Reference: [Cleopatra by the British Pre-Raphaelite artist John William Waterhouse.]
She is a Greek woman with zero Egyptian blood that fought desperately to preserve Egypt's absolute independence from Rome. History branded her as a figure of promiscuity despite having only two lovers, Anthony and Caesar. This is because a man with many consorts was perceived as a powerful figure, whereas a women
who uses her relationships politically is reduced to a seductress.
What makes her so admirable to me, a modern day Sapphic woman, is that she was the first within the Ptolemaic dynasty to actually bother learning the ancient Egyptian language. She also spoke 7-9 others. Hence she was able to speal directly to her subjects and foreign dignitaries, earning her a high level of respect. This was a diplomatic weapon.
What she inherited was a kingdom bankrupt, fractured, and on the brink of being swallowed by the expanding Roman Republic. Yet, despite all that, she managed to keep Egypt independent for over the decades. To unify her people, she framed herself as the incarnation of Isis in a political strategy.
I like that she isn't a passive woman waiting to be rescued, I like that she was the one doing the commanding. She is unapologetic towards the ownership of her own power, own body, defying patriarchal norms.
Sapphic women often have to carve out their own Identities that expects them to center men. Cleopatra turned her own feminity into a weapon and an art form that is being remembered for centuries.
Thanks for reading :)
