“Cleopatra and Her Makeup”
By: Laura W.  U.S.A.

Hi, I am Cleopatra and I invented make up. And I look better than ever. So come with me as we learn about beauty and make up. Soon, you can look just like me. We will have so much fun. So, let’s get started.

Being a queen is really stressful. Especially when everyone expects you to look like a goddess. What choice did I have but to try to look my best? Let’s explore my life together and you can learn how I overcame some really big problems.

I was born in 69 B.C.E. in Egypt. My father was King Ptolemy XII. I had an older sister named Berenice. My father was a cruel and mean leader. The people he ruled got fed up and ran him out of Egypt. They put my older sister on the throne. When I was 14, my father won his throne back and beheaded my sister. This now made me the oldest.

When I was only 18, my father died. I was made queen. However, because I was a girl, I had to get married in order to rule. This sounds really weird, but I married my brother. This was how royal families made sure no one else but your relatives got a chance to rule.

My husband a.k.a. my brother left me alone for some time. However, as he got older Ptolemy (named after my dad of course) got more and more bossy. He came up with a plan to kidnap me. I had to flee the country with my little sister. How embarrassing!

At the border, I gathered troops. I decided that I was going to fight!

Across the ocean in Rome, two old friends who were also army generals were fighting over the throne to get the Roman Empire. Pompey went to my brother to get help, because he really wanted to win the throne and keep Julius Caesar from getting it. But you know my not so smart brother killed him. When Julius found out what he had done, he marched into the city and took the palace from my brother.

Julius talks my brother into meeting with me to talk peace. Now, I wanted peace, but I did trust my brother. I knew he wanted to kill me. So, I used my brain and a little make up to make me look fabulous. I rolled myself up in a rug. I had it delivered to the palace. When it was unrolled for Caesar, I popped out. I used my charm and Caesar fell madly in love with me. This caused my brother to become very mad. He started a war and eventually died.

I became a mother about a year later. I named my baby Caesarion after his father, Julius Caesar. I really needed help to rebuild my Egyptian empire, so I traveled to Rome to get some help. Julius was so happy to see me, he got me many presents, including a golden statue of myself.

My luck did not last. Julius was murdered, stabbed in the back by his so-called friends. Now Egypt is in danger again, and I must run for my life…

After Julius Caesar is killed, Octavian and Mark Anthony agree to divide the Roman Empire. Mark Anthony decided he wanted to use my money to build an army, so he invited me to come for a stay.

Now, I am a girl who likes to make an impression, so I arrived on a big golden barge, dressed as the goddess, Venus. I played music in the background and had girls dressed as sea creatures. He was definitely impressed.

But to be truthful, I never really thought I was that pretty. Most of the women in my family were not beautiful either. Our noses were somewhat hook shaped. So, I made up for it with eyeliner and black eye shadow. I also liked to paint my lips with ochre to make them red. Ochre is a red mineral found in the earth.  A  girls got to do what she has to do to manage an entire empire!

Mark Anthony and I were very happy. He was 14 years older than me, but we both enjoyed life.  After several years, Mark had to return to Rome.  He had an argument with Octavian. That guy was really getting on my nerves! While he was gone, I gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. After Mark returned, we got married. We have a total of three children: Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene,  and Ptolemy Philadelphus. We were very happy. We dressed as god and goddess and our children sat in little golden thrones. Mark was so happy that he gave each child a country. Unfortunately, Octavian hears of this and became very angry. The land belonged to Rome, so we go back to war again.

After being chased back to Egypt in defeat, I locked myself in a tomb. Mark heard that I was dead, so he stabbed himself with a sword. My servant brought him to me and he died in my arms. After his funeral, I was afraid of Octavian, who renamed himself Augustus. I decided to kill myself and ordered a final meal of figs, my favorite. There was an asp, a very poisonous snake in the basket, and I was found dead with two tiny bite marks on my arm. Augustus took control of Egypt and it becomes part of the Roman Empire. The rest is history…

Cleopatra VII. 2013. The Biography Channel Website. www.biography.com.  Retrieved on   
February 15, 2013.

Miller, Ron and Browning, Sommer. Ancient World Leaders: Cleopatra. Chelsea House
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Pipe, Jim. You Wouldn’t Want to Be Cleopatra. Scholastic Publishers.