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!