“She had a way of making people feel at ease and was able to win over even the most skeptical of individuals with her wit and charm,” Bowen wrote.
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In fact, Shannon Bowen, a professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina, argues Cleopatra was a master of what today would be considered public relations.Ĭleopatra garnered appreciation from her subjects by holding public forums, providing information about agriculture and commerce, and hosting events with performers, animals, and free food for spectators. While clearly capable of brutality when necessary, Cleopatra was equally known for her charisma. She is also widely believed to have poisoned her 15-year-old brother Ptolemy XIV so that her son, Caesarion, could replace him as pharaoh, according to the Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. Cleopatra and Other Royals Who Feuded With FamilyĬleopatra arranged for Mark Antony to execute her half-sister Arsinoe IV for her role in a siege against Cleopatra’s forces, according to the book Cleopatra by Michael Grant.For example, her communication with Herod the Great-despite her own personal dislike of the king of Judea-resulted in trade routes and mercantile arrangements between the two leaders, according to Roller. In addition to her subjects, Cleopatra excelled at communicating with neighboring heads of state and other political allies. This allowed her to speak directly to the diverse populations under her rule. She was an excellent communicatorĬleopatra was an extremely strong communicator, believed to have been fluent in at least nine languages, and was one of the few Ptolemaic leaders to learn and use the native Egyptian language, according to The Reign of Cleopatra by Stanley M. By contrast, her brother Ptolemy XIII, with whom she jointly ruled Egypt from 51 to 47 BCE, was believed to have had little education, according to Roller. She was knowledgeable about a wide range of topics, including economics, law, military strategy, and linguistics. “She was said to take an almost sensuous pleasure in learning and scholarship,” Roller wrote. She was well-educated and intelligentĬleopatra was a “remarkably educated person,” particularly considering that women in her time period were not usually afforded the same educational opportunities as men, according to Cleopatra: A Biography by Duane W. Here are eight attributes of the legendary queen of Egypt that made her such a powerful and effective ruler. Too often portrayed as a sultry seductress or tragic heroine, she was in fact an incredibly intelligent leader who excelled at politics, diplomacy, communications, and building strategic allegiances with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among others.
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The new Netflix documentary series Queen Cleopatra has already courted controversy over its decision to portray the famous queen as a Black woman, but the producers of the series say they are more concerned with exploring Cleopatra’s story “as a queen, strategist, ruler of formidable intellect.”Ĭleopatra ruled Egypt from 51 BCE until 30 BCE, when she took her own life following defeat by her Roman rival Octavian.
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