01x01 - Rivals

[bunniefuu]

[light music]

[narrator] There was a time long ago

when women ruled with unparalleled power,

as warriors, queens, mothers of nations.

[screams]

They bowed to no man.

Their actions echoing

unapologetically throughout history.

And there was none among them more iconic

than Cleopatra.

Vixen or strategist?

Collaborator or maverick?

Her legend has been retold for millennia.

[screams]

But few know the real woman. Her truth.

I am !sis!

[Cleopatra] I am a God!

[man screams]

[narrator] Worshipped and feared by Egypt,

courted and reviled by Rome,

a leader of undeniable power

that no one could afford to ignore.

I would die for Egypt.

[Cleopatra] What would you die for?

[narrator] She loved deeply,

fought courageously,

outsmarting her rivals.

Cleopatra walked through

the sandstorm of history

and left footprints so deep

that no man could ever erase them.

[theme music]

[gentle music]

[Shelley] My grandmother

was the inspiration for me.

I would come home and I would tell her

about what I was learning.

You know,

"Oh, we're learning about the Greeks,

and we're learning about the Romans.

And today we learned about Cleopatra."

And I remember clear as day,

her saying to me,

"Shelley, I don't care

what they tell you in school,

Cleopatra was Black."

[narrator] Since 323 BC,

a family originally from Macedonia,

the Ptolemies,

have ruled Egypt,

but now, a sudden shift of power

will change the life

of one teenage girl forever.

[Shelley] Cleopatra was first

and foremost, a scholar.

She was a scientist.

She was a linguist.

Those things mattered to her

just as much, if not more, than politics.

[Debora] The Library of Alexandria

was important to Cleopatra

because she was very learned.

She studies the Egyptian language,

and the Ptolemies before her

did not see a value

in learning the language.

[Islam] When she went

to the library as a kid,

she would've been reading

about the female queens of Egypt.

That would've made her aspire

to be a queen.

I'm not done yet.

It's time.

[tense music]

[sighs]

It's a very bittersweet moment.

[Shelley] As is true for any monarch.

In order for them to rule,

their parents must die.

The spy is never turning ♪

The skies are burning ♪

They can't conquer ♪

As we won't be broken ♪

[Ptolemy XII groans]

[breathing heavily]

[servants crying]

Enough with the sniffling.

[Ptolemy XII exhales sharply]

Is everything ready?

Yes, Father.

[Shelley] The Ptolemies had been

in power now

since roughly 323 BCE.

So we're now talking about

a good 200 years later.

Where are you?

[Colleen] Cleopatra's family

becomes rulers of Egypt

because the very first Ptolemy

is a general of Alexander the Great,

who conquered Egypt

and kicked out the ruling Persian dynasty.

[Shelley] The Ptolemies were ruthless.

They weren't warm and fuzzy.

[gasps]

I don't trust any of them.

[coughs]

If I may.

Go! Go away!

[coughs]

[Ptolemy XII breathing heavily]

You keep your head on you.

These g*ons will wipe away

everything I've done.

[Colleen] Cleopatra

is not the eldest daughter

of Ptolemy XII.

He had, in fact,

already ex*cuted her older sister

[chuckles]

because she had dared usurp the throne.

[Colleen] It seems, however,

Cleopatra was his favorite,

and in his will, he intended for Cleopatra

to rule alongside her brother,

Ptolemy XIII.

Our legacy is safe with me.

[Ptolemy XII] When I look at you

I see me.

[Ptolemy XII gasping]

[sobbing]

[Cleopatra and servants crying]

Cleopatra was either 17 or 18 years old

when her father d*ed.

[Colleen] So upon his death,

Cleopatra now has virtually

a crisis on her hands.

[Cleopatra and servants crying]

[sobbing quietly]

[Colleen] She has three living siblings.

Two brothers named Ptolemy

and a sister named Arsinoe.

Cleopatra had every reason to be afraid

of what her siblings were capable of

even though they were younger than her.

My father has ascended.

[servants crying]

Obviously, I will take care of everything,

Your Highness. I

We'll be doing things differently

from now on.

What did

[sighs]

What does she mean?

[Islam] Cleopatra's brother

is very much affected

by this eunuch Pothinus,

who has raised him, really.

And Arsinoe similarly

has a eunuch who has raised her,

so a lot of the decisions

that are made by Cleopatra's siblings

are not necessarily their own.

You may love your sibling,

but you also understand that your sibling

will s*ab you in the back.

