He has a B.A. from City University [Herbert H. Lehman] and a Masters in Teaching from Fordham University. Having taught mathematics for the last 25 years from junior high school to college levels, he has written three math books and developed a new systematic approach to learning. He is also an entrepreneur based on his experience and educational consultant and has three books on mathematics to be published. He is a world authority on the African origins of Cleopatra and Enoch. He has taught mathematics at a junior college in the Bronx, and a New York Tech in Brooklyn. Concerning his book, he has appeared on TV [cable] and a New York radio stations such as, WLIB, WBAI, WWRL.

Two thousand years ago, at the age of seventeen Cleopatra was crowned Queen of Egypt, later to be crowned the most famous person in history. But, her royal robes seemed more likely to last longer than she. Her siblings along with their advisors were already plotting for ways to overthrow and kill her. Across the Mediterranean, the avaricious yet powerful Roman Empire desired to rule the rich Egyptian kingdom as well.

The Great Cleopatra however was not one to be trifled with so subsequently she found ingenious ways to outwit all her enemies. The result was two-fold. First, she became the absolute ruler of Egypt. Second, she maneuvered events so that she could win over two of the mightiest conquerors of her time - Julius Caesar and Mark Antony in order to maintain Egypt’s independence.

Even though there is a scarcity of facts about her, Cleopatra’s story still seizes the imagination. The Last Queen of Egypt is the most famous woman in history. Her fame extends beyond legendary. Few are so monumental that their exploits extend long after their death. Cleopatra is one. She is a veritable force of nature in female form that will never be forgotten. With her timeless name, Cleopatra has haunted the imagination of humanity for thousands of years. She shaped history in irreversible ways that left an indelible signature for later generations that has the touch of everlasting to it. Enrle Bradford (2001) expressed the belief shared by the European icon William Shakespeare that “there was an immense variety in her character…”²

In fact, in the history of the ancient world there is but one woman who eclipses all others. She is called Cleopatra. Her story intersects and then exceeds some of the most powerful figures in Western history. Further, she has become a blank canvas on which each successive generation has painted their image of the Queen. Cleopatra is a woman of legend. Though thousands of years have passed, her name can be found on the minds of every succeeding generations without end. And yet, regrettably almost everything we know about the Last Queen of Egypt originated from her enemies the Romans.

Ohio State University’s Professor Emeritus Roller Duane (2010) indicates however that despite her prominence, Cleopatra has been misjudged. What some might find surprising since, “Few personalities from Classical Antiquity are more familiar yet more poorly grasped than Cleopatra…queen of Egypt…The subject of a vast repertory of post-antique popular culture and also a significant figure in literature, art, and music, Cleopatra herself is surprisingly little known and generally misunderstood. Even in the years immediately after her death her memory was condemned by those who had defeated her, thus tainting the ancient sources.”³ The author of Cleopatra: The Life and Lovers of the Last Pharaoh expressed the situation this way. “Sometimes it seems as though practically everything the world knows about Cleopatra is wrong.”⁴

As one writer puts it., “It turns out…there is a lot more to her…and we have underestimated this historical figure greatly.” Underestimated does not say it all. Cleopatra was a political Giant, the greatest political leader of the Classical era; reduced to a shameless dwarf as cold-blooded temptress and harlot by Octavian’s clones, but there were exceptions.

Throughout the millennia, Cleopatra has “been the subject of works by everyone from the great Roman poets, renaissance authors, through Chaucer, Shakespeare, Victorian musical and TV drama. Each, in turn, has left us with a different image of who she was. Most of us know Cleopatra and her story through the prism of popular culture. It’s easy to forget that Cleopatra was a real woman who lived though some of the most important events in our history, event that would help to shape the Western and Middle Eastern worlds, according to another commentator”. Her image extends well into the future. “Today Cleopatra is best known through the extensive afterlife, especially of the last 500 years, pervasive in drama, visual and performing arts, and film. It is hard to escape any view of the queen that is not dominated by these popular conceptions.”⁵

Professor Roller continues his contribution to this discussion by explaining the length and depth of the Egyptian Queen’s fame and popularity in that “a wide variety of scholars have their own interest in Cleopatra, from students of Renaissance drama to art, historians, musicologists, and filmographies…the strength of her afterlife is so great that not even the best classical scholars can be free of it, and they often fall into the trap of an apt quotation from drama or a discussion of nineteenth century work of art.”⁶

But, the time has come to meet the “real” Cleopatra, a ruler more powerful, more brilliant, and more multifaceted than what we have ever thought possible. Though there is little written about her, the overwhelming evidence is quite abundant if one knows where to look. See beyond the externals, and inner revelations will stand as never before. Not by empty words, but by a profound inner spirit that unleashed an incomparable female genius that will be known for millenniums to come.

