Cleopatra

Cleopatra

Critical Book Review

5/3/2011

Brief Summary of the Life of Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator is better known as Cleopatra. She is from the Ptolemaic Dynasty in the Egyptian period. She was born in approximately 69 BC and began her rule in 51 BC. Her father was Ptolemy XII and her mother was Cleopatra V.   She became queen after Ptolemaic XII Neos Dionysos. Cleopatra was the last queen of Eqypt and the last pharaoh. After Cleopatra’s death, Egypt became a providence of Rome.

Cleopatra was married to Ptolemy XIII and possibly Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Cleopatra also had four children: Caesarian, Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene II, and Ptolemy Philadelphus.   Caesarian was the son of Julius Caesar. He ruled Egypt with his mother and was the last king of Egypt. He was killed by Octavian who became the Roman emperor Augustus. Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II were twins and their father was Mark Antony. Cleopatra Selene II married the African King Juba II of Numbia. Ptolemy Philadelphus was also the son of Marc Antony.

Cleopatra was descendant of the Greek general of Alexander the Great who was the first Ptolemy of Egypt. All of his male successors were called Ptolemy and all of his female successors were called Cleopatra. In the beginning she ruled Egypt with Ptolemy XIII. Ptolemy angered Julius Caesar by killing General Pompey. Cleopatra took advantage of this and arranged her famous meeting with Julius Caesar by being rolled into a Persian carpet and presented to the Roman in this unusual fashion. She became the mistress, and possibly married, Julius Caesar and gave birth to his son, Caesarion. After the assassination of Caesar, Cleopatra became the mistress and then the wife of Mark Antony. This alliance ended when they lost the Battle of Actium during which Octavian invaded Egypt. They both committed suicide. The famous death of Cleopatra was from the snakebite of cobra.

Purpose and Scope

Cleopatra The Last Queen of Egypt...