Cleopatra Channeled by Karl Mollison 07Dec2018
For https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator Ancient Greek: Κλεοπᾰ́τρᾱ Φιλοπάτωρ 69 – 10 or 12 August 30 BC was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, nominally survived as pharaoh by her son Caesarion.
She was also a diplomat, naval commander, linguist, and medical author. As a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the Hellenistic period that had lasted since the reign of Alexander (336–323 BC).
Her native language was Koine Greek and she was the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language.
Caesar maintained a private affair with Cleopatra that produced a son, Caesarion (Ptolemy XV). Cleopatra traveled to Rome as a client queen in 46 and 44 BC, staying at Caesar’s villa. When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Cleopatra attempted to have Caesarion named as his heir.
In the Liberators’ civil war of 43–42 BC, Cleopatra sided with the Roman Second Triumvirate formed by Octavian, Mark Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. After their meeting at Tarsos in 41 BC, Cleopatra had an affair with Antony that would eventually produce three children: Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene II, and Ptolemy Philadelphus.
Antony used his authority as a triumvir to carry out the execution of Arsinoe IV at Cleopatra’s request. He became increasingly reliant on Cleopatra for both funding and military aid during his invasions of the Parthian Empire and the Kingdom of Armenia. Antony’s marriage to Cleopatra and divorce of Octavian’s sister Octavia Minor, led to the Final War of the Roman Republic. After engaging in a war
of propaganda, Octavian forced Antony’s allies in the Roman Senate to flee Rome in 32 BC and declared war on Cleopatra. The naval fleet of Antony and Cleopatra was defeated at the 31 BC Battle of Actium by Octavian’s general Agrippa.
When Cleopatra learned that Octavian planned to bring her to Rome for his triumphal procession, she committed suicide by poisoning, with the popular belief being that she was bitten by an asp.
Cleopatra’s legacy survives in numerous works of art, both ancient and modern, and many dramatizations of incidents from her life in literature and other media.
She was the subject of many works in Renaissance and Baroque art, which included sculptures, paintings, poetry, theatrical dramas such as William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra (1608),
and operas such as George Frideric Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1724). In modern times Cleopatra has appeared in both the applied and fine arts, burlesque satire, Hollywood films such as Cleopatra (1963), and brand images for commercial products, becoming a pop culture icon of Egyptomania since the Victorian era.