Running Head: CLEOPATRA VS JOAN

Research Question: Compare and contrast Cleopatra VII and Joan of Arc

Subject: History

Word Count: 3835

COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 2

Table of Contents

Introduction …………………………………………………………………………..….. 3

Body ………………………………………………………………………….. 3 - 14

References ……………………………………………………………………………….. 15
COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 3

Compare and contrast Cleopatra VII and Joan of Arc

Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator and Joan of Arc are two well known female historical

figures. Despite being in two different time periods, cultures and religions, the two of them have

many similarities, such as being involved in battles and having connections to royal families.

Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator or more commonly known as Cleopatra was born in 69

BC (Tyldesley, 2018). She was born in Alexandria, Egypt, which was the capital of Egypt at the

time (Hoobler & Hoobler, 1986). Her father was Ptolemy XII or more commonly referred to as

Auletes (Hoobler & Hoobler, 1986). Their family had ruled Egypt for more than 300 years when

she was born (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). She was the third child to be born in her family (“Cleopatra

VII”, n.d.). She had two older sisters that had died in previous years, allowing her to be the first

born child, which gave her the rights to the throne (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). While Cleopatra was

the first born child, Ptolemy XII had two sons and one daughter afterward. Cleopatra’s brothers

were Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV (Tyldesley, 2018). Her sister’s name was Arsinoe (Hoobler,

1986).

Cleopatra spent the majority of her life in Alexandria (Hoobler & Hoobler, 1986). She

was the only one to ever learn the Egyptian language out of her family (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.).

Along with knowing the Egyptian language, she was fluent in many other languages (Hoobler &

Hoobler, 1986). She also took a fond interest in Egyptian history and religion, thus causing her to

chose to be depicted as the goddess of Isis, yet be dressed like the goddess of Aphrodite

(“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.).

Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC (“History - Cleopatra”, n.d.). After the

death of Ptolemy VII, Roman leader Pompey gained guardianship over Cleopatra and her brother
COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 4

Ptolemy VIII (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). This was done as a way to make sure that Egypt would

indeed pay off the loans Ptolemy VII had taken out from Rome (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). This left

Cleopatra and her brothers to rule the empire. At the time, Cleopatra was eighteen years old and

her brother Ptolemy XIII was ten (Hoobler & Hoobler, 1986). Due to Egyptian law, Cleopatra

was forced to marry her brother Ptolemy XIII (Tyldesley, 201). Despite Cleopatra and her

brother being married, since he was so young, Cleopatra was the dominant ruler (Tyldesley,

2018). At the time of Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII succeeding the throne, the Egyptian Empire

consisted of Egypt, Cyprus, parts of Libya and various Middle East territories (“Cleopatra VII”,

n.d.).

Along with ruling with her brother, Cleopatra had a group of regents to help her rule

(Hoobler & Hoobler, 1986). Once she had gotten the throne, Cleopatra did a variety of things to

make her citizens like her. For example, she attended a ceremony of a new bull in a small town,

as the bull was seen as the local god in the area (Hoobler & Hoobler, 1986). A year into her

reign of Queen, Cleopatra started to ignore her brother and removed his name from all official

documents (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.).

Three years would go by as she ruled with no care of her brother, which worried court

officials since Cleopatra was not easy to control, unlike her brother (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.).

Ancient Egyptian records made Cleopatra out to be a powerful and intelligent ruler as

Philosopher Plutarch described her as persuasive, captivating and charming (“Cleopatra VII”,

n.d.). It has also been said that Cleopatra VII was a very smart woman along with being a

powerful politician that brought prosperity and peace to her country (“Cleopatra VII”, 2018).
COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 5

In 48 BC Ptolemy VIII under the advice of his advisors exiled Cleopatra from Alexandria

(“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). Cleopatra fled to Syria and here she made herself an army (“Cleopatra

VII”, 2018). Afterwards, she went to Pelusium to fight her brother, but things happened in Rome

that caused the fighting to stop in Egypt (Hoobler & Hoobler, 1986). The fighting stopped due to

Roman leader Pompey fleeing to Egypt and his enemy Julius Caesar following him (Hoobler &

Hoobler, 1986). Unfortunately for Pompey, the Egyptian regents decide to kill him by beheading

him and presenting his head to Caesar (Hoobler & Hoobler, 1986). Still, Caesar decided to stay

in Egypt to collect the money from Ptolemy VII (Hoobler & Hoobler, 1986). At the same time,

Caesar declared that he will help solve the issue between Cleopatra and Ptolemy VIII (Hoobler

& Hoobler, 1986).

