Okay, now for a different documentary. I was a little bit nervous about doing this documentary, especially this documentary series because it was Germany produced with English subtitles. Happily, I found a channel with this series and it was translated into an English Narration. The series is called Women Who Made History and the subject of today’s documentary is Cleopatra. The run time is 49:02.
Cleopatra was the Queen of Egypt. However, her brother disputed her claim to the throne. A fight broke out between the siblings. Rome invaded Egypt to settle the dispute between Cleopatra and her brother. Julius Caesar wanted influence in Egypt, so he would invade to get it. Cleopatra recognized he would be an ally to her in regaining her throne. Who would win in the fight for Egypt? Would Cleopatra’s brother rule or would Cleopatra? Julius Caesar invaded Egypt and settled in a palace in Alexandria. The Egyptians rose against Caesar and trapped him in the palace. Cleopatra smuggled herself into the palace. She wanted to get ahead of her brother in negotiation and remind Caesar of the promise he made her father. So she met with Cesar in her palace. Cleopatra had raised an army and offered to ally herself with Caesar. The Roman Army and Roman Navy arrived to rescue Caesar in time. Cleopatra’s brother was defeated, and Cleopatra was declared Queen. Egypt would not be a province of Rome, they would remain independent for now. However, they had to supply the Roman legions with food. Cleopatra guaranteed that she would supply the Roman legions with grain. Together, Cleopatra and Caesar ruled Egypt. Here Cleopatra would give birth to their son. Afterward, Caesar brought Cleopatra and their son to Rome. She lived in a villa. Caesar’s enemies mocked them. However, everyone was curious about them. If Cleopatra invited the nobles to the villa, they came. They gossiped behind her back at these parties. The Roman Republic was coming apart. Julius Caesar had made enemies and there were Romans who viewed him as a threat to the republic. He wanted to be king, and as a result, he was assassinated in the Senate. A civil war was coming to Rome. This crushed Cleopatra who then returned to Egypt. Octavian and Marc Anthony worked to hunt down Caesar’s murderers. Octavian and Marc Anthony agreed to divide the empire once Caesar’s murderers were found. Egypt would have to find a new arrangement with Rome. Would the new Roman leaders recognize Cleopatra as Queen? Marc Anthony wanted to know more about Cleopatra. He summed her seven times and she did not come. As a result, he had to go to her. Marc Anthony had a reputation for being a drunk and uneducated Man. For the most part, Marc Anthony was warned about her. So, he came to Cleopatra and she prepared a reception fit for a king. She appeared for him as the goddess Isis. The rest they say is history and they became lovers. According to the docudrama she fell in love with Marc Anthony. After this meeting, they parted and they were apart for three years. Marc Anthony had to return to Rome to defend his power. Cleopatra provided him with the funds he needed to defend his power. During this time, his first wife died. Cleopatra hoped that he would return to her, but Marc Anthony married his rival’s sister. She also bore Anthony’s twins: Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene. Eventually, Marc Anthony returned to Egypt, to Cleopatra, to Alexandria. The Romans were unhappy with Marc Anthony’s choices. They started to turn against Marc Anthony. Octavian also started to turn against Marc Anthony, especially for his relationship with Cleopatra. No Roman would be a slave to a woman, especially a foreign-born woman. Would this relationship divide the empire? Soon there would be open conflict between Octavian and Marc Anthony. Who would emerge from this conflict? Tune into the rest of this documentary to find out. Cleopatra was an interesting documentary, there was some minor nudity in this documentary. Still, this was a fascinating look at the life of Cleopatra. It would have been interesting to see how Cleopatra’s father worked out a deal with Julius Caesar to protect Egypt. This would be a good documentary to pull clips from and not show the full episode in class.
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |