Cleopatra's Downfall

The fall of the Roman Republic and the influence of Cleopatra and the main male figures around her – Caesar, Antony and Augustus – for this has to be looked at in good detail. This essay investigates Cleopatra’s role in the downfall and comes to the conclusion that she may have had some of the blame because she can be seen as responsible for causing both Caesar and Antony’s reputation fall and with this their support nearly disappear in both the general public and the senate. Also, without her, Antony probably wouldn’t have gone to war with Augustus both because he wouldn’t have had enough support and also because Augustus was able to declare war because he did so on Cleopatra and not on Antony to enable his side to be more popular.
However, …show more content…
This question will be explored by looking into the downfall of the Roman Republic and if Cleopatra had a key role in this – and was therefore a fatale monstrum – or if another cause was the reason so the end of the republic was probably inevitable. There is the option that despite it being obvious that the republic would end eventually, Cleopatra’s influence, and the power she was thought to have had (by the Senate and Roman people) over key figures such as Caesar and Antony, caused the end to come much sooner than it would be. The relationship between Cleopatra and the Romans- in particular Caesar and Antony- has been debated widely in the context of what her role was in the ruling of Rome. Cleopatra was considered by many to have a significant role in Rome leading up to its falling as a Republic especially with many believing that she significantly altered the way Rome was ruled under Caesar and allowed Antony to go to war with Augustus by providing him with an army. How the Roman republic fell is key in discovering why the modern world is how it is now due to the major role Rome and its huge empire had in the making of how society is shaped today. The way in which Cleopatra managed to infiltrate into Roman society shows her skill in foreign relations as well as Caesars susceptibility to foreign queens- of which he was believed to have had relations with many- helped Cleopatra to prevent the downfall of …show more content…
In some of his writings, Cicero wrote: ‘I hate the Queen’ and this bold statement from such an influential figure in Roman society could both persuade others to dislike Cleopatra but also suggest that other powerful figures did not like Cleopatra’s position in Rome at this time either. Rumours were circulating at this time in Rome that Caesar was planning on ruling Rome from Egypt and this created senators to become increasingly anxious over the future of Rome under the control of a once highly favoured leader. For many, rumours and ideas such as this were very influential in the eventual decision to murder Caesar because they believed that somehow they had to prevent him from further altering Roman society. If thought about from the perspective that without the murder of Caesar, then the transition from Roman Republic to Military Empire probably wouldn’t have occurred because the power struggle between Antony and Augustus may never have happened due to a more definite will or decision made by Caesar, then Cleopatra could be partially to blame for the downfall and may be regarded as a ‘fatale monstrum’. However, another perspective is that it would have occurred even if Caesar was not murdered but it would have been him that caused the republic to fall and therefore it is not