"Once the people change, a thousand years of water and empty currents." —— "Autumn Hope of the Old City of Cloud Dreams"
In the history of the world, human civilization mainly originated from four ancient countries, namely ancient China, ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, ancient India, after thousands of years of baptism, most of the four ancient civilizations have collapsed, only China continues along the river of history. Although other ancient civilizations have ceased to exist, they have special research significance as the birthplace of civilization, and people also have a very strong interest in the four ancient civilizations.
Speaking of ancient Egypt, we are most impressed by the egyptian pyramids and Sphinx, which is the basis for our exploration of ancient Egyptian civilization. In the history of ancient Egypt, there was a special king, she was called Cleopatra, it is rumored that this Cleopatra is ugly and short, but she has charmed two important figures in the Roman kingdom, and even later generations called her "the witch on the Banks of the Nile".
1. The legend of Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII was the second daughter of King Ptolemy Orret of ancient Egypt, and after the king's death, he left a will to appoint his son and daughter to rule together. But Cleopatra VII was an ambitious woman who wanted to ascend to the throne, and according to her father's wishes, she would have to marry her half-brother before she could co-rule with him, but both sisters and brothers wanted to seize the throne alone, and the ministers at the time preferred her brother and joined forces to drive her to Syria. Cleopatra gathered his men in Syria and prepared to return to Egypt to fight for the throne.
Julius Caesar came to Egypt after Pompey, and when Cleopatra VII's brother heard about it, he sent someone to kill Pompey in an attempt to woo Caesar against his sister, but Caesar was dismissive of it. On the other hand, Cleopatra VII used clever means to meet Caesar, and the young and beautiful woman suddenly touched Caesar's heart, and after Caesar conquered Egypt, he did not turn Egypt into the territory of the Roman Empire, but helped Cleopatra become Cleopatra. Caesar took her to Rome to live, but soon after Caesar was stabbed to death, Cleopatra VII left Rome and returned to Egypt.
At this time, Rome was experiencing strife, and the whole of Rome was ruled by Octavian and Antony, who raised funds to support the army in the east of Rome. When Antony arrived in Egypt, in a boat, he met with Cleopatra, who, in order to confuse Antony, decorated the ship very beautifully, and soon Antony sank in her beauty, and he lost all the demands he had generally agreed to, and moved to Egypt to live with her.
Second, what people call "the witch on the Banks of the Nile"
At that time, the conflict between Octavian and Antony was alleviated, and forced by political factors, Antony married Octavian's sister to show reconciliation between the two, but as the contradiction between Antony and Octavian deepened again, Antony snubbed Octavian's sister and sent her back to Rome, while Antony turned around and immediately asked Cleopatra VII to marry Cleopatra VII.
After that, the relationship between Antony and Octavian was completely broken, and Anthony listened to Cleopatra's words and officially divorced Octavian's sister. Octavian felt that Antony's move was humiliating him, so he tried to make Antony's will public, in which Antony allocated the territory of Rome to Cleopatra and her children, which aroused the anger of the Roman people.
Antony lost the trust of the Roman populace in him. The Roman Senate declared that it had stripped Antony of all powers, believing that antony was helping Cleopatra to usurp the property of the Roman people, and declared war on him.
After losing support, Antony was still in a battle with Octavian, and the ghostly Antony still centered on Cleopatra VII, ignoring the battle situation and leaving his troops to follow Cleopatra VII to Egypt. Octavian annihilated Antony's forces in one fell swoop and began to attack Egypt, at which point Anthony saw that Octavian had reached the spot and had no room for resistance, so he raised his sword and committed suicide.
Cleopatra also knew that her life was imminent, so she hid in the tombstone, but she was still captured by Octavian, at this time she still wanted to confuse Octavian and wanted to rely on him, but Octavian did not eat this set at all, Cleopatra learned of it, knew that there was no hope, so she asked the servant to bring a poisonous snake, let the poisonous snake bite his arm, poison and die.
With cleopatra's death, Octavian divided Egypt into Roman territory, and the ancient Egyptian dynasty was completely overthrown. The rumor that Cleopatra was a "demon woman on the Nile" mainly comes from the fact that after the demise of ancient Egypt, the original Egyptian people believed that Cleopatra was the real cause of Egypt's demise, believing that she was a pharaoh but did not protect the country, so they called her "demon woman". There is also a saying that the Roman people believed that Cleopatra was a demon who confused Antony, and it was she who confused Antony, which deepened the contradiction between Octavian and Antony, so they called her "The Witch on the Nile".
Third, about cleopatra's appearance
In Roman folklore, Cleopatra was an ugly woman, but in the literature and film works we come into contact with, she is portrayed as a beautiful and overwhelming image. In the face of such a contrast, people can't help but wonder what such a legendary woman looks like. In recent years, with the rise of science and technology, the United Kingdom has restored cleopatra's appearance, according to the restoration map, we can see that Cleopatra is not as ugly as rumored, is a beautiful face, very beautiful beauty.
In fact, according to history, it is not difficult to know that the appearance of the woman who can charm Julius Caesar and Antony must not be much worse, but because in that era, perhaps because of the difference in aesthetics, or because she confused Caesar and Antony, people resented people like her.
In addition to her beauty, Cleopatra was a very talented woman, in the era of ancient Egypt, she mastered five languages, and she was very skilled, proficient in philosophy, mathematics and alchemy, which is why she was able to sit on the throne, and it was also because of her excellence that she had a legendary and dramatic life.
epilogue:
Everyone rumored that Cleopatra was not only ugly in appearance, but also low and short, but could charm Caesar and Antony, and was called "Nile Demon Woman" by posterity, but she did not know that she was actually good-looking, beautiful-looking, and a talented and beautiful woman. It is said that Cleopatra led to the demise of Egypt, but in fact she saved Egypt for a period of time without being annexed by Rome. In that era, men and women did not achieve equality, and even Cleopatra had to rely on men to achieve her ambitions and ambitions, and after losing her dependence, she lost her strength and led herself and Egypt to extinction.
Perhaps from another point of view, in that era, whether it was Cleopatra's appearance, status, career, and love, it was enviable, so rumors that she was ugly, calling her "witch" was more like an incomparable jealousy, which also made her a beautiful and charming existence in the history of ancient Egypt.
bibliography:
"Autumn Hope of the Old City of Cloud Dreams", "The Mystery of Cleopatra's Death"