Cleopatra VII

Cleopatra VII Philopator (in Greek, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ)

also known as Cleopatra the VI, was queen of Egypt from 51 to 30 B.C.E. She was the daughter of Ptolemy XI. She was co-regent of Egypt from 51 to 49 B.C.E., but was dethroned by Ptolemy XII, from the year 49 to 48 B.C.E. She was reinstated to the throne following Julius Caesar's defeat of Ptolemy XII. She remained as co-regent with her brother Ptolemy XIII, from 47 to 44 B.C.E. Following this, she became mistress to Julius Caesar, living with him in Rome from 46 to 44 B.C.E. Eventually, she returned to Egypt and murdered Ptolemy XIII in 44 B.C.E. She then met Mark Anthony (a popular love story through out the ages), in 36 B.C.E. In 31 B.C.E. Octavian's army defeated Mark Anthony at the battle of Actium. Cleopatra and Mark Anthony fled, however, Cleopatra returned to Egypt and unsuccessfully attempted to seduce Octavian. According to legend she died of a bite by an asp to avoid being captured by Octavian. Cleopatra lived from 69 to 30 B.C.E.

during the Ptolemaic period. She became co-regent with her 10-year-old brother Ptolemy XIII at the age of 17, and following his death (aged 14) in 47 BC during the civil war she then married her younger brother Ptolemy XIV, who was only 12 years old. This meant she effectively ruled alone.

Clepatra met Julius Caesar in 48 BC and formed an alliance with him, based on shared politics rather than romantic love. In 47 BC she bore him a child, called Caesarion, though Caesar never publicly acknowledged him as his son. In 44 BC Caesar was assassinated, and Cleopatra returned from Rome to Egypt. She murdered her brother and co-regent, Ptolemy XIV, and appointed Caeasarion to the throne.

In 41 BC Mark Antony (at that time one of the ruling triumvirate of the Roman Republic, along with Octavian and Lepidus), whom she had met some years previously, summoned her to meet him in Tarsus, and it is widely believed that they planned to create an Oriental Empire together. It seems that they were married according to Egyptian tradition in 37 BC, and subsequently had three children - two sons and a daughter.

On 2 September, in 31 BC, Antony and Cleopatra combined armies to take on those forces of Rome that were under the control of Octavian - in the ancient world's last great sea battle, at Actium. Facing defeat, legend has it that Cleopatra turned and fled taking her treasure with her, yet recent reinterpretations of the events suggest that she was probably escaping as part of a planned manoeuvre rather than as an act of cowardice.
Antony, seeing that Cleopatra was making her escape, decided to abandon his fleet and follow her as she made for Egypt, where they continued to live for nearly a year. However, once Octavian had pursued him to Egypt, Antony's troops deserted him and, faced with an impossible situation, he took his own life. On 12 August, in 30 BC, 11 days after the death of her lover, Cleopatra chose also to commit suicide rather than live as a Roman captive. There is still uncertainty as to whether she died from a serpent's bite or ingested a deadly dose of poison.