As one of the four ancient civilizations, ancient Egypt has left many rich historical wealth for mankind. In Egypt, there are not only pyramids and sphinxes that have stood for thousands of years, but also various legends about the mysterious curses of Egyptian pharaohs, which are still unexplained phenomena in the archaeological community.
According to legend, those who open the tomb of Pharaoh will be cursed by the owner of the tomb and die of death. Archaeology of ancient Egypt has been an object of fascination for archaeologists for thousands of years.
And all kinds of rumors about the Egyptian royal family have emerged endlessly, becoming stories that literature and movies have competed to express. In the 1960s, the United States made a movie called "Cleopatra", which truly reflected the secret history of the court in ancient Egypt.
The protagonist of the story, who is today's protagonist, is famous in human history, and she is Cleopatra VII.
This beautiful Egyptian pharaoh, using his beauty, not only changed the history of Egypt, but also had an important impact on the development of European history.
Politically, women have the advantage of not competing with men, neither strong physique to participate in military struggles, nor sophisticated city governments to win seats for themselves in the midst of treacherous political struggles.
As a result, there are very few female politicians in history, and the only female politicians who can leave their names in human history have also been criticized for their methods that are different from ordinary people.
Beauty is a natural advantage of women, but also their weakness, beauty can help them to step through the clouds, to the peak of power, but also may become an important reason for their deaths. Throughout the successful history of Cleopatra VII, it is full of the deepest desires of human nature and the cruelty of political struggle.
The Kingdom of Macedonia was founded more than 800 BC and is located in northwestern Greece. Later, under the leadership of Philip II, the Kingdom of Macedonia unified Greece and continued on its path of expansion.
Later, Alexander ascended the throne and was known as Alexander the Great. Alexander was the most famous military and statesman in ancient Europe, who studied under Aristotle.
During his tenure, he led his army to successfully conquer Egypt and Persia, and even sailed his army to the Indus Valley at one point, establishing the largest empire in the world at that time.
It was under his expansion that Greek civilization was widely spread and became the most important civilization for mankind. After Alexander's conquest of Egypt, because the empire became so large that it was difficult to manage, he handed over the Egyptian region to a general who had been fighting with him for many years, this general was called Ptolemy Sottel.
Subsequently, Ptolemy Sottel established the Ptolemaic Sottel dynasty that ruled Egypt. This is the typical dynasty in Egyptian history founded by foreign hegemony, and the Ptolemy Sottel dynasty ruled Egypt for more than 300 years.
Cleopatra, the cleopatra VII of Egyptian history, was the last pharaoh of the Pharaoh of the Ptolemy Sottel dynasty, and she was the second daughter of King Clotes Ptolemy Orret. So, strictly speaking, she is not Egyptian.
King Claudius Ptolemy Orret appointed his son Ptolemy XIII and daughter Cleopatra to rule Egypt together.
As descendants of Europeans, according to the law of the time, the brothers and sisters who jointly ruled Egypt had to marry and form a couple. At present, this must be a big deal against the world, and it is also something prohibited by law.
But among the European aristocracy at that time, it was a common thing. In ancient China, the combination of cousins and brothers was prevalent in order to achieve the purpose of kissing and kissing, and europeans were even more ruthless, in order to ensure the purity of the blood, and in order to prevent the power from falling into the hands of others, they simply let the brothers and sisters marry.
The union of Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra is a product of this idea. The old king's idea was to marry them and run Egypt together.
And their descendants, in any case, are their own descendants, and they can realize the ideal of eternal stability. What King Claudius Ptolemy Orret did not expect, however, was that the half-siblings, who were also the two successors of the conjugal relationship, could not go together at all.
Whether it was for a small matter at home or for the sake of a national affair, the two quarreled, so the idea of flying alone was born in Cleopatra, and in order to compete for power, she and Ptolemy XIII began to compete.
However, because the two ministers in power in Egypt at that time did not support Cleopatra, Cleopatra, who was inferior in the political struggle, was eventually expelled from Egypt and came to Syria. She did not die, but raised her own army in Syria, ready to seize power by force.
The once mighty Macedonian Empire was eventually annexed by the Roman Republic, the complete collapse of the Macedonian kingdom and the end of the Hellenistic era.
Gaius Julius Caesar, the famous Julius Caesar, was the most famous military and politician at the end of the Roman Republic, and he was also the founder of the later Roman Empire. Earlier, Caesar, who was born into the nobility, secretly formed a three-headed alliance with Pompey and Crassus to jointly advance and retreat in order to seize the power of the world.
Later, Caesar became the governor of Gaul and conquered France by force. The increasingly fledgling Caesar began the pace of seizing power in Rome, and he led his army back to Rome, tearing the skin of his former ally Pompey and fighting each other.
