Full transcript
The Face That Never Was
0:00There is a coin.
0:02It is almost 2,000 years old and the
0:05face on that coin is not the face you
0:07think. For hundreds of years, the world
0:10has told one story about this woman,
0:13that she won with her beauty, that kings
0:15and generals fell for a pretty face. But
0:18look at the coin, the real one. The nose
0:21is strong, the chin is sharp. This is
0:24not a soft, perfect face. This is the
0:27face of a queen who ruled for 21 years.
0:30One woman. She spoke many languages, by
0:34some accounts as many as nine. She ruled
0:37the richest kingdom on Earth and she
0:40made the two most powerful men in Rome
0:42bow to her plans. Not with her face,
0:46with her mind. So here is the question
0:49history forgot to ask. If it was never
0:51about beauty,
0:53then how did one young woman with no
0:56army of her own hold off the greatest
0:58power in the world? Tonight, we meet the
1:01real Cleopatra, not the face on the
1:04screen, the mind behind the coin. Hear
Welcome by the Fire
1:07that?
1:08That's my fire settling in. Pull up a
1:11chair. I'm Daniel Reed and this is
1:14Fireside History. Tonight's story is
1:17about a woman whose name you know, but
1:19whose life you don't. We were all told
1:21the same simple story. A beautiful
1:24queen, a few famous romances, a sad
1:27ending. But that story leaves out the
1:29best part. It leaves out how smart she
1:32really was. So stay with me to the end
1:36because by the time this fire burns low,
1:39you will never look at Cleopatra the
1:41same way again. And if you enjoy true
1:43stories told slowly, like this one, take
1:47a moment and follow along. There's
1:49always a chair here for you. To
The City of Gold and Books
1:52understand her, we have to stand in her
1:54city.
1:56Her home was Alexandria in Egypt, and
1:592,000 years ago, it was the greatest
2:02city in the world. Picture it. A tall
2:05stone lighthouse, taller than almost
2:07anything humans had ever built. Its fire
2:10guiding ships in from the sea.
2:13White marble streets, traders from every
2:16land,
2:17and the great library, a house of books
2:20that tried to hold all the knowledge in
2:21the world. This was the city that raised
2:24Cleo- patra, a city of ships, of gold,
2:28and above all, of learning. Interrupt.
2:31But her family was not Egyptian. Her
2:33family, the Ptolemies, had come from
2:36Greece 300 years before. They ruled
2:39Egypt, but they lived apart from it.
2:42Greek kings and Greek queens sitting on
2:45an Egyptian throne, and they were a
2:48dangerous family. To keep the crown
2:50inside the family, brothers married
2:52sisters, and to keep it for themselves,
2:55they turned on each other. Fathers,
2:58sons, sisters, brothers, many of them
3:02killed their own blood to sit on that
3:03throne.
3:05This was the world the young Cleopatra
3:07was born into, around the year 69 before
3:10our common era.
3:12She was clever, yes, but she was not the
3:15only heir.
3:16She had brothers and a sister, and every
3:19one of them was a rival.
3:21So, from her very first day, one hard
3:23truth sat over her golden city like a
3:26shadow.
3:27In this family, the throne was never a
3:29gift.
3:31It had to be won, and it could be lost
3:34just as fast.
3:35That test came sooner than she feared.
Thrown Out of Her Own City
3:38When Cleopatra was about 18 years old,
3:41her father, the king, died, and his will
3:44left the throne to two people at once,
3:47to Cleopatra and to her younger brother.
3:50He was only a child, around 10 years
3:52old. And by the custom of their family,
3:55the two were made to rule together as
3:57husband and wife. It sounds strange to
4:00us today,
4:01but in that family, it was simply how
4:03the crown was passed. A clever young
4:06woman and a small boy sharing one
4:09throne. It was never going to be equal.
4:12The boy was too young to rule. So,
4:14powerful men stood behind him. Advisors,
4:18generals, and clever officials who
4:20wanted to rule Egypt through a child
4:22they could control.
4:24A grown queen with her own mind did not
4:26fit their plans. So, they moved against
4:29her. Interrupt. Slowly, they pushed
4:32Cleopatra out, away from the palace,
4:35away from power, until at last she had
4:38to run for her life. Picture that. A
4:41queen, crowned and clever, forced out of
4:44her own city.
4:46No palace, no guards she could trust,
4:49out beyond Egypt's edge, in the dry
4:51desert lands, trying to gather a few
4:54loyal men. She had lost almost
4:57everything. The throne was gone. The
4:59city was gone. Her own brother's men
5:02wanted her dead. Most people, in that
5:05moment, would have given up.
5:07Cleopatra started to plan.
