hello,
I would go back to 69 BC, Egypt
Cleopatra is arguably the most fascinating woman who has ever lived. The Pharaoh is so captivating that at least 2000 years after her death, there are nearly 200 films, TV movies and documentaries and almost 4000 books written about her.
Contrary to the popular belief that Cleopatra was merely a seductress (a tactic she used sometimes), it was her political prowess that lifted her status to legendary. She used her femininity and brilliant tactics to maintain her own political power during some of the most dangerous and complicated times the world has ever seen.
Cleopatra was a brilliant, curious, and highly educated child who spoke at least 6 languages (some scholars say 9) and was allowed to sit in on political meetings with her father. She was only 18-years-old in 51 BC when her father died and left. Egypt to her to co-rule with her 10-year-old brother. However, the Ptolemaic (Cleo’s family) empire was unstable and Cleopatra was living in exile in Syria and could not claim her throne. Meanwhile, Julius Caesar made a grand entrance into Egypt to protect Rome's main economic interest: the agricultural wealth of the Nile Valley. Egypt was financially indebted to Rome and Cleopatra was raised watching Roman power render her father’s authority impotent. She hatched a scheme to sneak herself into the palace rolled up in a carpet for an audience with Caesar with the awareness that his diplomatic intervention could help her regain her throne. When Cleopatra tumbled out of an unfurled carpet in front of the 52-year-old general, she made a profound impression that was the beginning of a powerful relationship. Caesar fell madly in love with the courageous Egyptian Queen and Cleopatra gave birth to a son, Caesarion, securing her future as a partner with the Roman Empire. Caesar shocked his country when he erected a golden statue of Cleopatra in the middle of Rome. With his help Cleopatra became the sole Queen and Pharaoh ruling Egypt.
When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Cleopatra wasted no time in finding a new partner in Roman general Mark Antony. Cleopatra fought fiercely to keep Octavian, Caesar's heir and Antony's rival, from conquering Egypt. Gender traditions did not restrict Cleopatra’s ferocious battle to save Egypt. She was the first woman to take a fleet to sea and on horseback into battlefield. When the Romans set fire to her beloved library, the Great Library of Alexandria, Cleopatra locked herself within the palace walls. Mark Anthony, gravely wounded in battle, returned to the palace to die in her arms. Her final act in her stupendous life was inciting an asp, a poisonous snake, to bite her. Shakespeare described her death vividly in his play Antony and Cleopatra.
I would love to be in her time & witness it all first hand - her seductive prowess, intelligence, mannerisms, likability, politics & using people to reach her goal.