For there is a truth about Cleopatra kept from the public that reality has come to unveil. Unshackled by the undeserved propaganda of her mortal enemies, there will emerge a Queen like no other robed in all her regal magnificence as an ascendant woman on display for the world to admire. Read the other side of history and find not a harlot or a whore, but the greatest figure in Classical history. The Last Pharaoh of Egypt and know a hidden truth about how potent the force of female power is even in a world dominated by men that others thought would never be seen in the light of history. A triumphant Cleopatra has come into the future to tell her amazing story as the ancient herald of the Age of the Modern Woman 2,000 years ago

If you thought you knew who Cleopatra was, think again. Cleopatra, “The Two Millennium Powerhouse,” was the ultimate feminine force. The documentary entitled, “Cleopatra” by Questar described her as “The First Woman of Power”.¹ M.S. Mason in The Christian Science Monitor (January 25, 2002) cites David Foster, the project administrator of the Field Museum who said this about The Last Queen of Egypt: “The truth is more compelling than the myths,”² he declared, “What emerges is a woman of immense political acumen and power at a turning point in human history. She was a power player with the most powerful men of her day.”

The classic Cleopatra, Histories, Dreams and Distortions (1990) by Lucy Hughes-Hallet highlights the superlative qualities of this ancient Monarch by citing the words of a European author. “The nineteenth-century French writer, Theophile Gautier, calls her ‘the most complete woman ever to have existed, the most-womanly woman and the most queenly queen, a person to be wondered at, to whom the poets have been able to add nothing and whom dreamers find always at the end of their dreams.’”³

Asserts Julia Samson (1985), author of Nefertiti and Cleopatra: “‘Nowhere else do we find a woman of the stature of Cleopatra, and the sweep of the narrative touches the very bounds of the Roman Empire itself, from the Alpine snows to the deserts of Parthia’ (Persia) and from the plains to the palaces of Alexandria.’”⁴ (Plutarch, Makers of Rome, 1977) Not to be outdone, Lord Berners’ novel The Romance of the Nose…describes Cleopatra as “‘the smartest and most beautiful woman in the world…’”⁵ Biographer Emil Ludwig said of Cleopatra that, “she was also the heir of the Pharaohs, and like them, daughter of Ra, the sun god.”⁶ (Cleopatra, 1959)

The article “Rewriting the Myth, Revealing A Woman of Power—a Review of Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra: A Life” (February 1, 2011) is a title which says a great deal as it suggests that Cleopatra was in fact a “Woman of Power”. In addition, there is a need to change the myths that surrounds her image, and how she has been portrayed in history so that a more accurate account of her life can be presented beyond the propaganda of her ancient Roman enemies whose influence lasted many centuries and beyond.

A writer at a popular website illustrates what the Last Pharaoh had to do to make sure Egypt would not be annexed by Rome as a dependent, exploitable client state. Sovereignty was the ultimate goal; therefore, Cleopatra did whatever it took to protect it. Few understood the great sacrifices she made on behalf of Ancient Egypt. “She gave birth to Caesar’s son to protect her kingdom. She wooed Mark Antony, Caesar’s protégé, and bore his three children to maintain an imperfect peace between the two countries…As Schiff reads her, she was a client queen, a friend and ally of Rome, who ‘had little choice but to cultivate and mollify Mark Antony…Antony controlled the East. Egypt fell under his purview.’ To keep Egypt sovereign, she adhered to the ruling principle that Egypt was always vulnerable to Rome. And she accomplished this feat the Cleopatra way.”⁷

The same reviewer went on to state that “Schiff’s Cleopatra: A Life presents a woman in the prime of her life who successfully ruled a wealthy, vast kingdom…She lived during a time when it was dangerous for a woman to exhibit power, especially a queen who was intelligent, educated, shrewd, decisive, and wise.”

The Egyptian Queen was such a woman of power that she was able to keep the Roman juggernaut from turning her country into one of their territories for a whole generation. The Last Sovereign of Egypt was the most powerful woman in her time and comparable to any other woman of power in history. Her success became legendary.

A telling illustration of what she had to overcome in order to survive starts with her lethal familial environment but ends on a triumphant note. To cite a historical observer, “The strongest traditions in her family included sibling murder and incest. That the woman managed to grow to adulthood is a testament to her intelligent and cunning ways. She ascends the throne of Egypt with the help of Julius Caesar at the age of 18. She successfully rules that country for the next 22 years. No uprisings, no famines, no court intrigue. She is beloved by her people. In this time before Christ the Roman Empire ruled throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. Cleopatra’s skill in navigating a successful course of Egypt was masterful.” From a woman of such tremendous power, we should expect no less.

