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Hello on August the 12th in 30 BC the last Pharaoh of Egypt died and bringing to an end the independence of a civilization

Which had lasted more than three thousand years Egypt's last Pharaoh was also arguably its most famous

Queen Cleopatra the Seventh was a powerful and intelligent woman whose interventions shaped the future of the Roman Empire

Today we remember her for the affair she had with two great Roman generals Julius Caesar and Mark Antony and for the tragic

Manor of her death self-inflicted and caused apparently by an asp clasp to her bosom

Shakespeare depicted that event in his play Antony and Cleopatra where he also recalled her celebrated beauty

Age current with her not custom-style her infinite variety

Many people have become fascinated with the figure of Cleopatra in the centuries since her death the French philosopher

Bles Pascal argued that if Cleopatra's nose had been shorter the history of the world would have been different

We've made to discuss the life of Cleopatra are Catherine Edwards, Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck University of London

Maria Wike, Professor of Latin at University College London and Susan Walker, keeper of the Antiquities at the Ashmullian Museum at the University of Oxford

Catherine Edwards this story takes place in the middle of the first century BC

Can you set the scene for us what about the dominant powers in the Mediterranean where Egypt fits in with Rome at that time?

Right well

It's certainly important to bear in mind that Romans had been expanding their power in the Eastern Mediterranean for quite some time

And in fact, they've been involved in Egyptian politics for decades before Cleopatra came to power

Her father had been ousted by other factions within Egypt in the 50s BCE and it had to have Roman help to get him back

Interpower in against his enemies in Egypt. So Egyptian and Roman power was very closely intertwined already

When when we talked about Egyptian power, what did that power reside in? Was it already becoming a satellite state of Rome?

Did Rome respect it? Was Rome rather fearful of this great empire still?

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