Unfortunately, for Ptolemy VIII, Caesar fell in love with Cleopatra (“Cleopatra VII”,

2018). He then decided to join Cleopatra to get rid of Ptolemy VIII (“Cleopatra VII”, 2018).

Ptolemy VIII then placed 20,000 soldiers around Alexandria in 47 BC (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.).

He fled towards the Nile, but ended up drowning in the river (Tyldesley, 2018). His head regent

Ponthinus was executed and her sister, Arsinoe was taken prisoner (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). With

the death of Ptolemy VIII and Arsinoe, Cleopatra was now able to regain her throne. Although,

due to Egyptian rules, she still had to marry a sibling, which she did. Cleopatra married her

younger brother , Ptolemy XIV, who at the time was 11 years old and had no active role in the

ruling of Egypt (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.).

On June 23, 47 BC Cleopatra gave birth to her son, Caesarion (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.).

However, the child’s official name was Ptolemy Caesar (Tyldesley, 2018). It is stated that Julius

Caesar is the father of Caesarion, but there are many debates between historians if he truly is the
COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 6

father (“Cleopatra VII”, 2018). This is due to the fact that here are conflicting views about

whether he claimed the child as his or not.

In 46 BC Caesar went back to Rome after being in Alexandria for a while and Cleopatra

and her son followed a year later (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). Cleopatra wanted luxury, and forced

her sister to be paraded down streets as a conquered slave (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). At this point in

time, Caesar made himself as the dictator of Rome (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). However on March

15, 44 BC Roman senators plotted to murder Caesar outside of the Senate building in Rome

(“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). Cleopatra and her son were still in Rome at the time of Caesar’s death

(Tyldesley, 2018). The duo went back to Egypt a month later after they realized that they were

not placed in Caesar’s will (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). Once Cleopatra and her son returned to Egypt

and her brother, Ptolemy XIV died, leaving Cleopatra to be coruling with her son (Tyldesley,

2018). It is said that Ptolemy XIV died of poisoning (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.).

A few years later in 41 BC Cleopatra met with Mark Antony (“Cleopatra VII”, 2018).

Mark Antony had called for Cleopatra to make statements about her relationship with Julius

Caesar (“Cleopatra VII”, 2018). Cleopatra made her appearance to him at Tarsus, Cilicia in a

grand way (“Cleopatra VII”, 2018). She delayed her trip to make him expect more and came

with many gifts (Tyldesley, 2018). She rode in a barge up the Cydnus River with robes of the

new Isis (Tyldesley, 2018). This caused Antony to fall in love with her (“Cleopatra VII”, 2018).

Even though, Antony was legally married to another woman, Fulvia, he decided to go back to

Alexandria with Cleopatra (Tyldesley, 2018). When Cleopatra met with Antony, Egypt was at

the brink of bankruptcy (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.).

COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 7

Antony was so charmed by Cleopatra that under her order/suggestion he executed her

sister Arsinoe in Rome (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). Within a year of meeting each other, 40 BC,

Cleopatra gave birth to a set of twins; Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, however, at this

point Antony had left to Rome for business reasons (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.).

In Rome, Antony was forced into an agreement with Octavian, the great-nephew of

Caesar (Tyldesley, 2018). He was to marry Octavian’s sister, Octavia (Tyldesley, 2018).

Eventually 3 years go by and Antony realized that he cannot agree with Octavian so he decided

to go back to Alexandria (Tyldesley, 2018). He also formally married Cleopatra in 37 BC in

Antioch (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). In 34 BC Antony held a grand celebration back into Alexandria,

called the “The Donations of Alexandria.” (Tyldesley, 2018). Him and Cleopatra sat on fancy

thrones with silver platforms with their children sitting on smaller thrones under them

(Tyldesley, 2018). Cleopatra was deemed the queen of kings and Caesarion was deemed the

king of kings (Tyldesley, 2018) Their children also received marvelous gifts as; Alexander

Helios was given Armenia and all the territory behind Euphrates, Ptolemy was given the land

west of it and Cleopatra Selene became the ruler of Cyrene (Tyldesley, 2018). Antony also gave

Egypt the ability to build ships from Sicilian lumber which they built a large and impressive fleet

with (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). This causes the Romans to turn against Antony (“Cleopatra VII”,

n.d.). Shortly afterwards, Cleopatra gave birth to a son named Ptolemy Philadelphus (“Cleopatra

VII”, n.d.).

