[Music] [Music] the woman known to history is Cleopatra or Cleopatra the seventh fear Philip ate or was born in Alexandria Egypt in 69 BC she was a member of the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt which had been established by Ptolemy the first after the death of his master Alexander the Great in 323 BC before his death Alexander had failed to name an Aires whose immense empire which then led to its division between his leading generals of which Ptolemy was one since then the Ptolemaic dynasty had ruled over Egypt but have retained its tires for Hellenistic
or Greek culture but also embraced Egyptian traditions this mixture of cultures was borne out by the dynasty constructing temples to the Egyptian god Isis at fil-a on the river nile but also in the construction of the Great Library of Alexandria and also the great lighthouse which helped to make the city one of the most important cultural and trading centres in the ancient world the name Cleopatra which had been the name of Alexander the Great's youngest sister was given to many female members of the Ptolemaic dynasty as was the name Ptolemy for its male members indeed
it was also common in the Ptolemaic dynasty for brothers and sisters to enter into incestuous marriages with one another which was supposed to preserve the purity of the dynasty's bloodline Cleopatra spent much of her time in the wrong Palace of Alexandria and had by the time she'd reached adulthood been well educated in the prominent languages of the ancient Mediterranean such as Greek Egyptian and lat and it is fair to assume but she was an intelligent young woman if one takes into account her actions later in life Cleopatra's probable father Ptolemy the 12th had come to
the throne in 80 BC after his predecessor autonomy xi had been lynched by a mob after he had murdered his wife Berenice deferred who was the last surviving daughter of Ptolemy the ninth this lynching meant that the only descendants of Ptolemy the first the founder of the dynasty were the two bastard sons of Ptolemy the ninth who were in this time in exile in the kingdom of Pontus the eldest of the two Ptolemy the 12 Cleopatra's father then assumed the Egyptian from' whilst his younger brother took the throne of Cyprus the only problem was for
Ptolemy at the 11th before being lynched had left Egypt to the Roman Republic in his will which then led to the new King Ptolemy the 12th seeking its backing for him to be ruler of Egypt by the use of bribes which he succeeded in doing by paying both Julius Caesar and Pompey the great a sum of 6,000 talents each an alliance was then formed between the Roman Republic in Egypt which meant for Ptolemy the 12th straw was secure for the time being but his power in the kingdoms now largely dependent on Roman backing however this
newfound security proved to be short-lived as Rome then invaded Cyprus in 58 BC during which the Egyptian kings brother Ptolemy of Cyprus committed suicide which in turn led to widespread riots in Egypt due to Ptolemy the 12th failure to help his brother against Rome he was then subsequently dethroned as king of Egypt and fled to Rome and was then replaced by his wife and sister Cleopatra the 5th along with his daughter Baron Easter 4th after arriving in Rome Ptolemy the 12 who is likely to have brought the young Cleopatra with him tried and failed to
bribe the Senate into helping him to retake Egypt but he then later secured the backing with the help of bribes of an army under the proconsul of Syria all yeeess cabinets to invade Egypt the kingdom soon fell in 55 BC and Ptolemy the 12th then executed his daughter Berenice and reclaimed the throne but his bribes to Rome had left Egypt in considerable financial trouble and also meant forty gypped now more than ever was a client kingdom of the Roman Republic Cleopatra reportedly accompanied her father with the Roman army into Egypt along with a young Mark
Antony or Marcus Antonius to give him his for Latin name who was a cavalry general at the time indeed Antony would later state that he fell in love of Cleopatra on the campaign to invade Egypt then in 51 BC Ptolemy the 12th died and bequeathed his kingdom to both Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolemy xiii and they were then made joint rulers of Egypt the facts were Ptolemy the 12th left the front to both of his children clearly means with the expected Cleopatra to marry her brother but almost from the first day of her reign
the new queen started to show that she did not intend to submit to her brother and future husband and seems to have from the start ruled Egypt in her own way of little regard for her brother as joint monarch it is also unclear who ever Cleopatra and Ptolemy xiii ever married at all but the fact that they seem to have operated separately from the very start of their reigns may be telling but on the other hand given that it was tradition for brothers and sisters to marry in the Ptolemaic dynasty at the time the opposite
may be true the new queen then set about trying to secure her position as monarch by winning over the support of her subjects in the first days of her reign Cleopatra traveled up the River Nile take part in a ceremony to honor the sacred ball bukas in which a wild bull was caught and worshipped as an incarnation of the falcon-headed war god Montu as well as respecting egypt's long-held religious traditions she also addressed the more practical proverbs which faced Egypt at the time such as the pressing concern of the shortage of grain the ancient land
