Cleopatra VII wielded extraordinary power, particularly for a woman of that period. She represented a form of absolute monarchy that was later to be seen in the rule of Augustus and his successors, and in Egypt her word was law. While Cleopatra has been blamed with the downfall of Antony and many Egyptian and Roman soldiers, she has also brought an end to Egypt's civil wars and her people prospered under her. Her defeat at Actium, in the long term, had a positive impact on Rome; the Augustan system provided a material and political base of cultural achievement that lasted more than 200 years. Cleopatra became the catalyst for the Hellenistic shift to Roman, as she represented the fall of Hellenistic East, not just Egypt. Because different historians have presented her in different ways, and most of the sources that have been left are pro-Roman, we can only catch a glimpse of her significant career, but even writers opposed to Cleopatra cannot deny that she played a vital role in shaping the future of both societies and its people.…