Major-General J.F.C. Fuller, author of the biography Julius Caesar, joins the consensus in his admiration and articulation of the wonderful qualities the Queen of the Nile had when he asserted that “she possessed that seductive attractiveness which appeals to passionate men. She was intently alive and fearless, highly intelligent, conversant with several languages…”⁸

Adds Oskar von Wertheimer: “By her side Caesar’s mind never grew weary.”⁹ That can happen when one possesses Shakespeare’s “a thousand flatteries”. In “Cleopatra: A Life” writer Susannah Cahalan expressed a similar perspective in an earthier vernacular. “In addition to flattery, the more sophisticated 28-ear-old Cleopatra had a skilled ability to mold into what a man desired…Antony was dead meat.” (“Cleopatra – A Life”)

If Queen Cleopatra had defeated Octavian, things would have been different for women today. The myth of male supremacy over women would not have been tolerated in her Empire, and it would have paved the way for a more enlightened future, free of male fears and insecurities.

According to Professor Prudence J. Jones (2006), “Had the conflict between Antony and Octavian ended differently, she would have become a partner in ruling the Roman Empire. Cleopatra did not, and probably could not, take the safe route and hedge her bets, but her political moves were right far more often than they were wrong.”¹⁰. A testament to her resolve and skillful use of the power she possessed as a ruling Egyptian Monarch.

Professor Mary Hamer writing for The Independent (January 14, 2013) in an essay, “How Cleopatra enchanted the world” described her experience in Egypt and symbolically observed that “Cleopatra stands for a lost heritage. The man who was bringing me my dinner had asked what I was doing in Egypt and I had replied that I was writing about Cleopatra. Hearing that he came alive: ‘Cleopatra was a very powerful woman,’ he told me. ‘Today women in Egypt have no power. You must write your book.’”¹¹

It is interesting to note how men has held such an ironclad grip on their dominance over women for thousands of years. A “tribute” to their unyielding fears and insecurities and their lack of true enlightenment. Something is terribly amiss. We need to grow and develop to a higher plane of knowledge and existence or remained chained to delusions of superiority over women. Historic ignorance that covers millenniums demeans and belittles our true role and potential in the Cosmic Reality. We are less for it, not more.

A wake-up call is in order. Imagine the Power of the Feminine unleashed to nurture all in its presence, our gender would be enhanced in immeasurable ways, not stinted in its expansion due to the suppression of the female polarity our universal complement. Cleopatra was meant to be a sign of possibility of what the other half of humanity could be capable of if left unfettered by underdeveloped men. They are our help mates, not objects to be exploited. Little do we realize. Backwardness is not a path forward.

Historian Michael Grant concluded in his From Alexander to Cleopatra (1982), “When Antony ruled the East after Julius Caesar‘s death, this area of client states was increased…in favour of Cleopatra VII; and it is possible that if the battle of Actium (31 BC) had gone in their favour, the future might have seen a more equal partnership between Romans and Greeks.”¹² - with the enormous power levels more evenly distributed among the so-called “weaker sex”.

After of the battle of Actium, Cleopatra’s attitude remained as unwavering as ever. She had an indomitable will that even in defeat would not give up. The author of Cleopatra the Great: The Woman Behind the Legend Dr. Joann Fletcher’s discerning point of view adds further clarification as to what happened. “Octavian may have won by default, but Cleopatra and Antonius had succeeded in their plans of escaped and lived to fight another day…the pragmatic Cleopatra was already making plans for the next stage in war she still fully intended to win.”¹³ Professor Fletcher wrote later. “When Antony went into a deep depression…Cleopatra maintained her steely determination.”¹⁴

Powerful figures have a way of barricaded themselves against a defeatist attitude no matter what the circumstances may be even against the most implacable of enemies Cleopatra finds a way to experience some level of success. Professor Christopher Pelling in his essay title, “Anything truth can do, we can do better: the Cleopatra legend,” puts it this way: “Cleopatra’s story has glamour; it has menace…it has power…the great leader who, but for bad luck, might have shared rule of a unified Mediterranean world; or at least the shrewd political manager, steering a complex path and staving off Roman domination for one final generation…”¹⁵ (Cleopatra of Egypt, From History to Myth, 2001) A major contributor to her bad luck was the Neanderthal attitudes of the Roman soldiers who could not bear to see or recognize the rise of female power. Better to lose to a man than win with a woman was their male chauvinistic attitude.

The well-respected and highly recognized scholar, historian W. W. Tarn (1965), a Fellow of the British Academy, depicted some of the many outstanding qualities that Cleopatra possessed when he wrote that she had “a wonderful voice and the seductiveness which attracts men, and she was intensely alive, tireless and quite fearless…she was highly educated, interested in literary studies, conversant with many languages, and a skilled organizer and woman of business.”¹⁶ The Egyptian Queen possessed a comprehensive laundry list of superlative qualities, rare in any generation.

The far-famed Egyptian Monarch was remarkably accomplished as a young adult. “When Caesar arrived in Egypt,” explains author Adrian Goldsworthy, “Cleopatra was nearly twenty-one years old and had been queen for almost four years. She was highly intelligent and extremely well-educated…later, she would be credited with writing books on a very broad range of subjects, from cosmetics and hair dressing to scientific and philosophical subjects. Cleopatra was a noted linguist…”¹⁷ (Caesar, 2006) Her visions were expansive and not limited to being merely a “woman”. Throughout her life, success embraced her more devotedly than failure, a testament to her greatness.

