Empires: Cleopatra and the Romans Part Five

For a little background on the personalities behind this story why don't we start with Cleopatra first? It seems to me that we hear so little about the women in history-especially ancient-compared to men. The four major players in this story are very intersting. I wonder what made Cleopatra so special that she became the lover of two of Rome's most powerful men. She was even the mother of their children. Cleopatra must have been very self-confident. I think she must have felt such a huge sense of accomplishment in promoting Egypt's greatness, and in doing so had clearly had a desire that Egypt's grandeur was to be continued after her death. I think this is in great constrast to some ancient and modern rulers who only cared about the power and glory of the nations they ruled over while they were still alive. I think some rulers of empires and modern nations maybe even intentionally sabotaged, or tried to, the people who would come after them, so that the time of their rule would be seen as a better, golden era.

Cleopatra also could probably not help but feel far superior to her brothers in her rulership. We can be sure that though she appreciated the fact that in being from Ptolemaic Egypt, women could hold positions of power unattainable by other women in the ancient world. She realized that her brothers were not as strong, competent and capable of maintaining Egypt's glory. In a world dominated by men, Cleopatra had intelligently realized that to achieve her goals she would have to deal with other men, far different from her brothers. Another thing that may have increased her sense of confidence and worth, was the cult of the goddess Isis. Cleopatra was considered a genuine goddess in Egypt. However, in other parts of the world this was not necesssarily the case. Cleopatra was assimilated to the cult of Isis. Completely independent of her, this cult was gaining ground in the West. The reason for this was the goddess's attractiveness to sailors and merchants throughout the Meditteranean world. The adoration of this goddess made her human counterpart more acceptable to worship.

Cleopatra also seems to have been a lively and attractive; perhaps beautiful woman. She also must have been a very intelligent woman and spoke several languages. This included the language of the nation she ruled. Cleopatra was the first member of the Ptolemaic dynasty to feel that it was important to be able to converse in Egytptian. She also seems to have had an affection and concern for her subjects and was responsive to their material and spiritual needs. The people of Egypt returned her affection. Later historians attributed a remorseless and unfeeling nature to her character that absolutely must be examined in the light of the era she lived in and in the dynasty she came from. The Ptolemies were a family that was no stranger to ruthlessness and back-stabbing. Also, Cleopatra's ambitions for Egypt and herself do not seem to have been base and coarse, especially when one considers other rulers of her time. There is also evidence that she truly loved Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, and that this fascinating woman was not just using them in a 'great game' of political intrigue. The image is of Bast or Bastet, an ancient Egyptian solar and war goddess. I hope to have the next segment here very soon. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Empires: Cleopatra and the Romans Part Four

In one of the many great ironies of history, it was Cleopatra who supported Pompey the Great in his war with Julius Caesar when she began her political alliance with Rome. Caesar pursued Pompey and attacked Ptolemy XIII (Cleopatra's brother) for harboring him. Ptolemy expelled his sister, Cleopatra, because his position was made more fragile by these attacks and he did not want to give Cleopatra a chance to take advantage of his weakened position. Cleopatra tried to raise an army during her exile in Arabia and Palestine. Contemporary coins minted at Ascalon (a coastal city in what is now modern Israel) show this. However, before anything could happen, a clash between Caesar and Pompey became the focus of attention. Caesar defeated Pompey at Pharsalus in Thessaly in 48 B.C. Caesar then restored Cleopatra to Egypt's throne. By this time they were already lovers. Cleopatra, very smartly, used this personal and political alliance with Julius Caesar and Rome to expand her sphere of influence outside of Egypt. Cleopatra's power was greatly reinforced when she became the mother of Caesar's only son, Caesarion, in 47 B.C.

When Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C., Cleopatra then entered into a political alliance with Mark Antony that had even greater consequences. Again she extended her power by becoming the mother of Mark Antony's twins, Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios in 41 B.C. and whom he recognized in 37 B.C. Yet a third child, Ptolemy Philadelphus was born in 36 B.C. During this personal and political alliance Mark Antony returned part of the old Ptolemaic empire, including Cyrenaica (the eastern coastal region of Libya) to Egyptian rule. In 34 B.C., Antony and Cleopatra received additional 'donations', which consisted of all the lands once ruled by Alexander the Great. Antony appointed Cleopatra and her children to rule over them. This made Cleopatra "Queen of Kings" and her son Ptolemy Caesar (Caesarion) "King of Kings". Their domain now included not only Egypt, but also the entire empire east and west of the Euphrates, including Cyrenaica.

