1. Roman Empire (27 B.C. – 395 A.D.): According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by the descendants of a Trojan prince. In 500 B.C. the Romans set up an independent republic. Throughout the period of the republic (500-31 B.C.) warfare was almost continuous. At about 100 B.C. Rome began to move steadily toward dictatorship. In 60 B.C. the army leaders Pompey and Julius Caesar formed the first Triumvirate (三头政治) with Crassus because of his great wealth. After Caesar’s assassination and the avenging of his death by Mark Antony, his nephew Octavian defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra and became the first emperor of the Roman Empire, Augustus, in 27 B.C.

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    2. Cleopatra: Cleopatra became queen of Egypt in 51 B.C., after the death of her father, Ptolemy XII. She was then 17 years old and her 10-year-old brother became her co-ruler and husband. Marriage between a brother and a sister was a common practice in Egyptian royal families.

    Three years later (48 B.C.) the protectors of her husband seized power for him and drove her from the throne. At the same time, Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria, Egypt’s capital. He came in pursuit of Pompey, a Roman general and rival in Caesar’s struggle to become the ruler of Rome. Caesar and Cleopatra met and fell in love. In 47 B.C. she gave birth to a boy, Caesarion, who she claimed was Caesar’s son.

    In 40 B.C. she gave birth to twins, Alexander Heios and Cleopatra Selene, fathered by Mark Antony. Antony loved Cleopatra, but political wisdom dictated that he marry Octavia, the sister of his co-ruler Octavian. He married Octavia, but missed Cleopatra so much that he left Octavia, and in 37 B.C. married Cleopatra. A year later, she had another son by him, Ptolemy Philandelphos.

    Cleopatra’s reputation in history comes largely from the view of Octavian, who described Antony as a love-struck victim of a wicked temptress. The Roman poets Virgil and Horace also adopted this version. Cleopatra’s story has been told many times in literature. It has been dramatized not only by Shakespeare, but also by John Dryden, “All for Love” (1677), and by George Bernard Shaw, “Caesar and Cleopatra” (1898).

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