A propaganda war began due to Antony giving away land to Cleopatra and her children.

Octavian had supposedly grabbed Antony’s will and argued that he planned to put Roman

possession with a foreign woman indicating it was Cleopatra and wanted to be buried next to her
COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 8

when he died (Tyldesley, 2018). Due to this statement by Octavian, there was a rumor that the

Roman capital would now be moved to Alexandria (Tyldesley, 2018).

The Roman Senate made Antony lose his consulate for the following year and declared

war on Cleopatra, which led to the Naval Battle of Actium (Tyldesley, 2018). The Naval Battle

of Actium or shortened to Battle of Actium was fought between Octavian (Romans) and

Cleopatra and Antony (Egyptians) on September 2, 31 BC (Tyldesley, 2018). Fearing capture,

Cleopatra and her forces retreated (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). Cleopatra went to her mausoleum

whereas Antony continued to fight (Tyldesley, 2018). Unfortunately, his forces were not

sufficient so he ended up surrendering and fleeing to Alexandria (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.). He was

given false news of Cleopatra’s death, causing him to kill himself on the outside of Cleopatra’s

retreat (Tyldesley, 2018). Cleopatra buried Antony and then committed suicide herself, allowing

her to be buried right next to each other just like they wished (Tyldesley, 2018). She died at the

age of 39 with her reign of queen being at 22 years (Tyldesley, 2018). After the death of

Cleopatra, it ended the line of Egyptian pharaohs. And her children were taken care of by

Octavia, Antony’s former wife (“Cleopatra VII”, n.d.).

At the time of Joan of Arc’s birth, France was in the midst of the Hundred Year War

(“Joan of Arc”, 2018). The Hundred Year War was a fight between who was going to be the heir

of the French throne (“Joan of Arc”, 2018). Joan of Arc was born in 1412 CE in Domremy, Bar,

France (Vale & Lanhers, 2018). Her father was a tenant farmer (Vale & Lanhers, 2018). Her

mother is not discussed often, but it is known that her name is Isabelle or more commonly

referred to as Romee (“Joan of Arc”, 2018).

COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 9

From her mother, Joan of Arc learned domestic skills and piety (“Joan of Arc”, 2018).

For example, she learned how to sew and was rather well at it (“Biography”, n.d.). Her chores

consisted of taking care of the farm animals (“Joan of Arc”, 2018). Her family was very

religious, thus causing her to also be religious (“Biography”, n.d.). At the age of 12 Joan of Arc

started getting visions of Michael Archangel (“Biography”, n.d.). At first they were mystical and

hard to comprehend, however, as time passed by, they became more vivid (“Joan of Arc”, 2018).

Her visions were mostly about her leading a battle against the English and crowning the king at

Rheims (“Biography”, n.d.). At the age of 16, which was in 1428, Joan decided to take action

and follow her visions (“Biography”, n.d.).

Due to this decision, Joan decided to head into town, which was Vaucouleurs and ask the

garrison commander there to take her the see the king (“Joan of Arc”, 2018). The garrison

commander, Robert de Baudricourt initially refused to listen to Joan (“Biography”, n.d.).

However, since she was so persistent and even gained some local leaders support, he gave in

(“Biography”, n.d.). Robert de Baudricourt gave Joan a horse and a few soldiers to escort her

(“Joan of Arc”, 2018). For this trip, that would take 11 days, Joan cut her hair and dressed in

men’s clothing (“Joan of Arc”, 2018). Her journey was to Chinon which was across enemy

territory (“Joan of Arc”, 2018). Once Joan of Arc reached Chinon, she met with the future king,

Charles. However, when she first met him, Charles was not dressed as king, but rather as a

courtier to fool her (“Biography”, n.d.). Unfortunately for Charles, Joan of Arc noticed that it

was him and bowed down to him (“Biography”, n.d.). He was rather surprised to find out that

she was able to find him among his group, that he had famous theologians inspect her (“Joan of
COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 10

Arc”, 2018). What they ended up finding though was that she had nothing on her except for

piety, chastity, and humility (“Joan of Arc”, 2018).

