Cleopatra Operation Of The Kingdom Summary

Camryn Cook
History 337
Dr. Overtoom
02/26/23

Reading Summary #3 Group 2: Cleopatra Chapters 7-9 and Epilogue

This summary paper examines chapters 7 “The Operation of the Kingdom”, 8 “Scholarship and Culture at the Court of Cleopatra”, 9 “Downfall”, and the Epilogue of Cleopatra by Duane W Roller. Chapter Seven “The Operation of the Kingdom” begins with the section titled “Royal Administration” which highlights the financial and political struggles of the empire the Cleopatra inherited and ruled over. Her father owed major debts to officials of the Roman Empire, which had not entirely been paid off, most notably to Caesar. These debts are one of the primary reasons for Octavian’s eventual attempts of conquering Egypt and ending Cleopatra’s

The foreign policies of the empire have long since been ingrained with the politics of the Roman empire before Cleopatra’s reign (117). Thus, it is difficult to determine policies and expeditions that were not influenced by Roman politics. Cleopatra’s rule was primarily focused on the reclamation of territories and the expansion of her empire. Rapid expansion of the Roman empire played into these territorial gains as well, introducing policies which maintained Roman connections through proxied and allied rulers (118). Cleopatra and Herod the Great being two of the most influential of these allied rulers. Cleopatra and Herod stood as political rivals, especially when it came to territorial expansion. This led to many territorial conflicts and disputes, many of which were given to Herod by Antonius. Herod felt that Cleopatra would sabotage him and ruin his empire for her own ambition (119). Despite this suspicion and animosity, Cleopatra became involved in familial disputes in Herod’s relations. The matriarch of the Hasmonean Family Alexandra reached out the Cleopatra to rectify a decision of position of priest for her son, something that Herod denied to him. Through various exchanges and disputes, Cleopatra urged Alexandra to come live in Egypt, a plan that was found out and

A final interesting thing that I learned from the Epilogue, was that despite all his efforts to claim Egyptian rule, Octavian never set foot back in Egypt again after annexing it as a Roman territory (151). Additionally, even with his contempt for Cleopatra, he instituted several laws and policies in the Roman Empire that reflected the Hellenistic monarchy of her rule. Her influence on Roman aesthetics and law remained strong long after her death. I also found it interesting that Octavian would later place Cleopatra’s daughter on the throne with her husband Juda II (154). Octavian was interesting to learn about with his actions during the war, and his later actions as