Cleopatra | Educational Bedtime Reading For Sleep

Relax with this calm bedtime reading about Cleopatra, created to help you drift into sleep and ease insomnia. In this soothing episode, you’ll discover the fascinating life of Egypt’s last pharaoh, known for her intelligence, diplomacy, and lasting legacy. Benjamin’s steady, peaceful narration makes history feel soft and restful, letting your mind settle while you gently learn. There’s no whispering —just calm, fact-filled reading designed to ease stress, anxiety, and sleeplessness.

Press play, relax, and drift into rest with Cleopatra’s story.

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

Where I help you drift off one fact at a time.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster,

And today's episode is about Cleopatra.

Cleopatra VII,

Theophilopator,

Which in Greek means Cleopatra,

Father Loving Goddess,

70 or 69 BC to the 10th or 12th of August 30 BC,

Was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC,

And the last active Hellenistic pharaoh.

A member of the Ptolemaic dynasty,

She was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter,

A Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great.

Her first language was Koine Greek,

And she is the only Ptolemaic ruler known to have learned the Egyptian language,

Among several others.

After her death,

Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire,

Marking the end of the Hellenistic period in the Mediterranean,

Which had begun during the reign of Alexander,

336 to 323 BC.

Born in Alexandria,

Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy XII Aulides,

Who named her his heir before his death in 51 BC.

Cleopatra began her reign alongside her brother Ptolemy XIII,

But falling out between them led to a civil war.

Roman statesman Pompey fled to Egypt after losing the 48 BC battle of Pharsalus against his rival Julius Caesar,

The Roman dictator,

In Caesar's civil war.

Pompey had been a political ally of Ptolemy XII,

But Ptolemy XIII had him ambushed and killed before Caesar arrived and occupied Alexandria.

Caesar then attempted to reconcile the rival Ptolemaic siblings,

But Ptolemy XIII's forces besieged Cleopatra and Caesar at the palace.

Shortly after the siege was lifted by reinforcements,

Ptolemy XIII died in the Battle of the Nile.

Caesar declared Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIV joint rulers and maintained a private affair with Cleopatra,

Which produced a son,

Caesarion.

Cleopatra traveled to Rome as a client queen in 46 and 44 BC,

Where she stayed at Caesar's villa.

After Caesar's assassination,

Followed shortly afterwards by the sudden death of Ptolemy XIV,

Possibly murdered on Cleopatra's order,

She named Caesarion co-ruler as Ptolemy XV.

In the liberators' civil war of 43-42 BC,

Cleopatra sided with the Roman second triumvirate formed by Caesar's heir Octavian,

Mark Antony,

And Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.

After their meeting at Tarsus in 41 BC,

The queen had an affair with Antony,

Which produced three children.

Antony became increasingly reliant on Cleopatra for both funding and military aid during his invasions of the Parthian Empire and the Kingdom of Armenia.

The donations of Alexandria declared their children rulers over various territories under Antony's authority.

Octavian portrayed this event as an act of treason,

Forced Antony's allies in the Roman Senate to flee Rome in 32 BC,

And declared war on Cleopatra.

After defeating Antony and Cleopatra's naval fleet at the 31 BC battle of Actium,

Octavian's forces invaded Egypt in 30 BC and defeated Antony.

After his death,

Cleopatra reportedly killed herself,

Probably by poisoning,

To avoid being publicly displayed by Octavian in Roman triumphal procession.

Cleopatra's legacy survives in ancient and modern works of art.

Roman historiography and Latin poetry produced a generally critical view of the queen that pervaded later medieval and Renaissance literature.

In the visual arts,

Her ancient depictions include Roman busts,

Paintings,

And sculptures,

Cameo carvings and glass,

Ptolemaic and Roman coinage,

And reliefs.

In Renaissance and Baroque art,

She was the subject of many works including operas,

Paintings,

Poetry,

Sculptures,

And theatrical dramas.

She has become a pop culture icon of Egyptomania since the Victorian era and in modern times.

Cleopatra has appeared in the applied and fine arts,

Hollywood films,

And brand images for commercial products.

The Latinized form Cleopatra comes from the ancient Greek Cleopatra,

Meaning glory of her father,

From kleos,

Glory,

And pater,

Father.

The masculine form would have been written either as Cleopatros or Patroclos.

Cleopatra was the name of Alexander the Great's sister,

Cleopatra of Macedonia,

As well as the wife of Meliager in Greek mythology,

Cleopatra Alcyone.

Through the marriage of Ptolemy V,

Epiphanes,

And Cleopatra I,

Syria,

The name entered the dynasty.

