And the When looking at the whole of Cleopatra's 39 years of life, there are certainly a lot of individual days that stand out as monumental.

The day she became Queen of Egypt, for example, or perhaps the day

she gave birth to her first child, who in essence would be the next Pharaoh in the line of succession.

But it can be argued that, given the course her life eventually

traveled down, there are two days that stand out above all the rest. The day she

met Julius Caesar and the day she met Mark Antony.

Now most people think that Cleopatra met Julius Caesar first

when he came to Egypt when she was just 21 years old and then met Mark Antony seven years after

that when she was famously summoned to Tarsis by Antony in 41 b.c.

A few years after Caesar was brutally assassinated.

That first meeting between Cleopatra and Mark Antony in Tarsis

was a spectacle that was carefully coordinated.

Cleopatra pulled out all the stops to impress Antony and to make one hell of a first impression.

Here's how Plutarch records the event of Cleopatra's arrival to meet Antony for the first time.

She came sailing up the river Sidnos in a barge with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple while oars of silver beat

time to the music of flutes and fipes and harps.

She herself, meaning Cleopatra, lay all along under a canopy of gold cloth, dressed as Venus

in a picture, and beautiful young boys like painted cupids stood on each side to fan her."

End quote.

Now how about that for an entrance?

As a side note here, you'll see that Cleopatra has a knack for dramatic entrances when we cover the first time she meets Julius Caesar next episode.

But as we said, Cleopatra put on the full show for Antony with that first meeting,

...