These generous 'gifts' to Cleopatra put Mark Antony's loyalty to Rome in doubt. The Roman Senate even refused to approve of them. Octavian (Augustus Caesar) was able to make use of Antony's autocratic style and a vicious propaganda war ensued between them. Perhaps the couple thought that Cleopatra's vast wealth, army and naval fleet would protect them. Antony also had a few senatorial friends left in Rome. However, when the contents of Antony's will were made known, first by former allies, then read by Octavian to the Senate himself, the balance of power shifted greatly in favor of Ocatvian. It is not known if the contents of the will were even true and may have been fabricated by Antony's enemies. The Roman people already had suspicions about Mark Antony. Yet when they heard about the will giving Roman land to Egypt, Antony recognizing Caesarion as Caesar's son and that Mark Antony intended to be buried in Alexandria rather than Rome, they claimed to be shocked and demanded war. When the populace demanded war this played right into Octavian's hands. The result of this was Octavian meeting Mark Antony and Cleopatra on the seas near Actium. This led to a great victory for Octavian and the double suicides of Antony and Cleopatra in Alexandria. These are the broad facts of the story. Now I want to go a little further by examining Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Octavian's personalities and interactions in a little more depth. I hope anyone stopping by has enjoyed this small series. I hope to have the next post about it here very soon. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Empires: Cleopatra and the Romans Part Three

Cleopatra was born to Ptolemy XII in 69 B.C. In the old tradition she married her two brothers Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV in succession. These were marriages in name only. The boys were younger than Cleopatra, and were not in very good health. We wonder if Cleopatra realized early on that her brothers lacked her strength and that she would have to find a completely different type of man to make Egypt an even greater kingdom than it already was.

Rome and Egypt had interacted before Cleopatra's reign. Sulla had a great deal to do with Ptolemy XI being installed as Egypt's king. However, he was overthrown. The father of Cleopatra, Ptolemy XII was chosen by the Alexandrian court to replace him. Ptolemy XII and his wife, Cleopatra V appeared to have continued the Ptolemaic tradition of living the good life which drained Egypt's wealth. They made good relations with Rome one of their highest goals. The royal couple's extravagant spending and their love of Rome was not welcome to the Alexandrians, who then proceeded to remove them from power. However, considerable effort was put in trying to put them back on their thrones by Rome. Three Romans were trying to make Egypt a Roman possession at this time. Pompey the Great who had just had a major victory over the Seleucids thought that if he was able to achieve victory over the Ptolemies, that his usurpation of Egypt and it's enormous treasury would give him a great power base. Pompey's fellow triumvirs, Crassus and Caesar had the same ideas. As the three me tried to make Egypt a Roman province or possession their attemps ended up effectively nullifying each other's striving for victory. Cato the Younger, also an ambitious Roman, defeated Ptolemy XII's younger brother, also called Ptolemy, who had ruled over Cyprus, and then proceeded to commit suicide after his loss.

Ptolemy XII was blamed for losing Cyprus. He then fled to the island of Rhodes and left most of his family behind. Cleopatra VI of Tryphaena was appointed queen. However, Ptolemy XII's second daughter, Berenice IV was considered to be in control in some areas of Egypt. This situation was good for the two sisters only for a small time. Cleopatra, while all of this was going on enjoyed seeing the world with her father in exile. I wonder if this is part of what began her fascination with other nations and languages. The royal exiles eventually mad their way back to Alexandria. Ptolemy XII's wife seems to have died of natural causes; he ordered the murder of his eldest daughter for trying to take his throne. This did gain Ptolemy XII back the throne of Egypt, however it bankrupted both his authority and wealth. Ptolemy XII began a personal decline from which he never recovered.

These events led to a power vacuum and a power struggle behind the scenes for the throne of Egypt. It is believed that Ptolemy XII wanted to be succeeded by his eldest living daughter (Cleopatra VII-'our' Cleopatra) and his eldest living son. The reality of this situation was far different than he would have hoped. The daughter and the son were competing for power and supported by different factions. Cleopatra was more competent than her brother, but the tendency towards patriarchy in Ptolemaic society led to co-rule. Ptolemaic society was not as tilted towards patriarchy as other societies and nations of the day were. The image is of Ptolemy XII, Cleopatra's father. I hope to have the next post here very soon, tomorrow if all goes well. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Empires: Cleopatra and the Romans Part Two

