Biography of Cleopatra, Last Pharaoh of Egypt

Cleopatra (69 BCE–August 30, 30 BCE) was the ruler of Egypt as Cleopatra VII Philopater, She was the last of the Ptolemy dynasty of Egyptian rulers, and the very last Pharaoh of Egypt, ending a dynastic rule of some 5,000 years. Fast Facts: Cleopatra Known For: The last dynastic pharaoh of EgyptAlso Known As: Cleopatra Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra VII Philopater; Cleopatra Philadelphus Philopator Philopatris Thea NeoteraBorn: Early 69 BCEParents: Ptolemy XII Auletes (d. 51 BCE, ruled 80–51 BCE except for 58–55 BCE) and Cleopatra V Tryphaina (co-ruler 58–55 BCE with their daughter, Berenice IV, sister of Cleopatra VII)Died: August 30, 30 BCEEducation: Studied with a tutor and at the Mouseion at the Library of Alexandria, medicine, philosophy, rhetoric, oratory, and many languages, including Greek, Latin, and AramaicSpouse(s): Ptolemy XIII, Ptolemy XIV, Marc AntonyChildren: Ptolemy Caesarion (b. 46 BCE, with Julius Caesar); and three children by Marc Antony, twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene (b. 40 BCE), and Ptolemy Philadelphus (b. 36 BCE) Cleopatra VII was the descendant of Macedonians who were established as rulers over Egypt when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 323 BCE. The Ptolemy dynasty was descended from the Greek Macedonian named Ptolemy Soter, whom Alexander the Great installed in Egypt, so much of Cleopatras ancestry was Macedonian Greek. There is some controversy about the possible African origins of her mother or her paternal grandmother. Early Life Cleopatra VII was born around the beginning of 69 BCE, the second of five children of Ptolemy XII and his wife Cleopatra V. Tryphania. Although not much is available about her early life, young royal women of the Ptolemaic dynasty were well educated, and although the Library of Alexandria was no longer the intellectual powerhouse of the Mediterranean, the facility and its adjacent research center the Mouseion were still a center for learning. She took medical studies—she was a medical writer as a young woman—and she studied philosophy, rhetoric, and oratory with a tutor. She was a gifted linguist: in addition to her native Greek, Plutarch reported that she spoke Ethiopian, Trogodyte, Hebraic (probably Aramaic or less likely Hebrew), Arabic, Syrian, Median, and Parthian as well as many others. She undoubtedly read Greek, Egyptian, and Latin, and perhaps others. During Cleopatras early years, her father Ptolemy XII tried to maintain his failing power in Egypt by bribing powerful Romans. In 58 BCE, her father fled Rome to escape the anger of his people for the failing economy. Cleopatra, about 9 years old at the time, likely went with him. Her oldest sister was Berenike IV, and when Ptolemy XII fled, she and her mother Cleopatra VI Tryphaina, and his eldest daughter, Berenice IV, assumed the rulership jointly. When he returned, apparently Cleopatra VI had died, and with the help of Roman forces, Ptolemy XII regained his throne and executed Berenice. Ptolemy then married his son, about 9 years old, to his remaining daughter, Cleopatra, who was by this time about 18. Rule and Political Strife On the death of Ptolemy XII in February or March of 51 BCE, the rule of Egypt was to go to Cleopatra and her brother and husband, Ptolemy XIII; but Cleopatra moved swiftly to take control, but not without issues.  Ã‚   When Cleopatra VII took the double crown, Egypt was still facing the financial issues that her predecessors had created—Julius Caesar was owed 17.5 million drachmas—and there was still scattered civil strife. Drought, failed crops, and food shortages were becoming more serious, and by 48 BCE the Nile flood was extremely low. Cleopatra set about restoring the bull cult; but the largest issue was the presence in her kingdom of Ptolemy XIII, only about 11 years old at the time. Ptolemy had the support of his tutor Potheinos and a powerful set of advisers, including many of the top generals, and by the autumn of 50 BCE, Ptolemy XIII was in the dominant position in the country.  At the same time, Pompey—with whom Ptolemy XII had allied himself—appeared in Egypt, chased by forces of Julius Caesar. In 48 BCE, Pompey named Ptolemy XIII the sole ruler, and Cleopatra went first to Thebes, then to Syria to gather an army of supporters among the opponents of Pompey, but her army was halted in the Nile delta region at Pelousion by Ptolemys forces. In the meantime, Ptolemys advisers were becoming alarmed at the rise in turmoil in the Roman Empire, and seeking to back away from that conflict, they had Pompey assassinated and his head sent to Caesar. Shortly thereafter, Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria. He sent messages to Cleopatra and Ptolemy, asking them to disband their armies and reconcile with one another; Ptolemy kept his army but came to Alexandria, while Cleopatra set messengers and then came herself to see Caesar. Cleopatra and Julius Caesar Cleopatra, according to the stories, had herself delivered to Julius Caesars presence in a rug and won his support. Ptolemy XIII died in a battle with Caesar, and Caesar restored Cleopatra to power in Egypt, along with her brother Ptolemy XIV as co-ruler. In 46 BCE, Cleopatra named her newborn son Ptolemy Caesarion, emphasizing that this was the son of Julius Caesar. Caesar never formally accepted paternity, but he did take Cleopatra to Rome that year, also taking her sister, Arsinoe, and displaying her in Rome as a war captive. That he was already married (to Calpurnia) yet Cleopatra claimed to be his wife added to political tensions in Rome that ended with Caesars assassination in 44 BCE. After Caesars death, Cleopatra returned to Egypt, where her brother and co-ruler Ptolemy XIV died, probably assassinated by her. She established her son as her co-ruler Ptolemy XV Caesarion. Cleopatra and Marc Antony When the next Roman military governor of the region, Marc Antony, demanded her presence—along with that of other rulers who were controlled by Rome—she arrived dramatically in 41 BCE and managed to convince him of her innocence of charges about her support of Caesars supporters in Rome, captivated his interest, and gained his support. Antony spent a winter in Alexandria with Cleopatra (41–40 BCE) and then left. Cleopatra bore twins to Antony. He, meanwhile, went to Athens and, his wife Fulvia having died in 40 BCE, agreed to marry Octavia, the sister of his rival Octavius. They had a daughter in 39 BCE. In 37 BCE Antony returned to Antioch, Cleopatra joined him, and they went through a sort of marriage ceremony the following year. That year of that ceremony, another son was born to them, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Marc Antony formally restored to Egypt—and Cleopatra—territory which the Ptolemys had lost control of, including Cyprus and part of what is now Lebanon. Cleopatra returned to Alexandria and Antony joined her in 34 BCE after a military victory. He affirmed the joint rulership of Cleopatra and her son, Caesarion, recognizing Caesarion as the son of Julius Caesar. Octavian and Death Antonys relationship with Cleopatra—his supposed marriage and their children, and his granting of territory to her—was used by the Roman emperor Octavian to raise Roman concerns over his loyalties. Antony was able to use Cleopatras financial support to oppose Octavian in the Battle of Actium (31 BCE), but missteps—probably attributable to Cleopatra—led to defeat. Cleopatra tried to get Octavians support for her childrens succession to power but was unable to come to an agreement with him. In 30 BCE, Marc Antony killed himself, reportedly because hed been told that Cleopatra had been killed, and when yet another attempt to keep power failed, Cleopatra killed herself. Legacy Much of what we know about Cleopatra was written after her death when it was politically expedient to portray her as a threat to Rome and its stability. Thus, some of what we know about Cleopatra may have been exaggerated or misrepresented by those sources. Cassius Dio, one of the ancient sources that tell her story, summarizes her story as She captivated the two greatest Romans of her day, and because of the third she destroyed herself. What we know for certain is that Egypt became a province of Rome, ending the rule of the Ptolemies. Cleopatras children were taken to Rome. Caligula later executed Ptolemy Caesarion, and Cleopatras other sons simply disappear from history and are assumed to have died. Cleopatras daughter, Cleopatra Selene, married Juba, king of Numidia and Mauritania. Sources Chauveau, Michel. Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society under the Ptolemies. Trans. Lorton, David. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2000.Chaveau, Michel, ed. Cleopatra: Beyond the Myth. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002.Kleiner, Diana E.E., and Bridget Buxton. Pledges of Empire: The Ara Pacis and the Donations of Rome. American Journal of Archaeology 112.1 (2008): 57-90.Roller, Duane W. Cleopatra: A Biography. Women in Antiquity. Eds. Ancona, Ronnie and Sarah B. Pomeroy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