of Egypt was in the 1st century BC as it had been for out its history almost entirely dependent for its food supplies on the flooding of the River Nile which happened annually around the month of August this was in turn dependent on the annual monsoon occurring in the Ethiopian Hills to the south meaning that rain water would then head downstream towards the Mediterranean and flood the Nile River Valley through Egypt allowing the mass cultivation of crops but the flood had been low around the time of Cleopatra's ascension to the throne and she dealt with the
problem by restricting the movement of grain which was then stockpiled in the major cities of Egypt such as Alexandria for the poor to eat Cleopatra's concern for the welfare of her people and securing their approval by taking part in religious ceremonies pap shows her intelligence and also that she was intent on winning over their hearts and minds possibly to secure her power base and perhaps simultaneously undermine support for her brother it is also telling for Egypt's overlords back in Rome were not informed at Ptolemy the 12th death and some nearly four months after his demise
this perhaps indicates that Cleopatra prevented the news from getting out in order to prevents Roman interference for as long as possible but the young queen was now facing growing resistance to her rule from her brother as she was now more and more asserting her influence over the kingdom it is also clear that by this time she had rejected her brother as a potential husband and saw him as a rival which then resulted in a conflict erupting between them both but events were now unfolding back in Rome which were destined to change both the course of
Cleopatra's life and also the course of European history Gaius Julius Caesar had after becoming consul of the Roman Republic in 59 BC incurred heavy personal debts to rectify this he sought a governorship or proconsul ship with the help of his allies in the Roman Senate such as Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey the great who was in turn married to Caesars daughter Julia the three men who at this time were the most powerful and wealthy in the Republic had to avoid instability in conflict formed an accord or political alliance which was known as the first triumvirate
Caesar then after being appointed the governor of northern Italy Eastern Europe and southern France conducted a series of brilliant military campaigns in Gaul from 58 BC which culminated six years later in his great victory over the Gauls under vercingetorix but Caesars victories and his growing popularity with the population back in Rome mence with the Senate and Pompey the great grew more and more suspicious of his ambitious intentions and when Pompey's wife Julia died in childbirth in 54 BC Julius lost the security of being able to call Pompey the great his brother-in-law Crassus was also killed
whilst attacking pavia in the east in 53 BC meaning that both Pompey and Caesar were now the most powerful men in the Roman Republic the Senate and Pompey then demanded that Caesar leave his four legions in the north and returned to Rome but Julius fearing was his enemies in the Senate may do to him refused and then in 49 BC he crossed the river Rubicon in central northern Italy and advanced towards the capital crossing into Rome of an army was considered treason by the Senate and they then along with Pompey fled the capital with Caesar
and his army in hot pursuit the senators along with Pompey the great then gathered their forces in Greece to retake power but Caesar along with his army then crossed the Adriatic Sea and defeated Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalia on the 9th of August 48 BC tensions have now also reached boiling points in Egypt as Ptolemy xiii and his regent / finest seized control of alexandria and forced Cleopatra to flee to Syria she then quickly raised an army and returned to Egypt to fight for her frong by this time Pompey who had survived the Battle
of Pharsalia had fled from Greece and crossed the Mediterranean via Cyprus he then arrived off shore in Egypt and sent emissaries to Ptolemy xiii asking to be given refuge the young king's advisors including / finest then debated what best to do as they knew that Caesar was bound to follow and deducted that by letting Pompey go as well as accepting him and giving him refuge which potentially anger or make an enemy of Caesar the decision was then made to murder Pompey and on the 28th of September 48 BC he was stabbed to death whilst traveling
ashore Caesar then arrived a few days later and after being presented with Pompey severed head turned away in disgust this was arguably one of the turning points in the balance of power between ptolemy xiii and cleopatra a caesar clearly still had great respect for Pompey even though his killing worked of his advantage he then ordered both Ptolemy the thirteenth and Cleopatra to stand their armies down and come to a peace agreement and also demanded that Egypt repay a portion of its debts to Rome which Ptolemy the thirteenth refused to pay which also further damaged his
image in Caesars eyes indeed Caesar needed a ruler in Egypt on whom he could rely and who would be willing to pay at least some of the money he desperately needed he then acted to broker a peace between Cleopatra and Ptolemy xiii and also to win over the hostile Egyptian populace proclaimed that they younger brother and sister Ptolemy the 14th and Arsenault the fourth were to be made rulers of Cyprus which Rome had annexed a decade before Cleopatra was then summoned in order for her and her brother to come to an agreement but she initially