The Ptolemies ruled over a nation of vast wealth. The production of grain in Egypt alone, made it the largest producer of grain in the Meditteranean. Egyptians also produced papyrus, wool, salt, cloth, perfume and oil. These were made in royal factories. However the local merchants, artisans and tradesmen benefited from Egypt's becoming a nation that circulated substantive coinage. Egypt would not have had coinage without Greek leadership because Egyptians believed gold belonged to the gods, not to commerce and industry. The Ptolemies inherited a splendid harbor at Alexandria which they enhanced with a magnificent lighthouse. The Ptolemies established the world's largest and most comprehensive library at Alexandria. This was next to a museum for teaching and learning. Each new generation added a new part to the Ptolemaic palace, resulting in a structure that seemed to twist and turn endlessly.

The Egyptian priesthood gave its members status and a leadership position in Egyptian society. The Ptolemies put considerable effort and resources to building a re-building temples. The priesthood was also hereditary and under Cleopatra the high priests of Memphis were influential. The priests performed their duties at cult sites honoring the traditional Greek divinities, Alexander the Great and the Ptolemaic dynasts. Cleopatra and her brothers were regarded as the intermediaries between the Egyptian gods and the Egyptian people. But it was the priests who had the duties of maintaining the order and sanctity of the Egyptian universe. These gods were not only worshipped in temples, but also in private guilds, clubs and homes. Because the Ptolemies were seen as gods themselves there was a very close relation between them and the Egyptian priesthood. The Ptolemies were right alongside the pantheon of Egyptian gods. Cleopatra was a genuine goddess and shared this status with other family members.

The royal burial ground was near the palace in the reign of Ptolemy I Soter. It would of course be used for the interment of the remains of the newly minted dynasty. Ptolemy I, showing the good mind for business that almost all of his family seemed to possess planned to make it into a tourist attraction! His plan was bold. He must have been thinking, "Wouldn't having Alexander the Great's body buried within Alexandria's city walls make it a wonderful attraction." However, Alexander's body was on it's way to his homeland in Macedon. Ptolemy pirated the corpse and had it taken back to Alexandria. Having the remains of Alexander the Great inside the city made it a stopping point for untold numbers of people. The interest in it continued into Roman times. Octavian (Augustus Caesar) himself made a pilgrimage to see it and one wonders if his own inclinations towards starting a dynasty began with seeing how the Ptolemies carried out their plans. The image is of Apollodorus unwrapping Cleopatra before an astonished Julius Caesar. There is a very interesting story behind this that will come later. I should point out that it appears that not all historians are convinced of its veracity. I hope to have the next post here very soon, maybe even tomorrow if all goes well. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Empires: Cleopatra and the Romans Part One

A lot of my thinking about empires and the study of the personalities behind them always seems to return to Alexander the Great and the empire he forged during his very short time on earth. He seems to me to be a kind of archetype, when I think about the men who would build empires in later times. Many of the later Roman emperors tried to emulate him. To start this new series I do not want to begin with him, although I do want to talk about him later, but I do want to start with a group of people, one of whom ruled a nation aas a direct result of Alexander the Great's conquests. This person was Cleopatra who was the most powerful woman in the first century before Christ. The Ptolemaic dynasty that she had been born into traced it's history back to Alexander. After Alexander's death in 323 B.C., his empire was divided between his loyal generals. Ptolemy I Soter was a childhood friend of Alexander, a great general and also a writer who helped record the life of Alexander as well as his own. Thus the Ptolemaic dynasty he began in Egypt was not Egyptian, but Macedonian. In the 50 years after Alexander's death, Macedon and the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires were the most succesful. The three were rival empires and vied for Greece, Syria and Palestine. However, it wasn't in the art of war that their competition reached its peak. These empires tried to outshine each other in the cultural and artistic realms. There was fierce competition to have the more ostentatious palaces and libraries. The Ptolemies had no peer in luxurious living and conspicuous consumption. Alexander founded the city of Alexandria in Egypt in 323 B.C. and this was also where the unparalleled Library of Alexandria was.

The Ptolemaic dynasty established in Egypt brought considerable stability. Not only did the city of Alexandria grow, but other regions in Egypt as well. The Ptolemies did base the structure of their rule on the previous 30 centuries of Pharahonic governance. This was a large bureaucracy that had to be run at both the small and large levels as a great deal of government and bureaucratic work was totally involved with what the annual flooding of the Nile would bring. The Ptolemies were very smart in the way they governed Egypt and did not take down succesful, pre-existing structures, but only made slight changes when they were called for. It was a very inflexible and hieratic dynasty thay placed Cleopatra and her brothers at the top. They were viewed in the same way as their pharaonic forebears.

