Cleopatra was determined to get the throne back from her brother so she prepared to go to war against him. Caesar, who was fighting a war of his own for the throne of Rome, was running from his enemy, Pompey. Once in Egypt, he found his rival dead, so Caesar decided to go to the marketplace to gather supplies and money for his country in their time of need. Later, Ptolemy came to talk to Caesar about the predicament that he was in with his sister. But Ptolemy's advisors were afraid that Caesar would see this situation differently and Cleopatra would gain support from him. So the advisors surrounded the palace with soldiers and ordered them to kill the queen if she tried to enter. Later, when Cleopatra heard she had Caesar's support, she knew she had to see him.
So one night during a riot, a boat slipped into the harbor and tied up to the palace steps, which were covered with soldiers. A slave got off the ship carrying a role of carpet. In the midst of the confusion, no one bothered to stop him from entering the palace. Once inside the slave, who was Cleopatra's friend, Apollodorus, unrolled the Oriental carpet that held Cleopatra. Once again, she used her head and found a way to get what she wanted.
When Cleopatra rolled out of the carpet that night, it began one of history's greatest love stories. Her ruse and her dramatic entrance into Caesar's life surprised and delighted him; he was immediately captivated by her charm and intelligence. Cleopatra, who was twenty-two at the time, had no trouble gaining support from Caesar, who was forty-four.
After that night, Caesar decided to stay with Cleopatra. Many say he stayed with her because of her high position in Egypt and hoped to gain something form this relationship. From that day forward, the two lived as if they were man and wife.
Many battles were fought on sea and on land over the throne of Egypt. Sadly, in the end of all this, Ptolemy's army was defeated and the fifteen year old boy drowned in the Nile due to the weight of his armor. Soon after Ptolemy?eath, Cleopatra was crowned as queen of Egypt, sharing the throne with her younger brother, Ptolemy XIV.
After defeating Ptolemy and his advisors, Caesar soon gained control of Egypt through Cleopatra. In the summer of 47 B.C., having married her brother, Ptolemy XIV, Cleopatra arranged for her and Caesar to take a trip in a royal barge up the Nile River. During the cruise, they visited Dendara, where Cleopatra was being worshipped as a Pharaoh, an honor beyond Caesar's reach. Caesar was enjoying himself so much that he decided to stay in Egypt. But his worried generals persuaded him to come back to Rome due to trouble in Asia Minor. Passion never got the better of Caesar's reason. While he was away, Cleopatra bore him a son who she named Caesarian, after his father.15After his birth, both the newborn and Cleopatra left Alexandria for Rome, where they stayed in a palace built by Caesar in their honor.
Once back in Rome, rumors began floating all over the city. People were saying that Caesar was planning to become king and was going to move the capital to Alexandria. Caesar's behavior supported the rumors. He began to sit on a golden throne in the Senate and he had a statue of himself placed beside the seven kings of ancient Rome. Caesar's friends disliked his behavior, so after pondering the idea for several days, they decided to kill Caesar.
On March 14th, the day before Caesar's friends planned to kill him, Cleopatra had a terrible dream that Caesar was about to be killed. The next morning she tried to keep him from leaving the palace, but he refused to stay because he received an urgent message from conspirators of the Senate. So Caesar left the palace for the Senate. When he arrived, the assassins murdered Caesar. Because she was scared of losing her life as well, Cleopatra fled to Egypt.
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