Cleopatra - Greek Macedonian Decent - Ptolemaic Dynasty - Short

Stacy Schiff, on the Daily Show with John Stewart,
for her new book: Cleopatra, a life. Episode of Dec. 3rd.

Cleopatra VII Philopator (in Greek, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ; (Late 69 BC-- August 12, 30 BC) was an ancient Greek queen and the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek royal family which ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemies, throughout their dynasty, spoke Greek and refused to learn Egyptian, which is the reason that Greek as well as Egyptian languages were used on official court documents like the Rosetta Stone. By contrast, Cleopatra learned Egyptian and represented herself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian goddess Isis.

Cleopatra originally ruled jointly with her father Ptolemy XII Auletes and later with her brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, whom she married as per Egyptian custom, but eventually she became sole ruler. As pharaoh, she consummated a liaison with Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne. She later elevated her son with Caesar, Caesarion, to co-ruler in name.

After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, she aligned with Mark Antony in opposition to Caesar's legal heir, Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus (later known as Augustus). With Antony, she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios, and another son, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Her unions with her brothers produced no children. After losing the Battle of Actium to Octavian's forces, Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra followed suit, according to tradition killing herself by means of an asp bite on August 12, 30 BC. She was briefly outlived by Caesarion, who was declared pharaoh, but he was soon killed on Octavian's orders. Egypt became the Roman province of Aegyptus.

To this day, Cleopatra remains a popular figure in Western culture. Her legacy survives in numerous works of art and the many dramatizations of her story in literature and other media, including William Shakespeare's tragedy Antony and Cleopatra, Jules Massenet's opera Cléopâtre and the 1963 film Cleopatra. In most depictions, Cleopatra is put forward as a great beauty and her successive conquests of the world's most powerful men are taken to be proof of her aesthetic and sexual appeal. In his Pensées, philosopher Blaise Pascal contends that Cleopatra's classically beautiful profile changed world history: "Cleopatra's nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed."

The Ptolemaic dynasty, (Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαῖοι, sometimes also known as the Lagids, Ancient Greek: Λαγίδαι, from the name of Ptolemy I's father, Lagus) was a Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC.

Ptolemy, one of the seven somatophylakes (bodyguards) who served as Alexander the Great's generals and deputies, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 BC. In 305 BC, he declared himself King Ptolemy I, later known as "Soter" (saviour). The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. Ptolemy's family ruled Egypt until the Roman conquest of 30 BC.

All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy. Ptolemaic queens, some of whom were the sisters of their husbands, were usually called Cleopatra, Arsinoe or Berenice. The most famous member of the line was the last queen, Cleopatra VII, known for her role in the Roman political battles between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and later between Octavian and Mark Antony. Her suicide at the conquest by Rome marked the end of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• cleopatra
• greek
• macedonian
• fyrom
• macedonia
• alexander
• the
• great
• hellas
• egypt

[kostas68]

Great video!Ancient Greek saying:

Οὐδέν κρυπτόν ὑπό τό φῶς τοῦ ἡλίου=Nothing remains hidden under the sunlight.

Fyromian forgeries are always melted by historical truth like the snow is melted by the sun.

[mykoniato]

GREAT STAFF!

[GREEKFONTS]

ΒΟΥΛΓΑΡΟΣΛΑΒΟΙ ΓΕΛΟΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΕΙΡΩΝΕΙΑ,

ΔΕΝ ΕΧΕΤΕ ΣΧΕΣΗ ΚΑΜΜΙΑ ΜΕ ΤΗ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑ !

[boronghousegtk]

@EffLabels SHUT UP. THEY INTERMARRIED. check ur history. Why are Billy Zane, Jacqualine Kennedy's Greek husband and other people like Eugenides' who is half white or Leonor Varela who played Cleopatra and is part Greek not white. In the case of the latter, I can understand but what bout the three before her?

[majooismajor]

@EffLabels no .... she had a son with "julius caesar" but he never officially accepted it as his son .... and a twin ( boy/girl) and another boy with marc antony

to recorded history , it is known that only the girl has survived ( cleopatra selene) and she was married off to Juba 2 and made the queen of mauritania

[goldbronzetanboy]

@EffLabels I wrote a long reply and accidentally deleted it lol your right they did practice inbreeding but her family arrived 300 yrs before her so I hope that she wasn't the. product of 300 yrs of inbreeding plus being Greek myself 1st generation there's been so many wars where the Arab empiers have dominated the area and Roman empier mixed ppl up plus I read somewhere that a lot of us have africain skulls thank u for replying I luv smart ppl

[EffLabels]

@goldbronzetanboy She probably was *very* Greek because she was basically in-bred. (she married her own brother!)They all married into one another. You can look up her family tree on the internet. They werent crazy about mixing, and many of Alexander the Great's men were very xenophobic

[EffLabels]

@majooismajor Did Cleopatra have a child with her brother?

[EffLabels]

@damastinno Alexander the Great was Greek

[EffLabels]

@boronghousegtk Greeks are white you moron. lol and the whole population didnt migrate. They just had colonies in parts of Europe and Asia

[damastinno]

56 Alexander`s generals/only 8 were Greeks why? Alexander needed the Greeks. but he knew,<NEVER TRUST THE GREEKS EVEN WHEN YOU GAVE THEM 200 BILLLIONS EUROS?\HAHAHA

[boronghousegtk]

@goldbronzetanboy in those days Greeks were white but when they migrated to Alexander's legions, the Greeks born there were considered Greeks and so were the mixed ones. You are right she was about a quarter or lesser Persian (Thrace.)