And so, I think that that is kind of

the relationship she had with Arsinoe.

There was a long history

in the Ptolemy dynasty

of them fighting with each other,

exiling one of their siblings,

murdering one of their siblings.

Growing up a Ptolemy

means that you are engaged

in constant family warfare.

You are looking to k*ll each other

and hoping to not be k*lled in return.

It was a very Game of Thrones

kind of environment.

[Colleen] The coronation in Memphis

would've attracted

the highest administrators and priests.

It was a time

when the Ptolemaic rulers became part

of a 3,000-year-old tradition

of Egyptian kingship.

[crowd cheering]

[sniffs]

[Charmion] They've started gathering.

Pothinus is welcoming everyone.

I'm not surprised.

[sighs]

[Iras] Sit.

He's just being helpful.

More like helping himself.

Uh, careful with that.

I'm not done working on it yet.

You should be a scholar.

And leave Egypt in the hands of idiots?

[Paserenptah] Mind what you say.

I could've been Pothinus.

No.

He shuffles when he walks.

It is time to present you to the people.

The people already know me.

They can present the boy.

I know it's tedious.

But it is tradition.

And people find comfort in traditions.

It's time for some new traditions.

Come on.

Let's get the boring stuff over with

so you can focus on the fun stuff,

like the drought and our debt to Rome.

[Shelley]

In addition to her male advisors,

Cleopatra also has two female advisors,

Charmion and Iras.

They were with Cleopatra

since she was a child,

and often, scholars don't realize

how important

these two women were to Cleopatra.

[sighs]

Let it begin.

[upbeat music]

Unfortunately for Cleopatra,

in her father's will,

Cleopatra is supposed to rule Egypt

alongside her brother, Ptolemy XIII.

[Debora] You could eliminate

the competition through m*rder

or you could marry.

That doesn't mean that they didn't m*rder,

but they chose to marry first.

Ready, little brother?

Children of Egypt,

we are here at this time

to witness Thea Philopator Cleopatra

and Ptolemy Theos Philopator.

[Shelley] There has to be

a male and female pharaoh

because !sis and Osiris

were the major gods in Egyptian religion,

and since the male and female pharaohs

are also gods,

they have to reflect !sis and Osiris.

Gods marry their brothers

and their sisters.

That's what gods do.

And so, this was considered

completely proper behavior.

And certainly for a Ptolemaic ruler

who wanted to support

traditional religion,

that was absolutely the way.

I present to you

Osiris and !sis reborn.

[Colleen] Because her brother-husband

Ptolemy was only a child,

Cleopatra had a definite advantage

in terms of her strategic position.

But Ptolemy has very powerful advisors

at court.

[Shelley] His main advisor is Pothinus.

[crowd cheering]

Pothinus wants to be the real power.

Cleopatra stands in the way.

[crowd applauding]

[Shelley] Once Cleopatra succeeds

to the throne,

one of her first acts

is to undertake a pilgrimage

to cement her relationship

with the Egyptian people.

[indistinct chatter]

[chuckles softly]

[Arsinoe] Stinks.

Will you behave yourself, please?

These are our people. They're watching.

Sorry.

Hi.

[indistinct chatter]

[Debora] I think that her wanting

to learn more about the Egyptian people

was a way to try to integrate herself

more into the country.

[lively music playing]

[Jacquelyn] There were three primary

populations in Egypt as a whole.

Of course, we have native Egyptians.

We have the Greek peoples,

who came in with the Ptolemies,

and then we also have

a very sizable Jewish population.

All three of these populations

did not like each other,

but they were all unified

in the fact that they didn't like Rome.

[Shelley] For the most part,

the Ptolemies separated themselves

from the indigenous Egyptian people.

Come on, that's beautiful.

Look at the colors.

We have those colors at home.

[Shelley] Cleopatra's affinity

for the Egyptian people

was looked at askance

by people like Pothinus,

who thought that this was just

a silly gesture by a silly girl.

But the indigenous people

saw this as a mark of leadership.

[celebratory music playing]

[Colleen] The very first recorded event

of Cleopatra's reign

is her celebration of the installation

of the new Buchis bull.

[bull whines]

The earthly embodiment of the god Montu,

a very ancient god in Egypt.

And this is really remarkable,

for Cleopatra

to travel deep into upper Egypt

to celebrate this ritual,

signifies that she wants to be

an Egyptian queen,

not just a Ptolemaic queen.

[Shelley] Cleopatra feels very close

to the Egyptian people.