Cleopatra's adopted title,

Theia Philopatra,

Means goddess who loves her father.

Ptolemaic pharaohs were crowned by the Egyptian high priest of Ptah at Memphis,

But resided in the multicultural,

Largely Greek city of Alexandria,

Established by Alexander the Great.

They spoke Greek and governed Egypt as Hellenistic Greek monarchs,

Refusing to learn the native Egyptian language.

In contrast,

Cleopatra could speak multiple languages by adulthood,

And was the first Ptolemaic ruler known to have learned the Egyptian language.

Plutarch implies that she also spoke Ethiopian,

The language of the Troglodytes,

Hebrew or Aramaic,

Arabic,

The Syrian language,

Perhaps Syriac,

Median,

And Parthian,

And she could apparently also speak Latin,

Although her Roman contemporaries would have preferred to speak with her in her native Koine Greek.

Aside from Greek,

Egyptian,

And Latin,

These languages reflected Cleopatra's desire to restore North African and West Asian territories that once belonged to the Ptolemaic kingdom.

Roman interventionism in Egypt predated the reign of Cleopatra.

When her grandfather Ptolemy IX Latharos died in late 81 BC,

He was succeeded by his daughter Berenice III.

With opposition building at the royal court against the idea of a sole reigning female monarch,

Berenice III accepted joint rule in marriage with her cousin and stepson,

Ptolemy XI Alexander II,

An arrangement made by the Roman dictator Sulla.

Ptolemy XI had his wife killed shortly after their marriage in 80 BC,

And was lynched soon after in the resulting riot over the assassination.

Ptolemy XI,

And perhaps his uncle Ptolemy IX,

Or father Ptolemy X Alexander I,

Willed the Ptolemaic kingdom to Rome as collateral for loans,

Giving the Romans legal grounds to take over Egypt,

Their client state,

After the assassination of Ptolemy XI.

The Romans chose instead to divide the Ptolemaic realm among the illegitimate sons of Ptolemy IX,

Bestowing Egypt on Ptolemy XII Halidas,

And Cyprus on another namesake son.

Cleopatra VII was born in early 69 BC to the ruling Ptolemaic pharaoh Ptolemy XII,

And an uncertain mother,

Presumably Ptolemy XII's wife Cleopatra V Trifina,

Who may have been the same person as Cleopatra VI Trifina,

The mother of Cleopatra's older sister,

Berenice IV Epiphaneia.

Cleopatra Trifina disappears from official records a few months after the birth of Cleopatra in 69 BC.

The three younger children of Ptolemy XII,

Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe IV,

And brothers Ptolemy XIII Sios Philopator and Ptolemy XIV Philopator were born in the absence of his wife.

Cleopatra's childhood tutor was Philostratus,

From whom she learned the Greek arts of oration and philosophy.

During her youth,

Cleopatra presumably studied at the museum,

Including the Library of Alexandria.

In 65 BC,

The Roman censor Marcus Licinius Crassus argued before the Roman Senate that Rome should annex Ptolemaic Egypt,

But his proposed bill and the similar bill of Tribune Servilius Rullus in 63 BC were rejected.

Ptolemy XII responded to the threat of possible annexation by offering remuneration and lavish gifts to powerful Roman statesmen,

Such as Pompey during his campaign against Mithridates VI of Pontus and eventually Julius Caesar after he became Roman consul in 59 BC.

However,

Ptolemy XII's profligate behavior bankrupted him,

And he was forced to acquire loans from the Roman banker Gaius Riberius Postumus.

In 58 BC,

The Romans annexed Cyprus.

Ptolemy XII remained publicly silent on the death of his brother,

A decision which,

Along with ceding traditional Ptolemaic territory to the Romans,

Damaged his credibility among subjects already enraged by his economic policies.

Ptolemy XII was then exiled from Egypt by force,

Traveling first to Rhodes,

Then Athens,

And finally the villa of Triumvir Pompey in the Alban Hills near Prenesti,

Italy.

Ptolemy XII spent roughly up to a year there on the outskirts of Rome,

Ostensibly accompanied by his daughter Cleopatra,

Then about eleven.

Pernice IV sent an embassy to Rome to advocate for her rule and oppose the reinstatement of her father.

Ptolemy had assassins kill the leaders of the embassy,

An incident that was covered up by his powerful Roman supporters.

When the Roman Senate denied Ptolemy XII the offer of an armed escort and provisions for a return to Egypt,

He decided to leave Rome in late 57 BC and reside at the temple of Artemis in Ephesus.

