Post by cruororism on Oct 13, 2003 10:08:12 GMT
Cleopatra (actually Cleopatra VII) was the last of the Ptolemies, the Macedonian-descended pharoahs who ruled Egypt beginning in 304 BCE. Cleopatra has come down through history less for her administrative skills than for her beguiling ways, which she used in an attempt to keep Egypt free from Roman domination. Among those whom she charmed was Julius Caesar, whom she bore a son, Caesarion. After Caesar's death she joined forces with Caesar's colleague Marc Antony; they became lovers and political allies against Antony's rival Octavian. After Octavian's forces defeated those of Antony and Cleopatra in the naval battle of Actium (31 B.C.E.), the two lovers committed suicide. Legend has it that Cleopatra died by the self-inflicted bite of a poisonous asp, though no firm evidence exists to support that claim.
Extra credit: Cleopatra was immortalized by Shakespeare in his play Antony and Cleopatra and played by Elizabeth Taylor in a big-budget 1963 movie.... Philosopher Blaise Pascal made the famous remark that "Cleopatra's nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed."
