sorcery to conquer the minds and bodies of the masses
69 BC - Cleopatra, The Intellectual Queen of Egypt
Everyone is familiar with the legend of Cleopatra, famous for her beauty, her habit of bathing in donkey's milk, and seducing both Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony of Rome.
Yet few recognize that Cleopatra VII was considered one of the most intelligent women of her time.
Cleopatra was born in 69 BC to pharaoh Ptolemy XII. Like her predecessor Hatshepsut, she became pharaoh, but she had to outwit her sibling to seize the throne of Egypt.
It seems the Greek Ptolemies were less bound by the ancient Egyptian deities' decree not to appoint women as rulers. In 81 BC, Ptolemy IX died and was succeeded by his daughter Berenice III.
However, the Egyptian court still objected to a queen reigning alone, and she married her stepson, Ptolemy XI, who promptly had her killed.
Berenice's namesake Berenice IV, Cleopatra's older sister, claimed the throne when their father, Ptolemy XII accompanied by Cleopatra, made a state visit to Rome.
Berenice was killed in 55 BC upon his return.
Ptolemy XII ruled until his death in 51 BC, when Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolemy XIII inherited the joint custody of Egypt. Their disagreement led to a civil war.
Julius Caesar, the Roman consul, intervened but was besieged, along with Cleopatra, by Ptolemy XIII.
Caesar's reinforcements lifted the siege and Ptolemy died in the 47 BC Battle of the Nile.
A posthumous painted portrait of Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt from Roman Herculaneum, made during the 1st century AD, i.e. before the destruction of Herculaneum
by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Ángel M. Felicísimo/CC BY 2.0
Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe IV was exiled to Ephesus for her role in carrying out the siege, and later killed by Cleopatra's lover, Mark Anthony.
Caesar appointed the 22-year old Cleopatra and her 12-year old youngest brother Ptolemy XIV as joint rulers, but Cleopatra would have none of sharing the throne with a brother and had him assassinated in 44 BC.
Clearly, she was a clever political strategist…
Cleopatra has been hailed as one of the most beautiful women on earth, but it seems her beauty was reflected in her intellect.
pt 1
Plutarch acknowledges in his Life of Antony, ( XXVII.2-3):
"For her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her; but converse with her had an irresistible charm, and her presence, combined with the persuasiveness of her discourse and the character which was somehow diffused about her behavior towards others, had something stimulating about it.There was sweetness also in the tones of her voice; and her tongue, like an instrument of many strings, she could readily turn to whatever language she pleased…''
As a royal princess, Cleopatra's childhood tutor was Philostratos, who taught her oration and philosophy.
She was the first Greek pharaoh to learn ancient Egyptian, she could interpret hieroglyphs, and she was of course fluent in Greek - her native language - as well as the languages of the,
Parthians, Jews, Medes, Trogodyatae, Syrians, Ethiopians, and Arabs…
She studied,geography, history, astronomy, international diplomacy, mathematics, alchemy, medicine, zoology, economics and more…
With an obvious flair for languages and given her history with Caesar and Mark Anthony, she probably accomplished Latin as well.
(1888) by John William Waterhouse.
Cleopatra is one of the most famous queens in history.
Like an ancient Estee Lauder, she manufactured cosmetics in her laboratory and wrote a few works related to herbs and cosmetology.
Her work was well-known during the first centuries of Christianity, but sadly all her books were destroyed in the fire of 391 AD, when the great Library of Alexandria was incinerated.
Cleopatra herself had studied as a student at the Library of Alexandria.
During the Roman Liberator's War, Cleopatra sided with Mark Anthony and sailed at the head of her own fleet to his aid. Unfortunately, her ships were severely damaged in a Mediterranean storm and she arrived too late to participate in the battle.
Her later alliance with Mark Anthony secured her the former Ptolemaic territories in the Levant, including nearly all of, Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon), Ptolemais Akko (modern Acre in Israel), the region of Coele-Syria along the upper Orontes River the region surrounding Jericho in Palestine, which she leased back to Herod
She also gained a portion of the Nabataean Kingdom, Cyrene along the Libyan coast, and Itanos and Olous in Roman Crete, proving once again what she lacked in military strength, she made up for in clever strategy.
Cleopatra was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt and after her death in 30 BC, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire.
When Cleopatra died her intellectual legacy was transferred to her daughter with Mark Anthony, Cleopatra Selene.
She married the future king Juba II of Mauretania, a great intellectual himself, who encouraged his wife to cultivate the memory of her great mother.
https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia3/historia_humanidad272.htm
pt 2 end