This B.A. thesis examines the life of Queen Cleopatra VII and discusses the construction of her ever-changing image across various media. Within this context, it summarily adresses the earlier history of the Ptolemaic dynasty and the political situation in Egypt during her reign, with a particular emphasis on her strategic relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony as well as on her fatal final conflict with the young Octavian. The essay also explores contemporary public perception of Cleopatra, particularly with regard to her alleged beauty, »ethnic« origin, and actual regal power. Special attention is given to securely datable depictions of her likeness on the surviving coins and to the two most convincingly identified marble portrait heads of the last Ptolemaic monarch, now in Rome (The Vatican Museum) and Berlin.
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