The world’s most legendary woman in history is also the world’s most misunderstood, with so many myths and debates surrounding her story.
Fact #1: The Egyptian Queen was Greek.
Cleopatra VII was Greek Macedonian. Her ancestors, the Ptolemaic dynasty, had taken over Egypt hundreds of years before she was born. And before Egypt was controlled by Greeks, it had been controlled by the Persians. Although she was queen of Egypt, she most likely had no Egyptian DNA.
Her ancestors have been described as having medium to light skin, medium to light eyes, and medium to light hair. Her family line also traces back to the golden-haired Alexander the Great. Much of Cleopatra’s appearance remains unknown — it could’ve been anything from pale and blonde to tan and brunette. But her features would’ve most closely resembled Greek rather than Egyptian.
There is room for argument in her ancestry in that there’s no concrete proof of who her mother was. It’s theorized that it was Cleopatra V, who was also Greek Macedonian, like her father. There’s also possibility that she was born outside of her father’s marriage, in which there’s chance of inheriting Egyptian from her mother’s side.
Fact #2: Cleopatra was the only one in her family to embrace Egyptian customs.
When the Ptolemaic dynasty took control of Egypt, they didn’t show much respect for the Egyptian natives. Instead, they pushed their own Greek customs, including their language and religion. However, Cleopatra VII was the first in her family to bring back tradition, and this is what made her so popular and respected among the natives.
Cleopatra learned the Egyptian language so that she could directly speak with her people, instead of relying on translators, like her ancestors had. She also embraced Egyptian religion and rituals. For example: Cleopatra reenacted the legend of King Snofru — Egypt’s greatest pyramid builder who was worshipped centuries after his death and said to be the incarnation of the sun god — by rowing the sacred bull along the 9 km stretch of the Nile from Thebes to Hermonthis.
Perhaps the greatest difference between customs of the Greek verses the Egyptian, was that the ancient Greeks were extremely patriarchal — requiring all women be property of their fathers or husbands, cover themselves fully from head to toe, and never leave their homes. Meanwhile, the ancient Egyptians were progressive — giving women rights to work, to own land, and to divorce. Cleopatra very much embraced this progressive mindset.
Fact #3: Cleopatra believed that she was the human reincarnation of the goddess Isis.
“Isis” is the Greek name for the Egyptian goddess, “Iset” or “Aset.” Cleopatra declared herself to be the human reincarnation of the goddess, Isis. Many historians claim that she did this as a political strategy. However, there is great reason to say that she truly believed this, as she was known for being heavily involved in the Egyptian religious beliefs.
As Cleopatra’s life plays out, you can actually see many parallels between Cleopatra and Isis. They both share characteristics of being highly ambitious and thirsty for power, while also being incredibly caring and charming. While Isis is the goddess of magic and healing, Cleopatra also had devout interest in medical research and spiritual alchemy. And as Isis is a widow to Osiris, Cleopatra was twice a widow to both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.
Cleopatra was formally recognized as the New Isis by the Egyptian priesthood. By the Romans, she was also compared to Venus, who is seen as the Roman equivalent of Isis.
Fact #4: Cleopatra wrote many books on medicine.
Cleopatra was a writer — she was titled “scribe of Thoth, the god of writing.” Much of her writing involved research on cosmetics, hygiene, and cures for disease. She came up with different formulations for all kinds of ailments.
Famously, Cleopatra has been attributed to “bathing in donkey’s milk” in order to keep skin soft, fresh, and healthy. Her other most famous recipe is a cure for baldness — with nasty ingredients that include burnt mice, horse’s teeth, and deer marrow.
She owned the Library of Alexandria, the world’s largest library at the time. This library was filled with an impressive amount of books in several different translations — along with an entire laboratory and research center. Unfortunately, the Library of Alexandria ended up burning down, and many of her works were lost.
Fact #5: Cleopatra conducted extensive research on poisons and toxicology.
