Well, thoughts on Cleopatra are quite varied so I just wondered how you all felt. Was Cleopatra VII a good leader her made her country great, or was she a foolish monarch who threw her empire away to the Romans? What do you all think, what event in her reign do you think show her to be how you think?

I regard her to be a skilled statewoman who made a few bad choices as her reign progressed. I beleive that Cleopatra was far too preoccupied in using Mark Antony than to actually watch the political scene in Rome as evidence was building to show that Octavian was becoming more and more powerful in the earlier years of the Triumvirate. Her eventual decision to spark of a civil war was, in my view, badly planned and hasty. So I think that she was initially a good stateswoman, perhaps not that great a ruler in her early days but one who made various ill informed choices and ultimately paid a huge price for it.

Cleopatra did't attract me ever, probably because she was greek, and she lived in the Roman period... the foreign Egypt's dominations I never like them... Like the_tutness_is_here, my favourite Queen/Pharaoh is Hatshepsut!

I can't help but blame her for ending the Egyptian Empire, but really there were few options open to her. If she had focused on trade and expansion rather than Mark Anthony she might have been able to form some sort of alliance with Rome to protect Egypt. She certianly chose her friends and enemies poorly.

Well, I adore Cleopatra because....

a) Her life isn't a complete mystery to us like most Egyptian Queens!
b) She ruled at one of the most amazing times for shaping history!
c) She wielded a hell of a lot more power than any other Queen at her height!
d) She comes across as a human being, not some removed from normality deity!
e) There are so many small personal details form her life that are known and make her interesting.
f) Her story alone is simply beautiful, turbulent and amazing.
g) She was a strong woman, she had to fight for more than any other Queen!
h) Through her whole reign as Queen she only tried to better Egypt, not stay happily maintaining what she'd been given.
i) Her reign is a great fusion of cultures that ultimately gave birth to the West!
j) She knew closely some of the most important people from history, Caesar, Cicero, Anthony, Octavian, Herod etc.
k) Her close ancestors built the temples Egypt is famous for today, Edfu, Philae, Esna, Kom-Ombo.
l) We have no body, so her death will always be as mysterious as her life is not.
m) She made herself to be an actual Goddess on earth in a far different way to Hatchepsut, she BECAME Aphrodite.
n) Her story is so tragic that we cant help feeling for her, no matter how much we blame her for ending Egypts Empire.

There are a few reasons I came up with off the top of my head! lol

Well Egypt did get taken over in the end... But considering the circumstances, she really had very few options. It's not so much Cleopatra-the-ruler that intruiges me as it is Cleopatra-the-person. It isn't the hollywood portrayal (though that can be entertaining at times), but for example the way she knew tons of languages. Plus, looking at the images of the time, she really doesn't look all that attractive actually. It must have taken a really dynamic personality to seduce the most powerful men of the world the way she did.

Back to the topic though. Looking at the rising power of the Romans, she was sort of steering a sinking ship at the time... Maybe some of the old rulers would have been able to make Egypt give a good fight back, but I think that she did as good as most of the other former pharaohs could have done.