Cleopatra, ill-fated(desafortunada)
queen of Egypt (51-30 bc), celebrated for her love affairs(asuntos
amorosos)
with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Cleopatra, or more precisely, Cleopatra
VII, was the daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes, king of Egypt. On her
father's death(a
la muerte de su padre)
in 51 bc Cleopatra, then 17 or 18 years old, and her brother, Ptolemy XIII,
a child of about 12 years, succeeded(sucedió)
jointly(conjuntamente)
to the throne of Egypt with the provision that(con
la condición de que)
they should marry. In the third year of their reign(reinado)
Ptolemy, encouraged(animado,
estimulado)
by his advisers(consejeros),
assumed sole(único)
control of the government and drove Cleopatra into exile(llevó
a Cleopatra al exilio). She promptly(inmediatamente)
gathered(reunió)
an army in Syria but was unable to assert her claim(imponer
su reivindicación)
until the arrival at Alexandria of Julius Caesar, who became her lover and
espoused(adoptó, se
adhirió a)
her cause. He was for a time hard pressed(fuertemente
presionado) by the Egyptians but ultimately(finalmente)
triumphed, and in 47 bc Ptolemy XIII was killed. Caesar proclaimed Cleopatra
queen of Egypt.
Cleopatra was then forced by custom(por
tradición)
to marry her younger brother, Ptolemy XIV, then about 11 years old. After
settling(establecer)
their joint government on a secure basis, Cleopatra went to Rome, where she
lived as Caesar's mistress(amante).
She gave birth(dio
a luz)
to a son, Caesarion, later Ptolemy XV; it is believed that Caesar was his
father. After Caesar's assassination in 44 bc, Cleopatra is said to have
poisoned Ptolemy XIV. She then returned to Egypt and made Caesarion her
coregent(coregente).
Because Cleopatra hesitated(dudaba)
to take sides(tomar
partido)
in the civil war following Caesar's death, Mark Antony summoned(convocó)
her to meet him to explain her conduct. He fell in love with her and
returned with her to Egypt. After living with her for some time, Antony was
compelled(forzado)
to return to Rome, where he married Octavia, a sister of Caesar's heir(hermana
del heredero de César)
Octavian, later Roman emperor as Augustus. After Antony's departure
Cleopatra bore him twins(le
dio gemelos). In 36 bc Antony went to the East as commander(comandante)
of an expedition against the Parthians. He sent for(mandó
llamar a)
Cleopatra, who joined him at Antioch. They were married, and a third child
was born. In 34 bc(before
Christ=antes de Cristo), after a successful(exitosa)
campaign against the Parthians, he celebrated his triumph at Alexandria. He
continued to reside in Egypt. In 32 bc, when Octavian declared war against
Cleopatra and Antony, Antony divorced Octavia.
Cleopatra insisted on taking part in the campaign. At the naval engagement(batalla)
at Actium in 31 bc, believing Antony's defeat to be inevitable(creyendo
que la derrota de Antonio sería inevitable), she withdrew
her fleet from action(retiró
a su tropa), and she and Antony fled(huyeron)
to Alexandria. On the approach of Octavian, Antony, deceived(engañado)
by a false report(informe)
of the death of the queen, committed suicide(se
suicidó). Hearing that Octavian intended to exhibit her in his
triumph at Rome, Cleopatra killed herself, probably by poison, or, according
to an old tradition, by the bite of an asp(picadura
de un áspide). Caesarion, the last member of the Ptolemy
dynasty, was put to death(muerto)
by Octavian, and Egypt subsequently became a Roman province.
Cleopatra's life has formed the basis fo(sentó
las bases para)r many literary works(obras),
the most notable(las
más destacadas)
of which are the plays(obras
de teatro)
Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare, All for Love by the
English dramatist John Dryden, and Caesar and Cleopatra by the
British playwright(dramaturgo)
George Bernard Shaw. |
Inglés
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Francés |
Alemán
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Italiano |
Otros
1 (A-E)
| 2 (F-L) |
3 (N-S)
| 4 (T-U)
Árabe |
Chino |
Esperanto
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Griego
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Japonés
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Portugués
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Rumano
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Ruso
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Catalán
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Euskera