The Roman financiers of Ptolemy XII remained determined to restore him to power.

Pompey persuaded Aulus Gabinius,

The Roman governor of Syria,

To invade Egypt and restore Ptolemy XII,

Offering him 10,

000 talents for the proposed mission.

Although it put him at odds with Roman law,

Gabinius invaded Egypt in the spring of 55 BC by way of Hasmone in Judea,

Where Hyrcanus II had Antipater the Itamian,

Father of Herod the Great,

Furnish the Roman-led army with supplies.

As a young cavalry officer,

Mark Antony was under Gabinius' command.

He distinguished himself by preventing Ptolemy XII from massacring the inhabitants of Pelusian and for rescuing the body of Archelaus,

The husband of Berenice IV,

After he was killed in battle,

Ensuring him a proper royal burial.

Cleopatra,

Then 14 years of age,

Would have traveled with the Roman expedition into Egypt.

Years later,

Antony would profess that he had fallen in love with her at this time.

Gabinius was put on trial in Rome for abusing his authority for which he was acquitted,

After his second trial for accepting bribes led to his exile.

He was recalled from exile seven years later in 48 BC by Caesar.

Crassus replaced him as governor of Syria and extended his provincial command to Egypt,

But Crassus was killed by the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC.

Ptolemy XII had Berenice IV and her wealthy supporters executed,

Seizing their properties.

He allowed Gabinius' largely Germanic and Gallic Roman garrison,

The Gabiniani,

To harass people in the streets of Alexandria and installed his long-time Roman financier,

Rabirius,

As his chief financial officer.

Within a year,

Rabirius was placed under protective custody and sent back to Rome after his life was endangered for draining Egypt of its resources.

Despite these problems,

Ptolemy XII created a will,

Designating Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII as his joint heirs,

Oversaw major construction projects such as the Temple of Edfu and the Temple at Dendera,

And stabilized the economy.

On the 31st of May,

52 BC,

Cleopatra was made a regent to Ptolemy XII,

As indicated by an inscription in the Temple of Hathor at Dendera.

Rabirius was unable to collect the entirety of Ptolemy XII's debt by the time of the latter's death,

And so it was passed on to his successors,

Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII.

Ptolemy XII died sometime before the 22nd of March,

51 BC,

When Cleopatra and her first queen began her voyage to Hermonthis,

Near Thebes,

To install a new sacred buchus bull worshipped as an intermediary for the god Montu in the ancient Egyptian religion.

Cleopatra faced several pressing issues and emergencies shortly after taking the throne.

These included famine caused by drought and a low level of the annual flooding of the Nile,

And lawless behavior instigated by the Gibeani,

The now unemployed and assimilated Roman soldiers left by Gabinius to garrison Egypt.

Inheriting her father's debts,

Cleopatra also owed the Roman Republic 17.

5 million drachmas.

In 50 BC,

Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus,

Pro-consul of Syria,

Sent his two eldest sons to Egypt,

Most likely to negotiate with the Gibeani and recruit them as soldiers in the desperate defense of Syria against the Parthians.

The Gibeani tortured and murdered these two,

Perhaps with secret encouragement by rogue senior administrators in Cleopatra's court.

Cleopatra sent the Gibeani culprits to Bibulus as prisoners awaiting his judgment,

But he sent them back to Cleopatra and chastised her for interfering in their adjudication,

Which was the prerogative of the Roman Senate.

Bibulus,

Siding with Pompey and Caesar's civil war,

Failed to prevent Caesar from landing a naval fleet in Greece,

Which ultimately allowed Caesar to reach Egypt in pursuit of Pompey.

By August 29,

51 BC,

Official documents started listing Cleopatra as the sole ruler,

Evidence that she had rejected her brother Ptolemy XIII as a co-ruler.

She had probably married him,

But there's no record of this.

The Ptolemaic practice of sibling marriage was introduced by Ptolemy II and his sister,

Arsenery II.

A long-held Roman-Egyptian practice,

It was loathed by contemporary Greeks.

By the reign of Cleopatra,

However,

It was considered a normal arrangement for Ptolemaic rulers.

Despite Cleopatra's rejection of him,

Ptolemy VIII still retained powerful allies,

Notably the eunuch Pothinus,

His childhood tutor,

Regent,

And administrator of his properties.

Others involved in the cabal against Cleopatra included Achillas,

A prominent military commander,

And Theodotus of Chios,

Another tutor of Ptolemy XIII.

