Summary:
Explore Cleopatra VII’s life in 20 illustrated pages, from Egypt’s throne and Roman alliances to Actium, her dynasty and the evidence behind the legend.
Behind the panels
Reading time: about 6–8 minutes, including the illustrations.
Cleopatra VII (69–30 BCE) ruled Egypt during a period of dynastic conflict and expanding Roman power. This 20-page illustrated biography follows her political alliances, royal family and struggle to preserve her kingdom, then looks at the evidence behind her enduring image.
Notes and sources
Illustrated scenes reconstruct historical settings. Character likenesses, documents, architecture and coin motifs are interpretations, not facsimiles. Cleopatra’s exact appearance is uncertain. Her claim that Caesar was Caesarion’s father cannot be independently proved, and the precise circumstances of her death remain uncertain. No invented dialogue is presented as a historical quotation.
- Oxford: Cleopatra VII, 69–30 BCE
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Egypt in the Ptolemaic Period
- ASOR: Cleopatra’s Languages, by Rolf Strootman
- University of Warwick/OCR: Cleopatra, Rome and Egypt, teachers’ guide
- Global Egyptian Museum: Cleopatra
- Cambridge University Press: chronology
- British Museum: Bronze coin of Cleopatra VII
- Royal Collection Trust: Cleopatra and Caesarion relief at Dendera
- Cambridge University Press: historical introduction
- Oxford Classical Dictionary: Cleopatra VII
Continue reading
For another illustrated life shaped by leadership and political conflict, read Nelson Mandela: The Long Work of Freedom. To explore a writer who helped shape Cleopatra’s later dramatic image, continue with William Shakespeare: A World on the Stage.
