Mark Gagnon

We go over this story in detail.

But just for a brief overview, Pompey is fleeing to Egypt, expecting to be given safety.

But the advisors of Cleopatra's brother, Ptolemy XIII, sees this as an opportunity.

In hopes of proving their loyalty to Caesar, they murder Pompey, and they present his head to Caesar as a gift.

Now, you would expect Caesar to be pretty stoked on this, right?

He's not.

He's disgusted.

Pompey was an enemy, but he was also a Roman senator, and in some ways...

a friend, like a rival, a pal, coworker, dude, you know?

So having him murdered by foreigners is an insult to Julius Caesar, who's like, yo, I can handle my own biz.

It's also an insult to like the Roman dignity.

Like, hey, we can't have this...

basically a Roman colony, like murdering our politicians.

So what does Caesar do?

He occupies Alexandria, declares martial law, and demands that Cleopatra and her brother settle the dispute in front of him, which, I mean, so funny if you're in Ptolemy's court, Ptolemy XIII, and you're like, hey, we have a great idea.

Julius Caesar's guys over here, Pompey, we're going to kill him, and Caesar's going to be stoked.

And they just see this thing backfire, and they're like, oh, shit.

We did not anticipate him losing it on us.

So this is where Cleopatra pulls off one of the greatest political moves in history, all right?

She knows that she can't just like walk into the palace, right?