Cleopatra seems to have attempted a short-lived alliance with her brother Ptolemy XIV,

But by the autumn of 50 BC,

Ptolemy XIII had the upper hand in their conflict and began signing documents with his name before that of his sister,

Followed by the establishment of his first regnal date in 49 BC.

In the summer of 49 BC,

Cleopatra and her forces were still fighting against Ptolemy XIII within Alexandria when Pompey's son Gnaeus Pompeius arrived,

Seeking military aid on behalf of his father.

After returning to Italy from the wars in Gaul and crossing the Rubicon in January of 49 BC,

Caesar had forced Pompey and his supporters to flee to Greece.

In perhaps their last joint decree,

Both Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII agreed to Gnaeus Pompeius's request and sent his father 60 ships and 500 troops,

Including the Gabiniani,

A move that helped erase some of the debt owed to Rome.

Losing the fight against her brother,

Cleopatra was then forced to flee Alexandria and withdraw to the region of Thebes.

By the spring of 48 BC,

Cleopatra had traveled to Roman Syria with her younger sister Arsinoe IV to gather an invasion force that would head to Egypt.

She returned with an army,

But her advance to Alexandria was blocked by her brother's forces,

Including some Gabiniani mobilized to fight against her,

So she camped outside Pelusian in the eastern Nile Delta.

In Greece,

Caesar and Pompey's forces engaged each other at the decisive battle of Pharsalus on the 9th of August 48 BC,

Leading to the destruction of most of Pompey's army and his forced flight to Tyre,

Lebanon.

Given his close relationship with the Ptolemies,

Pompey ultimately decided that Egypt would be his place of refuge where he could replenish his forces.

Ptolemy XIII's advisors,

However,

Feared the idea of Pompey using Egypt as his base in a protracted Roman civil war.

Ptolemy XIII arrived at Alexandria at the head of his army,

In clear defiance of Caesar's demand that he disband and leave his army before his arrival.

Cleopatra initially sent emissaries to Caesar,

But upon allegedly hearing that Caesar was inclined to have affairs with royal women,

She came to Alexandria to see him personally.

Historian Cassius Dio records that she did so without informing her brother,

Dressed in an attractive manner,

And charmed Caesar with her wit.

Plutarch provides an entirely different account that she was bound inside a bed sack to be smuggled into the palace to meet Caesar.

When Ptolemy XIII realized that his sister was in the palace consorting directly with Caesar,

He attempted to rouse the populace of Alexandria into a riot,

But he was arrested by Caesar,

Who used his oratorical skills to calm the frenzied crowd.

Caesar then brought Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII before the assembly of Alexandria,

Where Caesar revealed the written will of Ptolemy XII,

Previously possessed by Pompey,

Naming Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII as his joint heirs.

Caesar then attempted to arrange for the other two siblings,

Arsinoe IV and Ptolemy XIV,

To rule together over Cyprus,

Thus removing the potential rival claimants to the Egyptian throne,

While also appealing to the Ptolemaic subjects still bitter over the loss of Cyprus to the Romans in 58 BC.

Judging that this agreement favored Cleopatra over Ptolemy XIII,

And that the latter's army of 20,

000,

Including the Gibeani,

Could most likely defeat Caesar's army of 4,

000 unsupported troops,

Pothinus decided to have Achilles lead their forces to Alexandria to attack both Caesar and Cleopatra.

After Caesar managed to execute Pothinus,

Arsinoe IV joined forces with Achilles and was declared queen,

But soon afterward had her tutor Ganymedes kill Achilles and take his position as commander of her army.

Ganymedes then tricked Caesar into requesting the presence of their erstwhile captive Ptolemy XIII as a negotiator,

Only to have him join the army of Arsinoe IV.

The resulting siege of the palace,

With Caesar and Cleopatra trapped together inside,

Lasted into the following years of 47 BC.

Sometime between January and March of 47 BC,

Caesar's reinforcements arrived,

Including those led by Mithridates of Pergamon and Antipater the Idumean.

Ptolemy XIII and Arsinoe IV withdrew their forces to the Nile,

Where Caesar attacked them.

Ptolemy XIII tried to flee by boat,

But it capsized and he drowned.

Ganymedes may have been killed in the battle.

Theodotus was found years later in Asia by Marcus Junius Brutus and executed.

Arsinoe IV was forcefully paraded in Caesar's triumph in Rome before being exiled to the temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

Cleopatra was conspicuously absent from these events and resided in the palace,

Most likely because she had been pregnant with Caesar's child since September 48 BC.

Caesar's term as consul had expired at the end of 48 BC.