The Macedonian Greek heritage of the Ptolemies made Egypt a very important part of the Hellenistic world. Egypt was the richest and longest lasting of Alexander the Great's decision to divide his empire between his loyal generals. When Egypt fell to Rome, Egypt was considered to be too precious to be governed by the Roman Senate. Egypt to a large degree became Rome's bread basket and was made an imperial province. Augustus kept his watchful eye on Egypt and entrusted his new possession to only equestrian leadership. The equestrians were a distinct order of Knights between the Senate and the plebs. The people picked by the Emperor to run Egypt had only him to answer to and not the Senate.

The rule of Ptolemaic Egypt was a family run affair. In Ptolemaic Egypt brothers married their sisters. This could have been inspired by the ancient Egyptian mythology of Isis and Osiris. This practice gave the Ptolemaic princesses authority that few ancient women had. The brothers were always named Ptolemy and the sisters were named Cleopatra, Arsinoes and Berenices. Royal titles emphasized family relations. Philometor and Philopator meant mother and father loving respectively. Philadelphus meant brother and sister loving. The ruling father always named his son as his successor and also married their choice to their sister. The incestuous way this was carried out ensured predictability during times of succcession. But it didn't always guarantee loyalty between family members, as we will see in Cleopatra's case. The image is a mosaic of Alexander the Great. I hope to have the next part to the story here very soon-perhaps tomorrow if time permits. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Rome: Republic to Empire

For some background to the posts that I hope to have here in the very near future, I thought it would be good to talk about a little Roman history. Rome was initially similar to other Meditteranean cities. It became a state by absorbing the surrounding areas of Italy. Rome grew into an empire by expanding its reach to the limits of the known world at the time. The political center of that empire grew, and for the ancients was the greatest city ever known. Greek commentators like Polybius and others praised the excellences of it's constitution and the cohesiveness of it's social order. In Rome, all of it's citizens served in the legions, paid taxes, elected the magistrates, made the laws and even decided on such questions as peace and war. Politics was everyone's business it was the res publica.

The reality of the situation was that it was easy to see that a certain class of privileged individuals held more political power than the mass of the citizenry. This class would have excluded foreigners, women and slaves. The censors kept an eye on the fortune and honor of each citizen; regulated his role in political life along with his military and fiscal contributions. The wealthiest citizens and those fortunate enough to be born into Rome's aristocratic families formed an oligarchy which split among itself the offices of magistrate, military commander and priest. The power struggles between patricians and plebeians in the early years of the republic had led to an expansion of this 'nobility'. In the later republic it was very rare for this class to open itself up to 'new men'. These were usually men who had shown great military talents and sometimes political ones.

The Roman city-state was first and foremost a community of warriors. The existence of universal military service meant that citizens could be mobilized between the age of seventeen and sixty. This distinguished Rome in a very important way from Carthage and the Hellensitic kingdoms who only had mercenaries. The defeated powers also provided soldiers for Rome's further conquests.

The Senate intially controlled Rome's expansionist tendencies, which were bound up with it's desire to ensure it's own security. The Senate during the republic was sort of a permanent council made up of former magistrates. The Senate's duties also included receiving ambassadors and ruled over allocation of the budget. Rome's early conquests were confined to Italy. Through the elaboration of a variety of diplomatic contacts with thee Italian peninsula's ethnically and culturally heterogenous communities, and in organizing the Italian geographical area by building roads and founding colonies, Rome laid the groundwork for unification which Hannibal's political strategy did little to damage. When Hannibal presented himself as the liberator of Italy, he was only able to win the support of a section of the Campanians. More than a million Italians acceded to Roman citizenship after the Social War. This revolutionized the structures of the city for good.

