Cleopatra’s relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were enmeshed in the complicated politics of both Egypt and Rome. In Egypt, factions championed competing claimants to the throne, stopping at nothing to advance the interests of their chosen candidate. Cleopatra’s encounter with Caesar took place in the context of her recent return from exile in Syria (an exile engineered by her political opponents), and her political position in Egypt was improved by their relationship. At same time, Rome was engaged in its own internal power struggle. Caesar arrived in Egypt just after he defeated Pompey, his main rival for power. By the time Mark Antony met Cleopatra, Rome had descended into civil war. When Antony first initiated contact with Cleopatra, his goal was to gain an important ally for his side in that struggle.

It should not surprise us, therefore, that the surviving accounts of Cleopatra are colored by political considerations. During the Roman civil war, supporters of Octavian had every reason to depict Cleopatra in an unflattering light. Octavian’s victory over Antony and his subsequent rule as Augustus ensured that later Roman historians would do little to challenge this biased picture. Perhaps even more interesting is that the criticisms Roman observers leveled were rooted in what one might call “Roman family values.” As you explore the various depictions of Cleopatra, consider what they reveal about the connections between late Republican and early imperial politics and Roman social and cultural values.