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The Last Macedonian Queen: Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator Queen Cleopatra, the last ruler of the Macedonian dynasty. Her full name is Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator was beleived to be born in 69 B.C. Following the death of Alexander the Great and ended with Egypt's annexation by Rome in 30, wad followed by The line of rule of Cleopatra's family that was established in 323 B.C.. Cleopatra VII, who is also known today as Cleopatra. She claimed the throne after her father’s Ptolemy XII who dies in 51 BC and became the queen of Egypt. Before, Ptolemy XII dies he decrees Cleopatra as queen and she would marry her brother Ptolemy XIII, as Egyptian tradition states. The eighteen-year-old Cleopatra, who later claims herself as the new goddess Isis, soon proves herself one of the most ambitious and ostentatious figures in this period. But her close and personal involvement with Roman rulers that also lead to her involvement with Roman politics made Egypt its independence.

Soon after Cleopatra and her brother assumed power together, several complications ascended between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII. That eventually leads to Cleopatra’s flee to Syria, where she assembled an army to defeat her rival in order to declare the throne for herself. In 48, she returned to Egypt with her military might and faced her brother at Pelusium, located on the empire's eastern edge. And with Caesar’s arrival to Alexandria, Cleopatra now had access to enough military forces that made her able to restore her throne and dethrone her brother, Ptolemy XIII, and declare herself as Egypt’s sole and only ruler. Caesar helped Cleopatra to restore her position as Egypt's queen and Ptolemy XIII was believed that he had fled away and drowned in the River Nile.

The main reason of Julius Caesar in Alexandria arrival was to fund his own return to power in Rome, and he needed Egypt to repay the debts that were gained by Auletes. After four months of war between.

Cleopatra then had strongly identified herself as the new goddess Isis, the sister-wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Cleopatra’s first opportunity of a wider role in the world. Soon Cleopatra became Julius mistress of the man who is the most powerful Roman. Caesar spends the winter of 48-47 BC in Egypt, helping the young queen suppress the forces of her even younger brother and become the sole ruler of Egypt.

In 47 BC Cleopatra gives birth to Julius only son right after his departure from Alexandria heading back to Rome to fix political unrests and concerns. In 46 BC Caesar invites Cleopatra to Rome with her son Caesarion. A lot of debates between scholars concerning Caesarion; whether if he is truly Julius son or not, and if he had acknowledged him as his son or not during Cleopatra’s visit to Rome. In 44 B.C, Cleopatra returns to Egypt with the child after Caesar’s assassination.

In 41 B.C., Marc Antony, part of the Second Triumvirate that ruled Rome following the murder of Caesar, sent for Cleopatra to investigate her allegiance to the empire's fallen leader Caesar. Anthony captivated by her beauty and personality, jumped into a love affair with Cleopatra that eventually produced three children, including twins named Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene (biography.com). Antony provoked his rival Octavian by declaring Caesarion as Caesar’s real son and the true legal heir, rather than Octavian, whom the revered Roman leader had adopted. Octavian, however, fought back, and told the Roman people that Antony had turned over Roman possessions to Cleopatra and that there were plans to make Alexandria the Roman capital. And in no time Antony was entangled in a battle over Rome's control as what happened with Caesar. His rival was Caesar's own great-nephew, Gaius Octavius, who is also known as Octavian, who became the future Emperor Caesar Augustus. Gaius Octavius, along with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, rounded out the Second Triumvirate. Antony, who presided over Rome's eastern areas, detested Gaius Octavius and saw in Cleopatra the chance for financial and military support to secure his own rule over the empire.

In the year 31 B.C., Cleopatra and Antony combined armies to try to defeat Octavian in a raging sea battle at Actium, on Greece’s west coast. The clash, however, proved to be a costly defeat for the Egyptians, forcing Antony and Cleopatra to flee back to Egypt.

Antony soon returned to the battlefield, where he was falsely informed that Cleopatra had died. Upon hearing the news, the despondent Roman leader committed suicide by stabbing himself. Cleopatra followed her lover’s demise by ending her life as well by being bitten by an Egyptian black cobra. She died on August 12, 30 B.C. The two were buried together, as they had wished, and Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire. Cleopatra’s Legacy: In the centuries following her death, Cleopatra and her life have captivated and enchanted historians, storytellers, and the general public. Her affair with Marc Antony and its end became the inspiration for William Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra (1607). More recently, seductive versions and documentaries of Cleopatra’s life have been played by actresses such as Theda Bara (1917), Claudette Colbert (1934) and Elizabeth Taylor (1963).

Her story resonates, too, because of what she represented in such a male-dominated society. In an era when Egypt was roiled by internal and external battles, Cleopatra held the country together and proved to be as powerful a leader as any of her male counterparts. 1."HISTORY OF CLEOPATRA." HISTORY OF CLEOPATRA. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. . 2."Cleopatra: The Woman Behind the Name." Cleopatra: The Woman Behind the Name. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. . 3."Google." Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. . 4."Cleopatra." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. . 5."Full Length Movie - FULL MOVIE_ Cleopatra (1999) Full Movie." YouTube. YouTube, 19 Aug. 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. . 6."Full Cast & Crew." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. .