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Margaret Foley, Cleopatra, odeled ca. 1871, carved 1876

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Cleopatra is born into the Ptolomeic royal dynasy that rules over Ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic period. This Macedonian Greek rule lasts from 305 to 30 BC. Her childhood is spent in the royal palace in Alexandria.

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Painted image of Cleopatra from a villa at Herculaneum. 1 AD,

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Following her father's, King Ptolemy XII death, Cleopatra and her ten-year old brother Ptolemy XIII, ascend to the throne of Egypt. For political reasons and to prevent struggle for power it was expected and highly probable that they were married.

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Vincenzo Camuccini  (1771 -1844) - The Assassination of Julius Caesar

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Soon afer her father's death, Cleopatra is exiled out of Egypt and finds refuge in Rome. There, she enters into a political as well as sexual relationship with Julius Caesar. The Roman ruler helps her regain the Egyptian throne and she marries her other brother Ptolemy XIV. She also gives birth to a boy, presumably Julius Caesar's son and names him Caesarion. She kills her brother to clear the way for her son's ascendance to power. Meanwhile, in Rome, a group of senators assassinate her lover and benefactor.

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Giovanni Battista Tiepolo - Banquet of Anthony and Cleopatra

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"Anthony and Cleopatra were right; they have shown the way. I  love you or I don't live at all" writes William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) in his poem "The Ivy Crown".  Roman general Marc Anthony and Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII meet during the bitter civil war for control of the Roman Empire and so begins one of the most famous love affairs in the history of the mankind.

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Juan Luna - The Death of Cleopatra Queen of Egypt 1881

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Armies of Anthony and Cleopatra were defeated at Actium by combined fleets of Octavian, future Roman Emperor Augustus. This debacle precipitated a split between the lovers and their love affair began to fray. Eventually, facing humiliation and death, both committed suicides.
So ends the tragic life of a woman who was a semi-goddess of Alexandria, last Empress of Egypt, lover of Roman Caesar, wife of a Roman Consul and General and the last of the
progeny of Alexander the Great.