salam....
hari nie apple akan tulis tentang salah seorang pemerintah mesir iaitu queen cleopatra...sebenarnya apple tulis nie sbb apple baru jer tgk discovery channel about the mysterious death of cleopatra...I think it is interesting to know about her life lah...
Cleopatra is by far one of the most ever famous queens of all times in ancient Egypt. Her story of love and death is very famous and she ruled Egypt and made it quite powerful at the time.
Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C. in Alexandria. She was the third daughter in line to her father Ptolemy XII; she later had another sister and two younger brothers. Her younger brother Ptolemy XIII later reigned with her.
Cleopatra’s story is one of the most famous ever.
Not only because of her great love, but because she was deeply in love of Egypt and she is classified by historians to be the last Pharoah of Egypt.
Cleopatra came to the throne after death of her two elder sisters and after death of her father whom was much hated by the Egyptian and had fled to Rome several years before.
During the two centuries that preceded Ptolemy XII death, the Ptolemies were allied with the Romans. The Ptolemies' strength was failing and the Roman Empire was rising. During the later rule of the Ptolemies, the Romans gained more and more control over Egypt. Tributes had to be paid to the Romans to keep them away from Egypt.
She came to reign in 51B.C.and was of 17 years of age. She was the only Ptolemic Pharoah to speak the Egyptian language. She also took on the Egyptian religion. She was very intelligent and was a shrewd politician with an extraordinary charisma. However, she was not beautiful and had a much masculine features.
She was very will-powered; her struggle began after being exiled to Syria with her sister by her brother, husband and Co-regent Ptolemy XIII. When Cleopatra became co-regent, her world was crumbling down around her. Cyprus, Syria and other capitals were gone. There was anarchy abroad and famine at home.
Between 51 and 49 BC, Egypt was suffering from bad harvests and famine because of a drought which stopped the much needed Nile flooding. Regardless, she started an army from the Arab tribes which were east of Pelusium. During this time, she and her sister Arsinoe moved to Syria. They returned by way of Ascalon which may have been Cleopatra's temporary base.
In the meantime, Pompey had been defeated at Pharsalus in August of 48 BC. He headed for Alexandria hoping to find refuge with Ptolemy XIII, of whom Pompey was a senate-appointed guardian. Pompey did not realize how much his reputation had been destroyed by Pharsalus until it was too late.
She started to go to war with her brother. This occurred after the death of Pompey, who had sought refuge from Caesar to Egypt but was stabbed to death once he came ashore to Alexandria by Ptolemy’s advisors.
Caesar who was on Pompey’s tail, arrived in Alexandria 4 days later. There he acclaimed to be the ruler of Egypt bringing with him thirty-two hundred legionaries and eight hundred cavalry. He also brought twelve other soldiers who bore the insignia of the Roman government who carried a bundle of rods with an ax with a blade that projected out. This was considered a badge of authority that gave a clear hint of his intentions.
There were riots that followed in Alexandria. Ptolemy XIII was gone to Pelusium and Caesar placed himself in the royal palace and started giving out orders to make Ptolemy XIII return again.
Cleopatra’s cleverness led her to invite herself at Caesar’s palace. Wrapped up in a carpet she was delivered to him and as the carpet was unwrapped she appeared to him.
Being rather seductive, she lured Ceasar before Ptolemy,s arrival who upon seeing that they were in love, Screamed out Betrayal to all the Alexandrians.
The Alexandrian War was started when Pothinus called for Ptolemy XIII's soldiers in November and surrounded Caesar in Alexandria with twenty thousand men. During the war, parts of the Alexandrian Library and some of the warehouses were burned. However, Caesar did manage to capture the Pharos lighthouse, which kept his control of the harbor. Cleopatra's sister, Arsinoe, escaped from the palace and ran to Achillas. She was proclaimed the queen by the Macedonian mob and the army.
During the fighting, Caesar executed Pothinus and Achillas was murdered by Ganymede. Ptolemy XIII drowned in the Nile while he was trying to flee.
Alexandria surrendered to Caesar, who captured Arsinoe and restored Cleopatra on the throne.
Egyptian law did not allow a queen to rule without a king, so Cleopatra married another brother, Ptolemy XIV, but she was in love with Caesar. Caesar and Cleopatra spent
the next several months traveling along the Nile, where Caesar saw how the Egyptian people worshipped Cleopatra.
It was at that time that Cleopatra became pregnant with Caesars son. She later gave birth to a son, Ptolemy XV, called Caesarion or "Little Caesar." Caesar returned to Rome in 46 BCE with Cleopatra and their newborn son, Caesarion. Caesar had only one other child. Caesar was very popular with the Roman people. They named him dictator. A dictator is a ruler with complete power. Cleopatra was less popular with the Romans. She had called herself the "new Isis." Many Romans were unhappy that Caesar was planning to marry a foreigner.
On March 15, 44 BC a crowd of conspirators surrounded Caesar at a Senate meeting and stabbed him to death. Knowing that she too was in danger, Cleopatra quickly left Rome. Later her brother died and Cleopatra made her four-year-old son rule as the new king. She found Egypt suffering from plagues and famine. The Nile canals had been neglected during her absence which caused the harvests to be bad and the inundations low. The bad harvests continued from 43 until 41 BC.
