fme_1116114 - CLEOPATRA VII and MARK ANTONY Médaille, Reproduction d’un Tétradrachme syro-phénicien, n°31

CLEOPATRA VII and MARK ANTONY

(39-30 BC)

Cleopatra (69-30 AC. ) is the daughter of Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra VI. She succeeded her father in 51 BC.. -VS. together with her brother and husband Ptolemy XIII (51-47 AC. ). Pompey, after the defeat of Pharsalus (48 AC. ), tries to find refuge in Egypt, but is murdered at the instigation of Ptolemy XIII. Caesar arrives in Alexandria, takes the side of Cleopatra against her brother (Alexandrian War), falls under the spell of the Queen of Egypt and has a son, Caesarion, future Ptolemy XV. Cleopatra follows the conqueror to Rome, but returns to Egypt after his death in 44 BC. -VS. She then subjugates Marc Antoine, Caesar's lieutenant and partner of Octave and Lépide in the second triumvirate. She has several children, including Ptolemy Philadelphus. The war becomes inevitable between Rome and Egypt from the proclamation of the "donation of Alexandria", where Marc Antoine projects to restore the lagide power in the East. Antony and Cleopatra are defeated at Actium in 31 BC. -VS. Antoine commits suicide the following year and Cleopatra, in order not to appear in Octave's triumph, prefers to kill herself with an asp.. Caesarion is put to death by Octavian. Seen from the East, the couple Marc Antoine and Cléopâtre is mythical, just like the one she forms with César.