To cite one website: “Cleopatra had dreams of becoming the Empress of the world. She was very close to achieving.” A point not lost on Florian Hewitt (2016) the author of Cleopatra: The Life and Lovers of the Last Pharaoh and Queen of Egypt who suggested that, “As the last player on the Egyptian throne for 2,000 years she has a magnificent run for her money, and she could have won. It’s important to realize how close she came to success. It could so easily have gone the other way. It could so easily have become Antony and Cleopatra as the new rulers of the world.”¹⁸

Said John Henrik Clarke, former professor emeritus of Hunter College, “The Romans once again were jealous of Cleopatra and objected to the influence she wielded over their leader. In the disunion that followed there was a slight quarrel between the two…Octavius arrived with his fleet. The destiny of Rome, of the world, hung in the balance. If Octavius failed, Rome, the octopus would be absorbed by Egypt. The rising West would see an Eastern empress on its throne.”¹⁹

A similar perspective is echoed by another observer of Cleopatra’s life. “There was anarchy abroad and famine at home. Cleopatra was a strong-willed…queen who was brilliant and dreamed of a greater world empire. She almost achieved it.” Professor Tyldesley concluded. “She was an astute politician who, in the end, was just desperately unlucky.”

With just a slight change in fortune, Queen Cleopatra would have been known as Empress Cleopatra and the world would have been better and more equal if she had won at Actium. Rampant misogyny would not have found a willing ally as in the case of Octavian and the men of Rome. Improved opportunities for women would have flourished. The power of women as epitomized by Cleopatra would lent itself to a future where abuses against them by men would be seriously diminished.

Award winning author Stacy Schiff offers a comparative analysis of the significance of Cleopatra’s rule. “With her, the age of empresses essentially came to an end. In two thousand years only one or two other women could be said to have wielded unrestricted authority over so vast a realm. Cleopatra remains nearly alone at the all-male table, in possession of a hand both flush and flawed. She got a very good deal right…”²⁰ The first crucial event that went against her fortunes was “when Caesar was assassinated…Had events been different; we could have read in our history books that Cleopatra lived to a ripe old age, presiding over a wealthy country free of its oppressors,”²¹ writes Pat Brown in The Murder of Cleopatra, History’s Greatest Cold Case 2013).

Similarly, Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast and Newsweek for NPR (November 10, 2010) posted the article, “Tina Brown’s Must-Reads: Women And Power”. Writes Brown: “Cleopatra was a woman so brilliant, in fact: She spoke seven languages, she commanded fleets, she was wildly learned from the books that were housed in the great library in Alexandria — the capital of learning as well as the capital of fashion — and she had an extraordinary grasp of the theatricality of power.”²²

The Egyptian Queen knew how to effectively wield the levers of power to guard her nation and herself from being exploited by outside forces especially the Romans for over twenty years. Cleopatra was single-minded in her concern for the welfare of Egypt. Her vision extended beyond the confines of one country and imagined a more expansive dimension to her kingdom which would help ensure Egypt’s prosperity and survival.

As one writer noted, “The Queen was certainly not without ambition. Cleopatra, the last Pharaoh, was indeed an unusual woman. From the beginning, she wanted a kingdom…Her dream was of an enormous Egyptian Empire…” Cleopatra was the Queen of Power at a time when woman except in Egypt were virtually powerless. She was so powerful that the military superpower of that day feared her.

The Last Sovereign of Ancient Egypt was a woman of personal power, royal power, national power and international power, an enduring combination that would become legend throughout the ages. The manifestation of them was evident: personal power because her charismatic charm left men unable to resist her will including Rome’s greatest military leaders; royal power because she was the “Queen of Kings,” national power because she was the Last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt which speaks to the supreme power in Egypt and international power because she contested with Rome for the sovereignty of Egypt and the chance to create an empire of peace and prosperity throughout the Mediterranean and beyond.

Cleopatra was “Female Power Personified” for all women for all time. She weaponized feminine power with an incredible abundance of intellectual and personal enthralling powers that has never been seen before or after on the center stage of history.

Still, she was not without her “haters’ and critics. There were the numerous subjective accomplices who had an axe to grind especially if it was in Cleopatra’s back. The people who wrote her much maligned story did so because Cleopatra committed the unpardonable sin of being a powerful woman in a man’s world. She was held to a higher standard as most women are today 2,000 years later.

Cleopatra the Great was a product of her time yet ever its master. Powerful men could be seen as no more than mere props if they had been less significant. Throughout the annals of history, she has clearly overshadowed the most notable figures of that Classical period (Julius Caesar, Mark Antony or Octavian). They were limited to a continental frame of reference (Europe) while she transcends and maintains a global command over the imagination of humanity itself.