Cleopatra learned the Egyptian language.

She practiced the Egyptian religion.

[Shelley] She wants to be remembered

as Egyptian.

We don't know her exact racial heritage.

We don't know who Cleopatra's mother was.

There's been a lot of research

to prove that her mother was Egyptian,

but we can't know for sure.

[Sally-Ann] It's also uncertain

who Cleopatra's grandmother was.

Cleopatra's father was given a nickname,

which was illegitimate,

so people recognized that his mother

had probably been somebody

who was at the royal court.

It's possible that she was an Egyptian.

Ancient Egyptians would've had

a variety of different complexions,

um, as we find

in other African cultures today.

Skin color ranged

from black to pale brown,

much like the people of South Sudan

to modern-day Egypt.

Given that Cleopatra

represents herself as an Egyptian,

it seems very strange that we insist

on depicting her as a wholly European.

[Debora] If you look at her depictions,

she looks different

depending on who it is

that's depicting her.

So her representations change,

her perceptions change.

So she's almost like this chameleon.

The appeal of Cleopatra

is that we imagine her,

that everyone

can imagine her in their own way.

I imagine her to have curly hair like me

and a similar skin color.

[celebratory music playing]

[tense music]

[Debora] Some of the challenges

that Cleopatra faces

where she's taking power

after her father's death

is that he left this huge debt.

[Debora] Egypt was a client state

of, of Rome at the time.

And the Ptolemies were fighting

desperately to maintain independence.

[Shelley] Rome is the emerging power.

Rome understands

that Egypt is the breadbasket

of the Mediterranean.

But Egypt

is in a very precarious situation.

[Shelley] The Nile,

which had to flood every year

in order to produce crops,

has not flooded

at the same level for several years.

Now, this isn't Cleopatra's fault.

Natural occurrences never are.

[Shelley] But it did put Cleopatra

in a little bit of a tricky situation.

[bird squawking]

[brays]

I should've come sooner.

You're here now.

Open the royal grain stores.

Let's get these people fed.

And we should build a temple.

A place for hope.

They'll remember this.

So will I.

I'm glad I came.

[horses braying]

[tense music]

So there's a civil w*r going on in Rome.

[civilians screaming]

Once again, it's about power.

Um

It's two men.

Julius Caesar, representing "the people,"

and Pompey the Great,

representing the Optimates or upper class.

[Shelley] Cleopatra's father,

Ptolemy XII, had borrowed heavily,

mainly from Pompey.

Egypt's relationship to Rome is basically

that of a poor cousin.

[Shelley] This is a very tricky time

for Cleopatra.

She knows that her brother, Ptolemy XIII,

is being hoodwinked by Pothinus.

She's for diplomacy.

She is for working with Pompey,

to at least find out what he wants.

But Pothinus and Ptolemy XIII

have other plans.

Why did you reject Pompey's request?

He's losing the w*r. Right?

So abandoning our allies

in their time of need is a new policy?

After everything he did

for Father in exile,

where is your honor?

With all due respect,

we sent him soldiers when he first asked,

which clearly didn't help.

His Highness

is making a prudent calculation.

It would be unwise

to send good Egyptian soldiers

into a bad Roman w*r.

Father worked hard to ensure that Egypt

became the hand that feeds Rome,

not just a mere colony.

This prudent calculation you're making

Feeding Rome has left Egyptians

with nothing to eat.

Which brings us to the matter

of the storehouses left open down south.

What is there to eat in Alexandria?

It would be dangerous

to get mixed up in Roman politics.

We are already mixed up

in Rome's politics, Pothinus.

[Sally-Ann]

The people who were advising Ptolemy XIII

were really in control at this point.

And, and their main aim

was to k*ll Cleopatra.

[tense music]

[Shelley] Pothinus is able to get

a faction of the Alexandrians on his side.

And they stage a palace coup.

This forces Cleopatra and Arsinoe to flee.

[Shelley] She knows she has the support

of the people

living in Memphis and Thebes.

All of these people

were loyal to her father.

[Shelley]

And she flees first to Upper Egypt.

I'm going back to fight for my throne.

[chuckles]

With whose army?

How many soldiers

can we amass from southern Egypt?

Not enough.

And ones you can trust, even less.

[Cleopatra chuckles]

Achillas will be commanding

your brother's army.

You'll need men

who will not cower to his past glories.

I didn't think Pothinus

would move that quickly.

You underestimated him.

But it's hard to see a viper

in the tall grass

unless you're a bird.

I'll go east to Syria.

