Ptolemaic Egypt · 51-30 BC

Cleopatra: the last queen of Egypt

The last of the Ptolemies ruled a rich but weak kingdom beside a Rome at war with itself. Students follow Cleopatra from a palace coup in Alexandria to her alliances with Caesar and Antony and the sea battle at Actium, and ask what choices she really had.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, 51 BC to 30 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

The last of the Ptolemies ruled a rich but weak kingdom beside a Rome at war with itself. Students follow Cleopatra from a palace coup in Alexandria to her alliances with Caesar and Antony and the sea battle at Actium, and ask what choices she really had.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain Egypt's position in 51 BC: wealthy, independent on paper, but dependent on Rome.
  • Locate Alexandria, Tarsus and Actium and say what happened at each.
  • Describe why Egypt became a Roman province in 30 BC and what ended with it.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

51 BC

A kingdom in Rome's shadow

Open the map in 51 BC, the year Cleopatra became queen at eighteen, sharing the throne with her ten-year-old brother. The kingdom is still on the map, but zoom out: Roman territory rings the eastern Mediterranean. Her father had paid Rome huge bribes to keep his throne. What options did she have?

Open this view on the map
b

51 BC

Caesar and Antony

Stay in 51 BC and turn on Historical Events (Battles). Find "Battle of Actium" (31 BC) off the west coast of Greece. Between 48 and 31 BC Cleopatra allied first with Julius Caesar, who came to Alexandria, then with Mark Antony, whom she met at Tarsus in 41 BC. Find Tarsus on the coast of Anatolia.

Open this view on the map
c

30 BC

Egypt becomes Roman

Jump to 30 BC. The map now shows Egypt inside the Roman Empire. Octavian entered Alexandria in August 30 BC; Antony and Cleopatra died, and three centuries of Ptolemaic rule ended. Zoom in on Alexandria. What did Rome gain from Egypt besides land?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Cleopatra was Macedonian Greek by descent, and ancient writers say she was the first Ptolemy to learn Egyptian. Why would she bother, when her ancestors had not?
  2. Roman writers, on the side of her enemy Octavian, described her as a seductress who ruined two Roman generals. How do you read a story told entirely by the winners?
  3. Egypt could not fight Rome, so Cleopatra allied with the Romans most likely to win: first Caesar, then Antony. Was this weakness, or the only realistic strategy?
  4. Egypt's grain fed Rome, and its treasury paid Octavian's soldiers. Why was Egypt too valuable to be left independent?
  5. Cleopatra chose to die rather than be paraded in Octavian's triumph. What does that choice tell you about how she saw herself as queen?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Cleopatra VII. Let students choose at each turn, then compare with what she really did: allied with Caesar in 48 BC, with Antony from 41 BC, fought at Actium in 31 BC and took her own life in 30 BC. Where would the class have chosen differently?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.