Cleopatra VII was the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, ruling Egypt from 51 BC - 30 BC. She is celebrated in many historical records for her beauty and her love affairs with the Roman warlords Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, but was a powerful queen before her interaction with either and a much stronger monarch than any of the later Ptolemaic Dynasty.
Fluent in a number of languages, she was an effective diplomat and administrator. Her involvement with both Caesar and Mark Antony came about after she had already successfully ruled and steered Egypt through a difficult period. Her affair with Antony brought her into direct conflict with Octavian Caesar (later known as Augustus Caesar, r. 27 BCE - 14 CE) who was Antony's brother-in-law.
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. Whether she was as beautiful as was claimed, she was a highly intelligent woman and an astute politician, who brought prosperity and peace to a country that was bankrupt and split 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.
History is written by the victors, a quote regularly but incorrectly attributed to Winston Churchill can be said of the Cleopatra story. The Roman historians seized on the concept of the seductive woman from the East who had threatened Rome and paid the price. This image of Cleopatra has, unfortunately, remained through the intervening centuries, and only in the last century have scholarly attempts been made to portray her in a more realistic, and flattering, light.
The tomb of Cleopatra and Anthony has never been found and remains to this day, a perplexing mystery that many have tried to solve. Read more about the latest developments in the search next.
An Ancient Tunnel Discovered Beneath an Egyptian Temple May Lead to Cleopatra’s Tomb, Archaeologists Say
For nearly 20 years, archaeologists have been searching the area around the temple Tapuziris Magna for the final resting place of the Egyptian queen and her husband Mark Antony.
An alabaster statue of Cleopatra is shown to the press at the temple of Tasposiris Magna on the outskirts of Alexandria, on April 19, 2009. Archaeologists are now more convinced than ever that the tomb of Marc Anthony and Cleopatra lies nearby. Photo credit should read Cris Bouroncle/AFP via Getty Images.
Archaeologists have discovered a rock-cut tunnel beneath Egypt’s ancient Taposiris Magna Temple—and it may lead to the lost tomb of Cleopatra, who was the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt from 51 to 30 B.C.E.
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the find last week, describing the 4,265-foot tunnel, located 43 feet underground, as a “geometric miracle.” It is similar to the Tunnel of Eupalinos on the Greek Island of Samos, considered one antiquity’s engineering marvels.
News of the discovery, made during an excavation project led by archaeologist Kathleen Martinez of the University of San Domingo, was reported by Ancient Origins.
Cleopatra famously died by suicide after her husband, the Roman general Mark Antony, also killed himself. The two are believed to have been buried together.
Martinez first came to Egypt in search of Cleopatra’s tomb some 20 years ago, convinced after more than a decade of research that Taposiris Magna, located on outskirts of Alexandria and dedicated to Osiris, the god of the dead, was a leading candidate for the queen’s burial spot.
After hundreds of ignored emails, Martinez managed to secure a meeting in Cairo with archaeologist Zahi Hawass, then the country’s minister of Egypt’s antiquities affairs.
She convinced him to give her two months to conduct excavations on the site. Work has been ongoing since 2004—but the new find is the most compelling evidence to date that Martinez is on the right track.
“This is the perfect place for the tomb of Cleopatra,” Martinez told the blog Heritage Key. “If there’s a one percent chance that the last queen of Egypt could be buried there, it is my duty to search for her. If we discover the tomb… it will be the most important discovery of the 21st century. If we do not discover the tomb… we made major discoveries here, inside the temple and outside the temple.”
To date, the excavations have revealed mummies with golden tongues and a cemetery containing Greco-Roman-style mummies buried facing the temple, which supports Martinez’s theory that a royal tomb was built in the area. There was also a bust believed to depict Cleopatra and 22 coins depicting her visage.
In addition to the tunnel, the latest find includes two Ptolemaic-era alabaster statues, one of which appears to be a sphinx, as well as ceramic vessels and pots. Part of the tunnel is underwater, perhaps due to ancient earthquakes that struck the region between 320 and 1303 C.E. Those natural disasters could have led to the collapse of the Taposiris Magna.
Egypt’s most famed archaeological discovery, of course, is King Tut’s tomb, unearthed 100 years ago last week by Howard Carter in the Valley of Kings outside the city of Luxor.
Archaeologists discovered this alabaster head at excavations beneath Tapuziris Magna Temple near Alexandria. Photo courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism.
A century later, the site is still the subject of active, fruitful excavations—and debate, with scholars and experts divided on the possibility that the burial chamber contains hidden rooms.
British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves has been a longstanding proponent of the theory that it was originally built as the tomb of Nefertiti, the boy king’s stepmother. (Hawass has separately claimed that he is on the verge of announcing the discovery of Nefertiti’s resting place.)