Cleopatra VIIكليوباترا السابعة

Cleopatra was born around 69 BC into the Ptolemaic dynasty, the family of Macedonian Greek kings descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals, who had ruled Egypt from the city of Alexandria for nearly three centuries. On the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, she came to the throne around 51 BC, at first as co-ruler with her younger brother Ptolemy XIII, whom she married in keeping with dynastic custom — a partnership that soon collapsed into civil war. Highly educated and famously fluent in many languages, she is said to have been the first ruler of her Greek dynasty to bother learning the Egyptian language, and she presented herself to her people as the living embodiment of the goddess Isis. She inherited a kingdom weakened by debt and unrest, and worked to steady it.

Cleopatra's great challenge was the rising power of Rome, on which Egypt increasingly depended. When Rome's own civil war spilled into Egypt, she allied herself with Julius Caesar — by tradition having herself smuggled into his presence to plead her cause — and with his backing secured her throne. She bore him a son, Caesarion ("little Caesar"). After Caesar's assassination, she formed an even closer alliance, and a celebrated romance, with the Roman general Mark Antony, with whom she had three children. These were not merely love affairs but calculated politics: by binding herself to Rome's strongest men, Cleopatra protected Egypt's wealth and independence in a world Rome was rapidly swallowing.

Cleopatra's alliance with Antony brought her into direct conflict with his rival, Octavian (the future emperor Augustus), who turned Roman opinion against her with a fierce propaganda campaign portraying her as a dangerous foreign temptress. Rome declared war, and at the great naval Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Octavian shattered the combined fleet of Antony and Cleopatra. The pair fled back to Egypt. As Octavian closed in the following year, Antony took his own life, and soon after, in August 30 BC, Cleopatra ended her own — famously said to have been by the bite of an asp, though the true method is uncertain. She chose death rather than be paraded as a captive through the streets of Rome.

Cleopatra's death marked one of history's great turning points. With her gone, Octavian had her son Caesarion killed, ending the Ptolemaic line, and Egypt was absorbed into the Roman Empire as a province. The civilisation of the pharaohs — which had endured for some three thousand years — was over. Cleopatra's tomb, where she is believed to have been buried with Antony, has never been found, and is still searched for today. Much of her popular image was shaped by hostile Roman writers and, later, by Shakespeare and Hollywood; but modern historians emphasise that her real power lay less in legendary beauty than in her intelligence, charisma, and political genius — the last great ruler of an independent Egypt.

• Who she was: the last pharaoh of ancient Egypt and final ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
• Arabic name: كليوباترا السابعة (Cleopatra VII), full name Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator.
• Reign: 51–30 BC; born c. 69 BC.
• Dynasty: the Macedonian Greek Ptolemies, ruling from Alexandria since Alexander the Great.
• Notable: highly educated and multilingual; said to be the first Ptolemy to learn Egyptian; identified with Isis.
• Roman ties: allied with Julius Caesar (son Caesarion) and Mark Antony (three children).
• Downfall: defeated with Antony at the Battle of Actium, 31 BC.
• Death: by her own hand in 30 BC (traditionally an asp's bite; method uncertain).
• Aftermath: Egypt became a Roman province, ending 3,000 years of pharaonic rule.

Sources include the World History Encyclopedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, National Geographic, and historical accounts of Cleopatra VII, the Ptolemies, and the Battle of Actium.