Mark Gagnon

Like her brother's people control the city and will probably just kill her, okay?

Like if she shows up, all of a sudden she's dead and then Ptolemy XIII is like, well, I guess I'm in charge.

But she also knows that this is her chance to make a personal impression on one of the most powerful men in the Mediterranean, definitely in Rome.

So she has herself smuggled into the palace, wrapped up in a linen bag.

Yeah, think about that.

She's literally betting her life that Caesar will be intrigued rather than annoyed by this theatrical entrance.

And it's high stakes, right?

Because Caesar's one of these guys, it's hard to predict exactly what he's going to want.

She might show up, pop out the bag, be like, surprise, and then he's like, what are you doing?

This is absurd and a mockery to what it means to be a Roman colony.

So we're going to kill you.

But she ends up being right.

Caesar is thought to be like 52 years old at this point, and

very experienced with basically every different type of political manipulation, but he's absolutely charmed by this 21-year-old queen who has the audacity to smuggle herself into the palace to present herself and her case to why she's the rightful ruler and pharaoh of Egypt.

So within, you know, a day, they're friends.

Within a few hours, they're lovers.

And within days, Caesar has decided that Cleopatra is gonna rule.

all of Egypt and basically oust her brother.

But this isn't just a romance, right?

This is a mutual beneficial alignment.