Alexandria during the reign of Cleopatra and The genesis of Cleopatra

* Alexandria during the reign of Cleopatra

When Cleopatra born, Egypt was still a rich country thanks to its many bounties, and it was subject to the influence of the Roman Empire, Cleopatra was taking a walk through the beautiful streets of Alexandria, she was affected by the city's charm, beauty, and cultures, and Cleopatra learned from the different nationalities who speak different languages and they were leading the city, She was read different books and learned the art of poetry, philosophy, and literature.

Alexandria had the most prominent landmarks in the ancient world, Where there was in it the first cultural university in the world comprising about 800,000 volumes in philosophy, thought, art, and various sciences, as there was in it the most important historical-philosophical school in the world led by the Greek philosopher "Philostratus" and the historian "Nicolaus of Damascus", and there was in it also the largest medical school in the world, which excelled particularly in the field of toxicology, and the scientist "Galenus" was praised it.

as the port of Alexandria was connecting Egypt, Athens, and Europe, and that was the reason why Alexander the Great built that city in that privileged geographical location.

Alexandria monopolized several important industries inherited from the ancient Egyptians such as: - the manufacture of glass, perfumes, paints, and papyrus paper, as well as the superiority of Alexandrians in the spinning industry in particular, where they made the finest types of wool, and the Ptolemaic established in Alexandria public banks like the current banking system, they also set up on its borders customs to impose duties on imported goods such as oil and wine, and through Alexandria were exported the paper, wheat, paints, and other goods to Mediterranean countries.

The Ptolemies monopolized the most of industries and got their hands on agricultural lands, so the Egyptians were deprived of most of the country's wealth and lived as a strange class in their homelands, and the Ptolemaic were obliging the Egyptian farmers to stay in their agricultural lands to collect the harvest, as they were imposing exorbitant taxes on them, The Ptolemaic took from the ancient Egyptians the bureaucratic system in work and employment, and the Egyptians continued to resist the rule of the Ptolemaic who captured the country's bounties, dreamers of the arrival of a strong king for ridding them of the foreigners rule.

* The genesis of Cleopatra 

Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C., in Egypt, in the city of Alexandria, to be a new member of the Ptolemaic family whose origins date back to the Greeks who ruled Egypt for about 300 years, "Cleopatra VII" was a beautiful girl who combined the features of the Greeks and Egyptians, she was brunette with black hair like many Egyptian women, but she acquired the distinctive Greek nose with curved shape, and her father was Ptolemy XII.

When the Ptolemaic came to Egypt, they acquired from the ancient Egyptians the habit of marrying their sisters, and they also sanctified the religious symbols of ancient Egyptian, but they nevertheless lived in a high class, where they were far from the people and did not mix with them, and Alexandria which built by "Alexander the Great" was a distinct and high-level country from the rest of the cities of Egypt.

Ptolemy XII married many women, as well as he married his sisters, so Cleopatra's mother was not well known or completely specific.