Cleopatra VII was born in 69 B.C. in Alexandria, which was then the capital of Egypt. Her father was Egypt's Pharaoh, Ptolemy XII, and Cleopatra's mother was the Pharaoh's sister, Cleopatra V Tryphaena. It was commonplace for members of the Ptolemaic dynasty to marry their siblings. The family was not truly Egyptian, but Macedonian. They were descendents of Ptolemy I, a general of Alexander the Great who became King of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 B.C.

Ptolemy XII was a weak and cruel ruler, and in 58 B.C. the people of Alexandria rebelled and overthrew him. He fled to Rome while his eldest daughter, Berenice, took the throne. She married a cousin but soon had him strangled so that she could marry another man, Archelaus. In 55 B.C., Ptolemy XII reclaimed his throne with the help of the Roman general Pompey. Berenice was beheaded. Cleopatra VII was now the Pharaoh's oldest child. When her father died in 51 B.C., leaving his children in Pompey's care, Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII inherited the throne.

Cleopatra was 17 or 18 when she became the Queen of Egypt. Despite often attributed with having alluring features, she was far from beautiful. She is depicted on ancient coins with a long, hooked nose and being generously hairy. Yet she was clearly a very seductive woman. She had an enchantingly musical voice and exuded charisma. She was also highly intelligent. She spoke nine languages and proved to be a shrewd politician. In compliance with Egyptian tradition, Cleopatra married her brother and co-ruler, Ptolemy XIII, who was about 12 at the time. However, her brother was a Pharaoh in name only. For three years he remained in the background while Cleopatra ruled alone.

Ptolemy's advisors clearly resented Cleopatra's independence and conspired against her. In 48 B.C., they stripped Cleopatra of her power and she was forced into exile in Syria. Determined to regain her throne, Cleopatra amassed an army on Egypt's border. At this time Pompey was vying with Julius Caesar for control of the Roman Empire. After losing the battle of Pharsalos, he travelled to Alexandria, pursued by Caesar, to seek Ptolemy's protection. However, Ptolemy's advisors thought it would be safer to side with Caesar, and when Pompey arrived he was stabbed to death while the Pharaoh observed the spectacle.

Several days later, Caesar reached Alexandria. Before he entered the city, Ptolemy's courtiers brought him a gift: Pompey's head. Unfortunately for them, Pompey had once been Caesar's friend. Caesar was appalled by his brutal murder. He marched into the city, seized control of the palace, and began issuing orders. Both Ptolemy and Cleopatra were to dismiss their armies and meet with Caesar, who would settle their dispute. Cleopatra knew that if she entered Alexandria openly, Ptolemy's henchmen would kill her. So she had herself smuggled to Caesar inside an oriental rug. When the rug was unrolled, Cleopatra tumbled out. It is said that Caesar was seduced by her charm, and became her lover that very night.

Caesar left three legions in Egypt to protect Cleopatra. A year later he invited Cleopatra to visit him in Rome. She arrived in the autumn of 46 B.C., accompanied by thier lovechild, Caesarion and her young brother/husband, Ptolemy XIV. Cleopatra lived in Caesar's villa near Rome for almost two years. Caesar showered her with gifts and titles. He even had a statue of her erected in the temple of Venus Genetrix. His fellow Romans were scandalized by his extra-marital affair since Caesar was married to a woman named Calpurnia. It was rumored that Caesar intended to pass a law allowing him to marry Cleopatra and make their son his heir. It was also rumored that Caesar, who had accepted a lifetime dictatorship and sat on a golden throne in the Senate, intended to become the king of Rome.

On March 15, 44 B.C. a crowd of conspirators surrounded Caesar at a Senate meeting and stabbed him to death. Knowing that she too was in danger, Cleopatra quickly left Rome with her entourage. Before or immediately after their return to Egypt, Ptolemy XIV died, possibly poisoned at Cleopatra's command. Cleopatra then made Caesarion her co-regent.

Caesar's assassination caused anarchy and civil war in Rome. Eventually the empire was divided among three men: Caesar's great-nephew Octavian, who later became the emperor Augustus; Marcus Lepidus; and Marcus Antonius, better known today as Mark Antony. Cleopatra seduced him with her charms, and he married her in 36 B.C. She gave birth to another son from a powerful ruling Roman and called him Ptolemy Philadelphus.

The Roman people were disgusted by the way Antony had treated Octavia. They were also angry to hear that Cleopatra and Antony were calling themselves gods: the New Isis and the New Dionysus. Worst of all, in 34 B.C., Antony made Alexander Helios the King of Armenia, Cleopatra Selene the Queen of Cyrenaica and Crete, and Ptolemy Philadelphus the King of Syria. Caesarion was proclaimed the "King of Kings," and Cleopatra was the "Queen of Kings."

Outraged, Octavian convinced the Roman Senate to declare war on Egypt. In 31 B.C., Antony's forces fought the Romans in a sea battle off the coast of Actium, Greece. Cleopatra was there with sixty ships of her own. When she saw that Antony's badly-manned galleys were losing to the Romans' lighter, swifter boats, she fled the scene. Antony abandoned his men to follow her. Although it is possible that they had prearranged their retreat, the Romans saw it as tangible proof that Antony was enslaved by his love of Cleopatra, and was therefore immasculated in their eyes.

In 30 B.C., Octavian reached Alexandria. Mark Antony marched his army out of the city to meet the enemy. He stopped on high ground to watch what he expected would be a naval battle between his fleet and the Roman fleet. Instead he saw his fleet salute the Romans with their oars and join them. Antony's cavalry also deserted him. His infantry was soon defeated and Antony returned to the city, shouting that Cleopatra had betrayed him. Terrified that he would harm her, Cleopatra fled to the monument that housed her treasures and locked herself in, ordering her servants to tell Antony she was dead. Upon hearing the news, Antony killed himself. Cleopatra was stunned and sorrowed at the act and became cognizant of the extent of Antony's love for her. Soon thereafter, she too committed suicide herself Her last request was to be buried alongside Antony. She was granted that last request.

Cleopatra was the last Pharaoh. After her death, Egypt became a Roman province. Since Caesarion was Julius Caesar's son and might pose a threat to Octavian's power, Octavian had the boy strangled by his tutor. Cleopatra's other children were sent to Rome to be raised by Octavia. Cleopatra Selene married King Juba II of Mauretania and had two children, Ptolemy and Drusilla. No one knows what happened to Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus. They may have been murdered at the order of King Herod I of Judea. History will remember Cleopatra as shrewd, resourceful and the first woman to have attained the biggest influence and power in the era of the Roman Empire.

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