“Cleopatra” The Movie

I watched the movie “Cleopatra”, which was directed by Franc Roddam in 1999 for this project. Even though the movie was three hours long it was enjoyable to watch. After watching the movie I starting researching some historical facts about Cleopatra on the Internet and I discovered that most of the movie was incorrect. Like every Cleopatra movie, she is always made out to be so beautiful however while researching I found in every piece it stated that she was far from beautiful. The picture of her on ancient coins she has a long hooked nose and masculine features. Other than that interesting fact I would like to describe the differences between the movie and the historical event of the relationship of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar.

The way that Caesar and Cleopatra first came in contact is similar in both the movie and what I researched. In 48 BC Cleopatra was taken of her powers and forced into exile in Syria. The only way she could regain her thrown was to meet with Caesar but if she were seen entering back into Alexandria she would be killed. So she rolled herself inside a rug and was delivered to Caesar as gift. As soon as the rug was rolled out she stood before Caesar. Caesar was taken in by her charm and they became lovers that very night.

There were several ways the movie was different from what I researched. In the movie Cleopatra’s brother Ptolemy XIII, ruler of Egypt, and her little sister Arsinoe did not want Cleopatra back in Egypt but once Caesar allowed her to say there was nothing they could do. So they tried everything they could to get rid of her so they start a war. During war Ptolemy gets hit in the head and drowns in the Nile River. Arsinoe get captured. Cleopatra wants her dead but Caesar thinks she is worth value and wants to keep her. One night Cleopatra seeks down with two of her servants where Arsinoe is kept and has her killed. In the researched I found the difference in this scenario it states that Mark Antony later kills Arsinoe at Cleopatra’s request. Also