Pharaoh of Egypt

Cleopatra VII

69 BCE – 30 BCE

The last pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt.

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▸Voice-over arc · Read the script

S01"I am Cleopatra. Last pharaoh of Egypt. Mistress of nine languages."
S02"Caesar arrived in Alexandria. I had myself smuggled to him in a rolled carpet."
S03"Together we ruled. He ended a republic. I outlasted him."
S04"After Caesar came Antony. We loved fiercely. We lost at Actium."
S05"Rome closed in. I would not be paraded through their streets."
S06"I am Cleopatra. Last pharaoh of Egypt. Thirty BCE."

VII Philopator was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt — the dynasty Alexander's general Ptolemy I had founded three centuries earlier. Born in Alexandria in 69 BCE to Ptolemy XII, she was reportedly fluent in nine languages and the only Ptolemy who learned to speak Egyptian. She came to the throne at eighteen, was deposed by her brother-husband at twenty-one, and famously had herself smuggled into Caesar's quarters wrapped in a carpet to make her case for the throne. Caesar restored her; she bore him a son. After his murder she allied with Mark Antony in a partnership that produced three more children and dominated eastern Mediterranean politics for thirteen years — until Octavian's victory at Actium in 31 BCE. With Antony dead by his own hand and Octavian advancing on Alexandria, killed herself in August 30 BCE; tradition says by the bite of an asp. Egypt became a Roman province; the dynasty that began in 305 BCE ended with her body. She was thirty-nine.

Deeper Dive

Notable Works

Tetradrachm of Cleopatra & Mark Antony
c. 32 BCE
CC BY-SA 2.5·Commons

Cleopatra & Caesarion at the Temple of Dendera
c. 50 BCE
Public domain·Commons

Cleopatra Before Caesar (Gérôme)
1866
Public domain·Commons

The Battle of Actium (Lorenzo Castro)
1672
Public domain·Commons

The Death of Cleopatra (Reginald Arthur)
1892
Public domain·Commons

Places

Alexandria
Egypt
Born, reigned, and died in this Mediterranean capital — the largest city in the world at the time of her birth, home to the Library and the Lighthouse.
69–30 BCE
Rome
Roman Republic
Lived openly in Caesar's villa across the Tiber for nearly two years. Scandalised the Senate. Fled after his assassination.
46–44 BCE
Tarsus
Cilicia (modern Turkey)
Site of her first meeting with Mark Antony, on a golden barge dressed as Aphrodite.
41 BCE

In Their Own Words

I will not be triumphed over.
Plutarch, Life of Antony (paraphrased) · 30 BCE

Hadst thou known thyself, then thou wouldst know that to love is also to lose.
Attributed by later writers

Read Deeper

Cleopatra: A Life2010
by Stacy Schiff
Biography
Cleopatra and Antony: Power, Love, and Politics in the Ancient World2009
by Diana Preston
Biography
Life of Antony c. 100 CE
by Plutarch (1st c. CE)
Primary source
Antony and Cleopatra1607
by William Shakespeare
Literary

Meet Cleopatra

Historical Portrait

Bust of Cleopatra VII (Altes Museum, Berlin)

c. 40 BCE

by Louis le Grand

Public domain·Commons

Life Timeline

69 BCEBorn in Alexandria
Daughter of Pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes. Likely of Macedonian Greek descent through the Ptolemaic line — the dynasty had ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries since Alexander the Great's general Ptolemy.
51 BCEBecomes co-ruler with Ptolemy XIII
At eighteen, she ascends jointly with her ten-year-old brother (whom she is required to marry, per Ptolemaic custom).
48 BCECaesar arrives in Alexandria
After Pompey is assassinated on Egyptian soil, Caesar pursues him to Alexandria. Cleopatra has herself smuggled into his quarters reportedly wrapped in a carpet — the meeting changes Mediterranean history.
47 BCEDefeats her brother in the Alexandrian War
With Caesar's legions she crushes Ptolemy XIII's faction; he drowns in the Nile. She is left sole queen. She bears Caesar a son, Caesarion.
46 BCETravels to Rome with Caesar
Lives ostentatiously in Caesar's villa across the Tiber. The Roman elite are scandalised.
44 BCECaesar assassinated
On the Ides of March, Caesar is killed. Cleopatra flees Rome and returns to Egypt.
41 BCEMeets Mark Antony at Tarsus
Summoned to explain her support for Cassius. She arrives sailing upriver on a golden barge with purple sails, dressed as Aphrodite — and seduces Antony before he can question her.
34 BCEThe Donations of Alexandria
Antony grants Cleopatra and her children vast Roman eastern territories at a public ceremony. Octavian uses the event to turn Rome decisively against him.
31 BCEDefeated at the Battle of Actium
Octavian's fleet under Agrippa defeats the combined Egyptian–Roman naval force off the western coast of Greece. Cleopatra and Antony flee back to Egypt.
30 BCESuicide of Cleopatra
After Antony's suicide and Octavian's arrival in Alexandria, she takes her own life. Tradition says by the bite of an asp (cobra), though Roman sources are inconsistent. She is thirty-nine. Egypt becomes a Roman province; the Ptolemaic dynasty ends.

Historical Guide

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