Cleopatra and 4 Men who Surrounded Her | Being Women ep. 1

Hello my friends! I am very happy to introduce this new format called 'Being Women' where I would love to talk more about the amazing women of the history (including art, of course).

We start today with legendary Cleopatra. What were her realtionships, how she lived and fought and how did she hide her secrets? Let's dive in ancient Egypt and discover the history together!

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Transcript

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Cleopatra the queen, the scholar, and the four men who made her. She is the last ray of dying civilization, a woman whose name became a synonym with power and seduction. Cleopatra reigned for twenty-two years, yet those years changed the map of the ancient world. Countless legends swirl around her figure. But the truth is far more dazzling than fiction. She was a polyglot who spoke nine languages, negotiated with the fearless politicians and played the destinies of the empire. But like a mortal she needed allies. The four men who like possessed through her life were not merely her lovers or enemies, they became instruments with which she tried to forge the future. Before discussing the man, one of the great myths must be debugged. Modern cinemas painted a picture of heartbreaking beauty. But science held a different helped us to reveal a different story. On the surviving coins, Cleopatra depicted with a low forehead, prominent chin, and a big nose. Moreover, some British archaeological archaeologists claim that certain portraits the queen has no teeth. Ancient author never called her beautiful, instead anonymously admired her voice, ductive and mesmerizing. Even Plutarch, who saw on the images of Leopard, who wrote her beauty was not one called impeccable. But her charm and powers of persuasion had plattered themselves deep in the soul. Greek by origin, not Egyptian, her ancestor was Ptolemy, a general of Alexander the Great. She possessed a magical charisma that no one could resist. Cleopatra was a brilliant orator, straight line that she said, a daughter of goddess Isis. Her intellect was the true weapon. She spoke nine languages, including ancient Egyptian, aromatic Greek, and Latin. She was educated in mathematics, philosophy, rhetoric, and astronomy. Man one Ptolemy XIII, the boy tyrant and the warrior of the thrones. Cleopatra's first husband was her own brother. Such was the order of Ptolematic dynasty. Power was kept within the bloodlines. Over a dozen of Cleopatra's ancestors were born by marriage to cousins or siblings, and it's likely their own parents were also brothers and sisters. When her father Ptolemy XII died, an eighteen-year-old Cleopatra and her ten-year-old brother became co-rulers. But there was not a marriage of love. It was a hostage of a brutal politics. Soon the young king, driven by ambition's regent, drove the sister out of the country. A civil war began. At the very moment, the ships of the Julius Caesar appeared on the horizon of Egypt. The persuasing enemy of Ptolemy's Cleopatra destiny hung by the threat. Her husband brother became the first political and his first political lesson. Blood ties do not protect against betrayal, and to survive she needed more than a powerful enemy. Soon Ptolemy XIII drowned in the Nile during the war with Caesar. Leaving Patre as a widow, there was a conflict and deaths of the siblings, and this was such a polematic tradition in a sibling uh marriage. So basically, she had to be buried after her husband died. Gnaeus Pompey, the shadow of animate islands. Oh, this man is often forgotten, but it was he who identically opened the door for Caesar. Gnaeus Pompey was a brilliant general and uh patrician. There are theories that Cleopatra was connected to him even before meeting Caesar. She saw him in the as a solution to all her problems and thought to establish a close ties to win the favor of Roman masters. Yet the story is tragic. When Ptolemy, having lost the battle to Caesar, fled to Egypt to seek the refuge, the young Ptolemy 13th, hoping to please the victor, ordered his guests to be mortared on board of the ship. The unfortunate Ptolemy, accompanied by half dozen soldiers, boarded a small boat that was carrying him ashore. Immediately two assassins ruled him and stabbed with daggers. Cleopatra was watching the carriage from her hiding place, understood the gods were offering her a chance. The 52-year-old dictator who had seen every world had to offer was conquered not so much by her body but her intellect. The islands was mutually beneficial, Cleopatra gained control over Egypt. Offspring of the Union was a child, Ptolemy XV, who entered the history as a little Caesar. Caesar never officially acknowledged the boy, one of his friends who wrote a pamphlet denying that Caesareus, who was Caesar's son, yet Cleopatra, without hitting Dict called him a Roman heir. She stood the threshold of becoming a first lady of the world's greatest empire. In March, Theather fell under the dagger of the senators. Cleopatra fled Rome, taking her son with her. Ironic twist, those were ambitions who would later learn to execution when Octavian August ordered him killed, saying too many Caesars. Man four, Mark Antony, the tragedy of passion and the ruin of kingdom. Eve, with Caesar Cleopatra, played chess with Mark Antony, she burned into fire. Meeting Antony, the triumph of Rome, the faithful friend of Cether, she lost her mind. He was a warrior, a lovely wine and luxury. Cleopatra gave him what he could not find in Rome. Acceptance and the divine status. The affair, accompanied by mad feasts, the legend insane that Cleopatra bade she could consume ten million senses in a single dinner. She dissolved a huge pearl of vinegar and drank the cocktail. Antony was stunned. She recognized that three children by her, the Alexandra, the Cleopatra, and later Ptolemy. She grained in them lands belonging to Rome, a deadly insult to Octavian. In the battle of Aquintum, the decidive moment, changed the course of the history forever. On the morning of 2nd of September, two Roman feats met at the month of the Umbracian Gulf. Cleopatra's fleet consists of 60 light ships, suddenly seized by panic. Turned south and sailed out of the battle with following by wind. Mark Antony transferred from the flagship Swift and caught the Queen. Realizing the battle was lost, Cleopatra broke through her ships and Mark Antony followed her. He lost the war because of love. After the battle, they retreated to Alexandria, where found a society called the Inspirable Death. Lovers lived for several months awaiting their end. The Octavian reached the walls of Alexandria. Mark Antony, receiving false news of Cleopatra's suicide, sucked himself with a sword. His men carried him to Cleopatra and he died in her arms. The copper instead of the crown. She preferred death to humiliation. Cleopatra had a two-story manselm next to the temple, to the goddess of Isis. There she retreated. According to more spread version, on the 12th of August, dressed as a royal in royal robe, she pressed a venomous snake, an Egyptian cobra, to her breast. She believed that the ap's bite would open the gates of the gods to her. It's hard to believe that a single snake could kill Cleopatra, and she took handmaidens. The short time took Octavian to to reach the mausoleum. Rome triumphed, Egypt became a province, but Cleopatra's name did not vanish. Her children were scattered. Ptolemy was executed on Octavian's order. Twins Alexander and Cleopatra, together with the youngest Ptolemy, were taken to Rome to march into chains in the triumph parade rise by Octavians. The only child to leave was Celine, who married King Juba and continued the Ptolemy line. The story of Cleopatra was not a merely tale of broken hearts, but the story of how a woman married to a fate itself four times, and each time rewrote the rules of the game. She lost the war, but won their mentality.