Cleopatra: A Life

Isis was a primary goddess in the ancient Egyptian religion, the sister and wife of Osiris. Her maternal protection was widely sought and praised in Egypt, Greece, and later in Rome. She was closely tied to the Nile and associated with its fertility and its yearly rise and fall, and as such was extremely important in Egyptian religious practice. Cleopatra likely recognized the power Isis held over the population and very early on tied herself to the goddess. Schiff suggests that Cleopatra’s self-identification with the goddess reflects both her political savvy and genuine attempts to form a connection with her subjects.

The Donations of Alexandria refer to Mark Antony’s divisions of much of Rome’s Eastern client states between his heirs with Cleopatra and her son with Caesar, Caesarian. Antony made the Donations in 34 BC, and the event triggered the final disintegration of his relations with Octavian, leading to another civil war.

Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ultimately came to an end with her death. The Ptolemies ruled Egypt for roughly 275 years after the founding member, Ptolemy I, a Macedonian general and perhaps half-brother to Alexander the Great, was appointed governor of Egypt following Alexander’s death in 323 BC. In order to legitimize their rule to the native Egyptians, the Ptolemies adopted the pharaonic practice of intermarriage, wedding siblings while keeping their seat of power closely guarded within the family. While this endeared them to the Egyptians, outside of the country their legitimacy stemmed from their close association with Alexander the Great. Schiff points out that with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, some of the appeal of aligning themselves with Cleopatra was due to the enduring fame and legitimacy of her distant ancestor.