When Rome attacked Carthage, which controlled the western Meditteranean, it was entering a conflict with incalculable consequences. It was the first military intervention as a sea power and it's first outside of Italy. The Second Punic War extended the field of battle to Sicily, Spain, Africa, parts of the Greek world and Italy. The Third Punic War showed that Rome was capable of destroying anyone who fought her power. Rome conquered Carthage and also established her power over the Hellenistic kingdoms. The profits from these conquests were so great that after 167 B.C., Romans no longer paid any direct taxes. However, social tensions were growing. Rome had to modify it's conditions for recruiting soldiers under Marius, and the way in which Rome allocated important military commands were also changed in the first century B.C. The economic and social system began to come under a great deal of strain and the cohesion of the political system diminished, despite attempts at reform such as those of the Gracchi. The clash of ambitions between the military leaders who had dominated parts of the East(Sulla,Pompey) and the West (Julius Caesar) led to the Empire. This was just a very, very short bit about Roman history. I want to do a lot more with Roman history in the future and the coming series touches on quite a bit of it. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Empires: An Introduction Post

One of the constants in the study of the rise and fall of empires that I hope to show is that the power of these nations or blocs of nations is never constant. Their power is always in a state of flux with regard to themselves and that of other areas of the world and competing powers. The economic, military and technological superiority of the powerful nations and empires of the world is always changing during their time on the world's stage. This is largely because of the bumpy stops and starts in the rates of growth of these nations and the technological and organizational discoveries always seem to bring more advantages to one nation or empire than others. In broad terms, when an empire's productive capacity is enlarged it would normally be easier for it to sustain massive military budgets in peacetime and of sustaining and supplying military might in times of war. I think that all empires need a source of wealth to sustain their military power and that this military power is almost always used to acquire more wealth and territory. However, if a particular empire spends too much wealth on its military instead of on ways to create more wealth this leads to long term disadvantages and even the beginning of the end for some empires-perhaps the Soviet empire is just one example of this. Also if an empire overextends itself by constantly waging war and acquiring new territories the potential benefits from such expansion can be weakened or even cause the collapse of the empire if the cost to the empire becomes too great, especially if it is in a period of economic decline or instability-perhaps ancient Rome and a place much closer to home might be examples of this:-).

Some of the interesting things to think about in the way that some of the European empires eclipsed others such as the Ottoman empire, Muscovy and the oriental empires such as Tokugawa Japan and Ming China, are the possible reasons why this happened. The European empires arose in the context of any lack of supreme power and authority. The various kingdoms and city-states were always looking for ways to improve their military might over their neighbors. This caused an enviorment where there were fewer roadblocks to change and with the advances in commerce being thrown into the mix along with the technological advances this created an entrepreneurial atmosphere-one that welcomed constant change and any new invention or commercial strategy that a kingdom or city-state could best its neighbors. This was in contrast to the centralization of power in the aforementioned empires. These empires had a belief in centralization and uniformity of power not only in commercial and military development, but also they had a unified state religion. With fewer obstacles in the way of technological, military and commercial advances European empires became the dominant ones on the globe in the world of the time.

In this series I would like to eventually examine a great many empires and major powers and all along concentrate on some major questions about what leads to an empire's rise and fall. I would also like to concentrate a bit on some of the fascinating people in history who were involved. Some of the major questions I have about empires are 1) What role does the national culture and psychology play in the formation of an empire?
2) Are some empires 'accidental'? By saying this I am thinking about how some city-states and nations preemptively conquered territory to prevent attacks from these territories and then seemed to acquire a 'taste' for acquiring more.
3) What role does banking and finance play in the formation and foundation-perhaps even the collapse of an empire?
4) What part if any does geography have in empire building?
5) How does the need to have certain natural resources relate to questions about empires?
6) What role does technology and new inventions play in building and keeping an empire?
7) How are the various empires I want to talk about the same?-and how are they different?
8) Why do some empires last for very long times and some for extremely short historical periods? I am thinking of the Nazi and maybe even Soviet and others here.
9) Are all empires necessarily evil? I am again thinking a bit of ancient Greece and Rome also with the period of the "Five Good Emperors".

I would like to start with the background of a very particular historical era and the interesting people and events that were involved in this time in history when a republic was changing into an empire. I hope to have the next posts here relatively soon. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Introduction Post

Hi! My name is Devin and I have another blog called My Favorite Monsters. I have started this blog to put the slower moving and bigger picture type subjects in. I felt that the other blog was starting to become too much of a mess with too many topics going at once. At the very least I want this blog to have all posts about history type subjects. I was going to start a new series about the rise and fall of empires at My Favorite Monsters and realized that it was becoming impossible for me to keep track of what I was doing and what readers of my blog could expect next. I hope to post here very soon. I do expect that this blog will be much slower moving than my other one. I really want to take time with these subjects here. I have so enjoyed doing the other blog and I think this will also be very interesting too as I hope to explore with others the big picture questions of history and metaphysical subjects. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!