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Cleopatra and Julius Caesar: Political Power Couple (part two)
number 022
LaToya Allen
October 29, 2024
Hey Team,
LaToya here! Welcome back to our deep dive about Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. I’m writing this from a cafe in Queens drinking something I’ve never had, but am not going to think about every morning: Yemeni Coffee.
As always, if you’re enjoying this series, please send it to someone you like. If you hate it, please send it to someone you can’t stand. Either way - I appreciate it :)
Let’s jump into part two.
The Berlin Cleopatra, a Roman sculpture of Cleopatra
Today’s Strategy: Make the move that is mutually beneficial to you and your allies.
Last we spoke, we learned to avoid making the Big Dumb Move. We need to take our time and understand all the potential outcomes, benefits, and consequences of big moves - because those are the most difficult to undo.
Ptolemy’s advisors didn’t give him that advice, so he killed Pompey The Great and presented Caesar with his head as proof. They assumed this would make Caesar happy because Pompey was his primary opponent in The Roman Civil War.
They were wrong.
In response to being presented with the head of Pompey, Caesar burned down the Library of Alexandria.
But what to do about Cleopatra?
Let’s put ourselves in Caesar's shoes for a moment. You’re outnumbered by your enemies, hiding in the royal palace. You’re trying to decide who you should give the throne to: someone who just murdered your son-in-law, your ally, your friend, a great hero in the eyes of Rome - or someone you’ve never met before.
The choice seems pretty obvious to me!
Cleopatra didn't have to make a big move. That’s why when some say she seduced Caesar, I don’t buy it. As far as both parties were concerned, publicly romantic relationships for those in power were about business, not love, succession, not seduction. That’s why Caesar married his daughter to Pompey the Great and why Cleopatra was married to her thirteen-year-old brother. They understood the rules of the game, and they were both in the game to win.
Cleopatra still needed to meet with Caesar face to face. So she hid in an oversized sack, and was smuggled into the palace, found Caesar, and got to work. Cleopatra was known to have something better than seduction. She had what we might call today the “gift of the gab” - the ability to speak easily and persuasively to people and get them to do what she wanted.
What did they do, what did they talk about?
We can make our assumptions. Maybe they talked about Caesar’s love for Alexander the Great and Cleopatra’s connections to him. Maybe they talked about the military campaigns waged by the long line of powerful queens Cleopatra came from. Maybe they talked about marriage - Cleopatra was considered to be far too young to be married or a mother by Egyptian standards, but Egyptian women could pick their own husbands, and divorce as they pleased. Roman women didn’t have these rights (most women in the world didn’t - Egypt was progressive on that front), and Roman citizens weren’t allowed to marry people of other nationalities.
Either way, Cleopatra and Caesar did talk about one thing: what to name their son.
Til next,
LaToya