Dara Pagel
Clas 230
dpagel@monm.edu

The Pattern of A Hero Applied to Cleopatra VII

Her father is (2) Ptolemy Auletes who ruled a kingdom and her mother (3) is his sister. There is not much information about Cleopatra's childhood (9). Cleopatra was left her Father's kingdom upon his death (10) when she was only eighteen. She married her younger brother, who would have been next in line to the kingdom (12). She was a Macedonian queen who ruled Alexandria (13). Her world was crumbling down around her with anarchy abroad and famine at home(14). Cleopatra had her portrait and name on coins at that time (15). A group of men led by Theodotus overthrew her (16) in favor of her brother. Cleopatra fled to Syria (17). Cleopatra meets with a mysterious death by snakebite(18). Her children do not succeed her, for she is the last Pharaoh of Egypt(20). The Egyptian religion declared that death by snakebite would secure immortality, so Cleopatra was not forgotten (22).

TOTAL: 13 points

In my eyes, Cleopatra truly is a hero. She succeeded in being a leader of a great empire when women were normally not looked upon as leaders. Even though, she was overthrown, she was able to become a leader of the Egyptian empire. She was very intelligent and was also very ambitious.