A Modest Proposal By Jonathan Swift - 1340 Words

A Modest Proposal was written in the year 1729 by the famous satirist Jonathan Swift. In his work he outlines the pros of eating unwanted children of Ireland for economical benefits in a time of great poverty. While the reader can obviously discard the idea of eating children, in his proposal, in a roundabout way, Swift speaks to hard pressing issues of the time. The state of Ireland is well described by Swift in this piece. He speaks of woman who â€Å"instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg for substance for their helpless infants,†(2633). This is just one of his many observations to point out the extreme poverty Ireland was facing at the time. People were hardly†¦show more content†¦The English were making the Irish poor to force them into the protestant church. Under the Penal Laws the Irish Catholics were deprived them of any right to be represented in local government, to vote, or to even own land. Under these harsh conditions it is no wonder woman and children of the time bumbled around town just to find some way to survive as a catholic while protestantism is being shoved down one s thought. Jonathan Swift wrote A Modest Proposal in response to the Whigs political party attempting to further devalue the existing third-world economy of Ireland through absentee landlordism. The Whig Party was originally founded in 1678, at the start of Britain’s modern political history. The key principles of the Whigs were to defend the people against tyranny and to advance human progress. Swift sought to expose the English complacency and hypocrisy as well as Irish s unwillingness to fight back against injustice. The way A Modest Proposal is written, it is obvious it was made of people of higher class. Swift show those who are privileged a glimpse of what life is like for poverty struck Ireland. 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This emotionally detached view of humans led to Swift employing Petty as a model for the proposer in his satirical essay â€Å"A Modest Proposal.† After years of submitting proposals to ameliora te Ireland’s issues, Swift finally attacked the ruling caste and Petty for their treatment of and apathy toward the suffering of the Irish. In Jonathan Swift’s essay â€Å"A Modest Proposal,† Swift’s employment of the proposer’s employment of dehumanizing, emotionally detached