My father still has friends there.

Friends that know you to be his true heir.

[chuckles]

[Islam] Cleopatra is raised in Alexandria.

It's part of her.

So being exiled was probably

quite a hurtful experience for her.

And she would've been looking

to return as swiftly as possible.

[Sally-Ann] Certainly, Cleopatra

isn't the kind of person who gives up.

She's very much a fighter.

[Shelley] Cleopatra is in Syria

for two years.

In that time, she's able

to put together her own army.

[Shelley] As long as she's alive,

this seems the most strategic thing to do.

She has the support

of the Egyptian people.

She has the support

of the people in Syria.

[Cleopatra grunts]

- [Syrian soldier grunts]

- [swords clink]

[Cleopatra yelling]

She's probably feeling defiant.

[both grunting]

[Colleen] Ever since Cleopatra

is forced to flee Egypt,

we can imagine her scheming

about how to get back on the throne.

[Colleen] And she is given

the perfect opportunity.

In the Roman civil w*r,

there's been a major battle

at Pharsalus in Greece.

[Shelley] Julius Caesar

has defeated Pompey,

his former son-in-law.

Pompey flees to Egypt to ask for help.

And Julius Caesar follows not long after.

[Colleen] So Cleopatra returns to Egypt.

If we target these northern defenses,

do we leave ourselves vulnerable

at our eastern points?

Not if we station regiments here and here.

Okay.

That idiot Pompey

is headed to Ptolemy's w*r camp.

If Caesar follows,

he'll be sure to bring Rome's civil w*r

straight to our shores.

That would be political su1c1de.

Well, what if he wants to avenge

our earlier support of Pompey?

[Arsinoe] So?

Then we k*ll Pompey.

We're not k*lling Pompey.

It's the easiest way

to prove our allegiance to Caesar.

We're not k*lling Caesar's son-in-law.

[Ammonios] Your Highness.

[Cleopatra] We need to rebuild this part.

[Colleen] The stakes are incredibly high.

If Cleopatra does not gain

the favor of Julius Caesar,

she might be exiled from Egypt forever,

and permanently lose her throne.

[tense music]

Pompey lands.

And he is stabbed in the back.

[Shelley] Pothinus has orchestrated this

and Pothinus also arranges

to have Pompey decapitated.

Pothinus has persuaded Ptolemy XIII

that this will put them

in the good graces of Julius Caesar.

But they misunderstood

the Roman sense of honor.

You tell me

who did this?

Huh?

[Caesar breathes heavily]

[Shelley] Pothinus and Ptolemy XIII

are not prepared

for Julius Caesar's reaction.

He is outraged that they would k*ll

someone who had been a statesman,

someone who had been a co-leader

of the Roman Republic,

and who was his former son-in-law.

[birds chirping]

Julius Caesar's arrival in Alexandria

provides Cleopatra

with the perfect opportunity

for a new stratagem.

How do we play this?

Unless you can resuscitate the dead,

I'm at a loss.

I need an audience with him.

That's a very dangerous idea.

He's a grieving general,

weary from battle,

in need of an easy victory.

I'm going to give him one.

I'll figure something out.

Thank you.

[suspenseful music]

[Islam] Caesar isn't just anybody.

Caesar's the biggest celebrity

in the world.

So when he arrives, it's big news.

He makes himself at home

in the royal palace in Alexandria,

so we've immediately got

all of the siblings really worried

that Caesar has arrived

and made himself at home

in their palace, in their city.

It's Cleopatra

who deals with it by saying,

"I'll get back into my own palace.

Maybe I can make an alliance with him."

[knocking]

Enter.

[approaching footsteps]

What is this?

[Cleopatra] I apologize for the ruse,

but it was the only way

to get an audience with you.

[Jacquelyn]

Julius Caesar's interaction with Cleopatra

is one of the more famous historic events

that's ever been recorded.

But the exciting story

of her being smuggled

in a carpet, uh, is very unlikely.

Even if Cleopatra was smuggled in,

it would've been more likely

perhaps in a bag.

The source for the story

is a Greek historian, Plutarch,

who lived 150 years after Cleopatra d*ed.

He doesn't know.

There was a a propaganda attempt

to sway the Roman public

away from Cleopatra.

So she now is this temptress, uh,

as opposed to being this beautiful woman

that everybody was attracted to.

There has to be something

mystical about her.

There has to be something seductive,

and seductive in a kind of evil way.

Leave us.

Well, you have your audience.

