Leaderboard

Just a couple of points to raise on peripheral issues - Females and religion. This was not abhorred by pagan Rome. After all, the Vestal Virgins had a vital religious role in preserving the spirit of the eternal city. yes, it is true that Rome was a very chauvanistic society but at the same time, women were accorded the potential to become matriarchs of the family, running the household though never master of it. That said, we find by imperial times that women had found legal loopholes to assert certain rights and this was not effectively countered by legislation. In fact, early christianity shows evidence of women as leading affiliates, bearing in mind this was before their attempted unification courtesy of Constantine. Once largely coherent in the late 4th century, the ugly side of masculine domination arrives and images of leading female clerics were erased. This was especially true in the east of the empire. Isis was a popular religion in Rome. It did not persist in the face of the rising competition between Mithras and Christianity, but still for a long time acceptable to the Principatal Romans who had a habit of treating foreign religions, especially those from Syria, as fashionable. Cleopatra was indeed from a dynasty of Greek origin but still regarded as Egyptian at the time, the land of her birth. Although originally earthly kings, pharoahs were also the religious leaders of Egypt and came to be seen as divine in their own right. By the time of Cleopatra, divine status was part of the job. Appearing as Isis was simply a ritual affirmation, a display expected of her by the people, and please not that with her Marc Antony dressed as Dionysus in public appearances at least once. And finally, Cleopatra's children were all allocated large regions of the projected Romano-Egyptian Empire. Hope that helps.