One Chance to Speak
5:10Because while she was in exile, the
5:12world shook.
5:14Far to the west, the mighty city of Rome
5:17was fighting itself. Two great Roman
5:19generals had turned on each other, and
5:21one of them won. His name was Julius
5:24Caesar, the most powerful man alive. And
5:27now, chasing his enemy, Caesar came to
5:31Egypt. He walked into Alexandria and sat
5:34down inside the royal palace.
5:37The very palace Cleopatra had been
5:39thrown out of. Here was her chance. But
5:42it was also a trap. Her brother's men
5:44held the city. If she tried to walk in
5:46through the gates, they would kill her
5:48before she reached Caesar. So, Cleopatra
5:51made a bold bet, not on her army. She
5:54barely had one. Not on her beauty. On
5:57her mind and on her nerve. The story
6:00goes that she had herself carried into
6:02the palace in secret, hidden and
6:04smuggled past every guard until she was
6:07standing inside, right in front of the
6:10most powerful man in the world.
6:13Think about the courage in that. One
6:16young woman, no throne, no army, walking
6:20straight into the room of a man who
6:22could end her with a word.
6:24She had one chance to speak.
6:27And speaking, as Rome would soon learn,
6:30was the thing Cleopatra did best.
The Mind That Beat Rome
6:33What happened in that room changed
6:35history.
6:36Caesar had met kings. He had met
6:39generals and rich men from every land,
6:42but he had never met anyone quite like
6:44her. She did not beg. She talked. She
6:48spoke of Egypt, of its gold and its
6:51grain. She spoke of Rome and its
6:53troubles as if she understood them
6:56better than he did.
6:57She could move from one language to
6:59another without pausing for breath. She
7:02knew history, money, ships, and power.
7:05Caesar was a brilliant man and for
7:08perhaps the first time, he was sitting
7:10across from a mind that could keep up
7:13with his own.
7:14By the time the sun rose, everything had
7:16changed. Caesar chose to back her. With
7:19Rome's soldiers behind her, Cleopatra
7:22took back her throne. And now watch how
7:25her mind turned this into power. Egypt
7:28had something Rome desperately needed,
7:30food.
7:31Its fields grew mountains of grain,
7:34enough to feed huge cities. Cleopatra
7:37held that grain and so she held
7:39something even mighty Rome could not
7:41ignore. She had a son whom she named as
7:44heir, a child with a claim to both Egypt
7:47and through Caesar to Rome itself. Then
7:51she did something daring.
7:53She traveled to Rome and lived there in
7:56Caesar's own city.
7:58A foreign queen in the heart of his
7:59power. She was no longer the girl chased
8:02into the desert. She was the queen of
8:05the richest land in the world standing
8:07at the side of its most powerful man.
8:10For a moment, it looked unstoppable.
8:13And then, in a single afternoon, it all
8:16broke.
8:17Caesar was killed, struck down by his
8:20own men in Rome.
8:22And Cleopatra's great protector was
8:25suddenly gone.
Alone Again
8:26Once again, she was alone.
8:29And this time, it was worse. She was a
8:32foreign queen sitting in a city that had
8:35just killed the one man who protected
8:37her.
8:38Rome was full of powerful men, and many
8:41of them hated the idea of her, her son,
8:44her claim, her influence. So, she did
8:47the only wise thing. She left. She
8:50gathered her child and sailed home to
8:52Egypt, back to Alexandria, back to the
8:56throne she had fought so hard to win.
8:59But, there was no rest waiting for her.
9:02Rome, without Caesar, tore itself apart
9:05again. Two men rose to fight for control
9:08of the Roman world. On one side, a young
9:12and cold politician.
9:14On the other, a bold, famous general
9:16named Mark Antony. And Cleopatra knew
9:19what this meant. Egypt was rich. Egypt
9:23was the prize.
9:24Whoever won Rome would turn next to her
9:27kingdom. She could not just watch and
9:29wait. If she chose wrong, she would lose
9:32everything. Her throne, her son, her
9:35life. Think of the weight of that
9:37choice. She was still young. She had
9:40already been thrown out once and clawed
9:43her way back. She had already lost one
9:46protector to a knife in Rome. Now she
9:49had to bet her entire kingdom and her
9:52children's future on one man, not on
9:55love first, on judgment, on reading
9:58power better than anyone else alive. She
10:01watched. She waited. She weighed the two
10:04men the way a merchant weighs gold.
10:08And then Cleopatra made her choice. She
10:11would stand with Mark Antony. It was a
The Greatest Bet
10:14bold bet and she made it fully.
10:17Cleopatra joined her power to Antony's.
