Whether you've
seen her in a movie or just have a human pulse, most
of us know who Cleopatra is. Cleopatra-- or Cleopatra VII,
if we're getting specific-- was a lifelong leader and one of
the most ruthless and brilliant rulers of her time. It turns out Cleo
was a whole lot more than just a pretty
face on a coin. Today we're exploring
just how great of a leader Cleopatra really was. But before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History Channel. Oh, and that's just not enough. Leave a comment and
let us know what topics you would like to hear about. OK, it's Cleo time. [MUSIC PLAYING] The life of Cleopatra, the last
Egyptian pharaoh, was infamous. Born in 69 BC, she
was the daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes, a
notoriously lackadaisical monarch, and rose
to power as co-ruler with her brother in 51 BC. Aside from secretly conceiving
a love child with Julius Caesar and then getting together
with his right-hand man, Mark Antony-- talk about a scandalous
love triangle-- she also managed to maintain
Egypt's independence until her dying breath. Some leaders are
born into greatness. Some work for their success. And others marry their brothers. In Cleopatra's case, she
opted for the ancestral route, going with the Egyptian royal
tradition of marrying one of your immediate relatives. Upon the death of her
father, Ptolemy XII, 18-year-old Cleopatra
began to rule Egypt alongside her 10-year-old
brother, the creatively named Ptolemy XIII. After Cleopatra was
exiled from Egypt, she went to Rome to get
Julius Caesar's help in retaking her kingdom. When the Romans
invaded Alexandria, Ptolemy XIII
drowned in the Nile, probably because his armor
weighed enough to sink him. To maintain face, Cleopatra
then walked down the aisle with her other surviving
brother, Ptolemy XIV. The girl's got a type. Some think she
might have murdered her second brother-husband
after she had a son of her own, named Ptolemy XV Caesarion,
whose daddy was none other than Julius Caesar. Cheating and having
a love child is OK when you're married to
your brother, right? I'm going to put a
prince in your belly. [MUSIC PLAYING] Cleo definitely had a thing
for Romans, but not necessarily because she thought
they were hot. When she first linked
up with Julius Caesar, she was on a mission. Once she was ruling
Egypt, Cleopatra needed money and military
help to stay in power. So she matched wits with
the man at the top-- Julius Caesar. Cleo used him to cultivate
military support for herself over her little brothers. They met in 48 BC, when Caesar's
arch rival Pompeii landed on Egyptian shores and
was promptly killed by Cleo's little brother. Caesar followed Pompeii
and came to Egypt, where he met a brilliant young
queen who appealed to him intellectually and sexually. The two definitely had
a thing for each other, and became one of the most
legendary couples of all time. No, seriously-- name
a more iconic duo. We'll wait. [CLOCK TICKING] [BUZZER] We know that sparks were
flying between Cleo and Julius, but just how did they meet? Legend has it that Cleopatra
had herself wrapped in a rug and smuggled into Caesar's room. But that was probably not true-- and thank god, because can
you imagine the rug burn? The real story,
according to Plutarch, is that she was tucked
into a bed sack-- probably a bag for royal linens-- and
plopped into his chambers. Regardless of how she really
arrived at Caesar's side, it's no wonder he was
enraptured with her. She was brilliant,
charming, sexy, and less than half his age. During their brief
but powerful romance, they went on Nile cruises
together, probably made love until dawn, and exchanged
political ideas. Who knows exactly
what they discussed? But he did leave
her with a present-- a Roman bun in the oven. [DRAMATIC MUSIC] Sure, you may worship
at the altar of Beyonce. But back in ancient
Egyptian times, Cleopatra had the actual
power to make herself into a bona fide goddess as far
as her subjects were concerned. Making yourself a god or goddess
was an Egyptian tradition. Her Ptolemaic predecessors
had done the same, often assuming the
roles of Greek deities. But Cleo went one step
further and echoed previous Ptolemaic queens
by associating herself with Isis, the mother goddess. Isis was the mother of Horace,
the first pharaoh god of Egypt. A mother of god and a ruler? Women back then really
could have it all-- if they were Cleopatra. By making herself
into the goddess Isis, Cleopatra was declaring
she was the divine mother and protectoress of the
two lands of her people. Like Isis and other
mortal queens, Cleopatra married her brothers. Caesar, this is not proper. Not proper? She wore sacred
robes at a festival and had herself portrayed
as Isis in statuary. She was dubbed Nea
Isis, or New Isis. In fact, her eventual
beau, Mark Antony, became Osyris in
these depictions to show that a divine pair
was once again ruling Egypt. Back then, you could
declare yourself a god and people would
just believe you. Now, that's power. But what's more powerful than
being a bona fide goddess? Well, the answer
is cold hard cash. Did you know Cleopatra
was a grave robber? Alexander the Great's tomb
was located in Alexandria, brought there by the
first Ptolemaic king. And it was looted by the
successive generations. And let me tell you, Cleopatra
was not above a grave looting. Besides, it was her
family tradition. After the Battle of Actium
that pretty much wiped out her forces, Cleo raided
Alexander's mausoleum, and even her own
ancestors' tombs, to get precious metals
to fund her continuing campaign against Rome. She was scrappy and ready to
get the funds however she could, even if it meant robbing the
grave of a long dead Macedonian king. [MUSIC PLAYING] Our fave queen
visited Rome twice, once in 46 and
another time in 44 BC. While many loved Cleopatra, the
Romans weren't so hot on her. They saw Cleopatra as a
scandalous foreign temptress. When she arrived with her
incestuous brother-husband in tow, they assumed
she was in their city to seduce their leader. She stayed at one
of Caesar's villas, outside the immediate
city, along with her and Caesar's son,
little Caesarion. There was some conjecture
that she was not so subtly hinting that her
