History UsefulNotes / CleopatraVII

* In ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'', her clone is an AlphaBitch who serves as the LoveInterest to UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln and UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy.

* The second season of Creator/{{Netflix}}'s documentary series ''African Queens'' produced and narrated by Creator/JadaPinkettSmith is about Cleopatra. It has her played by mixed race British actress Adele James and includes claims by classicist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelley_Haley Shelley Haley]] and others that she was "black". This RaceLift isn't exclusive to Cleopatra either, with the Egyptians in general being presented as sub-Saharan Africans, with clothes and hairstyles visibly more derivative of that region than Ancient Egypt (Ancient Egyptians, both male and female, traditionally shaved their heads). Unsurprisingly, this led to uproar and numerous accusations of cultural/racial appropriation and afrocentrism directed at the show including by many reputable scholars, ''especially'' (and predictably) in [[UsefulNotes/ModernEgypt Egypt]] where a '''''2 billion-dollar''''' lawsuit has even been filed against Netflix and a fast-tracked counter-documentary came out the very day the Netflix series was dropped. The series is also quite heavy on factual errors that don't pertain to race, like [[HistoricalBadassUpgrade making Cleopatra]] a [[{{Xenafication}} "warrior queen" type]] which she clearly wasn't, or having her say absurdities like "There is no Rome without Egypt", treating Rome as an "emerging power" (Rome was the dominant power in the Mediterranean at this time, and had been so since the UsefulNotes/PunicWars [[note]] Egypt was actually at this point essentially a Roman client, with Cleopatra's father having been on the throne by virtue of Roman military power, and if one looks at a map of Roman territory by the time of Caesar's assassination, they basically controlled almost all the Mediterranean coast. [[/note]]) and overall having pretty much all the main characters of the {{docudrama}} parts behave out of (historical) character.

* LadyLooksLikeADude: There are two kinds of ancient portraits of Cleopatra - ones in which she looks like the epitome of Greek femininity, and the ones where she looks like a cross-dresser. The latter was to stress her links to her predecessors as king, imitate images of Roman consuls, and to show herself as having the heart and stomach of a king, which in the Hellenic society (i.e. Greek) meant de-emphasizing her femininity. This pattern of masculizing a Queen Regnant also had a long history in Egypt itself; UsefulNotes/Hatshepsut had done the same thing--down to commissioning statues of herself with a man's body--almost 1500 years earlier.

* LadyLooksLikeADude: There are two kinds of ancient portraits of Cleopatra - ones in which she looks like the epitome of Greek femininity, and the ones where she looks like a cross-dresser. The latter was to stress her links to her predecessors as king, imitate images of Roman consuls, and to show herself as having the heart and stomach of a king, which in the Hellenic society (i.e. Greek) meant de-emphasizing her femininity.

After Mark Antony committed suicide, albeit botched, so that he died slowly and was brought to his beloved's monument where she saw his final moments, Cleopatra was visited by Octavian. The latter wanted to take her back to Rome as part of his Roman triumph (which would have likely involved her being killed in public in said ceremony, similar to how Vercingetorix of Gaul was killed in Caesar's triumph). He also appointed guards and other watchers to make sure she did not commit suicide. Yet inevitably, somehow, Cleopatra did die, according to legend, by means of a snake hidden in a basket of figs brought to her. Octavian, now named UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, had to be content with a tablet in the triumph showing her death. He also honored her final requests and buried her next to Mark Antony and while he killed Caesarion, Cleopatra's child with Caesar, he did adopt and raise her children with Mark Antony. Likewise, the first Roman Emperor, was much inspired by the splendor of Alexandria and when embarking on his famous rebuilding of UsefulNotes/{{Rome}} borrowed much inspiration in civil engineering from Cleopatra's regime, [[AthensAndSparta so that Rome could outshine it in splendor]].

After Mark Antony committed suicide, albeit botched, so that he died slowly and was brought to his beloved's monument where she saw his final moments, Cleopatra was visited by Octavian. The latter wanted to take her back to Rome as part of his Roman triumph (which would have likely involved her being killed in public in said ceremony, similar to how Vercingetorix of Gaul was killed in Caesar's triumph). He also appointed guards and other watchers to make sure she did not commit suicide. Yet inevitably, somehow, Cleopatra did die, according to legend, by means of an snake hidden in a basket of figs brought to her. Octavian, now named UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, had to be content with a tablet in the triumph showing her death. He also honored her final requests and buried her next to Mark Antony and while he killed Caesarion, Cleopatra's child with Caesar, he did adopt and raise her children with Mark Antony. Likewise, the first Roman Emperor, was much inspired by the splendor of Alexandria and when embarking on his famous rebuilding of UsefulNotes/{{Rome}} borrowed much inspiration in civil engineering from Cleopatra's regime, [[AthensAndSparta so that Rome could outshine it in splendor]].

The identity of Cleopatra's mother is uncertain. Born the third child of Pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes, Auletes lost his grip on his kingdom due to corruption and the loss of Cyprus and Cyrenaica. In a desperate bid to regain control, he fled and begged Rome for money and troops to help him regain his throne. Cleopatra's older sister Berenice IV seized power with Cleopatra VI Tryphaena[[note]]Sources contradict each other over whether she was Cleopatra's sister, stepmother, or mother; most modern historians believe her to be identical with Cleopatra V Tryphaena, Auletes' only recorded wife.[[/note]] at this time -- first Cleopatra VI, then Berenice upon her mysterious death. Whether or not Cleopatra VII accompanied her father to Rome or remained in Egypt is debatable; she isn't really a concern in the contemporary records of either place. The reason this is even a question is because some accounts describe her as meeting UsefulNotes/MarkAntony around this age, while others assert she met him as an adult. What is certain is that Auletes eventually was able to secure the troops and money, and that Berenice was imprisoned and executed for her disloyalty. Cleopatra was now fourteen, the eldest of her remaining siblings, and thus the one with the best chance of keeping a hold on the throne should their father die. He elevated her to joint ruler at this point, though it's unlikely she had much power.