Cleopatra
Primary sources are very important in the aid of research. They give us first hand accounts of historical events, whether as an actual participant, witness or simply an historian of the time. Primary resources I used for this paper are the writings of Plutarch and Dio Cassius. There are no primary resources that directly document Cleopatra’s life. While Plutarch and Dio Cassius lived about 200 years after her death, they are the closest resources that give any information about her. Granted the information is given in relation to her affect upon Julius Caesar and Mark Antony’s lives, but it does offer us insight to her personality and character. I would like to note at this time that Plutarch seems to have a more objective viewpoint where she is concerned than that of Dio Cassius. Dio Cassius seems to have a generally sour opinion of her and seems to blame her for the downfall of Caesar and Antony.In the winter of 68 BCE, the famous Cleopatra VII was born into a world of royal corruption and intrigue. She learned early the manipulative methods of survival. She was taught in the pharaonic tradition of her ancestors to rule with their “brother-husbands.”1
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc. In 51 BCE, Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy XII died. 6 Dio Cassius denies that claim and says that Cleopatra “pretended her son was by Caesar. Octavian and Antony would do battle. It read that if he died, even in Rome, his body was to be returned to Cleopatra. She took the only other course of action she could. Though Antony was married to Fulvia, who was still in Rome, he became Cleopatra’s lover and went to Egypt to spend the winter with her. 8 Cleopatra kept their days full of banquets, games, and pleasure. Already we see evidence of her schematic ways.
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