Introduction:
Cleopatra VII Philopator was the last person to rule Egypt as an Egyptian pharaoh – after she died, Egypt became a Roman province. She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Cleopatra originally ruled jointly with her father Ptolemy XII Auletes and later with her brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, whom she also married, but eventually she became sole ruler. As pharaoh, she consummated a liaison with Gaius Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne. She later elevated her son with Caesar, Caesarion, to co-ruler in name. After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, she aligned with Mark Antony in opposition to Caesar's legal heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian (later known as Augustus). With Antony, she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios, and …show more content…
Egypt seemed an easy booty because the land did not have strong land forces and there were a famine and an epidemic. Cassius finally wanted to prevent that Cleopatra would bring a strong fleet as reinforcement for Antony and Octavian. But he could not execute the invasion of Egypt because at the end of 43 BC Brutus summoned him back to Smyrna. Cassius tried to blockade Cleopatra’s way to the Caesarians. For this purpose Lucius Statius Murcus moved with 60 ships and a legion of elite troops into position at Cape Matapan in the south of the Peloponnese. Nevertheless Cleopatra sailed with her fleet from Alexandria to the west along the Libyan coast to join the Caesarian leaders but her ships were damaged by a violent storm and she became ill, forcing her to return to Egypt. Murcus learned of the misfortune of the Queen and saw parts of her wrecked ships at the coast of Greece. He then sailed with his ships into the Adriatic