Item Size:  11" High      Type:  Statue on Base  

Material:  Casting Stone, with Antique Stone Finish

Original:  35 B.C.E.

Current Location of Original:  Antiken Museum, Berlin

The last of the Macedonian rulers of Egypt, Cleopatra VII has been preserved in legend as a woman of formidable intellect and ambition who used her beauty and charm to advance Egypt’s fortunes. In 51 B.C.E. she became joint ruler with her father, Ptolemy XII, and then with her younger brother, who was also her husband, Ptolemy XIII. When he died in 47 B.C.E., their younger brother, Ptolemy XIV, succeeded him and became her new husband. When Ceasar came to Alexandria, Cleopatra persuaded him to support her cause, and she regained her throne and jointly ruled with their son, Caesarion, from 36 B.C.E. After Caesar’s death, she joined Mark Anthony, hoping that he would help to restore Egypt to its past glory by using Rome’s power. Mark Anthony gave Cleopatra much of Rome’s eastern possessions, but his Roman rival, Octavian, used this episode as a pretext to turn the Roman senate against Mark Anthony and begin a war against him and Cleopatra. Augustus Octavian defeated him at the battle of Actium. Anthony and Cleopatra withdrew to Alexandria, where they committed suicide. Cleopatra was a remarkable woman and queen, and the only Ptolemaic ruler to learn to speak Egyptian.