After Alexander the Great, from the part of Greece that was called Macedonia, conqured Egypt, the family that he left in charge was the Ptolomys. They ruled as monarchs as Alexander had, and to keep their family in power, they married other, brother to sister or cousin to cousin. They made Greek the official language, but kept the old Egyptian gods and religion. The Egyptian army grew strong and well trained, but there was one power still many times stronger; Rome, ruled by three people; Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar. Egypt's ruler at the time, Ptolemy XII, was afraid of an invasion, and so made a deal with the Romans. He would pay them to acknowledge him as Egypt's rightful leader. The Romans accepted, and Ptolemy borrowed the money from a Roman moneylender. But the Egyptians had been being overtaxed for a long time, and they grew angry. Fearing a revolt, Ptolemy fled to Rome, leaving the throne free for his eldest daughter to take, though she died soon after. His second daughter began to rule but, after the Romans helped establish Ptolemy once again on his throne, he had her killed (Such a loving parent).
Six years later, in 51 BC, he died, leaving his pre-teen son and favorite child, a teenage daughter, to rule Egypt. The same girl had fled with her father to Rome, and she would eventually become one of the most famous queens in history. Her name was Cleopatra.
Ever since she was a child, Cleopatra had studied the same subjects as boys, and learned eight different languages. When she travled she added many of the scrolls she found to her great library in Alexandria, where she spent much of her time, and wrote a book on makeup to add to the collection. She loved drama. Cleopatra had a slightly dark complexion, and a beautiful voice, and was a posessor of great charm.
But her brother's advisors hated her and tried to work against her. Things only got worse when the Nile River didn't rise enough to flood the land and bring fertile soil like it usually did and many people went hungry. When Cleopatra ordered the Egyptian army to go help Rome against another army, it refused, and fearing a revolt like her father had, Cleopatra fled to Rome.
In the land she had run to, a civil war had broken out between Caesar and Pompey. With his enemy close behind, the defated Pompey fled - for a change - to Egypt. He was killed as he stepped onto the shore, and only days later Caesar arrived with intentions of plundering the royal treasury to pay for the war. While he was still there, the now twenty one-year-old Cleopatra returned, with hopes of using her charm to befriend him and making sure she was secured on the throne of Egypt. Knowing she would be killed on the spot if seen trying to get in the building to him, she wrapped herself up in an Oriental rug and had herself delivered to him. Caesar was surprised but delighted when he found the young queen inside, and very soon the two of them fell in love.
Despite Caesar's announcemen that Cleopatra and her brother would rule together, the two siblings fought, and Caesar helped Cleopatra win. The brother turned up drowned in the Nile River. The queen married her other brother, but still more or less ruled alone, and when Caesar sailed away to fight in other places, she found out she was pregnant with his child.
In 46 BC Caesar returned finally to Rome, and when he did Cleopatra was there waiting to welcome him with her brother, and her son Caesarion. Cleopatra stayed for a year and a half, but the Romans didn't approve of this foriegn queen spending so much time with their ruler. On the Ides of March, two years later, Caesar was killed for being about to proclaim himself emperor of Rome and rule by himself. Neither Cleopatra nor her son were mentioned in his will, and the two of them returned to Egypt. Within months the queen's brother was dead, and her son ruled with her instead.
Back in Rome a power struggle was going on, and Mark Antony and Octavian won. Antony wanted to invade Parthia, but needed money and soldiers from Egypt. He sent a message to Cleopatra asking her to come to Tarsus so they ould meet. She delayed and delayed coming, and then finally set out in a 300-foot-long barge made of cedar and cypress, loaded with gifts to show off Egypt's wealth. It was covered in gold with purple sails, all surrounded by a beautiful perfume that floated off the boat. All around were women with flowers, and preists chanting. Silver oars rowed in time to the music of harps and lutes, and pipes and flutes being blown. Cleopatra herself was under a pavilion of gold cloth, being fanned.
Needless to say, Antony was enchanted. His wife wasn't with him but away somewhere else, and Antony and Cleopatra fell in love. When Cleopatra returned to Egypt he followed and stayed in Egypt until the news that the Parthians had invaded Rome reached him and that his wife was dead. He returned and married Octavian's sister Octavia, while back in Egypt Cleopatra gave birth to his twins. A year after, Octavia gave birth... but Antony still felt attached to Cleopatra and came back. Two years later they had another kid (this guy was crazy).
But even so, he left some time afterward to attack Parthia as Octavian tried to get Antony to join forces with him. When he refused, Octavian declared war on Cleopatra, and though Antony tried to help her over half of their ships got distroyed. Their enemy needed some way to pay for the war, so he decided to take Egypt's treasure. Cleopatra and Antony's troups began to leave them and support the other side.
Octavian entered the city of Alexandria easily, and Cleopatra hid herself. Believing a false rumor that she was dead, Antony stabbed himself, and just before he died he was carried to Cleopatra's hiding place, where he found her still alive. Cleopatra was captured by Octavian's men and brought alive to the palace. Rather than be brought back to Rome as a prisoner, legend says that she - and some stories say two of her servants - commited suicide by letting themselves be bitten by a poisenous asp. however there were some problems with that story. There was, for example, the trouble of finding an asp while in captivity, getting it to bite three people, and then making it dissappear afterwards. Besides that, asp bites are supposed to be very ugly, and there was no sign of one on Cleopatra. The most likely theory is poisen.