After a series of melee battles, Pompey was defeated and fled to Egypt, surrendering to Ptolemy XIII, who was in charge of Egypt at the time, and Caesar followed him in pursuit to defeat Pompey completely.
Ptolemy XIII's men, seeing that Pompey was gone, killed Pompey and gave him his head in order to show his loyalty to Caesar.
Unexpectedly, although Caesar and Pompey fought for power, the brotherhood was still there, not only that, Caesar also married his daughter to Pompey, so Pompey was still his son-in-law.
Caesar was angry at the sight of his former allies and son-in-law killed at the hands of villains, but he did not have an immediate seizure. At this time, Cleopatra, who had been exiled, recognized the situation and found an opportunity to seize power in Egypt, and also found a way to deal with Ptolemy XIII.
Dedicate yourself to Julius Caesar
In order to get Caesar to help him seize power in Egypt, Cleopatra had a plan, that is, to dedicate himself to Caesar and use his strength to get rid of his husband and brother.
Cleopatra is a princess of Egypt, pampered and pampered since childhood, born incomparably beautiful, a light wink, can make the man who sees her superstitious, worship under her pomegranate skirt.
Cleopatra couldn't have been clearer about her advantages, and she decided to seduce Caesar. Cleopatra led a group of men who successfully approached Caesar, and then ordered his men to dress up as merchants to present Caesar.
The so-called gift is actually herself. She rolled herself into the blanket, and when she saw Caesar, she stepped out of the blanket herself and stared at Caesar with her breathtaking eyes.
Her beauty plan succeeded, and Caesar fell in love with her at first sight. That night, the two became husband and wife. Under Caesar's persecution, Ptolemy XIII had to agree to carry out the emperor's wishes and let Cleopatra return to Egypt and let the two sides rule together.
Caesar's interference in Egyptian politics and cleopatra's participation in ruling Egypt angered the Egyptians, and the Egyptian people rebelled against Caesar.
The famous Battle of Alexandria broke out between the two sides. In the end, Egypt was defeated and Ptolemy XIII was killed. Cleopatra became the only pharaoh in Egypt, and Cleopatra fulfilled her ideal of ruling Egypt.
Caesar was so fond of this flower-like beauty that he not only did not annex Egypt, but also took Cleopatra with him, and the two of them raised a son together. Not only that, but Caesar also erected a golden statue for Cleopatra and placed it next to the goddess.
As it went on, Cleopatra was expected to become the First Lady of Rome, but Caesar was later assassinated and the world fell into the hands of others, cleopatra's dream was shattered, and he had to leave Rome and return to Egypt.
Returning to Egypt, Empress Poinsee immediately executed Ptolemy XIV, making her and Caesar's son Ptolemy XV, ruling Egypt with her and her son.
In the Roman world at this time, Caesar's adopted son Octavian and his subordinate Mark Antony quelled the upheaval in Rome, and the two sides agreed to divide Rome equally. Antony, who ruled eastern Rome, in order to realize his dream of expansion, sent a message to Cleopatra asking her to help solve the problem of providing for the army.
Cleopatra's heart fluttered again, and she repeated the trick and performed a beauty trick on Anthony. According to legend, she dressed herself up beautifully and came to see Anthony in a large golden boat.
Anthony fell in love with him at first sight and was so captivated that he immediately fell under Cleopatra's skirt. In order to embrace the beauty, Anthony agreed to all the conditions of Cleopatra, and personally sent Cleopatra to Egypt, and the two spent a beautiful winter in Egypt.
Octavian and Antony, who held real power in Rome, were not brothers and sisters. The two sides fought for power, and in order to marry Cleopatra, Antony also divorced his wife, Octavian's sister, and war eventually broke out between the two sides, and Antony committed suicide.
Cleopatra was also captured by Octavian, and when Octavian went to visit her, she repeated the same trick and performed a beauty trick on Octavian, which was her magic weapon and her most powerful capital on the road to success.
However, perhaps because of her old age and decay, this time it did not succeed, and Octavian did not fall into her beauty plan, but chose to execute her.
Seeing that there was no hope of survival, Yanhou chose to end her life, and she instructed her men to put a poisonous snake into the flower basket, cheated through many levels, and handed it to her.
She grabbed the poisonous snake in the flower basket and placed it on her body, and the frightened poisonous snake bit the queen to death.
After her death, her two sons, César and Antony, were executed, Egypt was incorporated into Rome, and the Ptolemaic dynasty came to an end.
This is the story of Cleopatra, and it can be seen from the degree of fascination of Caesar and Antony with her that the name of Cleopatra is indeed worthy of the name. Despite its incomparable beauty, caught in the vortex of power, it has always been involuntary, and finally died tragically, and its final destination has both the component of fate and its own reasons.
Text/Nangong Qin