kid should be Julius' heir. Bold move, Cleo. Some suggested Cleopatra
was just hanging out in Rome on Caesar's dime. But that was far from the case. In reality, she was
there on a business trip, working to make alliances and
secure her own thrown back home. She learned from
her father's example that rulers of
independent kingdoms needed Roman support to thrive. So basically she was there
for business, not pleasure. [MUSIC PLAYING] After Caesar was
murdered, Cleopatra was scrambling to find
a new ally in Rome. She knew being a stellar ruler
of her own kingdom meant having some form of an ally in Rome. So who better than
Caesar's number one ally, Marcus Antonius--
better known as Mark Antony. So what if he was
her ex's bestie? There was no such thing as a
guy code for ancient rulers. Cleopatra knew Mark Antony
was a womanizer, who was also married multiple times. So when it was time
for her to meet him, she dressed to impress. When Cleopatra goes to visit
a new potential suitor, she doesn't just show
up in sweatpants. So when it was time for
her to finally meet Antony, she naturally
sailed up the river in what Plutarch referred to
as a barge with gilded poop, its sails spread purple,
its rowers urging it on with silver oars to the
sound of the flute blended with pipes and lutes. Wait-- did he say gilded poop? Anyway, Cleopatra was lying
on a bed with a golden canopy, and was dressed like
the Roman goddess Venus, with her servants
made up as nymphs. If that's not a grand
entrance, I don't know what is. Needless to say, Antony was
impressed and invited her over. But in true form,
Cleopatra demanded that she meet him on her boat. So he boarded as he
was told, and was impressed by Cleopatra's
opulence, charm, and intelligence. She was gorgeous, could speak
many different languages, and had a strong command
of political and military sciences. So needless to say, she
was the full package. After that night
an affair was born. And like any affair,
it didn't happen without some serious scandal. [DRAMATIC MUSIC] Do you think Cleopatra
was above having an affair with a married man? Uh, obviously not. It wasn't unusual
for anyone to have affairs in the ancient world--
no weirder than it is now. But Mark Antony was
known as a womanizer. The man was still on
his fourth marriage when he met and
married Cleopatra. Talk about bigamy. The thing is, he couldn't
just divorce his fourth wife as easily as he had some
of the earlier ones. Why? She was Octavia, sister
of his arch rival, the uber-powerful
Octavian, who would later be known as Augustus, the
first emperor of Rome, who defeated Antony and
Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. This was an important alliance. And he clearly didn't
want to blow it all up, even if he was enamored with his
Egyptian side chick, Cleopatra. But Antony was obviously
pulled towards Cleopatra. And that attraction
didn't come easily. Cleo had to work for it. According to Plutarch, in
order to keep Antony around, Cleopatra would pretend to be
passionately in love with him. She even reduced her
body by slender diet. She put on a look
of rapture when Antony drew near, and one
of faintness and melancholy when he went away. So basically, she
manipulated him so he'd choose her, his mistress
wife, over his lawful wife. After snatching Octavia's man,
Cleopatra took Antony to Athens and savagely threw Octavia and
their kids out of their house. Ice cold, Cleopatra! Also, weird side note here--
after Cleopatra's death, Octavia raised Cleo and
Antony's surviving children in a weird, twisted Roman
version of the Brady Bunch. Speaking of Cleopatra's death,
what goes up, must come down. The story goes that after
Cleopatra and Antony lost everything, Cleo
committed suicide by having a snake bite her. Plutarch claims that she hid
a snake in a basket of figs and let it nibble on her. He admits, though, that the
truth of the matter, no one knows. For it was also said that
she carried about poison in a hollow comb and kept
the comb hidden in her hair. And yet, neither spot
nor other sign of poison broke out upon her body. Death by poisonous hairbrush-- now that's quite a way to go. Or perhaps Cleopatra didn't die
by snake bite or poison comb. Some have guessed that
she kicked the bucket by downing a lethal cocktail. What would her beverage
have contained? Perhaps opium, hemlock-- what
Socrates used to kill himself-- and deadly wolfsbane. Either way, she perished at
the ripe young age of 39. [MUSIC PLAYING] Cleopatra's royal
family heritage, known as the Ptolemaic
Dynasty of Egypt, was actually founded
by a man of primarily Macedonian Greek descent,
Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter. Greek-born Ptolemy was one of
Alexander the Great's BFFs. And after Alexander's
death, Ptolemy and Alexander's other
generals carved up his empire. Ptolemy got Egypt, along with
a few other tinier territories. He kept his Greek name,
but modeled himself after Egyptian rulers by
making himself pharaoh-- you know, to fit in. His successors
continued the tradition of mimicking the
Egyptian style of rule by marrying their siblings-- a
hallmark of many ancient kings, Egyptians in particular. So essentially, this made it
so a lot of Cleopatra's family was Macedonian Greek
and not native Egyptian. Not only were they
mostly not Egyptian, but many of Cleo's predecessors
didn't even speak Egyptian. Unlike them, however,
Cleo actually took the time to learn
the Egyptian language, meaning she could effectively
communicate with her subjects. She may actually have been of
part-Egyptian descent herself. Her dad, Ptolemy XII,
was mostly Greek. But we still, to
this day, don't know the identity of either his own
mother or Cleopatra's mother. Perhaps Cleo's
grandmother or mother were Egyptian and
instilled a love of their native country
in the young princess, causing her to
learn and appreciate the language of her people. It's pretty clear why
Cleopatra's legacy lives on in history. In spite of her
short time on Earth, this bad-ass, ruthless,
tough-as-nails female leader managed to change the
course of history forever. What do you think about
Cleopatra's leadership skills? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our weird history.
