bolleyns:

My Favorite Ladies of History ➵ Cleopatra VII Philopator (the final ruler of the Ptolmetic empire of Egypt before it fell under Roman rule) 69 – 30 BC

“Among the most famous women to have lived, Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt for twenty-two years. She lost a kingdom once, regained it, nearly lost it again, amassed an empire, lost it all. A goddess as a child, a queen at eighteen, a celebrity soon thereafter, she was an object of speculation and veneration, gossip and legend, even in her own time. At the height of her power she controlled virtually the entire eastern Mediterranean coast, the last great kingdom of any Egyptian ruler. For a fleeting moment she held the fate of the Western world in her hands.” – Cleopatra : A Life by Stacy Schiff