sought to meet Caesar alone as the young Queen had heard rumors regarding his libido and resolved to meet with him one-on-one in order to gain an advantage over her brother Cleopatra then left her army in the desert and was smuggled by one of her servants into Alexandria by the harbour by boat in a bed sack her servant then somehow managed to smuggle her through the streets into the Royal Palace past caesar's legion regards and finally into his bedchamber although the first meeting of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar has no most mythical or even romantic status for
us today when one considers with the success of the first meeting with the most powerful man in the world must have been the most important moment of Cleopatra's life thus far one can only imagine the pressure and knows what she must have felt as failure to impress the Roman leader would have almost certainly of meant certain death also contrary to the sexual or even seductive image we have a Cleopatra there is little evidence and no contemporary accounts of what she actually looked like but the Roman historian Cassius Dio stated that she was brilliant to look
at but on the other hand the Greek historian Plutarch wrote 100 years before died oh but her beauty was not in itself altogether incomparable nor such as to strike those who saw her whatever the truth regarding her physical appearance given her actions courage in evident charm we can safely assume that it was her brain and not her body with which she charmed and won over the affection of the most powerful men of the age and soon after their first meeting both Cleopatra and Julius Caesar had become lovers upon hearing that his sister was cavorting with
Caesar in Alexandria Ptolemy the thirteenth let it be known in the streets but she was in the city which resulted in rioting this onion oeid Caesar Maul and he done forcibly had Ptolemy brought before the Assembly of the city along with Cleopatra and showed the gathered crowd a copy of Ptolemy the 12th will in which he had bequeathed Egypt to both of them with Ptolemy the thirteenth now being an effective prisoner of Caesar his region per finest who was the real power behind the boy King then hatched a plan to defeat both Cleopatra and Caesar
along with his few thousands strong army by ordering Ptolemy the thirteenth twenty thousand strong army to attack and besieged a royal palace in which Ptolemy the thirteenth was held prisoner a fire then broke out in the harbor of the city perhaps started on Caesars orders which quickly engulfed the Great Library meaning that thousands of years of accumulated knowledge were lost forever in the process then Cleopatra's younger sister arsenault the fourth escaped the city and joined forces with the besiegers and took command of the army and proclaimed herself queen of Egypt then Caesar whose water supplies
are becoming desperately low then attempted to gain control of the harbor at Alexandria by taking the island of Pharos upon which stood at the great lighthouse but was driven back and forced to swim for safety to a Roman ship to escape capture by this time the commander's in our sonoda Force Army had grown disaffected and then entered negotiations with Caesar fatahna me the 13th and Arceneaux to be exchanged the boy king was then released but simply took command of the Egyptian forces and continued the siege Caesar however had sent for help when the siege began
and then a Roman army arrived in the Nile Delta in early 47 BC which Caesar then left the palace to command the armies of Ptolemy the 13th and Caesar then met in the Battle of the Nile in which the Egyptian forces were conclusively beaten and the young king himself was drowned after his boat capsized during the route Caesar then proclaimed Cleopatra to be queen along with her younger brother Ptolemy the 14th over the coming months both Caesar and Cleopatra then enjoyed a luxurious cruise up the River Nile on the Queen's pleasure barge during which the
Egyptian Queen was evidently pregnant with Caesars child he then left Egypt for Rome in the spring of 47 BC as there were reports of trouble on the Republic's eastern border with the kingdom of Pontus it is also likely that Caesar wanted to put distance between himself and Cleopatra for political reasons as she was about to give birth to his son which could have been used against him by his enemies in the Senate after the departure of her lover Cleopatra gave birth to her probable son with Caesar named cesarean or little Caesar in June of 47
BC and then made public declarations about his paternity while Caesar in contrast back in Rome according to accounts denied his paternity a year after her son's birth Cleopatra and her husband Ptolemy xiv travelled to Rome where they were awarded with the status of Friends of the Republic which effectively reaffirmed Egypt's status as a client kingdom of Rome but also Cleopatra's status as queen of Egypt whilst in Rome Cleopatra stayed as a guest in Caesars villa outside the city and entertained guests including the prominent senator Cicero who stated afterwards but he found the Egyptian queen to
