[00:06] "Order, order.
[00:07] So who do we have here?"
[00:09] "Your Honor, this is Cleopatra,
[00:11] the Egyptian queen whose lurid affairs
destroyed two of Rome's finest generals
[00:16] and brought the end of the Republic."
[00:19] "Your Honor, this is Cleopatra,
[00:22] one of the most powerful women in history
[00:24] whose reign brought Egypt nearly
22 years of stability and prosperity."
[00:30] "Uh, why don't we even know
what she looked like?"
[00:33] "Most of the art and descriptions
came long after her lifetime
[00:37] in the first century BCE,
[00:39] just like most of 
the things written about her."
[00:42] "So what do we actually know?
[00:44] Cleopatra VII was the last
of the Ptolemaic dynasty,
[00:48] a Macedonian Greek family 
that governed Egypt
[00:51] after its conquest by Alexander the Great.
[00:54] She ruled jointly in Alexandria 
with her brother-
[00:58] to whom she was also married-
[01:00] until he had her exiled."
[01:03] "But what does all this 
have to do with Rome?"
[01:05] "Egypt had long been a Roman client state,
[01:08] and Cleopatra's father incurred 
large debts to the Republic.
[01:12] After being defeated by Julius Caesar
in Rome's civil war,
[01:15] the General Pompey sought refuge in Egypt
[01:18] but was executed 
by Cleopatra's brother instead."
[01:22] "Caesar must have liked that."
[01:24] "Actually, he found the murder unseemly
and demanded repayment of Egypt's debt.
[01:29] He could have annexed Egypt,
[01:31] but Cleopatra convinced him to restore
her to the throne instead."
[01:35] "We hear she was quite convincing."
[01:38] "And why not? Cleopatra 
was a fascinating woman.
[01:41] She commanded armies at 21,
[01:43] spoke several languages,
[01:45] and was educated in a city 
with the world's finest library
[01:48] and some of the greatest 
scholars of the time."
[01:51] "Hmm."
[01:52] "She kept Caesar lounging 
in Egypt for months when Rome needed him."
[01:56] "Caesar did more than lounge.
[01:59] He was fascinated by Egypt's culture
and knowledge,
[02:01] and he learned much during his time there.
[02:04] When he returned to Rome, 
he reformed the calendar,
[02:06] commissioned a census,
[02:07] made plans for a public library,
[02:10] and proposed many 
new infrastructure projects."
[02:13] "Yes, all very ambitious, 
exactly what got him assassinated."
[02:17] "Don't blame the Queen for Rome's
strange politics.
[02:20] Her job was ruling Egypt,
and she did it well.
[02:23] She stabilized the economy,
[02:25] managed the vast bureaucracy,
[02:27] and curbed corruption by priests
and officials.
[02:30] When drought hit, she opened
the granaries to the public
[02:33] and passed a tax amnesty,
[02:35] all while preserving her kingdom's
stability and independence
[02:39] with no revolts during 
the rest of her reign."
[02:42] "So what went wrong?"
[02:43] "After Caesar's death, this foreign Queen
couldn't stop meddling in Roman matters."
[02:48] "Actually, it was the Roman factions who
came demanding her aid.
[02:52] And of course she had no choice
but to support Octavian and Marc Antony
[02:57] in avenging Caesar,
if only for the sake of their son."
[03:00] "And again, she provided her particular
kind of support to Marc Antony."
[03:06] "Why does that matter?
[03:07] Why doesn't anyone seem to care about
[03:08] Caesar or Antony's 
countless other affairs?
[03:12] Why do we assume she instigated
the relationships?
[03:14] And why are only powerful women
defined by their sexuality?"
[03:19] "Order."
[03:20] "Cleopatra and Antony were a disaster.
[03:22] They offended the Republic
with their ridiculous celebrations
[03:25] sitting on golden thrones
[03:27] and dressing up as gods
[03:28] until Octavian had all of Rome convinced
of their megalomania."
[03:33] "And yet Octavian was the one 
who attacked Antony,
[03:36] annexed Egypt,
[03:37] and declared himself Emperor.
[03:40] It was the Roman's fear of a woman
in power that ended their Republic,
[03:45] not the woman herself."
[03:46] "How ironic."
[03:48] Cleopatra's story survived mainly
in the accounts of her enemies in Rome,
[03:53] and later writers filled the gaps 
with rumors and stereotypes.
[03:57] We may never know the full truth
of her life and her reign,
[04:00] but we can separate fact from rumor
by putting history on trial.