Cleopatra VII of Egypt
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Cleopatra VII Philopator (January 69 BC - November 30, 30 BC) was a queen of Egypt. She was a Macedonian Princess.
When she was 18 years old, her father, who was king, died. She and her brother, Ptolemy Theos Philopator, became the leaders of Egypt. She was queen and her brother was king. Her brother was only 12 years old, so she was the real leader. But some of the men who worked for her didn't like the way she decided everything. A group of them decided to take her power from her, so she had to leave the country. The men who had overthrown Cleopatra were Pothinus, Theodotus and Achillas. Ptolemy was still king, but because he was still a boy, Pothinus and his friends were the real leaders of Egypt.
At that time, two generals were fighting to be the leaders of Rome. They were Pompey and Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar defeated Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. Pompey left Rome to live in Egypt. Achillas decided to kill Pompey. He thought Julius Caesar would be pleased, but he was not.
Then Caesar came to Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. Cleopatra decided she must see Caesar. She lay down on a carpet. Then her servants rolled up the carpet with Cleopatra inside. Then the carpet was taken to the palace where Ceasar was staying. The guards saw some people carrying a carpet and they didn't stop them. They carried the carpet to Caesar. Then Cleopatra came out of the carpet. Caesar fell in love with her and they became lovers. At the time, Cleopatra was 21 years old and Caesar was 52 years old.
Caesar decided to make Cleopatra queen again. Ptolemy did not like that. There was a lot of fighting, but Caesar won. Ptolemy tried to leave, but he fell in the river Nile and drowned. Another younger brother became king, but Cleopatra was again the real leader of Egypt.
Cleopatra didn't marry Julius Caesar, but they did have a son. He was called Caesarion.
Soon after Caesarion was born, Caesar was murdered. His place was taken by three rulers. Their names were Octavian, Marcus Antonius and Lepidus. Octavian soon began to argue with Marcus Antonius. Marcus Antonius came to see Cleopatra, and they quickly fell in love, even though Marcus Antonius already had a wife. Cleopatra soon had three more children. Two were twins, and the father of all three was Marcus Antonius.
The fighting between Octavian and Antonius became worse, and soon there was war. Cleopatra was very rich and she used her money to help Antonius. Her money was not enough to win the war. Octavian won the war. He became the ruler of the Roman Empire and took control of Egypt from Cleopatra. After her kingdom was conquered, she committed suicide by letting an asp (a poisonous snake) bite her. Ceasarion was murdered by Octavian, but her other children were taken as prisoners to Rome. Two of them died of illness, but her daughter became a queen in Africa.
There are many stories told of how rich Cleopatra was, but we cannot be sure if these are true. For example, one story says that she took baths in milk, to make her skin softer. Another story says that she made a bet with Antonius that she could make the most expensive meal ever. To win the bet, she took a pearl earring, and melted it in vinegar and drank it.
