EGYPT 39BC Queen Cleopatra VII Ptolemy I NGC Tetradrachm Eagle Ancient Coin D165

Description: Ancient Greek Coin of Egypt - Ptolemaic Period Cleopatra VII - 51 BC - 30 BCBI Tetradrachm (23mm, 12h) Struck in Alexandria, Egypt, Dated Regnal Year 14 (39/38 BC). Reference: Svoronos 1861 Certification: NGC VF 6710564-043 Obverse: Diademed head of Ptolemy I right, aegis tied around his neck; dotted border. Reverse: ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ-ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, eagle standing left on thunderbolt, wings closed, palm over right shoulder; L IΔ (date) above crown of Isis in left field, ΠA in right field. See the Genuine History Collection Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. 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. After her death, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the last Hellenistic-period state in the Mediterranean, a period which had lasted since the reign of Alexander. The last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt, Cleopatra VII was born in 69 BC and succeeded her father Ptolemy XII Auletes in 51 BC. She soon faced a succession crisis: Her weak-willed younger brother and co-ruler, Ptolemy XIII, was dominated by a circle of courtiers who feared Cleopatra's keen intellect and resolute will. Consequently, they ousted and exiled her in 48 BC, shortly before the Roman general Pompey the Great arrived in Alexandria fresh from his defeat by Julius Caesar at the battle of Pharsalus. Ptolemy ordered Pompey's murder, but this only outraged Caesar, who showed up days later and occupied the royal palace. Cleopatra had herself wrapped in a carpet and smuggled into Caesar's presence for a meeting. This display of spunk by the nubile 20-year-old enchanted the dictator. The two likely became lovers that night, and Caesar's bitter Alexandrine War, which ended in the defeat and death of Ptolemy XIII, was fought on her behalf. Caesar tarried a while longer in Egypt while Cleopatra conceived and bore him a son. Caesar returned to Rome in 47 BC and summoned Cleopatra to join him the following year. She was thus in Rome when Caesar was murdered on 15 March 44 BC. Returning to Alexandria, she was summoned to meet the Triumvir Marc Antony at Tarsus in 41 BC. Once again, a powerful Roman general succumbed to Cleopatra's charms, and within a year she had borne Antony twins, a boy and a girl. In 37 BC, Cleopatra provided money and supplies in support of Antony's abortive invasion of Parthia and a punitive raid on Armenia the following year. Antony's adoption of "barbaric" Egyptian customs, his increasing dependence on Cleopatra, and his promise to bestow most of Rome's eastern possessions upon her and her children compelled his partner in power, Octavian, to declare war in 32 BC. Antony fought a lethargic campaign and suffered a heavy naval defeat at Actium in September of 31 BC, after which he and Cleopatra fled to Egypt. On Octavian's approach in 30 BC, Antony committed suicide and Cleopatra followed suit days later, utilizing the poisonous bite of the sacred asp. Cleopatra and Caesar (1866), a painting by Jean-Léon GérômeThe Ptolemaic Kingdom was an Ancient Greek state based in Egypt during the Hellenistic Period. It was founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter, a companion of Alexander the Great, and lasted until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC. Ruling for nearly three centuries, the Ptolemies were the longest and most recent Egyptian dynasty of ancient origin. Alexander the Great conquered Persian-controlled Egypt in 332 BC during his campaigns against the Achaemenid Empire. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, his empire quickly unraveled amid competing claims by the diadochi, his closest friends and companions. Ptolemy, a Macedonian who was one of Alexander's most trusted generals and confidants, won control of Egypt from his rivals and declared himself pharaoh. Alexandria, a Greek polis founded by Alexander, became the capital city and a major center of Greek culture, learning, and trade for the next several centuries. Following the Syrian Wars with the Seleucid Empire, a rival Hellenistic state, the Ptolemaic Kingdom expanded its territory to include eastern Libya, the Sinai, and northern Nubia. To legitimize their rule and gain recognition from native Egyptians, the Ptolemies adopted the title of the pharaoh and had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress; otherwise, the monarchy rigorously maintained its Hellenistic character and traditions. The kingdom had a complex government bureaucracy that exploited the country's vast economic resources to the benefit of a Greek ruling class, which dominated military, political, and economic affairs, and which rarely integrated into Egyptian society and culture. Native Egyptians maintained power over local and religious institutions, and only gradually accrued power in the bureaucracy, provided they Hellenized. Beginning with Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the Ptolemies began to adopt Egyptian customs, such as marrying their siblings per the Osiris myth, and participating in Egyptian religious life. New temples were built, older ones restored, and royal patronage lavished on the priesthood. From the mid third century BC, Ptolemaic Egypt was the wealthiest and most powerful of Alexander's successor states, and the leading example of Greek civilization. Beginning in the mid second century BC, dynastic strife and a series of foreign wars weakened the kingdom, and it became increasingly reliant on the Roman Republic. Under Cleopatra VII, who sought to restore Ptolemaic power, Egypt became entangled in a Roman civil war, which ultimately led to its conquest by Rome as the last independent Hellenistic state. Roman Egypt became one of Rome's richest provinces and a center of Macedonian culture, with Greek remaining the main language of government until the Muslim conquest in 641 AD. Alexandria remained one of the leading cities of the Mediterranean well into the late Middle Ages.

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