10:20Egypt's wealth, its gold, its ships, its
10:23grain, all of it now stood behind him.
10:27And in return, his strength stood behind
10:29her throne and her children. The two
10:32became partners in power and in time, in
10:36love. Together they were a threat that
10:39made Rome nervous. Egypt's riches and a
10:42famous Roman general joined as one.
10:45And here is the heart of who Cleopatra
10:48was. She did not hide behind Antony. She
10:51did not sit quietly and let the men
10:53decide. She stood beside him as an
10:56equal, planning, spending, ruling,
10:59leading. This was her bet and she played
11:02it in the open. There is a simple truth
11:05in her choice, one that still speaks to
11:08us today.
11:09Real power is not about waiting to be
11:11saved.
11:13It is about deciding with open eyes and
11:16then standing behind that decision with
11:19everything you have.
11:21Cleopatra had decided. Now her kingdom,
11:24her name, and her life all rested on it.
11:29And for a time, it made her the most
11:31powerful woman in the world.
The Queen Rome Feared
11:33And this was her height.
11:36Look at what this one woman had become.
11:38Remember the girl chased into the desert
11:41with no throne and no army?
11:44She was now the queen of the richest
11:46kingdom on earth. She had ruled, in one
11:49way or another, for around 21 years. She
11:53spoke to the world in its own languages,
11:56by some accounts as many as nine.
11:58She had stood beside not one, but two of
12:02the most powerful men Rome ever
12:04produced. Not with beauty, with her
12:07mind, with patience, planning, and
12:11nerve.
12:12And here is the fact that proves it. The
12:15proof of how much they feared her.
12:17When Rome finally decided to end the
12:19threat, it did something it had almost
12:22never done before. It declared war,
12:25but not on Antony, the Roman general.
12:29Rome declared war on Cleopatra, on her
12:33by name. Think about that. The greatest
12:36military power in the world looked at a
12:38woman who ruled a foreign kingdom and
12:40decided that she was the real danger,
12:43not the man. The woman. The mind. That
12:47is not how the world treats a pretty
12:49face.
12:50That is how the world treats a rival it
12:52is afraid of. In the end, the war did
12:55not go her way. At a great sea battle,
12:58her fleet and Antony's were beaten by
13:00Rome. Their power began to fall apart,
13:03and the kingdom she had fought her whole
13:05life to keep slipped from her hands. But
13:09even as it ended, Rome had already
13:11admitted the truth.
13:13They never feared her beauty. They
13:15feared her.
13:16So, let us go back to where we began.
The Real Face
13:19Back to the coin.
13:21That small piece of metal, almost 2,000
13:23years old, with a strong nose and a
13:26sharp chin. For centuries, people looked
13:29at grand paintings and films and
13:31imagined a soft, perfect beauty. But the
13:34real face, the one she chose to put on
13:37her own money, was the face of a ruler,
13:40firm, serious, proud. And maybe that was
13:44the point all along.
13:46Cleopatra never needed to be the most
13:48beautiful woman in the room. She needed
13:51to be the smartest. And again and again,
13:54she was. 2,000 years later, we still say
13:57her name. Not because of a face none of
14:00us have ever truly seen, but because of
14:03a mind that out thought the most
14:05powerful empire on Earth. And there is
14:07something in that for you and me.
14:10You do not have to be the loudest person
14:12in the room, or the one everyone stares
14:15at. The things that truly last are
14:17quieter. The languages you learn, the
14:21way you think, the patience to wait, to
14:24watch, and to choose well. You are
14:26building one of those quiet powers right
14:29now, just by listening, word by word,
14:32story by story. You are learning. And
14:35that, as one Egyptian queen showed the
14:38whole world, is a kind of power no one
14:40can ever take from you.
Your Question Tonight
14:42So, let me ask you a simple question,
14:45and I would truly love your answer.
14:48In one comment, tell me one word. Beauty
14:52or brains?
14:53What do you think really won Cleopatra
14:55her power? I read every reply by this
14:58fire. And if this story earned it, if
15:01you now see this famous queen a little
15:03differently than you did 20 minutes ago,
15:06then take a second and subscribe. It
15:09tells me to keep telling these true
15:11stories, slowly and properly, the way
15:14they deserve.
15:15Because next time, we stay in the
15:17ancient world, and we meet another ruler
15:20the history books turned into a legend.
15:23A man whose empire grew so large that
15:25people still argue to this day about how
15:29one person could ever hold it together.
15:31That story is waiting just around the
15:34corner. Uh, but for now the fire's still
15:37warm and there is always a chair for
15:39you.
15:40I'm Daniel Reed and this is Fireside
15:42History.