The Queen of Egypt was one of history’s great models of resiliency when the concept was young and lacked modern relevance. This prominent feature of her personality became a major conduit for exercising her powerful performance on the world stage. The famous biographer Stacy Schiff who chronicles Cleopatra’s many challenges in life that would require vast amounts of resilient fortitude. Writes Schiff: “She lost it a kingdom once, regained it, nearly lost it again, amassed an empire…”

Yet, as P. W. Sergeant pointed out that “her wonderful adaptability…gave Cleopatra her victories.”²³ Queen Cleopatra had outstanding mental abilities of adaptability and flexibility which are the hallmark characteristics of the intellectually gifted. They were made evident throughout most of her life.

Similarly, Lydia Hoyt Farmer the author of “Cleopatra,” The Book of Famous Queens disclosed that, “The great secret of Cleopatra’s power of winning was the instructive insight she possessed into men’s dispositions, and her exquisite tact in discovering their vulnerable points…Her irresistible allurement lay in her faculty of adapting herself to men’s peculiar tastes and predilections…her chief fascination was the charming combination of face, form and winning conversation, which rendered her bewitching.”²⁴

An article appropriately titled “Cleopatra: She Ruled the Men Who Ruled the World,” was a piece about the Egyptian Sovereign’s more prominent attributes which enabled her to, “Captured the hearts of people all over the world and is remembered as a beautiful, charismatic and powerful woman, the elegant Queen of Egypt Cleopatra.”

A key dimension of her powers was her mastery over the most powerful men of that time that helped chisel her indelible mark on the West. As far as historic figures in the ancient world go, the Last Queen of Egypt could be rightly called, Cleopatra, the “Eternal One.” Like the symbol of eternity, the Great Pyramids she seems to belong to that timeless class of immortal images in the minds of mankind. The changing tides of history have found Cleopatra an impregnable barrier to their advance. Two thousand years later she is still an object of universal fascination. Kruger Chaddie might share the same sentiment which could explain the title of his post, “Cleopatra The Eternal.”

The Queen of Egypt came from civilization whose very essence embodied the concept as alluded to in the book Eternal Egypt by Russmann (2001). The Ancient Egyptians built for eternity. Why should an eternal female symbol for the potential of all women not come from its soil?

The “forever” image of Cleopatra has the feel of immortality. Age after age the only thing that does not change is the world’s fascination with the “Remarkable One”. When she was very young, Cleopatra ascended the Egyptian throne of Horus, not Zeus, not Apollo, not Minerva or any other member of the Greek pantheon. Horus (Heru) is ancient in terms of Egyptian spiritual traditions and beliefs. He was not of a Greek persuasion or origin nor was Cleopatra. In fact, the Egyptian Queen made the Shrines of Egypt so personal and intense that the author of Antony and Cleopatra Adrian Goldsworthy (2010) pointed out, “In one relief Cleopatra is described as “the female Horus, the great one, the mistress of perfection…”²⁵

Cleopatra leaves all audiences breathless as an awe-inspiring Queen. If someone had to write a eulogy of this astonishing woman, one might begin with the infinite and end with eternal. Infinite in her variety and eternal in humanity’s fascination.

When she met Caesar, “Cleopatra was not all ruse or disguise, stagecraft or spectacle. If she needed these skills for a specific purpose, she could ably put them to good use, but they were not sufficient to rule a territory as diverse and wealthy and civilized as the…empire that she had inherited. Cleopatra had passed this first test on the world stage and had saved her life, but she would need more than this savvy to govern: It would require every ounce of political acumen…She knew that the essentials for effective governance – ‘affluence, power, and legitimacy’– were inextricably bound together. She also correctly diagnosed that her destiny and that of the…empire specified something more transcendent than political transactions.”²⁶

Young Cleopatra had several things going for her. She was intellectually razor sharp, savvy and had a willingness to learn and master valuable information. With all this at her disposal, she made her first conquest Julius Caesar to protect Egypt from Roman intrusion and domination. In a similar vein, Professor Joyce Tyldesley’s Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt points out that, “One aspect of Cleopatra’s personality is immediately apparent. She is an exceptionally strong individual; a survivor with the power to dominate…those who surround her.”

Parul Sehgal of Bookforum.com records the fact that, “They called her the Queen of Kings. She built a kingdom into a mighty empire that stretched down the shimmering eastern coastline of the Mediterranean.” Mal Warwick’s “The real Cleopatra” argues about how Cleopatra is mistakenly envisioned. “Elizabeth Taylor, she wasn’t. Nor was she the Cleopatra of Shakespeare’s imagination, or of Plutarch’s. Cleopatra was, simply put, one of the ablest and most powerful women in the history of the world. She ruled unchallenged the richest kingdom of the Western world for more than two decades.” (December 16, 2010)

Stacy Schiff must be credited which helping to restore the balance in a more accurate portrayal of the Great Queen as an immensely successful woman in a man’s world, and the ruthless biases and prejudices level against her primarily by insecure Romans, fearful of a woman’s innate powers.

