CLEOPATRA:It was not her beauty but her intelligence

For a long time, Cleopatra was depicted as a young beautiful and sexy woman because of her influence and her ability to seduce two great politicians( Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony) of the Roman empire so as to get what she wanted whenever she wanted. She is said to have changed the face of the world in her time through her beauty and charm. Her beauty was depicted in the 1963 film Cleopatra by Elizabeth Taylor. However, this may not have been the case from the evidence found in Egypt of the coins of her time. From the coins it was found that she had a shallow forehead, pointed chin, thin lips and a witch- like nose(i.e it was big). So how exactly was she able to seduce the two Roman politicians?

Cleopatra, also known as the last pharaoh of Egypt was born in a Ptolemaic family who were the aristocrats of Egypt at the time. Her father was a pharaoh and she had two sisters and two younger brothers;Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV. When her father died, he left a will which stated that her and her brother would be co- rulers of Egypt and they had to get married. She got married to the younger brother according to the Egyptian law. However, she was strong willed and brilliant and dreamt of a greater world empire which made her exclude the younger brother and husband Ptolemy XIII from the Egyptian coins and the kingdom's activities as she wanted to be the sole ruler of Egypt. However, the brother managed to overthrow her and she was sent to exile.

Cleopatra formed an Arab army which camped outside Alexandria. It happened that Julius Caesar the Roman emperor at the time heard of the sibling rivalry. He decided to visit Alexandria to make peace between the two siblings.So he stayed at one of the royal palaces in order to assemble the siblings the next morning. On hearing this, Cleoptra who had been barred from the city by the brother  asked one of her servants to sneak her into the emperor's palace. From historical sources it is said that she sneaked into the palace by being rolled up in a carpet which her servant was carrying. This amazed Julius Caesar and she became his mistress. By the time Julius Caesar was meeting with the siblings the next morning, Cleoptra had already won his favour which made the brother furious and tried to fight against Julius Caesar's army but he was defeated and he drowned at River Nile while trying to escape.

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. Surely Caesar went through all of this trouble for more than his infatuation with the queen of Egypt. She became the pharaoh and called herself the New Isis(Isis was the mother goddess of Egypt) after she gave birth to Caesar's son little Caeserion. Her relationship with Caesar continued and she went to reside at his palace even if Caesar already had a wife. He erected a statue of her represented as Isis in one of the temples in Rome. However, Caesar was assasinated and Cleopatra fled back to Alexandria since he had not written her and Caeserion in his will.

Cleopatra did what was necessary to try and save Alexandria from the Roman empire whatever the price. For this reason, she watched for the next rulers of Rome and decided that she would pursue Mark Anthony instead of Octavia as she had learnt his characater; she knew about his limited strategic and tactical abilities,blue-blooded, the drinking, his womanizing, his vulgarity and his ambition. So when Mark Anthony called on her to meet him, she made an impressive entry regardless of the Egyptian economic crisis.  She sailed with silver oars, purple sails with her Erotes fanning her and the Nereid handmaids steering and she was dressed as Aphrodite, the goddess of love. This was a very calculated entrance; considered vulgar by many. It was a vulgar display to attract the attention of a vulgar man. Mark Antony loved the idea of having a blue-blooded Ptolemy woman. Cleopatra had caught his attention.

 Cleopatra could get out of him what she wanted as he was infatuated by the queen. She managed to give all her children royal titles and she also was crowned Queen of kings by Mark Anthony. She was also able to order the execution of her own sister through Mark Anthony. She wanted to be the Empress of the world and her oath was,"As surely as I shall yet dispense justice on the Roman Capital". This made Octavia angry with Mark Anthony and they fought against each other in the battle of Actium where Mark Anthony was defeated and he committed suicide.

After Antony's death, Cleopatra was taken to Octavian where her role in Octavian's triumph was carefully explained to her. He 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. She must have had memories of her sister, Arsinoe, being humiliated in this way. She would not live this way, so she had an asp, which was an Egyptian cobra, brought to her hidden in a basket of figs. She at the age of 39. The Egyptian religion declared that death by snakebite would secure immortality. With this, she achieved her dying wish, to not be forgotten. 

Cleopatra may have been beautiful, ugly, or somewhere in between. Certainly, she was intelligent, a good diplomat, and queen of an area important for Rome, so it is no wonder that leaders of Rome like Caesar and Mark Antony, would fall in love with Cleopatra, while another Roman leader, Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus), would fear and hate her.

Cleopatra is not know for her brilliance and her devotion to her country. She was a mathematician and a very good businesswoman. Her astronomer is known to have discovered the leap years and she introduced him to Caesar. She had a genuine respect for Caesar, whose intelligence matched her own. Antony on the other hand almost drove her insane with his lack of intelligence and his excesses.She used this fact to her advantage. She fought for her country. She had a charismatic personality, was a born leader and an ambitious monarch.

 "Cleopatra was a mistress of disguise she could reinvent herself to suit the occassion..."