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Her Story: The many faces of Cleopatra; The story of one of the few women whom even the female- erasing processes of history could not bury - the last Pharoah of Egypt!
Say "Cleopatra", and everybody will know which queen of Egypt you have in mind. "The one with Mark Antony/Julius Caesar/asps hidden in a basket/bathtubs of ass's milk." Few will tell you that her older sister was also called Cleopatra, and the sixth one at that.
So what makes THE Cleopatra (the Seventh) stand out from the rest to the extent that a numeral after her name is totally redundant? Blame it on Shakespeare, blame it on Liz Taylor and Hollywood, blame it on the old question: "femme fatale or cold-calculating queen", but the fact remains that Cleopatra was one remarkable woman.
As a descendant of the Macedonians, she was exposed to both the Greek learning and the Egyptian culture. Knowledgeable in mathematics, astronomy and medicine, she also read literature, rode on horseback and conversed in several languages (in fact, she was the first Ptolemy to speak the language of Egypt). During her rule, she decreed new laws, devalued the money to boost exports and tried to free Egypt from Rome's influence. She also bedded influential men and executed those who stood in her way.
This is her story, set against the political tumult of her time and against the responsibilities she had to face.
Cleopatra was born in 69 BC and became Queen eighteen years later. Egyptian law, however, insisted on a male consort, no matter how young, throughout her reign. She thus married her younger brother, but soon stopped using his name on official documents and dropped his portrait from the coinage.
The country Cleopatra inherited was ailing, weakened by years of drought, famine, riots and bureaucracy. The queen tried to improve the situation by cultivating a relationship with Rome. This action much alarmed her court officials, and the rumours of Cleopatra's involvement with the son of a powerful Roman leader, fuelled the fire even further. Around 48 BC her brother, encouraged by his advisors and sister Arsinoe, assumed sole control of the government and forced Cleopatra into exile.
The queen promptly gathered troops in Syria to fight the pharaoh's army....