Antony - A once fierce and feared soldier who rules the Roman Empire along with Octavius Caesar

and Lepidus. When the play opens, Antony has neglected his duties as a ruler in order to live in Egypt, where he carries on a highly visible love affair with Cleopatra. His loyalty is divided between the Western and Eastern worlds; he is torn between the sense of duty and the desire to seek pleasure, between reason and passion. While he feels the need to reaffirm the honor that has made him a celebrated Roman hero, he is also madly in love with Cleopatra.

Cleopatra - The queen of Egypt and Antonys lover. A highly attractive woman who once seduced Julius Caesar, Cleopatra delights in the thought that she has caught Antony like a fish. In matters of love, as in all things, Cleopatra favors high drama: her emotions are as volatile as they are theatrical, and, regardless of whether her audience is her handmaid or the emperor of Rome, she always offers a top-notch performance. Although she tends to make a spectacle of her emotions, one cannot doubt the genuine nature of her love for Antony. Shakespeare makes clear that the queen does love the general, even if her loyalty is sometimes misplaced.

They are arguably the most famous lovers in history. Marcus Antonius of Rome stood at the pinnacle of power, fighting to be the most powerful man in the known world; and Cleopatra VII Philopator was the queen of one ancient civilization, Egypt, and heir to the unmatched cultural achievements of another, Greece. Their love affair, their war together, their defeat and, finally, their suicides have been told and retold for centuries. But most of those retellings have been far from accurate, according to author and historian Adrian Goldsworthy. Goldsworthy, author of Antony and Cleopatra, describes the couple's true story and why so much of what we know about them is wrong.
One of the most famous women in history, Cleopatra VII was the brilliant and beautiful last Pharaoh of Egypt. The woman was legendary, not only for her breathtaking beauty but also for her great intellect. She was proficient in nine languages and was also a skilled mathematician. She is often considered to be a stunning seductress though she was studying to be a nun. She became the mistress of the famous emperor Julius Caesar. After he was slain, she was accused of having been a party to Ceaser's assassination, for there was a rumor in Rome that Cleopatra had given help to Cassius, one of the assassins of Caesar.

Matters came to such a head that Caesar's successor and

best friend Mark Anthony, the present emperor of

Rome, summoned Cleopatra to explain herself at his headquarters in Anatolia. In the spring of the year 41 BC. she crossed the Mediterranean to see him. But as she saw Marc Antony, she fell in love with him, and he with her, almost instantly. Sometime later the emperor accepted her invitation to visit her in Egypt and arrived in Alexandria in time to spend a winter of pleasure. The relationship between these two powerful people put the country of Egypt in a powerful

position. But their

love affair outraged the Romans who were wary of the growing powers of the Egyptians. Despite all the threats, Anthony and Cleopatra got married at Antioch(in Syria) in 36 BC.

Together, Antony and Cleopatra, formed a formidable ruling power. They were now openly together; and openly a team against Octavian, Antony's rival for power in Rome. As a Roman general, with a powerful army in the eastern provinces, Antony gave his new wife a spectacular wedding present - much of the Middle East. In 34 BC, he declared Cleopatra to be the Queen of Kings and Caesarion the King of Kings, jointly ruling over Egypt and Cyprus and joint overlords of the kingdoms of the other children. In the tradition of many eastern

monarchies, Cleopatra and Antony now began presenting themselves as

divine. To Greeks they appeared as Dionysus and Aphrodite; to Egyptians as Osiris and Isis.

But Octavian, Antony's rival in power, had had enough of it. He was a blood-relative of Ceaser. how could he bear to see Antony taking his uncle's place? In 31 BC, he declared a war against Antony. The battle between the forces of Octavian and of Antony and Cleopatra took place at Actium, in Greece, on 2 September 31.

The exact course of the battle is not known, but it is said that while fighting a battle in Actium, Antony got false news of Cleopatra's death. Shattered, he fell on his sword. It is also said that Antony escaped to Egypt with Cleopatra when their

fortunes in war turned against them. But the royal couple couldn't escape misfortune.

The following year, when Octavian arrived in Egypt with his army, Antony had to commit suicide to escape imprisonment. When Cleopatra learned about Antony 's death, she was shocked. She was taken a prisoner of Octavian, restricted by his guards to part of her own palace. Shattered by her husband's death and her captivity, with the help of some loyal subjects, she arranged for a small poisonous snake, an asp, to be smuggled into her quarters in a basket of figs. Then, Cleopatra ordered her chambermaids to leave her. She put on her royal robes, lied on a couch of gold, and applied the asp to her breast. A little later she was found dead. Great love demands great sacrifices. The love of Antony and Cleopatra epitomize that love is another name for sacrifice.

One of the most famous women in history, Cleopatra VII was the brilliant and beautiful last Pharaoh of Egypt. Although she is often portrayed as a femme fatale, Cleopatra was deeply religious and studied to be a nun. An accomplished mathematician and gifted linguist fluent in nine languages, Cleopatra was also skilled politician popular with her people. She married her younger brother, Ptolemy, and she became the mistress of the Roman general Julius Caesar. Following Caesar's death, Roman general Marc Antony went to Egypt to advance the growing power of Rome. Cleopatra captivated Antony. Their affair scandalized Roman society and bothered Roman politicians, who were suspicious of Egypt's power. Yet despite the risks, Antony and Cleopatra married in 36 B.C. The couple planned to conquer Rome. But in 31 B.C. the Roman general Octavian destroyed the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra in the battle of Actium. Hearing a false report that Cleopatra was dead, Antony fell on his sword. With no hope left, Cleopatra induced a poisonous asp to bite her. Four thousand years of glorious Pharaonic rule was finally finished. Egypt became a Roman province. Octavian (later Augustus) became the first Roman Emperor, launching a new era in history.

Antony and Cleopatra are among the most famous couples in history. Unfortunately their story ended tragically, not unlike that of Romeo and Juliet, another famous play by William Shakespeare. Cleopatra was said to be the most beautiful of all queens and was known as the Queen of Kings. She was the last pharaoh Egypt ever saw. Marc Antony was a general in the Roman army and successor of Julius Caesar. Antony was also one of Caesar's best friends, though they both desired Cleopatra's affections. These lovers lived in different worlds. One was a Roman Emperor and the other was a Pharaoh of Egypt. As

Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra lived in that country's capital city Alexandria where she was born in January of 69 BC and would later also die. Marc Antony was born in Rome on January 14, 83 BC. However, unlike Cleopatra, Antony would not die in Rome where he was born, he would later die in Alexandria, Egypt.

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