Cleopatra

Cleopatra was born into the Ptolemaic line of a dynasty rapidly losing its political grip on Egypt. The Ptolemies were the last survivors from the set of Greco-Macedonian dynasties that had sprung up around the eastern Mediterranean after the death of the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great in 323 b.c. Adopting some customs of the conquered Egyptians, such as brother-sister marriage and identification of rulers with gods, the Ptolemies used these practices to isolate themselves from the culture and society around them. Generations of brother-sister marriages had left them purely Macedonian but out of touch with the Egyptians they ruled. Cleopatra saw the need for a new Egypt, economically healthy, capable of defending its interests against Rome and Parthia, and...