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00:00Women who change the world.
00:30I will not be triumphed over.
00:35Cleopatra
00:35Cleopatra was born in early 69 B.C. to the ruling pharaoh Ptolemy XII and an unknown mother,
00:45presumably Ptolemy XII's wife, Cleopatra VI, Tryphena.
00:50Cleopatra grew up at her father's court in Alexandria.
00:53There were no records of her childhood, but it was likely very luxurious.
00:59Cleopatra's childhood tutor was Philostratos, from whom she learned the Greek arts of oration
01:04and philosophy.
01:06During her youth, Cleopatra presumably studied at the museum, including the Library of Alexandria.
01:13She studied Homer, reading, writing, Egyptian gods, Alexander the Great, rhetoric, math,
01:19geometry, music, astrology, and nine different languages.
01:24She was notably the only Ptolemy who ever spoke Egyptian and the most educated woman of
01:30her epic.
01:31In 55 B.C., with the support of the Romans, Ptolemy XII was put back on the throne and
01:38took his 17-year-old daughter Cleopatra as his co-ruler.
01:42After the king died in 51 B.C., he said in his will that Cleopatra should share the throne
01:49with her brother and husband, Ptolemy XIII.
01:54Cleopatra married her 10-year-old brother, and she couldn't live peacefully with him.
01:59They started war, which lasted six months.
02:02Some of her brother's friends, however, drove her out of Egypt.
02:05When Julius Caesar came to the country, he helped her regain the throne.
02:11One of Cleopatra's main concerns throughout her reign was Egypt's relationship with the
02:17powerful Roman Republic.
02:19She worked hard to create strong alliances with Rome's leaders.
02:23She offered them her financial support and resources, such as grain, warships, and soldiers.
02:28She was queen of Egypt, Cyrene, and Cyprus, heir to the long and proud dynasty of the Ptolemies,
02:36a passionate but also very astute woman, who had maneuvered Rome and would maneuver Rome again
02:42into advancing the interests of the Ptolematic legacy.
02:46The historians say, Julius Caesar was possibly the first real love of Cleopatra.
02:53Caesar was about 30 years older than Cleopatra, and his arrival in Egypt was something of an accident.
02:58He and Cleopatra fell in love, and they had a son together, Caesarian.
03:03When Caesar was murdered in 44 BC, Cleopatra returned to Egypt.
03:08Mark Antony, who struggled for power in Rome, felt very much attracted to Cleopatra,
03:13and the Egyptian queen helped him in his battle against Octavian.
03:17Captivated by her beauty and personality, Antony plunged into a love affair with Cleopatra.
03:23They stood together against Egypt's enemies, and they were married in Egyptian style.
03:28Even though Antony was already married, they had three children together, a set of twins,
03:33named Alexander Helios, son, and Cleopatra Selene, moon.
03:38They had a third child, a son named Ptolemy Philadelphus.
03:42Knowing all was lost, Cleopatra took her own life and killed herself with snake poison.
03:48When Mark Antony heard Cleopatra killed herself, he took his own life by stabbing himself in the stomach.
03:54Cleopatra was the last pharaoh of Egypt, known for her beauty, her intelligence, and her charm.
04:00Modern-day depictions of her tend to depict a woman of great physical beauty and seductive skills.
04:05However, a number of ancient records, as well as recent historical research, tell a different story.
04:12They tell of an intelligent, multilingual female ruler who affirmed her right to rule Egypt and other territories.
04:18In the centuries since her reign, the life of Cleopatra has captivated historians, storytellers, and the general public.
04:26Her story resonates because of what she represented in such a male-dominated society.
04:32In an era when Egypt was roiled by internal and external battles,
04:36Cleopatra held the country together and proved to be as powerful a leader as any of her male counterparts.
04:42women who changed the world
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