Cleopatra was not only interested in medicine, she was also interested in poison. Considering the violent, political environment that she was living in, it was wise of Cleopatra to brainstorm an escape plan for herself. It’s theorized that she was searching for the most quick and painless poison to have on hand — in case of emergency in which she would need to take her own life.
Through poisonous plants and venomous animals, Cleopatra was determined to formulate a variety of different concoctions and tinctures. Poisons were tested on prisoners, taking note of how they reacted to each substance — their pain levels, how quickly they died, etc.
Fact #6: During her time, the name “Cleopatra” was very common.
Today, we hear the name “Cleopatra” and only think of one woman. But at the time, this was a very common name. Not only was this a family name for the Ptolemy dynasty, it was also common among the common people.
Actually, the true spelling of her name is “Kleopatra” with a “K.” This is the Greek spelling of the name. “Cleopatra” is the Roman version of her name, translated in Latin. That’s because in the Latin language, there is no use of the letter “K.”
Fact #7: Cleopatra inherited a dying kingdom.
Cleopatra was the last leader of the Ptolemaic kingdom — before Rome took over Egypt. However, she is not to blame for the fall of the Ptolemaic dynasty. It had been dying over the past few generations. In fact, Cleopatra’s clever efforts allowed for her kingdom to be closed with grace and dignity.
When Cleopatra became queen, her kingdom was broke, and Egypt was suffering from plague and drought. Her father died shortly after she took the crown and there was given no inheritance. At first, Cleopatra went through great lengths to cover up her father’s death, a tactic to prevent Rome from intervening.
Cleopatra was able to successfully save the economy and raise an impressive amount of money. She also worked on an esoteric level to cure famine and plague by performing religious rituals.
Fact #8: Cleopatra had four (possibly five) children.
Cleopatra and Julius Caesar had a son together who was nicknamed “Caesarian” or “Little Caesar.” It’s also possible that they had another baby together. Records state that Cleopatra was pregnant with Caesar’s second child during his assassination. However, there’s nothing to follow from her pregnancy — which either means that she miscarried or she had a daughter (in which they may have seen the female child as illegitimate.)
With Mark Antony, Cleopatra had a pair of twins (boy and girl) followed by another boy.
Fact #9: Augustus Caesar pushed negative propaganda against Cleopatra, even after her death.
Julius Caesar’s nephew, Octavian, would grow up to take over Rome and rename himself “Augustus Caesar.” Augustus saw Cleopatra as his greatest threat because he was trying to take over Egypt. He wanted to have her son, Caesarian, executed, because he had the birthright to steal Augustus’s power.
Augustus Caesar fed the Roman people with lots of negative press against Cleopatra. He painted her as a drunk, a prostitute, and a manipulator. This was nothing but political lies in order to take away her power. Following her death, Augustus was still not satisfied. He made it his mission to erase her from history.
Over two thousand years later, and Cleopatra remains a prominate figure in history. While much of her story still remains, it’s terrible to think about how much has been permanently erased, due to Augustus Caesar.
Fact #10: Cleopatra took her own life — but we don’t know how.
As she had predicted for herself, after years of studying poison and toxicology, Cleopatra was cornered into taking her own life. It happened after the battle of Actium, in which Cleopatra and Mark Antony were defeated by Octavian (AKA Augustus Caesar.) Mark Antony took his own life by stabbing himself with his sword after believing that Cleopatra had died. She found him and attempted to save him, but it had been too late.
Octavian demanded to hold Cleopatra captive — with plans to parade her around the city as his slave and keep her under his control. Instead, in attempt to preserve her dignity and take back her power, Cleopatra divised a plan to poison herself. Popular mythology tells us that she died by snake bite — but this is not practical. Instead, she likely injected herself with a snake venom extract. And thanks to her research, she likely found herself a poison that allowed her to die quick and painlessly.
What the modern world should take away most from Cleopatra, was that she was an intelligent, ambitious, and clever leader. She was more than a woman who seduced Roman men of power. Arguments over her looks are irrelevant — because in the end, it was her brilliant mind that gave her such an impact on history.
Crystal Aura Gaze 
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