Although Cleopatra had ceded her Egyptian empire to the Romans after her suicide, she had unknowingly created one of the most recognizable empires in ancient history due to her appearance attractive, her personality and her ability to run a successful empire. Throughout ancient Egyptian history, the majority of pharaohs and rulers were men. Cleopatra VII was a descendant of Ptolemy I, a popular general of Alexander the Great, who founded the Ptolemaic Greek kingdom that would rule Egypt for nearly three centuries. Before Cleopatra's father Auletes became pharaoh, many power struggles took place throughout the empire. Initially, there was a struggle for the Egyptian fate involving Cleopatra's family. Ultimately, Auletes won the battle for power and ruled Egypt for twenty-five years. When Auletes died in 51 BCE, Cleopatra VII and her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII, were to co-rule as Auletes requested before his death. Although Cleopatra came to power shortly after Auletes' death, she was only eighteen years old and Ptolemy XIII was only ten years old. Due to Ptolemy's age, he needed a regent to advise him in his political decisions. The regent appointed to work with Ptolemy made Cleopatra very unpopular with the Egyptians because of the way he presented her thoughts, ideas, and goals. An uprising broke out in 49 BCE and forced Cleopatra to flee to Alexandria where she befriended Julius Caesar. Gaining Caesar's trust, she also began to regain power in Egypt. Cleopatra and Caesar had Ptolemy XIII and his regent killed so that Cleopatra would become the sole ruler of Egypt. After her suicide, Cleopatra became the "last queen of Egypt." In the years following his death, historians and ...... middle of paper ...... taxes were paid on crops grown by the natives, such as wheat or papyrus. From there, they were kept and sold to other empires like Rome. All the money and profits collected from taxes were spent wisely to pay the queen's army, guardians and servants and to build museums, libraries and marble palaces (p. 45 Worth). She understood that she could use Egyptian grain and money as leverage against other empires. Finally, she provided financial support to Antony in exchange for Coele-Syria and Judea, two territories bordering Egypt (p57 Nardo). In some situations, she remained neutral towards the various empires and simply watched them deteriorate on their own (p. 20 Nardo). The Egyptian people saw that Cleopatra knew what she was doing and saw the results after only a few years of her reign. Food shortage turned into surplus, Egypt became a wealthy nation,