Schiff’s work is groundbreaking, a peerless approach to the Queen of Egypt, not shackled by a “gender-centric” view of feminine power by an unenlightened, male oriented world view, fearing that which they do not understand. Her work is a classic that has the potential to become her most significant achievement.

Some see Cleopatra as “The Woman Who Had the World Enthralled” such as The New York Times’ Michiko Kakutani who writes “Cleopatra was born a goddess, became a queen at 18 and at the height of her power, Ms. Schiff writes, ‘she controlled virtually the entire eastern Mediterranean coast, the last great kingdom of any Egyptian ruler. For a fleeting moment, she held the fate of the Western world in her hands…She was a resourceful leader: ‘disciplined, self-assured and shrewd in her management of her country’s affairs; a sovereign who ‘knew how to build a fleet, suppress an insurrection, control a currency, alleviate a famine.’”²⁷

All this from the weaker sex. Ominous to the male species. Another writer of the Historian’s Notebooks points out some of the challenges Cleopatra faced when she first enters the stage of history. “When Cleopatra took the throne, Egypt was in turmoil. There was a famine in the land, and the Roman Empire was growing larger and becoming a greater threat to Egypt.”

In a similar fashion, a reviewer delineates how she dealt with them, “Cleopatra held on to power for twenty-two years in the face of the most ambitious men of her age, prosecuted wars, alleviated famines and controlled one of the largest economies in the Ancient world.” Says Sally-Ann Ashton (2008): “In all respect Cleopatra had inherited a weak kingdom…her achievements, once she had sole control of the throne, were remarkable, not least because of the amount of time that she spent abroad during her reign…”²⁸ (Cleopatra and Egypt)

Stacy Schiff whose book Cleopatra: A Life is considered a biographical sensation articulates the relationship and disparities between how women are viewed as oppose to men. With surgical skills, she unmasked the male bias against women in general and Cleopatra in particular when she argued, “It has always been preferable to attribute a woman’s success to her beauty rather than to her brains, to reduce her to the sum of her sex life. Against a powerful enchantress there is no contest. Against a woman who ensnares a man in the coils of her serpentine intelligence – in her ropes of pearls – there should, at least, be some kind of antidote. Cleopatra unsettles more as sage than a seductress; it is less threatening to believe her fatally attractive than fatally intelligent.”²⁹

The Egyptian Sovereign was a visionary, a consummate politician who shaped the times and circumstances to the advantage of her nation. She also possessed a remarkable organizational talent which was demonstrated by her ability to improve the organization of the whole nation. Through her immense intelligence, she created a general era of prosperity for her beloved country enough to garner the attention of an envious military power. She knew the vast difference between brawns and brains.

Thus, Cleopatra was “able to steer Egypt through plague, famine, and war.” Additionally, “Cleopatra was an exceptional manager of her countries resources!” Cleopatra managed the largest economy in the ancient, and we have evidence of its wealth due to the competent record-keeping of the Egyptians.

In fact, one writer illustrates the power of this magnificent woman, “During the height of her power, Cleopatra’s rule extended over large areas of Asia. Although partnering with first Julius Caesar and then Mark Antony, Cleopatra was still very much considered a woman of the East. In many ways, the West’s (Rome) views…treated Cleopatra’s life unfairly. The intersection between women and power…her clever rise to power to her ability to outsmart her enemies, including members of her own family…provides us with a multi-dimensional Cleopatra, one whose intellect and power soars above her abilities as a seductress,” reported Melanie Ho in the Asian review of Books. Many have suggested that Cleopatra was more than just beautiful. Her mind was the greatest attraction that enthralled powerful men. A classic example was Julius Caesar who “was charmed not only by her beauty, but also by her smarts.”

The Rogovoy Report referred to the remarkable Queen in the following manner. “Of the complex, shrewd, cunning, and highly competent mother of four, goddess-queen who knew how to thrive in a world of savage politics, Schiff said, ‘She was a master politician…knew how to play the role of benevolent sovereign to the hilt…importantly, a highly resourceful and capable majesty…’”

A professed traditional Egyptologist Dr. Joyce Tyldesley does a comparative analysis between the military might of Egypt and that of Rome by citing a well-known expert on the Ptolemies who suggested that “‘the military power of Egypt had become contemptible beside that of Rome; the sovereign of Egypt would bring to the contest power of a wholly different kind – the power of a fascinating woman.”³⁰ -- as well as a powerful intellect.

Alessandra Stanley writing for The New York Times (January 20, 2001) in an article entitled “Cleopatra, Career Woman” briefly described the perilous situation Cleopatra found herself, certainly the prospects of a “career ender” were evident since the Queen “inherited a politically and militarily impossible situation, and it is fair to say she had a plan.’”³¹ She would need one against the military superpower of the time whose designs on the resources of Egypt were no secret.