be arrogant it is unclear whether Cleopatra stayed in Rome constantly over the next few years a Caesar went on campaign in Spain against the remaining followers of Pompey the great but she was most definitely in Rome by the spring of 44 BC Caesar had been made dictator for life in around February of 44 BC but whilst entering the Senate chamber on the 15th of March otherwise known as the Ides of March he was surrounded by a group of senators who after a short struggle stabbed him to death Mark Antony who was by this time Caesars
right-hand man had heard of the plot the night before but was delayed in coming to his patrons aid and after hearing the shouts and screams emanating from the Senate chamber he fled in fear that he would suffer the same fate as his master after the death of her lover Cleopatra stayed in Rome for some weeks in the hope that her son's Azarian would be named his successor but she then fled the country when it became evident that Caesar had named his great nephew Octavian aged 19 as his heir which automatically made her and her son
a target for the new regime Octavian then took Gaius Julius Caesar's name as his heir but is referred to by historians in this period before becoming Emperor as Octavian so there is no confusion between him and his late great uncle Cleopatra then returned to Egypt and a few months after arriving there had her husband and brother Ptolemy xiv murdered by poisoning it is unclear whether this was done because her brother was starting to question her decisions but she soon elevated her sons as Aryan to the status of joint monarch bust Lee making him Ptolemy the
15th she had now effectively eliminated anyone who could oppose her at least in Egypt but with Caesar gone Cleopatra would at some point have to choose to support one or the other of the claimants but would inevitably rise to fill the now gaping power vacuum at the pinnacle of Roman politics since Julius Caesar's murder his assassins led by Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius had fled Rome and set up a power base in the east and Empire stretching from Greece to Syria an army led by Octavian and Mark Antony then arrived in Greece and defeated Caesars
assassins and their followers in the two battles of Philippi in October of 42 BC the territories of the Roman Republic were then divided between the leading supporters of Julius Caesar with Octavian eventually taking control of the western territories including Spain and Gaul Antony on the other hand took control of the eastern territories including Greece Anatolia Syria Palestine and Eastern North Africa and the third prominent supporter of Caesar Marcus Lepidus governed the western territories of North Africa around Carthage this alliance between Julius Caesar's followers was known as the second triumvirate and the next decade would largely
involve the free parties vying with one another for the ultimate domination of the Roman Republic Antony then summoned Cleopatra in 41 BC to a meeting at his base located in Anatolia modern-day Turkey in which she convinced him to have her sister Arsenault the fourth who had rebelled against her at the siege of Alexandria executed she'd been held in exile at the Temple of Artemis near Ephesus in Greece and according to accounts was dragged from the temple and summarily dispatched this demonstrates how cunning and ruthless Cleopatra could be indeed nearly every decision she made during her
lifetime could be interpreted as a calculated move to both secure her rule in Egypt and also ensure the survival of her dynasty through her children indeed one of the key remaining questions about her is did she in any way care about both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony or did she simply see them as means of obtaining greater power she'd expertly strengthened and eventually secured her position as Queen of Egypt by lining or indeed seducing and manipulating Julius Caesar into helping her and now she identified Mark Antony as the most powerful man in the eastern Roman
Republic as a next target indeed the Egyptian queen may have had to align herself with Mark Antony rather than Octavian as he was after all technically in charge of the Eastern Republic which firstly meant obtaining his support was crucial in the short term another factor could have been but she'd already met mark antony before and a councils host aid for Antony had been keen to get into a love affair with her for some years her motivations matter as it was essentially her alliance with Mark Antony against Octavian which would prove to be the downfall of
Cleopatra therefore the real question is was her decision to enter into a relationship with Mark Antony entirely her choice which backfired or in the other hand did she have no choice as Antony held the reins of power in the east and initially seemed to be stronger than Octavian another factor is that Cleopatra clearly obtained greater territory for both herself and Egypt by her close tires of Antony as soon after they began their love affair both Cyprus and southern Anatolia were transferred to her jurisdiction by Antony we can be fairly certain that they started their love
affair in or around 41 BC as Cleopatra then invited Anthony to visit Egypt later that year which he did where he and his commanders were given a taste of the opulent and luxurious lifestyle which the Ptolemaic dynasty were famed for enjoying Antony then left Egypt in 40 BC to conduct a military campaign in Syria against Pothier and during the time he was away Cleopatra gave birth to two twins named Alexander Helen Oz and Cleopatra Selene who were the product of their time together the following year in the meantime back in Rome Antony's real wife Fulvia
