Реферат: Cleopatra Essay Research Paper CleopatraCleopatra was queen

had arrived at Alexandria in pursuit of Pompey, ?claimed the right to arbitrate the

quarrel? as the representative of Rome (Hoobler 28). Both Ptolemy and Cleopatra

were to dismiss their armies and meet with Caesar, who would settle their dispute.

Meanwhile, there was also a civil war going on between Caesar and Pompey.

Pothinus, knowing that Caesar would win, convinced Ptolemy XIII that it would be

best to have Pompey beheaded and have his head presented to Caesar, as a way to

convince him to join their side in the their civil dispute. Caesar had not been

?enchanted, and being friends with Pompey, did not desire to have him treated so

disrespectfully? (Foreman 61). Determined to present her case, Cleopatra sailed to

Alexandria in a small boat with only a few assistants. There she had herself rolled up

in to a carpet and carried to Caesar?s palace by one of her attendants who told the

guards it was a present for Caesar. She did this because it would have been

impossible to gain access to the palace without Ptolemy XIII discovering and killing

her. Cleopatra realized that in order to gain power she would have to remain on

good terms with Rome and its leaders so she successfully set out to captivate him.

Both Caesar and Cleopatra used each other to gain something, because he wanted to

obtain money, and her main concern was gaining power.

What had begun as a war between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII evolved into a

war between Ptolemy XIII allied with Arsine, his sister, against Caesar, and became

known as the Alexandrian War. Caesar read Aulete?s will to Ptolemy and forced

him to restore her to the throne. When Ptolemy XIII drowned in the Nile, Caesar

declared that ?Cleopatra should marry her younger brother, then eleven years old,

and rule as queen? (Newman 556) in order to please the Alexanderians and the

Egyptian priests. He remained in Egypt, ignoring his affairs in Rome and in the East,

?out of arrogance and his desire to get his hands on Egypt?s vast resources?

(Foreman 99). On his return to Rome, Caesar asks the tribune of the people, Helvius

Cinna, to introduce into the Roman Senate a law permitting Caesar to marry

Cleopatra and make their son, Caesarion, his heir. Many were upset that he was

planning to marry Cleopatra regardless of the laws against bigamy and marriage to