Celina Gomez Mrs. Bosch Honors English 10P 9 February 2010 Queen Cleopatra of Egypt The equality amongst woman and men has changed in a major way throughout time. Woman in history were very often ignored and not rewarded for their achievements or for their hard work. Although woman couldn’t make big decisions in earlier times, many of them helped change the world and everybody’s perspective on the female gender. Queen Cleopatra VII helped change the view on woman in certain ways and proved to her people that she can rule Egypt as well as a male could have done it.
And because these women had their minds set to prove everybody wrong, the world now has equality with men and women. Cleopatra VII, who is now known as Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, was born in Alexandria in the year of 69 BC. Her father was King Ptolemy Auletes and her mother was Cleopatra V. Although Queen Cleopatra and her family ruled Egypt, they were not Egyptian. They are said to be Macedonian, coming from descendants of Macedonia. Queen Cleopatra was the third born child of six. She had two older sisters, Cleopatra VI and Berenice IV, a younger sister, Arsinoe IV, and two younger brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV.
Unfortunately, death came soon for her older sister Cleopatra, she died as a child, for her other older sister Berenice, whom was beheaded by her father, and also for her father, Ptolemy Auletes. After the death of her two sisters and father, Queen Cleopatra and the rest of her family were put under Pompey‘s guardianship. The young Cleopatra became fatherless at the age of eighteen, which is when she started her reign in Egypt in 51 BC. The rest of her family, which consisted of her mother, her younger sister Arsinoe, and her two brothers weren’t very united or close.
They didn’t have much of a family bond and they didn’t seem to have much importance for each other. Her father wanted Cleopatra to inherit his reign and he passed it on to her, but in order for her to be the queen, she had to get married. Since they all believed in keeping the royal blood together, she decided to marry her younger brother Ptolemy XVIII who was twelve years old at the time. Although Queen Cleopatra’s family never mentioned it, they were all jealous of her for inheriting the reign and they often threatened her and tried to end her life so the reign can be theirs.
Another wonderful and interesting thing about Queen Cleopatra was that she was highly educated, unlike any other women in her era. In the earlier times, it was very hard and rare to find a woman that had an education at such an early age or at any age at all. Women never had the choice of getting an education but she was fortunate enough to get one and at a very young age. Not only did she have a great education, but she also spoke a variety of languages. In fact she was the only one in her family to speak the Egyptian language even though they lived in Egypt and ruled it.
Cleopatra got her courage and inspiration from her loved ones such as Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and her four children. Her first child was Ptolemy Caesarion which was said to be Julius Ceasars son. Her other children were fathered by her husband Mark Antony, which were the twins, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene and a younger boy named Ptolemy Philadelphus. They all inspired her to try to keep Egypt in good shape and to give her inspiration because it was very difficult for her to rule being a woman. Her courage also came from her people and she also affected them greatly with inspiration.
While Cleopatra was married to her brother Ptolemy XVIII, he wanted to please Julius Caesar and he thought killing Pompey and taking his head back to him would make him happy, but Caesar was actually very enraged and ordered for Ptolemy’s death. Ptolemy was drowned in the Nile River, leaving Queen Cleopatra without a husband and without a throne. Cleopatra was no longer the queen until she got married, and at the time she found a new husband, Julius Caesar restored her to the throne so she can once again rule Egypt.
The queen had no choice but to marry her only brother left alive, Ptolemy XIV, and share the throne with him as her co-ruler. Later in March 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated followed by a civil war, which really hurt the Roman Empire and Queen Cleopatra’s. Luckily for her, she had Mark Antony whom she later married. He and Julius Caesar’s son, Octavion, helped her by defeating the murders of Caesar, Brutus and Cassius. With the defeat of them, the Roman Empire stayed at peace once again with Queen Cleopatra as their ruler.
Just a few days later, Mark Antony committed suicide thinking that Cleopatra was dead. When Cleopatra found out about Mark Antony’s death, she too killed herself for she rathered not live than be alone. Cleopatra achieved many goals and accomplished many things. During her reign, she promoted herself relentlessly making public displays of her powers. She also led significant rituals and inspired great affection and loyalty among her people. Queen Cleopatra also helped Egypt survive severe droughts and launched economic reforms.
Throughout Cleopatra’s ruling era, she proved to her people and to everybody that women can also do the job that a man is meant to do. She helped the world change and proved men wrong, showing that woman can have a big part in everybody’s life and that they should not be treated differently than men. In conclusion, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt helped the women from all times, even now because without her nobody would believe in how much a woman can do. Also woman wouldn’t want to stand up for themselves and thanks to her and many other famous historical women, women have gained their rights and are now equal among men.
