Cleopatra VII Philopator (Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ; 69[1] – August 12, 30 BC[2]), known to history simply as Cleopatra, was the last active pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt, shortly survived as pharaoh by her son Caesarion. After her reign, Egypt became a province of the then-recently established Roman Empire.
Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Macedonian Greek[3] origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great’s death during the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemies, throughout their dynasty, spoke Greek[4] and refused to speak Egyptian, which is the reason that Greek as well as Egyptian languages were used on official court documents such as the Rosetta Stone.[5] By contrast, Cleopatra did learn to speak Egyptian[6] and represented herself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian goddess,