Реферат: Cleopatra Essay Research Paper CleopatraCleopatra was queen

Cleopatra Essay, Research Paper

Cleopatra

Cleopatra was queen of Egypt, last ruler of the dynasty founded by Ptolemy, a

Macedonian general of Alexander the Great, who took Egypt as his share in dividing

Alexander?s empire. Her capital, Alexander, founded by Alexander the Great, was

the center of Hellenistic Greek culture of the world at that time, as well as a great

commercial center. Although she imagined as a ?beautiful and glamorous woman

today, she was not very attractively depicted on ancient coins, having a long hook

nose, and masculine features? (Flamarion 181). She deemed to be a strong-willed

Macedonian queen who was brilliant and dreamed of a greater world empire. Highly

intelligent, this shrewd politician almost achieved this goal. Her contributions as the

last of the Ptolemaic Greek rulers of independent Egypt, were the endless expansion

of the Roman Empire throughout the Mediterranean, and at her death left behind ?a

rich, imperial province which continued to flourish as the center of commerce,

science, and learning under Roman rule? (Newman 554). This natural born leader

was the oldest living daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes and of his sister and wife

Cleopatra Tryphaena. Such brother-sister marriages were common among members

of the Egyptian ruling house. Her father, who died in 51 BC, requested the

Cleopatra and his oldest son, Ptolemy XIII, become joint rulers, and made Rome the

guardian of the Egyptian state. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the life of a

prominent Egyptian figure, who through her determination and strong will,

established herself as a pharaoh and queen of Egypt.

Problems arose when the young Ptolemy began to serve as a puppet for

power-hungry advisers, who much have found him far more easy to command and

dictate than Cleopatra who was older and more intelligent. Cleopatra and her

brother started a civil war between themselves, which resulted in her being forced

into exile to Syria. In Syria, she raised an army and started back to Egypt to regain

her throne. In 48 BC, this ambitious monarch was in Pelusium, on the eastern

frontier of Egypt, with her newly acquired army preparing to attack her brother and

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