As his theologians found nothing on Joan of Arc, he decided to allow her to go with a

group of soldiers to Orléans, with some armor (“Joan of Arc”, 2018). At the time, Orléans was

under siege from the English army (“Biography”, n.d.). The reason he had allowed Joan of Arc

to go with the army was because he saw that he had nothing to lose from letting her go to

Orléans (“Biography”, n.d.). However, before the army left for Orléans, Joan of Arc practiced for

battle resulting in her becoming a magnificent fighter and horse rider (“Biography”, n.d.).

On the way to Orléans rumors about Joan of Arc’s visions made their way to Orléans,

thus causing them to greet her with great joy in the form of cheering and lots of celebrations

(“Biography”, n.d.). They arrived at Orléans on April 29 (“Joan of Arc”, n.d.). On the morning of

May 4, 1429, Joan of Arc gathered her troops and took over the fort of Saint-Loup, from the

English (Banfield, 1985). On May 6, Joan of Arc and troops rode into Orléans, after breaking the

lock and forcing them into the city, and took over two smaller English forts; Saint-Jean-Le-Blanc

and Les Augustins (Banfield, 1985). The next day, Joan of Arc attacked Les Tourelles, the

English stronghold and in the process she was hit with an arrow, however, she continued to push

onwards (Banfield, 1985) This shifted the momentum of the battle, as it pushed the French

troops to fight even harder (“Biography”, n.d.). With this, victory in Orléans was achieved.

Now all Joan of Arc had to do was head to Rheims and crown Charles as King Charles,

completing her vision of King Charles (“Biography”, n.d.). On the way to Rheims, the army

cleared the way for her, which garnered her followers (“Biography”, n.d.). They arrived at
COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 11

Rheims on July 16, 1429 (“Joan of Arc”, n.d.). On July 18, 1429 Charles was crowned King

Charles VII at Rheims with Joan of Arc by his side (“Joan of Arc”, 2018).

The following year, 1930 in spring King Charles VII commanded Joan of Arc to confront

the Burgundian assault in Compiegne (“Joan of Arc”, 2018). She took a small force of men with

her (“Biography”, n.d.). As they were attacking the outside of the city, Compiegne, a bridge rose

and trapped Joan of Arc (“Biography”, n.d.). The Burgundians took Joan of Arc captive and held

her for several months (“Joan of Arc”, 2018). Eventually, Joan of Arc was sold to the English for

10,000 francs (“Joan of Arc”, 2018). She was then turned over to the church officials and tried as

a heretic (Banfield, 1985).

On May 29, 1431 the tribunal announced Joan of Arc guilty of heresy and the next day,

she was taken to the marketplace in Rouen and burned at the stake before 10,000 people (“Joan

of Arc”, 2018). Still, Joan of Arc forgave her accusers and asked them to pray for her

(“Biography”, n.d.). She was 19 at the age of her death (“Biography”, n.d.). Joan of Arc died on

May 30, 1431. (Vale & Lanhers, 2018). Her ashes were gathered and scattered in the Seine.

Even after the death of Joan of Arc the One-Hundred Year War continued for another 22

years (“Joan of Arc”, 2018). In 1456, King Charles VII ordered for an investigation to be done

about Joan, in which he declared Joan of Arc innocent of everything and designated her as a

martyr (“Joan of Arc”, 2018). She was made the saint on May 16, 1920, making her the patron

saint of France (“Joan of Arc”, 201) and the Saint of the Catholic Church (“Biography”, n.d.).

Her nickname was the “The Maid of Orléans” (“Biography”, n.d.).

Both Cleopatra and Joan of Arc are well known female figures in history. They both have

had a large impact on history, yet are also very different from one another. First off, it is very
COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 12

obvious that they lived in different time periods and are from different cultures, religion, etc.

They also had very different backgrounds. Joan of Arc came from a family with very little

things, however Cleopatra came from a line of kings and queens ruling Egypt. Their background

had a large impact on their achievements and what they accomplished and did in their lives. In

Cleopatra’s case, since she came from a line of kings and queens that ruled she was bound to be

involved in wars that involved the throne to Egypt, whether she wished to have the throne or not.

This is inevitable. However, Joan of Arc was born in a small rural town with not much money or

power or authority, so what she was involved in and accomplished is an amazing feat. Joan of

Arc’s background of coming from a small rural town and a farming family too, emphasizes that

what she did is unexplainable for she had no ties at all to power or authority, except for her

visions.

