The Story of Cleopatra in Ancient Egypt

The Story of Cleopatra in Ancient Egypt

Cleopatra was determined to preserve Egypt. Her personal ambitions will show her unwavering love, compassion, and commitment to making Egypt one of the greatest empires man has ever known. Her contributions to Egypt and the world have continued to be discussed and debated over the years.

Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C. in Alexandria, Egypt. Her father King Ptolemy XII had five other children, Cleopatra VI, Berenice IV, Arsinoe IV, Ptolemy XIII, and Ptolemy XIV. Her mother died when she was very young. King Ptolemy eventually remarried, but there are no records of his second wife's name.

There was not much love between the siblings. They each tried to out shine one another in a kind of race to win power over the throne. Their ambitious guardians, who were eager for their share of royal power, encouraged the fierce competition. As a result Cleopatra on her siblings grew up in an atmosphere of corruption and devious schemes to get to the top.

Cleopatra had an unusually good education. At a very young age Cleopatra was quick and eager to learn, and as she grew older she moved on to more advanced literature, the arts, science and medicine, and the study of languages. She learned the stories and myths of Greek and Egyptian gods and goddess. She picked up bits of Egyptian lore from her female servants. Cleopatra was especially drawn to the Egyptian goddess Isis who was believed to have power over the heaven and earth, but whose greatest appeal was her compassion, mercy and concern for women and children.

The Ptolemy dynasty were of Greek and Macedonian decent, none had a drop of Egyptian blood and none had bothered to learn the Egyptian language. The Princess Cleopatra was the first Ptolemy to learn the native Egyptian language so as to be able to communicate with her Egyptian subjects. She also knew Arabic and Hebrew and could talk to the many Jews who had settled in Alexandria. She was also extremely interested in philosophy, especially the philosophy of governing that sought to justify kingship and to demonstrate how to be a strong yet benevolent ruler.

By the first century B.C. the weakened Ptolemy dynasty was faced with a threat from the Roman Republic. Rome, the capital of the Roman Republic in Italy, filled the East with terror due to its renown military might. As Rome came closer and closer to Egypt, they grew more eager to capture Egypt's wealth. There was a wide spread ethnic hatred between the East and West of the Mediterranean world. The Greeks of Alexandria and the Egyptians despised the Romans.

As the threat from Rome increased, Cleopatra's city grew more and more turbulent. When she was still a young girl, an angry mob lynched a Roman visitor for killing a cat, an animal sacred to the Egyptian's. Soon Princess Cleopatra began forming her own ideas of how she would handle the Romans in the future.

Cleopatra's father King Ptolemy was a weak ruler. He had a passion for playing the flute as well as a fondness for wine. King Ptolemy had been given the honorary title of the "New Dionysus". Dionysus was the god of wine, the arts, music and dance. The entire Ptolemy monarch was honored with divine titles. These titles were mainly for prestige and to impress people. Cleopatra's father did not impress the people of Egypt. They found him neither kingly nor godly and called him the "Flute Player".

King Ptolemy often joined the musicians and dancers in the Dionysian festivals. Cleopatra could see her father playing his flute and dancing through the streets of Alexandria in a most unregal way. Although she found no fault with her father's behavior, it may have bothered her to see how little his subjects respected him. She knew he was shrewd and intelligent if not a strong leader, and he had done much for his kingdom in repairing old buildings and temples and creating new ones. He supported the arts and learning. He shared his special interest in philosophy with Cleopatra, who was thought to be his favorite child.

Beyond Cleopatra's joys of learning and celebrating the many festivals, she was worried about her kingdom's decline. Her own name meant "glory to her race" and Cleopatra became obsessed with the idea of restoring Egypt's great past and power. But Rome was still a growing threat to Egypt.

Cleopatra knew that the Egyptian army was inadequate and that the recent Ptolemy kings had felt forced to appeal to Rome for military help to control the sporadic outbreaks of the Alexandrian mobs. There was even a rumor that Cleopatra's grandfather had willed Egypt to Rome in exchange for helping him keep his right to the throne. He was soon found murdered by an Alexandrian mob. Cleopatra