However,

Antony,

An officer of his,

Helped to secure Caesar's appointment as dictator lasting for a year,

Until October 47 BC,

Providing Caesar with the legal authority to settle the dynastic dispute in Egypt.

Weary of repeating the mistake of Cleopatra's sister,

Berenice IV,

And having a female monarch as sole ruler,

Caesar appointed the twelve-year-old Ptolemy XIV as joint ruler with the twenty-two-year-old Cleopatra in a nominal sibling marriage.

But Cleopatra continued living privately with Caesar.

The exact date at which Cyprus was returned to her control is not known,

Although she had a governor there by 42 BC.

Caesar is alleged to have joined Cleopatra for a cruise of the Nile and sightseeing of Egyptian monuments,

Although this may be a romantic tale reflecting later well-to-do Roman proclivities and not a real historical event.

The historian Suetonius provided considerable details about the voyage,

Including use of Phthalamagus,

The pleasure barge constructed by Ptolemy IV,

Which during his reign measured 90 meters in length and 24 meters in height,

And was complete with dining rooms,

Staterooms,

Holy shrines and promenades along its two decks,

Resembling a floating villa.

Caesar could have had an interest in the Nile cruise owing to his fascination with geography.

He was well-read in the works of Eratosthenes and Pisius,

And perhaps wanted to discover the source of the river,

But turned back before reaching Ethiopia.

Caesar departed from Egypt around April 47 BC,

Allegedly to confront Pharnaces II of Pontus,

The son of Mithridates VI of Pontus,

Who was stirring up trouble for Rome and Anatolia.

It is possible that Caesar,

Married to the prominent Roman woman Calpurnia,

Also wanted to avoid being seen together with Cleopatra when she had their son.

He left three legions in Egypt,

Later increased to four,

Under the command of the freedman Rufio to secure Cleopatra's tenuous position,

But also perhaps to keep her activities in check.

Caesarion,

Cleopatra's alleged child with Caesar,

Was born sometime in 47,

Possibly on the 23rd of June 47 BC,

If Steli at the Serapium of Saqqara that mentions King Caesar refers to him.

Perhaps owing to this still childless marriage with Calpurnia,

Caesar remained publicly silent about Caesarion,

But perhaps accepted his parentage in private.

Cleopatra,

On the other hand,

Made repeated official declarations about Caesarion's parentage,

Naming Caesar as the father.

Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIV visited Rome sometime in late 46 BC,

Presumably without Caesarion,

And were given lodging in Caesar's villa within the Horti Caesarus.

As with their father Ptolemy XII,

Caesar awarded both Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIV the legal status of friend and ally of the Roman people,

In effect client rulers loyal to Rome.

Cleopatra's visitors at Caesar's villa across the Tiber included the senator Cicero,

Who found her arrogant.

So Cicenese of Alexandria,

One of the members of Cleopatra's court,

Hated Caesar and the calculations for the new Julian calendar,

Put into effect the 1st of January 45 BC.

The Temple of Venus Genetrix,

Established in the Forum of Caesar on the 25th of September 46 BC,

Contained a golden statue of Cleopatra,

Which stood there at least until the 3rd century AD,

Associating the mother of Caesar's child directly with the goddess Venus,

Mother of the Romans.

The statue also subtly linked the Egyptian goddess Isis with a Roman religion.

Cleopatra's presence in Rome most likely had an effect on the events at the Lupercalia festival a month before Caesar's assassination.

Antony attempted to place a royal diadem on Caesar's head,

But the latter refused in what was most likely a staged performance,

Perhaps to gauge the Roman public's mood about accepting Hellenistic-style kingship.

Cicero,

Who was present at the festival,

Mockingly asked where the diadem came from,

An obvious reference to the Ptolemaic queen,

Whom he abhorred.

Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March,

The 15th of March 44 BC,

But Cleopatra stayed in Rome until about mid-April,

In the vain hope of having Caesarion recognized as Caesar's heir.

However,

Caesar's will named his grand-nephew Octavian as the primary heir,

And Octavian arrived in Italy around the same time Cleopatra decided to depart for Egypt.

It is suggested,

Based on Cicero's letter,

That Cleopatra might have been pregnant at that time with her and Caesar's second child.

If so,

This pregnancy ended in the loss of the baby.

A few months later,

Ptolemy XIV died,

Allegedly poisoned by Cleopatra,

And she elevated her son Caesarion as her co-ruler.

Reviews

Thanks, Benjamin! All I could picture was the old movie about Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. 😂😂
Great job as always! 😻😻