The age difference between the two when they died was twenty years. Cleopatra died at

age thirty-nine and Joan of Arc died at age nineteen. As they both died relatively young,

especially in Joan of Arc’s case, it definitely could have limited what they did in their lives. If

Joan of Arc was not killed at nineteen, there is a chance she would have participated in more

battles and wars on behalf of France. Also due to Joan of Arc’s young age, she was not married

yet. Cleopatra had married multiple times already; her marriage with her two brothers when she

took the throne after her father, her marriage with Julius Caesar and her marriage with Mark

Antony.

Another difference between the two is what led them to do what they did. For Joan of Arc

her so called visions and voices led her to the Battle of Orléans and the crowning of King

Charles VII. She felt compelled to follow through with her visions. However, for Cleopatra there
COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 13

were no visions or voices that led her to fight for the throne in Egypt. She was born into the line

of rulers, but that didn’t mean she had to fight for the throne if she did not want it. Therefore,

that leaves us with the option that she, herself, wanted the throne, whether it be because she

wanted to help her country out or because she was greedy and wanted power.

The impact the two had on their countries was very significant as it is a defining factor in

how they are different from one another. Joan of Arc crowned a King for her country, in which

France was fighting about amongst the One-Hundred Year War. She also won a major battle that

led to the crowning of the king, the Battle of Orléans. On the other hand, Cleopatra did

wonderful and also terrible things to her country. She stabilized it by creating political alliances

with Rome through her connections with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. However, her

connections with Rome were rather strained still, since her connections with Mark Antony

brought lots of trouble for Egypt. Due to her connections with Mark Antony, Egypt was involved

in wars between Rome and Egypt, for example the Naval Battle of Actium. This Battle of

Actium would end up being the end for the Egyptians, as afterwards the Romans took over Egypt

as it becomes part of the Roman Empire (“History - Cleopatra”, n.d.).

The are very few similarities between the two, which are being involved in multiple

battles and their involvement with the royal family. Joan of Arc participated in two battles, the

Battle of Orléans and the Battle of Compiegne. She led the French army in the Battle of Orléans

and was the leader of a small force of soldiers at the Battle of Compiegne. Cleopatra VII was

heavily involved in multiple battles; the Battle of Actium with Antony in which she led an

Egyptian force along with Antony leading a Roman force against Octavian’s forces, and multiple

previous battles against her sibling to attain the throne. Both Cleopatra and Joan of Arc had some
COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 14

sort of involvement with royalty. In Joan of Arc’s case she helped crown King Charles VII as

king and fought on his behalf and country when she fought in battles. For Cleopatra coming from

a line of rulers, she was immediately already involved in royalty from her birth, however she did

help crown a ruler. Joan of Arc crowned King Charles VII, whereas Cleopatra crowned herself

as queen of Egypt.

Another similarity between the two is that they were both kidnapped or exiled at some

point in their lives. Cleopatra VII was exiled once she met with Julius Caesar (“History -

Cleopatra”, n.d.). However, prior to this, she often fled to Syria from the regents as she needed

the help there. Joan of Arc was kidnapped at the Battle of Compiegne. Seeing as how both

women were kidnapped or exiled, you can assume that they had high levels of prestige and were

a threat to the people around them, as you wouldn’t do this to a person with no threat or prestige.

Overall, Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator and Joan of Arc are both well known female

figures in history. The two are drastically similar in aspects of being involved in wars and battles

and having connections to royal families, but they are also different in aspects of culture, time

periods and backgrounds in general.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST CLEOPATRA VII AND JOAN OF ARC 15

References

Banfield, S. (1985). ​Joan of Arc.​ United States of America: Chelsea House Publishers

Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.ducksters.com/biography/women_leaders/joan_of_arc.php

Cleopatra VII. (n.d.). Retrieved from​ ​https://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/cleopatra.html

Cleopatra VII. (2018, February 27). Retrieved from

https://www.biography.com/people/cleopatra-vii-9250984

History - Cleopatra. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/cleopatra.shtml

​ nited States of America: Chelsea House

Hoobler, D. & Hoobler, T. (1986). ​Cleopatra. U

Publishers

Joan of Arc. (2018, February 27). Retrieved from

https://www.biography.com/people/joan-of-arc-9354756

Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) Archive. (n.d.). Retrieved from​ ​http://archive.joan-of-arc.org/

Tyldesley, J. (2018, November 23). Cleopatra. Retrieved from

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cleopatra-queen-of-Egypt

Vale, M. G., & Lanhers, Y. (2018, September 14). Saint Joan of Arc. Retrieved from

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Joan-of-Arc