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Egyptian
Plate hand made from Brass.
Queen
Cleopatra :
queen of Egypt, one of the great
romantic heroines of all time. Her name was widely used in
the Ptolemaic family; there were many earlier Cleopatras.
The daughter of Ptolemy XI, she was married at the age of
17 (as was the family custom) to her younger brother
Ptolemy XII.
The force and character of the royal pair was, however,
concentrated in the alluring (though apparently not
beautiful) and ambitious queen. She led a revolt against
her brother, and, obtaining the aid of Julius Caesar, she
won the kingdom, although it remained a vassal of Rome. Her
young brother-husband was accidentally drowned in the Nile.
She then married her still younger brother
Ptolemy XIII,
but she was the mistress of Caesar and followed him to
Rome; there she bore a son, Caesarion (later
Ptolemy XIV),
who was said to be his. Returning to Egypt after the murder
of Caesar and the battle of
Philippi,
she was visited (42 ) by Marc
Antony,
who had come to demand an account of her actions. He fell
hopelessly in love with her, and Cleopatra, conscious of
her royalty and even her claims to divinity as the
pharaoh's daughter, seems to have hoped to use Antony to
reestablish the real power of the Egyptian throne. They
were married in 36 Most of the Romans feared and hated
Cleopatra, and Octavian (later
Augustus)
undertook to destroy the two lovers. Antony and Cleopatra
were defeated off Actium in 31 , and, returning to
Alexandria, they tried to defend themselves in Egypt. When
they failed, Antony committed suicide by falling on his
sword. Cleopatra, faced by the cold and unmoved Octavian,
also killed herself. Her schemes failed, but her ambition,
capability, and remarkable Pendant have left a great
impression on history
Egyptian Brass Plate 20 cm
8 " . |