Cleopatra was considered a brilliant ruler par excellence who knew how to use wealth, power and intelligence to gain political and military advantage. The wondrous Last Ruler of Egypt was also according to one writer “very knowledgeable in science, politics and the arts, she had riches beyond measure and she was charming to boot. So charming in fact, that most men who met her fell hopelessly in love with her.”³² Ready. Aim, Fire! all those marvelous weapons at her disposal was her imperative if Egypt was to survive.

Extolling her exceptional beauty and abilities, the ancient Roman historian Dio in his Roman History wrote that Last Queen of Egypt, “possessed a most charming voice and a knowledge of how to make herself agreeable to everyone. Being brilliant to look upon and to listen to, with the power to subjugate everyone, even a love-sated man already past his prime…When she had perfected her schemes, she entered the city (for she had been living outside of it), and by night without Ptolemy’s knowledge went into the palace. (XLII.34.4-6)” Poor Caesar he never had a chance. There to begin a legend that will never end, a legend christened by the name…Cleopatra.

She was extraordinary in interpersonal relationships such that her persuasive power and charm were second to none. One observer remarked that, “She could engage almost anyone and have them fall in love with her wonderful charisma.” Another envisioned her attributes as, “Smart, courageous, ambitious, and sensuously beautiful, Cleopatra possesses the charm to cause two of history’s most famous leaders to fall in love with her.”

Writing for the Inlander Michael Bowen in his post said, “Cleopatra was rich, powerful, intelligent and politically savvy. She governed half the Mediterranean and possessed more wealth than anyone in the world. From the Roman point of view, it was dangerous for an nonsubmissive woman to control all that.” (“Cleopatra: A Life,” Stacy Schiff, Nov 17, 2010)

And yet, her riches extended beyond just material wealth. She was rich in intellect, rich in charm, rich in elegance, rich in resiliency, rich in persuasiveness, rich in innovative thinking and rich in leadership abilities to recount some of her remarkable “wealth”. Alfred Snider (2011) points out that Cleopatra also “supervised huge construction and farming operations, was the richest woman in the world and was said to be remarkably persuasive. Her persuasiveness might have been a reason why Octavian did not want to meet with her.” – not bad for the “weaker” sex.

Joyce Pines, a public editor of the Kalamazoo Gazette and an instructor in journalism at Western Michigan, reported that “The Queen of Egypt is a portrait of an intelligent woman, who knew how to balance power and politics, who was a skillful diplomat and who had the backing of the Egyptian people. She also knew how to use her country’s amazing wealth to full advantage.”³³

The Last Pharaoh was a brilliant politician, a canny political strategist who provided inspired leadership and was a first-rate military contractor. She had one of the most extensive education in the classical world coupled with incredible natural talents. Queen Cleopatra “was well versed in military affairs…[yet] Roman officers still couldn’t fathom the presence of a woman, even one as accomplished and powerful as Cleopatra, when it came to military matters. They would complain to Antony about her presence in the command tents. And this, even in the face of overwhelming evidence of her ability”³⁴ (Stephen Burns, “From the Scrolls: Cleopatra, Sex and Women’s Rights”) - - so much for male “objectivity” and respect for the opposite sex,

What many have missed about the fabled Queen was that Cleopatra’s priority was on a different level left unrecognized for its significance in truly understanding the “Icon of icons”. Though wealthy beyond measure, still Cleopatra sought spiritual identification with the Great Shrines of Egypt in particular Mother Isis (Auset), and she paid homage to Them despite her own limitations.

The Last Queen was ever mindful of the awesome responsibility she had to protect the sovereignty of Egypt, and she would need more than a brilliant intellect to do so. It had to be accompanied by a deeper personal quality of achievement that had profound spiritual dimensions.

One is not an Egyptian unless they know and understand Egypt’s Ancient High Spiritual Traditions. The Last Pharaoh would be privy to ancient secret knowledge to add to her massive abilities and powers. If she was to fulfil her destiny and become such an overwhelming personality, Cleopatra had to learn how to build from the inside out to garner its most potent effects.

Thus, one writer pointed out that “Cleopatra added wisdom to her other outstanding attributes in her worship of Isis to ensure Cleopatra’s ‘unquestioned legitimacy, especially her new role as mother of the kingdom…[that] the worship of Isis…ensure[d].’” When “Schiff writes at length about Cleopatra’s identity as Isis, it is a big deal: ‘Cleopatra played up the role of Isis as provider of wisdom and of spiritual sustenance,’ and she appeared in ‘striking Isis attire’…On religious occasions, a traditional pharaonic crown of feathers, solar disk, and cow’s horns’ rested on her head…As Queen, as Isis, Cleopatra ‘was magistrate, high priest, queen, and goddess and CEO.’”³⁵ (Books Cover2Cover, February 1, 2011) The Queen of Egypt was setting the stage for greatness that she succeeded in achieving in a legendary fashion, but not without the spiritual forces that elevated her beyond the ordinary to the extraordinary in service of her people, their culture and the nation.

