1. Maddy Stewart
Core 5-7
Monday, December 6,2010
Written Synthesis
Egypt Research
Guided Research Questions:
What was Cleopatra famous for?
Cleopatra was a very memorable woman for many different reasons. She stole the
hearts of leaders and generals with her beauty, intelligence, and determination. Cleopatra
was famous for her clever introduction to Julius Caesar when Cleopatra was rolled up in
a carpet and then unrolled in front of Caesar, which charmed him by her clever scheme.
Cleopatra became his mistress, because of that he helped her gain power in Egypt.
She lived with Caesar in Rome until he was murdered.
After Caesars death one of his generals, Mark Antony, sent many messages to try
to meet Cleopatra. She wanted to stay in control and declined his invitation and invited
him to dine. She won over Mark Antony’s wife and began a relationship with him. Mark
Antony and Cleopatra developed lots of political power and had three children. At the
battle of Actium, Octavian's army defeated Mark Antony, which took all their political
power and they fled to Alexandria. In the struggle Mark Antony was told that Cleopatra
committed suicide. He was so devastated that he killed himself by running into his sword

2. like a roman soldier. But he was not told the truth, Cleopatra was alive. When she heard
the news she decided she shouldn't live either and killed herself. The legend says that she
was in a room with guards at the door. The guards didn't suspect anything when a basket
of fruit was going in for Cleopatra to eat, but what they didn’t know was the basket had a
poisonous snake inside that she would eventually use to kill herself. Cleopatra had a huge
impact on Egypt at that time; her relationships cause many things to happen including
Mark Antony to kill himself! She was a very powerful person and I believe if she used
her great powers for better good could have changed many things.
What role did Cleopatra play in Egyptian society?
Cleopatra was said to have a big role in the Egyptian society. Her family ruled for
251 years! When her father, Ptolemy X1, died his throne was left to her and her brother,
Ptolemy XII. She was 18 when she was forced to marry his brother and he was only
twelve years old. Then dethroned by Ptolemy XII at 51 BCE to 49 BCE. Cleopatra was
reinstated to the throne after Julius Caesar defeated Ptolemy XII. After that she began co-
ruling with Ptolemy XIII from 47-44 BCE. Cleopatra was at the top of the Egyptian
social classes pretty much her whole life.

3. Why did Cleopatra cause so much drama?
Cleopatra caused a lot of drama. She even made a man kill himself! She upset so
many when she moved to Rome with Caesar. She built a statue of herself next to Caesars
in the main church building. She even murdered her own brother in 44 BCE. She returned
to Egypt to try and get Octavian to fall in love with her so she would be part of the
Egyptian dynasty and this action failed in the process. As you can see many things were
caused, good and bad, by Cleopatra, but one thing is for sure she was a very strong and
controlling person which may have helped her a lot in those times. In theory, Cleopatra
caused so much drama because she took advantage of the power and control that she had.
Reflection
I learned that researching is not that hard for me if I set my mind to it and plan my
time wisely. I now know that one needs to just sit down and do it rather than set if off. To
do this project one needs to be able to convert a fact into their own words. I have
developed the skill of taking the information that doesn’t matter and separating it from
the important and useful facts. I would like to improve on stating my facts in a more
interesting way that doesn’t sound like a boring textbook.

4. The Research Process
First I chose my three topics then I found the websites and books that worked well
from the libraries many recourses. As I got all my notes I cited my sources for the
bibliography. I also made sure all the facts and notes were in my own words. At first I got
frustrated with being able to find a few facts of maybe one of my questions and none for
the rest of them. Eventually, after some time, I found all notes but it took some looking
around. I also found it hard that there were different stories about Cleopatra and her death
on different websites and books. I solved my problem by establishing one website that
was reliable and had all the facts I needed so all the stories were strait. On e of my
successes was when I realized how fast the note taking went by if I tried hard enough. I
think working hard without getting off track and distracted contributed to my successes.
Using the questions helped me by giving me guidelines to work with which helped me to
learn about the things that interested me.

5. Bibliography
Davis, Jean. Cleopatra's Egypt. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1963. Print.
Shuter, Jane. People Who Made History in Ancient Egypt. New York: Raintree, 2001
Takahashi, Kozue " Cleopatra VII." E Museum @ Minnesota State. N.p. 27 Nov, 2010.
18 Feb, 2010 http://www.mnsu.edu/prehistory/Egypt/history/people/cloe.html.