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Cleopatra - The Beginning

Cleopatra's own beauty was not in itself so remarkable; it was the impact of her spirit that was irresistible. The attraction of her person, joined with the charm of her conversation and characteristic intelligence of all that she said and did, was bewitching. It was a delight merely to hear the sound of her voice. As if this were an instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another.
(Plutarch, Antony 27.2)

was this woman, Cleopatra, who has captivated our imagination and interest across the ages? Cleopatra VII of the house of Ptolemy has appeared through the ages to contain all the elements of a woman of dreams. She captivated not one, but two Caesars and made another, one who many claim was the greatest of the three, tremble.

In June 323 BCE, when Alexander the Great died suddenly in Babylon after a short life, his Macedonian generals scrambled for the remains of his empire. The general Ptolemy, a tough and proven soldier, knew that he desired two things, the body of Alexander and the land of Egypt.

It was at the Egyptian oasis of Siwah that the oracle of Amon had saluted Alexander as the son of their god, so it was then only natural that these two items of desire went together. Thus began in Egypt the second and more remarkable career of Alexander, one that turned him from a successful conqueror into a blazing star of immortality and mythology, a cult hero and a god.

Ptolemy wanted Egypt, the richest of all of Alexander's conquests, and he knew that the possession of Alexander's corpse would give him the venerated body of a new god and a talisman of extraordinary power in the ancient land. After discussions in Babylon, Ptolemy became the Satrap of Egypt and while Perdiccas, the foremost of Alexander's generals was busy elsewhere, Ptolemy waylaid the funeral procession and took the hero's corpse to Memphis. Here the body stayed until a fitting tomb - the Sema - was prepared in Alexandria, Alexander's own city.

In the span of a hundred years or so of successful rule, the first three Ptolemies had bound their family into a close-knit dynasty and had bound that dynasty into the fabric and being of Egypt. The house of Ptolemy adopted the Egyptian practice of intermarriage within the family as well as other long standing traditions of Egyptian life and practice. The male rulers were called Ptolemy, and sometimes, as an aside, Alexander. Their co rulers, powerful Queens of the dynasty, were called Arisinoe, Berenice or Cleopatra.

The Ptolemies give the appearance of having adapted excellently to the traditions and practices of Egypt. From the lofty view of the court at Alexandria, the Ptolemaic kings had preserved the integrity, stability and prosperity of the country. But down on the ground, there the Egyptian fellahin rubbed against the Greek official, townsman or settler, the limited evidence seems to show that there was little meeting of the minds and very little common interests. To the native Egyptians, the Greeks were the masters who imposed upon their lives.

So, we have a picture of Ptolemaic Egypt that shows an imposing, substantial edifice built on the foundations of some three thousand years of Egyptian history. A closer look reveals a lack of cohesion in the structure though. For the Greeks, the grandeur of the conception was still attractive, but for the Egyptians, a sullen dissatisfaction became widespread as the decadence weakened the king and the court and the over centralized complicated bureaucracy became polluted by incompetence.

Cleopatra's Background

Cleopatra - The Beginning

Cleopatra's Background