Martin y Lucia

Who was Cleopatra?
Cleopatra VII was the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, ruling Egypt from 51 BC - 30 BC.
She is celebrated for her beauty and her love affairs with the Roman warlords Julius
Caesar and Mark Antony.
Cleopatra was born in 69 BC - 68 BC. When her father Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC, Cleopatra
became co-regent with her 10-year-old brother Ptolemy XIII. They were married, in
keeping with Egyptian tradition. Nobody knows whether she was as beautiful as was
claimed, but she was a highly intelligent woman and an astute politician who brought
prosperity and peace to a country that was bankrupt and divided by civil war.
In 48 BC, Egypt became embroiled in the conflict in Rome between Julius Caesar and
Pompey. Pompey fled to the Egyptian capital Alexandria, where he was murdered on the
orders of Ptolemy. Caesar followed and he and Cleopatra became lovers. Cleopatra, who
had been exiled by her brother, was reinstalled as queen with Roman military support.
Ptolemy was killed in the fighting and another brother was created Ptolemy XIII. In 47 BC,
Cleopatra bore Caesar a child - Caesarion - though Caesar never publicly acknowledged
him as his son.
Cleopatra followed Caesar back to Rome, but after his assassination in 44 BC, she returned
to Egypt. Ptolemy XIV died mysteriously at around this time, and Cleopatra made her son
Caesarion co-regent.
In 41 BC, Mark Antony, at that time in dispute with Caesar's adopted son Octavian over
the succession to the Roman leadership, began both a political and romantic alliance with
Cleopatra. They subsequently had three children - two sons and a daughter. In 31 BC,
Mark Antony and Cleopatra combined armies to take on Octavian's forces in a great sea
battle at Actium, on the west coast of Greece. Octavian was victorious and Cleopatra and
Mark Antony fled to Egypt. Octavian pursued them and captured Alexandria in 30 BC.
With his soldiers deserting him, Mark Antony took his own life and Cleopatra chose the
same course, committing suicide on 12 August 30 BC. Egypt became a province of the
Roman Empire.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cleopatra.shtml
More information: http://www.biography.com/people/cleopatra-vii-9250984
Activities:
After reading the article about Cleopatra, choose the best answer:
1. Who was her father?
a) Ptolemy
b) Ramses
c) Julius Caesar
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