Cleopatra VII's queenly charms and political contributions

In order to consolidate her rule, Cleopatra VII, in agreement with Ptolemy, also made special preparations for a marriage ceremony in a carriage tour around the Nile.

On her wedding day, Cleopatra VII had her hair tied up in a bun at the back of her head in order to appear as a stately queen. Dressed in gold and sumptuous fabrics, and coated in expensive spices, she wore a beautiful emerald crown and precious jewels, and a stately and elegant make-up and eyeliner. Her cheekbones and nose were high, giving the impression of a queenly presence without anger! Her majestic queenly bearing and dress on the day did not detract from her popularity and popularity. On the day of her marriage to Ptolemy XIV, the banks of the Nile were crowded with women who had benefited from the eye make-up she had developed to resolve the redness of their inflamed eyes, and who had been made to wear make-up similar to that of the Queen in order to celebrate her reappearance on the throne, standing by the Nile and bowing in gratitude to her. Cleopatra VII would also step out of her carriage and greet the Egyptians with her musical voice, shake hands and even embrace those she knew, and give the Egyptians small gifts from her carriage, handing out delicate sweets to the children who came to watch, and gift boxes with make-up to the girls without make-up. From time to time she received many bouquets from the Egyptian residents, and in her beautiful voice she said, "Thank you!" Then, with her kiss on the bouquet, she turned her hand and threw it into the air to another Egyptian resident, who laughed and scrambled for the bouquet with the Queen's kiss on it as she threw it around the Nile. ...

Compared to Rome, the port of Alexandria is a young city. It is probably also smaller than Rome, with a population of around 500,000, and it is a glorious city because it was consciously built, Alexandria follows the traditional style of Hellenistic architecture and is very neat. The two main roads, which cross at right angles, may be up to 100 feet wide. The harbour is very large and on the island at the edge of the harbour stands the huge Faros lighthouse , one of the wonders of the world. The palace area faces the sea and includes a large number of sumptuous palaces, and there is an Egyptian tradition that each new ruler builds his own palace complex. The palace area of Cleopatra VII is particularly sumptuous and stately, and as one of the Ptolemaic monarchs, she maintained the Ptolemaic tradition of highlighting her status through her palace, and she was as proud as any Ptolemaic pharaoh to rule a country with a long history! But the port of Alexandria was built by a Macedonian king, and most of the original colonists were Macedonians or Greeks. Since then, the local population has been mixed with many nationalities and the city has the largest Jewish community outside of Judea. It was also a bustling and prosperous port and during the reign of Cleopatra VII, as she wanted the Egyptian people to live in peace and prosperity, she encouraged economic trade, agriculture, culture, architecture and crafts, and Egypt became very rich under Cleopatra VII's rule. This was especially true of trade, for the port of Alexandria was one of the largest ports in the classical world, and the clever Cleopatra VII took full advantage of this to make Egypt's trade increasingly prosperous. Under her management and encouragement, the trade in spices, ivory and other luxury goods from India seems to have flourished more and more. The dynasty also made good use of the bountiful land to build many temples, many of which still preserve the worship and rituals of ancient Egyptian religion with little influence from foreign Greek ideas. The temples were the main large landowners, but they were also centres of manufacturing and handicrafts, with a privileged status and exemption from most taxes. Roman visitors to Egypt were amazed at the country's abundance and wealth ...

Cleopatra VII also attached particular importance to the development of agriculture, as the Nile flooded every year, and still does until the Aswan dam is built. When the tide receded, farmers were able to sow their seeds on land that had been watered by the river and made very fertile. The extent of the flooding varied from year to year, and Egypt could have years of famine and years of plenty, but in general there was a good surplus of crops after the harvest, and Cleopatra VII made a point of reminding the people to save their crops from the good years in order to meet the shortage of food in the years of famine.

People of all nationalities flowed through Egypt, but culturally speaking the port of Alexandria became one of the greatest centres of learning in the Greek world. Cleopatra VII also encouraged philosophers to visit the city to conduct research and lecture in order to promote cultural exchange.

Cleopatra VII was a versatile queen who not only encouraged the study and exchange of languages, culture and arts, economic development and commercial cooperation, she also had a particular focus on finding new economic sources: for example, in treasure mining projects. Most notably, she had a passion for jewellery! Her favourite gemstone was the emerald, and she not only named an emerald mine after herself, but also rewarded those who had done the country a great service with the finest emeralds. The Queen's love of emeralds directly influenced the culture of Egypt and mainstream Europe, making them one of the most expensive gems of her time and establishing them as the 'king of emeralds' in the world today.

It is for these reasons that Egypt, under the reign of Cleopatra VII, exuded the same dazzling and unique charm as the emerald!