Professor D. Roller of Ohio State University (2010) echoes the legitimacy of Isis in the context of Egyptian culture and the role she played in Egyptian society. “Isis was a popular divinity who was not only an agricultural and harvest goddess but also one of marriage and maternity issues.”³⁶

He furthers the discussion of that topic by alluding to Isis’s connection with the Greeks and her expansion into Europe in the second century when he stated that, “As soon as Greeks learned about Egypt, they came to see Isis/Demeter and Osiris/Dionysus as a divine couple worthy of interest and respect…Isis was known in Italy since at least the second century B.C., especially in seaport towns…Cleopatra VII is attested as Isis from as early as 47/46 B.C., - the year she became, like the goddess, a single mother- eventually always appearing at state function dressed as her.”³⁷ If the early Greeks saw “a divine couple worthy of interest and respect,” it would seem appropriate that their descendants should share a similar sentiment.

The Greeks got their understanding from the Ancient Egyptians though the Ptolemies seemed to forget or are ignorant of that fact. There was no Demeter or Dionysus if not for their exposure to their Egyptian master teachers. Herodotus was a principal witness to that historical reality and had enough integrity to admit as much. He wrote: “The Egyptians, they went on to affirm, first brought into use the names of the twelve gods, which the Greeks adopted from them; and first erected altars, images, and temples to the gods…” Only those with a very limited mental capacity would seek to brag about their construction abilities in the face of pyramid builders.

The Greeks had no knowledge of the divine until they encountered the belief systems of Ancient Egypt where its origins began. As the fourth-century Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus revealed that “the knowledge of the divine and the origin of divination, he will find that learning of this kind has spread abroad from Egypt through the whole world. There, for the first time, long before other men, they discovered the cradles, so to speak, of the various religions, and now carefully guard the first beginnings of worship, stored up in secret writings. (Ammianus xxi8i. 20ff. The translation is that of J.C. Rolfe, Loeb Classical Library vol. ii, pp. 306f.)” That is why “Herodotus saw Egypt as the birth-place of Greek religion.”³⁸

The English scholar Professor M. A. Murray strikes a similar chord of acknowledgement when she concluded that the ancient Egyptians “were famous for their skill in divination and the interpretation of dreams by which they could declare the will of God; their acquaintance with geography makes the Greeks look like ignorant barbarians; ‘they were the first who introduced the names of the twelve gods, and the Greeks borrowed their names from them; they were the first to assign altars, images, and temples to the gods, and to carve the figures of animals on stone.’ They were the first to undertake large engineering works, and the first to erect large buildings in stone…The wisdom of the Egyptians became proverbial both in ancient and in modern times.” (Herodotus, ii.4.)³⁹ - Not a bad resume for any race.

This explains why the author of The Story of Civilization Will Durant (1954) would reach a similar conclusion that the Greek themselves bowed to the wisdom of the Ancient Egyptians in acknowledging their much younger status when compared to Egypt. Says Durant: “The wisdom of the Egyptians was a proverb with the Greeks, who felt themselves children beside this ancient race.”

Like Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus asserted in his Book I, Historical Library that “the Egyptians…were also greatly admired by the Greeks. For this reason, Greeks of the highest repute for learning were eager to visit Egypt…” Their eagerness and respect were quite apparent.

As the late nineteenth-century author of Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers A. B. Edwards reported that “the question of the nature and extent of the aesthetic debt of Greece to Egypt. That debt, in so far as it was in their power to estimate it, was freely admitted by the later Greeks themselves. Solon, Thales, Pythagoras, Eudoxus, Erastosthenes, Plato, and a host of others, were proud to sit at the feet of the most ancient of nations…they owed the first elements of civilization and those greatest of all gifts, the alphabet and the art of writing, to the wisdom of the Egyptians.”⁴⁰ Can the massive influence of Egypt on the Greeks be any more pronounced?

Along a similar pattern of historical analysis, The Legacy of Egypt (!942) reveals that “Greek authors point to Egypt as the source of their philosophy. Thales, Solon, Pythagoras, Democritus of Abdera, and Plato are all asserted to have visited Egypt and to have sat at the feet of Egyptian priests…”⁴¹

As might be expected, the Last Queen of Egypt put her complete faith in the Divine Mother Isis, her own abilities and the wondrous heritage of her Egyptian forefathers. From a historical perspective, Cleopatra’s end marks that of Menes, Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure, Rameses, Amenhotep III, Hatshepsut and Thutmose III and the traditions of great Egyptian Pharaohs. This is the powerful company she travels in and is aligned with as the Last Pharaoh. All had names that identified their personal connection and devotion to the Ancient Divine Shrines of Ancient Egypt like the Last Pharaoh who shared in that tradition.