Holden Caufield’s Character in Catcher in the Rye Essay Example For Students

Holden Caufield’s Character in Catcher in the Rye Essay The protagonist of J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caufield, is best described as an anti-hero. Although his intentions are good, he lacks the heroic qualities required to realize them, and never truly resolves his problems with â€Å"phoniness,† ultimately accomplishing nothing. He distrusts 1950s American society and its people, seeing them as image-obsessed and insincere. Combined, these traits make him an archetypical anti-hero. Throughout the course of the novel, it becomes evident that Holden, embodying very few of his society’s ideals, is an anti-heroic character. At the age of sixteen, he is six foot two, awkward-looking, and has â€Å"quite a bit of grey hair† (Salinger 57). Despite this, he notes that sometimes, he acts â€Å"only about twelve† (Salinger 9). He often repeats and contradicts himself, and misuses words, implying uneasiness and immaturity. For example, he describes things as â€Å"ironical† instead of â€Å"ironic† (Salinger 9). Holden is unable to interact well with others; he fights with Stradlater, is annoyed by Ackley, and irritates most of the people he encounters. He is a chronic and unrepentant liar; upon meeting Earnest Morrow’s mother, he introduces himself as â€Å"Rudolf Schmidt† and praises her son, while remembering him as â€Å"the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey† (Salinger 54). Holden is also physically weak. At the beginning of the novel, he picks a fight with Stradlater and loses. Afterwards, he remarks that â€Å" only been in about two fights in life, and lost both of them†, and justifies this to himself by saying â€Å"I’m a pacifist† (Salinger 45-46), thus demonstrating his hypocritical nature. Although Holden states that Stradlater’s attribution of his poor compositions to comma placement â€Å"gives a  royal pain† (Salinger 28), he blames other people for his own problems and frequently blows them out of proportion in the process. After losing fights, he pretends to be wounded; when he is punched, he thinks that he is dying, and subsequently â€Å"sort of pretending a bullet in guts† (Salinger 103-104). Holden fulfills his role as an archetypical anti-hero not only because he lacks heroic traits, but also by criticizing the society that he lives in. A major focus of the novel’s plot is the insincerity, or â€Å"phoniness† of people in 1950s America. As an anti-hero, Holden distrusts society and the people around him, condemning the hypocrisy of other characters’ interactions and the social practices of the time. He â€Å"hate the movies like poison† (Salinger 29) because of the actors, thinking that they â€Å"do something phony every minute† (Salinger 117). Similarly, when asked whether he wants to be a lawyer, he refuses, asking â€Å"How would you know you weren’t being a phony?† (Salinger 172). He criticizes the incongruity between peoples’ true desires and their public images, condemning Sally Hayes’ mother because â€Å"the only way she would go around collecting dough would be if everybody kissed her ass for her when they made a contribution.† (Salinger 114). Because of his distrust of society’s â€Å"phoniness,† Holden makes it his goal t o protect children from its onset, but finds that he cannot. Despite of his criticism of â€Å"phoniness†, Holden fails to protect the innocence of children by becoming â€Å"the catcher in the rye†. While doing so, he fantasizes about escaping â€Å"phoniness† through pretending to be a deaf-mute and isolating himself from society. However, after Phoebe tries to leave with him, he realizes that he cannot follow through with his plan. Holden eventually comes to understand that children must grow up, face danger, and make their own  decisions. His choice to think of Phoebe’s future rather than â€Å"phoniness† represents his greater realization that, in reality, the â€Å"catcher in the rye† cannot exist. Holden expresses this when he muses that â€Å"the thing with kids is you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything† (Salinger 211). Although he does not accomplish his goal, Holden is an honourable failure; his reco gnition of the impossibility of his dream allows him to mature as a person and move on with life. .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f , .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f .postImageUrl , .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f , .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f:hover , .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f:visited , .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f:active { border:0!important; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f:active , .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ubd4801be3e8f048b446e7fe1653b905f:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: What is postmodernism EssayHolden’s character is distinctly anti-heroic. He is disillusioned, heavily flawed, and critical of the people he encounters and the society that he lives in. Because of this, he fails to achieve his one true goal, instead realizing that â€Å"phoniness† is something he cannot prevent. Ultimately, Holden Caufield’s lack of heroic qualities, criticism of society, and failure make him an archetypical anti-hero.p