was stirring up resistance Octavian's rise to power which ultimately culminated in her leading a revolt along with Anthony's brother Antoninus this was eventually crushed however and fovea died on her way to join up with Anthony in Greece and then a treaty was reached between him and Octavian which cast into stone the borders of their respective territories in the east and west the uneasy peace between the two was then further cemented by Antony marrying Octavian's elder sister Octavia who would go on to have two children with him but he would eventually reject and divorce her for
Cleopatra and after his death Octavia would look after Mark Antony and Cleopatra spilled Hren Antony and Cleopatra then met again in 37 BC when he summoned her along with their children to Antioch to aid him in his preparations for his war against pavia during their time together Antony fervour extended Cleopatra's domains in the East around modern-day Lebanon portions of Palestine and also territories in Arabia along with Crete and portions of Libya but giving away large amounts of territory to Cleopatra proved to be a propaganda coup for Octavian in the West which he then used to
gradually build up senatorial and public opinion against his rivals Antony then invaded parthia with his forces in 36 BC whilst Cleopatra returned home to Alexandria where she gave birth to their second son named Ptolemy Philadelphus however she soon received word that her lover's campaign had ended in disaster and she then traveled back to Antioch to his aid Antony then journeyed with Cleopatra to Alexandria where he met his second son for the first time and then started to plan another campaign in the east with the goal of attacking Armenia who had betrayed him in his initial
campaign against pavia by deserting him before the campaign his true wife Octavia arrived in Greece and brought with her 2,000 troops to aid her husband but Antony told her not to journey any further east and shortly afterwards in 32 BC he divorced her which in turn was used against him by Octavian and Rome who sought to betray his sister as a wronged woman Octavian also tightened his grip on the western half of the Roman Republic in 35 BC when his forces and allies defeated Sextus Pompey son of Pompey the great who was the last remaining
opponent of Caesars heirs however Octavian had been helped in Sicily against Pompey as it had been occupied by the third member of the second triumvirate marcus lepidus via Carthage but after Sicily had fallen Lepidus then demanded vet Octavian hand over Spain and Gaul to his jurisdiction his armies then humiliatingly defected to Octavian resulting in Lepidus been stripped of all of his offices and his lands in North Africa coming under Octavian's control meaning that he was now the master of the entirety of the western republic meanwhile Antony with his reinforcements marched into Armenia and then captured
its royal family after which she returned to Alexandria and held a triumphal parade in the Roman style to honor his victory where he presented the riches of his foes to Cleopatra this victory seems to have filled both Antony and Cleopatra with confidence as they then intoxicated by their triumphs over their enemies bestowed titles and land on their infant children in an attempt to form a kind of dynastic Empire most notably Cleopatra proclaimed her sons as Aryan to be the true heir to Julius Caesar an act which now made hostilities with Octavian inevitable and they then
wrote to the Roman Senate for its approval which then became known as the donations of Alexandria Octavian then tried once again to use this as propaganda but it was suppressed by the Senate although dis latest example of Antony in Cleopatra's extravagance and disregard for Roman lands and authority effectively meant that the final confrontation was now only a matter of time tensions between east and west then steadily grew with both sides accusing the uber of deceit and intrigue with Octavian claiming that Anthony was under Cleopatra's spell as well as marrying her while still being married to
his sister Octavia both of which in a manner of speaking may have been true Antony on the other hand accused Octavian of wrongfully removing Lepidus from his lands and position in North Africa both sides then began military preparations against the other in 32 to 31 BC with Antony and Cleopatra gathering ships and troops in Greece whilst Octavian who was also mustering his own forces obtained the Senate's backing against Antony in which he was stripped of the office of consul and war was then declared on Cleopatra with the expectation with her lover would fight with her
Antony had moved his fleet to the embrace engulfed in late 32 BC which was a large Inlet of water on the southwestern coast of Greece at the mouth of which was a narrow passage guarded by the small town of axion Octavian's forces led by his brilliant Admiral Marcus Agrippa also harassed Antony's armies overland in Greece meaning that after an interval of several months the fiend Cleopatra were trapped in or around the embrace engulfed by Octavian's fleet and his land forces Cleopatra then suggested to Antony to break out and head back to Egypt to regroup which