On behalf of my late father and I,

the great Ptolemy Auletes

please accept my deepest, deepest sympathy

for the sad passing of the great Pompey.

He and my father were dear friends

which made him like a father to me.

He showed us great kindness

while we were in exile in Rome.

And you repaid that kindness

with his death.

If I had been on Egypt's throne,

he would still be alive today.

I risked your wrath for him.

We served Rome with our own soldiers.

It was not a move against you

or ill towards Rome,

but a sign of my love and respect

for a man who was dear to me

like my father.

I had planned

to bring him back home to Rome.

Pardon him

in honor of his late wife.

My daughter.

[Cleopatra] You'll remember

we've met before.

I do not recall.

I was only a little girl then.

Not the ruler that stands before you now.

[laughs]

Last I heard,

you'd been ousted from your throne.

Maybe.

But my father's will

names me co-ruler of Egypt.

Then tell me this

Cleopatra

how do you hope to rule

when the Alexandrians oppose you?

The Senate opposed you.

And yet, here we are.

[smirks]

[Colleen] Julius Caesar,

used to running the affairs of Rome,

meets Cleopatra,

and it's it's truly a meeting

of, of two great minds.

[Islam] Cleopatra is this really

confident woman with great charisma.

She was obviously a diplomat,

and actually,

she's not bowing down to him.

She's kind of shifting the power dynamic.

[Sally-Ann] Julius Caesar is presented

with this young woman, who is strong.

She was intelligent

and she was an African woman

who saw herself not only as a ruler

but as a goddess as well.

So she would've been very different

to any other woman

that Julius Caesar would've met in Rome.

[Caesar]

And that is my understanding of it.

[laughs]

No.

[chuckles]

Yes.

If you want to understand that text,

you need to read it

in the original language.

I'm afraid I don't have the gift

of languages that you do.

[laughs]

Mm.

Mm.

[chuckles]

[Colleen] Unlike Roman women,

who, traditionally,

are expected to stay home

and not take part in political affairs,

Cleopatra was a world leader.

[Colleen] And Julius Caesar can speak

to her of his m*llitary campaigns,

of literature, of philosophy

on almost equal terms.

[slow sensual music]

We can imagine that it was true love,

that it really was a meeting

of both mind and heart.

On the other hand,

much of the relationship

might've been tempered by strategy.

Julius Caesar had something to gain

by assisting Cleopatra,

and Cleopatra certainly

had much more to gain

by allying herself with Julius Caesar.

[suspenseful music]

[Shelley]

Cleopatra wants Ptolemy XIII gone.

She wants Pothinus gone,

and she wants Arsinoe

kept under a very close watch.

But mostly, she wants to be

on the throne by herself.

[Shelley] Pothinus fears Cleopatra.

He fears her ability

to make people loyal to her.

And that includes Julius Caesar

and the Romans.

Caesar seems to have wanted

to come and calm the situation down

and try and, and put

the appropriate rulers on the throne.

[crowd shouting]

I don't really think

that Julius Caesar was ready

for, for what met him

when he got to Alexandria.

It's possible that the family

was more dysfunctional

than he could ever have possibly imagined.

Noble citizens of Egypt

I know I speak for all

when I say it is time for peace.

I am the harbinger of that peace.

So in accordance

with the last will and testament

of Ptolemy Neos Dionysus

Rome acknowledges his daughter,

Cleopatra Thea Philopator

and his eldest son,

Ptolemy Theos Philopator

as co-rulers of Egypt.

[Shelley] Caesar is a master diplomat.

He decides that he is going to

follow the instructions

of Ptolemy XII's rule.

He restores Cleopatra

to the throne

as co-pharaoh with Ptolemy XIII.

He gives some dominions to Arsinoe.

In addition to this

and as a sign

of our unending love for you,

Rome also bestows

on his youngest daughter, Arsinoe,

and youngest son, Ptolemy XIV,

the region of Cyprus.

Be grateful.

[Caesar] Rome loves you.

Caesar also reduces the debt

that Egypt owes Rome.

[Sally-Ann] We're not quite sure

how Cleopatra managed to do this,

but actually, I would suggest

that she was strategically

aligning herself with men

who have considerable amount of power.

He seems too familiar.

[laughs]

- Happy?

- Very.

Are you bedding my wife?

[Ptolemy XIII breathes angrily]

And there I was thinking

the Senate had all the theatrics.

- [laughing]

- [chuckles softly]

[sighs]

You're laughing at me.

Disrespecting me in my own home.

Calm down.

Don't tell me to calm down!

This is my home! Mine!

And I call upon the people of Egypt

to riot against you and Rome!

Well?

[Caesar laughing]

[tense music]

Caesar.

[Colleen] Unfortunately for Julius Caesar,

his plans come to naught.

In fact, a civil w*r breaks out.

The so-called Alexandrian w*r.

[Colleen] On one side,

you have Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.

On the other, the eunuch Pothinus,

Ptolemy XIII, and her sister, Arsinoe.

[Jacquelyn] The city of Alexandria,

during this four-month period

of these terrible wars,

would've been very frightening.

We have not only

professional soldiers engaging,

but we also have guerrilla warfare.

We have rioting.

We have Romans

burning big chunks of the city.

This would have been catastrophic

and terrifying for pretty much everyone.

[Ammonios] We've lost count of the dead

on the streets of Memphis and Alexandria.

The riots have spread south to Thebes.

And the storehouses,

which were left unguarded,

have been emptied.

If we do not increase taxation

in Alexandria,

we'll not be able to sustain this siege

and Egypt will collapse.

[Colleen] One of the greatest losses

is the burning

of the library of Alexandria.

[Sally-Ann] This library

had taken 300 years to build up.

So we lost this huge resource effectively

because of sibling rivalry.

[Colleen] During the course

of this conflict,

Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe

marshals her own forces.

Arsinoe?

She's taken control of the Egyptian army.

Well, that's impossible. Someone's lying.

She ordered the death of Achillas

and declared herself ruler.

She has the support of the Alexandrians.

[groans]

Come. Come.

[Cleopatra groans]

[Cleopatra retching]

[Cleopatra groans]

- [Charmion] Oh.

- [retches]

[Cleopatra grunts]

[breathing heavily]

Could I be

I'll bring some water.

[panting]

[Cleopatra gasps]

The timing couldn't be more perfect.

[Jacquelyn] Cleopatra is aware

that having a child with Julius Caesar

is an ace in the game of poker

that she's trying to play with Rome.

Cleopatra carries within her womb

the potential to unite Egypt and Rome.

[Islam] It's an unimaginably

powerful child.

These are two

of the greatest civilizations,

two of the greatest cities in the world

embodied in a single human being.

And that is momentous.

[Shelley] Meanwhile,

the Alexandrian w*r was a disaster

for Ptolemy XIII and Arsinoe.

When Arsinoe joins forces

against Julius Caesar

and loses,

she's captured

and imprisoned in the palace.

Ptolemy was dressed in gold armor

and is aboard a ship.

[Shelley] He either falls overboard

or he's pushed,

and the weight of the armor

causes him to drown.

[Ammonios] We have searched

the breadth of the Nile.

We have to accept

that he's been swept out to sea.

I don't know.

Couldn't he have been rescued

by a loyalist?

No.

Your Highness, you have to stop this.

He's no longer a thr*at.

[pensive music]

[Shelley] Cleopatra has won.

And she knows that

as long as she's alive,

she is the pharaoh.

Did you lose your way?

No.

You?

What do you want?

To understand why.

Why not?

[Arsinoe] You didn't think

I deserved to rule, did you?

Little Arsinoe,

easily dismissed by everyone.

I deserve it just as much as you,

if not more.

Rome gave you Cyprus

But I wanted Egypt!

Not some small province

floating out at sea.

I want my birthright.

[Arsinoe] Your Caesar's taking me to Rome.

To put you to death.

I always thought it was better to die,

knowing you were meeting death

than to wake up

in the afterlife surprised.

[scoffs]

- You betrayed me.

- You need a thicker skin!

Stop interrupting me.

I'm sorry.

I didn't realize

you were the one short on time.

If I had the chance

I'd do it again.

You won't have the chance.

As Julius Caesar departs for Rome,

Cleopatra is nearly seven months pregnant.

She is the undisputed queen of Egypt.

[Colleen] Unfortunately for Cleopatra,

she has another brother named Ptolemy.

And when Julius Caesar leaves for Rome,

she is indeed married

to another younger brother,

with whom she is expected

to share the throne of Egypt.

I've left you a big stick

in case he steps out of line.

Hm.

Come back and see your son soon.

This is goodbye, sister.

[gasps]

Maybe.

There's a lot of distance

from here to Rome.

[Shelley] Cleopatra has exacted a promise

from Julius Caesar

that he will execute Arsinoe

as a traitor to Rome.

That doesn't happen.

[closing theme music]