Cleopatra wanted her son, Caesarion, to be Caesar's heir and to eventually become ruler of Rome. Octavian was the legal heir of Julius Caesar. They also formed a military alliance against another of Rome's leaders, Octavian. In 41 BC, Cleopatra and Marc Antony met and fell in love. One of the three leaders to emerge in Rome after Caesar's death was Marc Antony. In 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated and Cleopatra returned to Egypt. She was a popular ruler among the people of Egypt both because she embraced the Egyptian culture and because the country was prosperous during her rule. She built up the Egyptian economy, establishing trade with many Arab nations. Cleopatra visited Rome and stayed at one of Caesar's country houses.ĭespite her romance with Caesar, Cleopatra wanted Egypt to remain independent of Rome. She would first rule alongside another younger brother, Ptolemy XIV, and later, after Ptolemy XIV died, she ruled with her son Ptolemy Caesarion.Ĭleopatra and Julius Caesar fell in love. Caesar defeated Ptolemy's army at the Battle of the Nile and Ptolemy drowned in the Nile River while trying to escape. She met with Caesar and convinced him to help her win back the throne. Cleopatra snuck back into the palace hidden inside a rolled up carpet. In 48 BC, Julius Caesar arrived in Egypt. Eventually he forced Cleopatra from the palace and took over as Pharaoh. However, as her brother grew older he began to want more power. Cleopatra and her ten-year-old brother were married and were to rule Egypt as co-rulers.īecause she was much older, Cleopatra quickly took control as the main ruler of Egypt. He left the throne to both her and her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII. When Cleopatra was eighteen years old her father died. Unlike many of her relatives, however, Cleopatra also learned many other languages including Egyptian and Latin. Cleopatra grew up speaking, reading, and writing Greek. Even though they ruled Egypt, they were actually of Greek descent. They were the Ptolemy dynasty that had been established by the Greek ruler Alexander the Great. A haunting depiction of one of the most infamous moments in history, his retelling is rich with context, dramatic ironies and illustrative details, including glimpses into the Roman Senates’ plotting and the chaotic violence of the ultimate act.Cleopatra's family had ruled Egypt for 300 years. More than earning his multi-hyphenate status, during his life he served as a tutor to the children of Antony and Cleopatra and met, as an emissary, the emperor Augustus, writing, among other works, his biography – from which this vivid account of Julius Caesar’s assassination is excerpted. Nicolaus of Damascus was a prominent Jewish writer, philosopher and statesman of the first centuries BCE and CE. ‘The body of Caesar lay just where it fell, ignominiously stained with blood – a man who had advanced westward as far as Britain and the Ocean, and who had intended to advance eastward against the realms of the Parthians and Indians, so that, with them also subdued, an empire of all land and sea might be brought under the power of a single head.

Cleopatra and julius caesar painting