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What made Cleopatra so desirable?

She was a woman who knew how to play her cards right. More than anything, Cleopatra was one smart cookie. Was she a great beauty, was she spectacularly pretty on the level of a Victoria’s Secret Angel? Not exactly. But she was incredibly intelligent, alluring, had a sense of style, and knew how to appeal to any man she encountered. Like a chameleon, she could adapt to her surroundings and make herself into the very image of femininity and desire.

When seducing Julius Caesar, Cleopatra made use of her wit as much as her youth and reasonably good looks. She wasn’t a great looker, her nose rather large for her face, but she was young, slender, and well-dressed.

She was also royalty. And no, not just any royalty — she was a descendant of the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, as well as Ptolemy I… Ptolemy is one of Alexander the Great’s finest generals and most loyal allies, who married into Egyptian nobility and began its last dynasty.

Now if there is ONE thing you must know about the days of Cleopatra, it’s that Alexander was pretty much a God among men. His legacy was eternal, it was unbreakable, incredibly powerful. Little boys grew up wishing to be like Alexander, the way little boys today might dream of being Superman.

But Alexander died without surviving legitimate offspring, his dynasty died with him. Ptolemy’s descendants in Egypt were as close as any living Roman could get to Alexander. She knew this. And Caesar himself sure knew it, too — he himself was well aware of the power of bloodlines, and had always prided himself in being a descendant of a God himself.

So Cleopatra flaunted her looks, her body, draped in the finest of clothes, and peppered her speech with the wittiest and slyest of remarks… all the while knowing that her every word and move was made infinitely more memorable by the fact that the status she had was astronomical, far more noble than any Roman of the day…

Hers was a wealthy nation, an ancient nation, as rich in resources and culture as it was in history, gold and produce. This certainly didn’t help but certainly, the Romans could have taken it all from her without her remaining in a position of power. It was her personal appeal, however, that kept her where she was.

Above all, she was a Queen. Pharaoh of Egypt. And what man wouldn’t pinch himself to check if he wasn’t dreaming, as he found himself cavorting around in silken sheets with a living Goddess, the ruler of an ancient dynasty with a history so magnificent it made Rome look rather bland in comparison?

This article is written by Jean-Marie Valheur

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