Date: 4 Jun 2026
Topic: History
Codebreakers are a fun way to build numeracy skills.
About 2,000 years ago, Cleopatra VII, the last active pharaoh of Egypt, ruled a kingdom that had existed for nearly 3,000 years. Although remembered as an Egyptian pharaoh, Cleopatra was actually of Macedonian Greek heritage, descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals.
Cleopatra became romantically involved with the Roman leader Julius Caesar, after whom the month of July is named. Together they had a son, Caesarion. Unfortunately, Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Cleopatra later became romantically involved with Caesar's ally, Mark Antony. Together they had three children and came to control much of the eastern Mediterranean.
Caesar's adopted heir and great-nephew, Octavian, took opposition to the alliance. Octavian would later become Augustus, the first Roman emperor, after whom the month of August is named. In 31 BC, he defeated Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium off the coast of Greece.
Following their defeat, Antony took his own life. Cleopatra, unwilling to be paraded through Rome as a captive, also died shortly afterwards. Legend has it that she used an asp (a type of cobra), although historians are not certain exactly how she died.
With Cleopatra's death in 30 BC, the independent kingdom of Egypt came to an end and became a province of Rome. Her death marked the end of a nearly 3,000-year era of pharaohs that had begun centuries before the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza.