power both in Egypt and in Rome, for Anthony the support of Rome's largest and wealthiest client states in his campaign against the might of the Parthians ( Parthia was a region in modern north-eastern Iran) was highly desirable. Much like the meeting between Cleopatra and Caesar, both sides saw something in the other which they needed. Antony, who equated himself with the god Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, was instantly won over. She is said to have entered the city by sailing up the Cydnus River in a decorated barge with purple sails, while dressed in the robes of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. In 41 BC Cleopatra was summoned to Tarsus (in modern southern Turkey) by Mark Antony. The death of Caesar threw Rome into turmoil, with various factions competing for control, the most important of these being the armies of Mark Antony (83 BCE– 30 BCE) and Octavian (63 BCE – 14 CE), the former a supporter and loyal friend Caesar, the latter his adopted son. In 48 BCE Cleopatra had become an ally and lover of Julius Caesar and remained so until his assassination in Rome in March of 44 BCE. Cleopatra was to become the last monarch of the Ptolemaic Empire (established in 323 BCE after the death of Alexander the Great), ruling Egypt from 51 BCE to 30 BCE. But is Cleopatra to be regarded merely as the lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony? Or did she play an important role not only in the history of Egypt, but also in that of the mighty Roman Republic?Ĭleopatra VII Philopator ('father-loving') was born in January 69 BCE in the city of Alexandria, Egypt, the daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes (117 BCE –51 BCE) and possibly Cleopatra V Tryphaena (c. The latter work features the memorable image of the enticing young Cleopatra emerging gracefully from an unfurled carpet in front of Roman general Julius Caesar. The Egyptian Queen has been immortalized by numerous writers and film-makers, most popularly by Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra, and by Hollywood in Cleopatra (1963) starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Regarded by the Romans as “fatale monstrum”- a fatal omen, Cleopatra is one of the ancient world's most popular, though elusive figures.
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