Ancient Empires

Let us go. It's time.

You're sure?

There'll be no going back.

I'm sure.

We present you Ptolemy Caesar,

king of kings and the one and only heir

to the late Julius Caesar.

The one and only heir.

Cleopatra is one of those

enigmatic figures in history.

PATRICK The image that most people have of Cleopatra

today is entirely a product of popular culture.

Cleopatra's reputation has been sullied by the Romans.

They wanted to portray her as an arch-villain.

A whore who slept her way to the top.

A sexually wanting female fatale.

Today we are seeing a more empathetic view

of Cleopatra, simply striving for survival.

Cleopatra is always willing to do

anything to stay in power.

To kill her siblings, whatever it takes.

She can see the entire chess board

and when she's outta moves, she makes up moves.

In an age where men dominated the world,

she outsmarted them all.

Ha!

Egypt.

Once among the most powerful kingdoms on Earth,

is recovering from turmoil.

Six years earlier,

a bloody coup...

Sent Egypt's King Ptolemy Auletes

and his young daughter Cleopatra into exile in Rome.

But now with the help of Roman soldiers,

they return in triumph.

By Cleopatra's time, Egypt already has a very long history.

Several thousand years of rule by Pharaohs,

a brief period of Persian rule.

And then in 332 B.C., Alexander the Great

comes to liberate Egypt from the Persians.

When he dies, his general Ptolemy

takes over in Egypt and thus begins Ptolemaic dynasty.

These are Macedonian Greeks

who passed themselves off as the heirs

to Alexander the Great

whom they're not really related.

And as Pharaohs, which they are not really either,

but they've established themselves

as the legitimate rulers of Egypt.

While the Ptolemys control

the rich kingdom of Egypt,

the military superpower of the ancient world

is now Rome.

And it's thanks to Rome that Auletes seizes back his crown.

He immediately takes revenge on the uprising's leader...

His eldest daughter, Berenice.

The greatest tradition of the Ptolemaic royal family

is rivalry and assassination, plotting, coups.

This goes back all the way to the very beginning

of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

Look away if you wish.

Auletes' deals with his usurping daughter,

Berenice, in classic Ptolemy style.

It's like a real life Game of Thrones

with the Ptolemys.

They seem to constantly be killing each other.

Cleopatra grows up knowing

that her other family members at any point in time

could slip a dagger into her back.

This is a nest of vipers.

And she's going to survive in that environment

and she's going to need to be willing

to do those things herself as well.

With Berenice's execution,

14 year old Cleopatra becomes her father's oldest child

and the future ruler of Egypt.

We know really almost nothing

about Cleopatra's mother.

She may have been killed by Cleopatra's older sister,

Berenice, when she came to power.

Cleopatra's Father Auletes

looks to Cleopatra to continue the family line.

It is Cleopatra that is serving as his protege.

Everything that he's worked for as king,

all of it is invested in Cleopatra

and making sure that she comes to power in a secure Egypt.

At this point in time,

Egypt was filled with natural resources

and precious materials.

It was known as the bread basket of the ancient world.

It alone produces more grain than it consumes.

It can feed Rome, it can also starve Rome.

The Ptolemys are ruling Egypt from Alexandria

in the westernmost part of the country.

Economically, it is the center

of a great trade network funneling

not only the agricultural product of Egypt,

but also luxury products coming from further east

and the coffers of the government are increasing

exponentially with all of that mercantile activity.

Culturally, Alexandria is the be all and end all.

The Ptolemys brought scholars, men of letters, physicians.

So the city of Alexandria shapes Cleopatra.

Cleopatra learns everything

she can get her hands on.

Art and science, oratory, mathematics.

But far more important,

is that she knows nine languages.

Those nine languages include Ancient Egyptian,

which believe it or not, none of the Ptolemys

had known before.

We don't know exactly what ethnicity Cleopatra had.

The Ptolemys were Macedonian Greek,

so it's very likely that Cleopatra was mostly Greek.

That being said, there are some interesting gaps

in the family tree, especially on her mother's side,

in which some Egyptians could have intermarried

with the family, but we really can't be sure.

In 51 B.C.,

four years after taking back his throne,

Cleopatra's father dies of natural causes.

And at age 18, she becomes queen of Egypt.

But as a woman, she cannot rule alone.

In Auletes will, he places Cleopatra

as co-regent with Theos,

her younger brother who's only ten years old.

Cleopatra will take Theos as her husband.

Sibling marriage in ancient Egypt

goes all the way back to the beginning of time.

You have the myth of god Osiris

who marries his sister wife, Isis.

Sibling marriage is not something

that was ever practiced in among Greek Macedonians.

So the idea seems to enter the Ptolemaic history

'cause they have pulled it from mythology.

The assumption in this case

was that because Cleopatra's co-ruler

was so much younger than she was,

that Cleopatra would be the dominant partner

in that relationship.

Cleopatra sees her brother's young age

as a chance to grow her own power,

but she's not alone.

Theos attracts others looking to elevate their status.

His advisor, Pothinus, and Sister, Arsinoe.

Arsinoe plays this shadowy role.

She seems to be a supporter of the faction of Theos.

And so throughout the beginning of the reign,

Cleopatra has to look at Arsinoe

as a potential threat to her throne.

Majesty, please relax with us.

Mm-hmm. Thank you, Pothinus.

And what is the source of your new found generosity?

Majesty, should we remind your sister

what happens to Queens who try to upstage

their male consorts?

As a student of our history, she should know.

The same fate as advisors who mistake

the king's power for their own.

Pothinus can be regarded

as a kind of a sinister force behind the throne.

He has personal ambition

and he tries to position Theos to become the leader

by suppressing the power and aspirations of Cleopatra.

There's a tremendous amount of wealth and manpower

available to anyone who could take control of Egypt.

Cleopatra has already shown inclinations

to act on her own behalf.

This minimizes the influence of those elite

that make up the inner circle of Alexandria.

Cleopatra's drive for autonomy is very risky.

Consider that the last four Ptolemaic Queens

who wanted sole rule were killed for it.

As a way to build influence beyond Alexandria,

Cleopatra goes where few Ptolemys have been before.

She travels 400 miles into Egypt's hinterland...

to lead a sacred procession.

Cleopatra is a kind of chameleon

who is able to move very easily

between the Egyptian and Greek worlds.

Alexandria is a largely Greek city,

and so it was very different from the rest of Egypt

where people spoke Egyptian and were following

ancient Egyptian traditions that had been around for millennia.

Cleopatra's siblings tended to focus

all of their energy on guarding the support

of the Alexandrian elite.

Cleopatra, however, is also interested in gaining

support of the wider Egyptian population.

One of the first things that Cleopatra does,

she institutes and enthrones,

the new Buchis bull,

the incarnation of the creator god Ptah,

and a very, very important religious ceremony.