The Legacy of Cleopatra VII History Essay Example

The legacy of Cleopatra VII begins in Alexandria, Egypt 69 BCE. Schiff, Stacy. Cleopatra: A Life. Little, Brown and Company, 2010. (Schiff 1). Cleopatra VII was the last female Pharaoh of Egypt. Cleopatra VII was born into a dynasty of pharaohs, her father Ptolemy XII Auletes was pharaoh at the time. Out of her family dynasty of 300 years, Cleopatra VII ran 21 years. Way after Cleopatra VII passed her legacy continued till today she has had movies, books, magazines, and television shows. Crawford, Amy. “Who Was Cleopatra?” Smithsonian, Smithsonian.com, 31 Mar. 2007, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-was-cleopatra-151356013/.Cleopatra VII has made multiple impacts on Egypt’s history and her footprint continues to lead nowadays. Cleopatra VII’s impact on Egypt made her have the Legacy she has now. 

At the young age of 18,  Cleopatra VII was put into power in Egypt after her father Ptolemy XII Auletes died. With her being young and now being CO in charge of Egypt with her brother Ptolemy XIII which she had to marry, the marriage didn’t sit right with Cleopatra VII since she was mainly independent with her decisions. Cleopatra VII was born with Intelligence which helped her lead Egypt during Rome’s trying to attack Egypt’s land. During young age, Cleopatra VII took into note that Ptolemy XII's biggest goal, while he ruled, was to get Rome’s threats under control."Cleopatra, VII." Historic World Leaders, edited by Anne Commire, Gale, 1994. Gale In Context: World History,  link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1616000147/WHIC?u=xroads&sid=bookmark-WHIC&xid=00533ef0. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021. Rome still had an issue with Egypt while Cleopatra VII was in power, Cleopatra VII tried to think of plans on how to stop the issue of Rome and their planned takeover of Egypt. While Cleopatra VII was still in the power of the throne with her brother Ptolemy XIII she did not like sharing the throne and wanted to overthrow him. Once Ptolemy XIII heard about Cleopatra VII’s plan, Ptolemy XIII ran Cleopatra VII out of Egypt into Syria. 

Cleopatra VII wanted to move back to Egypt to reclaim her throne after being booted off to Syria and do what was right for Egypt. While in Syria “Cleopatra VII fled to Syria, where she raised an army of mercenaries to defeat her brother to declare the throne for herself. ” Partners, Blenheim.  CLEOPATRA WAS the LAST PHARAOH of EGYPT, and the LAST of the PTOLEMY DYNASTY of EGYPTIAN RULERS Background. 2012. When the time had come when Cleopatra VII  felt like her army was complete she returned to Egypt to try to reclaim her throne from her brother Ptolemy XIII.  They battled which Cleopatra VII lost. After the siblings' battle, a war was occurring with the great Julius Caesar. Caesar was Rome's dictator which was great for Cleopatra VII since she was brainstorming ideas to help Egypt take back control of Rome trying to take over. Cleopatra VII got close with Caesar which later led them to grow attraction towards each other. They had a son named Ptolemy Caesar.  

Time passed Caesar got assassinated which left Cleopatra VII devastated in Rome with her short-time lover gone. Andrews, Evan. “10 Little-Known Facts about Cleopatra.” History.com, 12 Aug. 2015, www.history.com/news/10-little-known-facts-about-cleopatra. 2021. Shortly after her lover, Caesar was assassinated she met a man named Mark Antony who was very attracted to Cleopatra VII. They fell in lust with each other and had twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene. After the birth of the twins, Antony was a trader behind Cleopatra VII back. Antony worked with Octavia Rome’s enemy while secretly keeping a relationship with Cleopatra VII, in Antony's mind he believed he could help Cleopatra VII take over while partnering with Egypt’s enemy Octavia of Rome.  Antony’s plan didn’t go according to plan because both of his partners found out which led both women to go into warfighting to claim one other’s land, in this case, Cleopatra VII tried to expand Egypt’s land with Rome’s called The Battle of Actium. Octavia won The battle of Actium but wasn’t done trying to claim what was rightfully hers. “The Battle of Actium.” HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, 9 Feb. 2010, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-battle-of-actium. Antony and Cleopatra VII escaped their defeat back to Egypt but Octavia came back for more. Octavia came and took over Egypt while Cleopatra VII was helpless, with her attempt to stop the Romans from taking over she failed terribly. Soon Cleopatra VII was at rest and decided to kill herself with the defeat of the Roman take over.

Cleopatra VII had a nice legacy from being the last female pharaoh of Egypt, taking control of the throne, affairs with Caesar and Antony, trying to stop the Romans from taking over, and her battle with Octavia.