his advice for he seems to have accepted as their fleet then left the embrace engulfed on the 2nd of September 31 BC and engaged Octavian's fleet the fighting lasted all afternoon and Antony seemed to have the advantage as his larger ships which were packed with troops and ballista were difficult to board being taller and could simply rain down fire on their enemies in their smaller vessels then Cleopatra whose personal fleet had been stationed in the rear broke through the center of the battle and headed straight out to sea Mark Antony then saw that his queen
was fleeing and then meaning that the rest of his fleets seeing that their commanders were retreating quickly lost heart and surrendered to Octavian the battle of Acxiom essentially decided the war between Antony Octavian and also decided the fate of the Roman Republic as well as the fates of Cleopatra and Mark Antony themselves in essence the battle changed the course of European and world history as Octavian was now the supreme leader of the Roman Republic resulting later in him making himself the first emperor of the Roman Empire it is unclear whether Cleopatra lost her nerve and
fled the battle however an escape was planned from the start it is perhaps telling however for the majority of the fleet she left behind with Antony seemed to be unaware of the plan therefore it is likely but she did run from the battle or at least a plan was only known to herself and Mark Antony however sadly we will never know after returning to Egypt Antony tried and failed to raise more troops against Octavian which now made it clear to him for he was finally defeated and he then retreated into a life of seclusion and
gluttony in which he drank heavily must lamenting his lost fortunes Cleopatra in contrast spent her time trying to secure the safety of her children and plan to sends his Aryan into hiding after failing to bargain with Octavian to allow her children to keep their lands if she abdicated the Egyptian throne Cleopatra and her closest servants and advisors then hid in her pre-built tomb and then sent word to Mark Antony that she had committed suicide this clearly plunged Antony into even greater depths of despair as he then frost a dagger into his stomach and was then
brought before Cleopatra at her tomb and according to accounts died in her arms the last queen of Egypt then embalm dand buried her lover in her tomb with the permission of her Roman captors who had now occupied the entirety of Alexandria Octavian who had arrived in Egypt by this time then summoned Cleopatra to come before him and although she was understandably in a weakened state she did her best to maintain her dignity and appearance before her enemies stating wish you had not be taken back to Rome and paraded in a triumph before its mob Octavian
gave her his word that she would not be killed but also gave no assurances regarding taking her back to Rome and the two then went their separate ways and informants then told the Queen but she was to be taken back with her children to Rome so she resolved to end her life in order to be spared the humiliation of a triumphal parade popular myth states that Cleopatra had a poisonous snake or ASP brought before her which then bit her but some accounts states but she took poison whereas others state that she injected poison into her
arm whatever the method of delivery the cause of death was poisoning and despite being outraged by her suicide Octavian gave Cleopatra the final honor of being buried in her tomb alongside Mark Antony despite excavations and searches around modern Alexandria the location of the tomb and final resting place of Antony and Cleopatra is still unknown today and could indeed still be out there waiting to be discovered after her death her children was sent back to Rome under the care of Octavian sister Octavia but caesarian was according to accounts assassinated on Octavian's orders in Egypt which meant
the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty as well as everything that Cleopatra had worked so hard to achieve in her life ending in failure Octavian himself was then proclaimed first emperor of the Roman Empire in 27 BC and then renamed himself Augustus meaning revered and would over his reign proved himself to be arguably one of Rome's most effective and capable emperors Cleopatra is today sing as one of the most famous women who has ever lived indeed although many of our modern perceptions of her may in fact be inaccurate there is no doubt that she was an
extraordinary woman who attempted to take control of her life rather than submit to the decisions of her family members in her love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony she seduced and enthralled two of the most important men in the world had almost founded a new romantic Egyptian Empire as a result she was also incredibly intelligent ruthless and cunning but she had to be to survive in the political world of the first century BC however in the end both she and her lover Mark Antony underestimated the ability and intelligence of Julius Caesar's great nephew Octavian
and this combined with their own blunders and mistakes sealed their fates whatever your opinion of Cleopatra and why she did the things she did there is little doubt for there are few people alive today nearly 2,000 years after her death who do not know the name of Cleopatra and of us Lea the argument could be made but in death she achieved what she had always wanted lasting immortality thank you very much for watching this video please like share and subscribe also please consider helping my channel to grow by donating whatever you can via patreon I'm
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