Famous Lovers

                               

  Lovers

February is a month of love with Valentine's Day,  cupids, candy, and flowers.

Romeo and Juliet is a famous love story by Shakespeare, but it is fiction.

Who were these two historical figures? What do we know about them?

Ladies First-Cleopatra:

She was Cleopatra the VII, but we drop off the Roman Numberal and know her as Cleopatra, the ruler of Egypt. She was a co-regent  ( at 18) with her brother PtolemyIII (age 10). As was the custom at the time, Cleopatra and her brother married and ruled together. He died while swimming in the Nile River. She married her next bother, Ptolemy XIV. After Rome took over Egypt, Cleopatra went to Rome to have an affair with Julius Caesar. They had a child whom she named Caesarion. Caesar did not recognize the boy as his son.  Cleopatra asked Julius Ceasar to kill her brother in Egypt, which he did. She returned to Egypt and ruled with her son under the Roman Empire. 

Some ancient scholars wrote that Cleopatra was an expert in botany and pharmacology. She was attractive, intelligent, and cultured, speaking several languages. She was the ruler of Egypt and commanded over 200 ships. 

Second-Mark Anthony

 He was the right-hand general in Julius Caesar's army. Julius Caesar was assassinated by Brutus and Cassius. Mark Anthony and Octavian, Caesar's nephew, defeated the assassins and their forces. Octavian and Anthony formed an alliance to take over Caesar's rule. Octavian took over Italy and other western territories, and Anthony was in charge of the eastern domains of the Roman Republic, which included Egypt.

Anthony summoned Cleopatra to Tarsus in 41 B.C. Anthony was married to Fulvia and had two children. They were Marcus Antonius Antylllus and Lullus Antonius.Fulvia knew of Mark Anthony's romance with Cleopatra. Fulvia died, and Cleopatra and Anthony had twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II.  Later, they had a son named Ptolemy Philadelphus. However, Mark Anthony's relationship with Octavian was rocky, so he married Octavian's sister, Octavia. This did not stop him from playing dice games and hunting with Cleopatra. She also conspired with Mark Anthony to kill her sister ArsinoeIV.

The daughter, Cleopatra Selene II , later married a ruler in the northern African Territories

Some ancient scholars contend Mark Anthony and Cleopatra did marry in Egypt, but this was not recognized in Rome, where he was considered to be the husband of Octavia.

Together:

Now, Mark Anthony was the Queen of Egypt's consort, which gave him dominion over Egypt's power. The flooding of the Nile made Egypt a great source of wheat, and Egypt's trading routes across the Indian Ocean brought in the riches of black spices, incense, silks, and gems. Egypt's bringing stability in the East helped Anthony maintain control. 

And Cleopatra gained from her affair (or, some say, marriage). Mark Anthony ordered King Herod of Judea to collect an annual tribute of 200 talents from the king of Nabataea and give it to Cleopatra. King Herod the Great had to grant Cleopatra the Dead Sea bitumen deposits. The bitumen was used for caulking ships and baskets and for embalming mummies. Mark Anthony also ordered King Herod to grant agricultural land near Jericho, which produced harvests of date palms. He also gifted to her areas noted for timber production used for building ships.

When Mark Anthony divorced Octavian's sister, Octavia, it infuriated Octavian, who now was called Caesar Augustus. Caesar knew the Senate would not approve a war against Mark Anthony, so he declared war against Cleopatra.

She supplied Mark Anthony with 200 talents from the royal treasury, food, ships, and other supplies to fight Octavian. 

Octavian won at the Battle of Actium and annexed Egypt. Cleopatra and Mark Anthony fled to Alexandria, and Ocativian followed. Mark Anthony killed himself with a sword, and Cleopatra had a poisonous snake bite her. Some scholars contend she used poison rather than a snake.  

Her son, Caesarion, whom she had with Julius Caesar, was killed by Octavian Augustus. Octavian was Augustus Caesar, the ruler of all his territory, including Mark Anthony's and Egypt. 

Mark Anthony and Cleopatra's love affair was used for political advantage and to strengthen their power. But it all fell apart when Otavian had enough after his sister getting divorced.

This famous love affair proved to be disastrous for them and the way they are remembered in history; however, it unified the powers of Rome. 

                                                                 Star Crossed Lovers

                            (Was it love or was it politics or both?)