I don’t know if a meta like this was ever written, but recently I’ve been studying the history of ancient Egypt and watching history videos about it and some similiarities between those two women hit me in the face.Â
Before I start, I want to get this out of the way: I know there is common opinion that Cleopatra was a manipulative, greedy and such, but hear me when I sat this - those are just rumours. And probably not true, since most of the things we know about her life came from descriptions after she died, and those descriptions were controled by her male enemies, as it’s the winners who write history as we know it. Here I’ll be focusing on certain facts.
Both Cleopatra and Daenerys are the last members of their respective dynasties. Cleopatra - Ptolemaics, Dany - Targaryens.Â
Cleopatra’s family was not from Egypt initially, as Dany’s wasn’t from Westeros. Ptolemaics came from Macedonian Greece, while Daenerys’s from Valyria. What’s interesting is that both of those countries were richer in culture than the countries they ended up ruling.
3.Famous conqueror ancestor.
It was Alexander the Great who won Egypt for his family, And Aegon the Conqueror who did the same for his.
Cleopatra was a pharaoh only for a short time, but she was the last active ruler - she ruled for 22 years. And obviously you probably know all about egyptian rulers and how they were believed to have connection with the gods as their children. And rumours suggest she liked to dress up as gods with one of her partners. Dany comes from a mythical race, a family of dragonriders, a lot of people don’t even believe those legends. While Egyptians bowed to the gods, and the family they believed was chosen by them, Westerosi and Essosi people bowed to dragons and their riders - also believed to be connected by them by blood somehow.
5. Not nice brother-husband.
Both Dany and Cleopatra were last members of their houses, but before that they both had a not so cool brother. Cleopatra was married to hers, while Dany spent her whole life thinking she would be. Cleo’s brother had her exiled, while Viserys sold Dany off to the Dothraki. But I do need to mention that Cleopatra had another brother, but he didn’t matter as much.
6.Their brothers’ claim was stopped by their lovers.
When Cleo’s brother executed General Pompey - a Romanian refugee after the civil war in Rome, which he lost to Julius Ceasar - a great and well known general. He killed this refugee, and Julius, even though Pompey was his enemy, demanded repayment for all of Egypt’s debts to Rome, as punishment. He could have annexed Egypt, but Cleopatra convinced him to restore her to the throne instead, and it is pretty obvious they were lovers alredy, they later had a son.
And Drogo - a great and well known fighter kills Viserys after he does something he doesn’t like as well, making Dany the last heir to the Targaryen claim, later swore to give her/their son the Seven Kingdoms.
7.Both spoke multiple languages.
Dany is known for speaking High Valyrian, the bastard Valyrian of the Free Cities (with a Tyroshi accent), the Common Tongue, the Dothraki language and Ghiscari.Â
Cleopatra spoke Greek, Egyptian as well as the languages of the Medes, Parthians, Jews, Arabs, Syrians, Trogodytae, and Ethiopians.
8. Both commander armies at a very young age, despite being women.
Cleopatra did so since she was 21, Dany about 16 I think? Correct me if I;m wrong.
9. Both were beautiful, strong women and had multiple strong men fall in love with them over their lifetimes.
Dany - Drogo, Jorah, Daario, Jon
Cleopatra - Julius Ceasar, Mark Antony - Rome’s greatest generals.
10. Both were passionate about changing something.
During Cleopatra’s reign corruption was almost completely stopped, while Dany ended slavery.
11.Both helped in their love’s war.
Well Dany is on her way to do that. And Cleopatra helped Antony fight Octavian and bore him three children. And GRRM does seem to focus on the three pattern with Targaryens doesn’t he?
But they were defeated and fled to Alexandria and there committed suicide, but this argument is kinda reached anyway, so let’s not talk about that.
12. Both Jon and Ceasar were assasinated by their own men, both stabbed multiple times, both in unexpeted by them situations, and both stopped fighting once they saw someone they cared about with a knife. For Ceasar it was Brutus, for Jon it was Olly, both young lads from enemy’s army who they got close to and treated as family.
And there is how Cleopatra ruled well but her image was ruined by men, who feared a strong women in power, making rumours about her being vicious and overall awful.
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