Cleopatra vs Catherine the Great: Women of Power in History

History has rarely been kind to women of power. When a king conquers territories, he’s called great. When a queen does the same, people talk about her lovers. When an emperor is cruel, he’s called ruthless. When an empress is, she’s called unnatural.

Cleopatra VII (69-30 BCE) and Catherine II of Russia (1729-1796) had to navigate this hostile world. Two women, separated by almost two millennia, who ruled immense empires, survived deadly plots, and left an indelible mark on history. And yet, what we often remember about them are their love stories.

It’s time to look beyond the gossip. Who were these women really? How did they take power and keep it? What did they accomplish? And why do they continue to fascinate us?

Two Paths to the Throne

Cleopatra: The Threatened Heiress

Cleopatra was born in 69 BCE in Alexandria, capital of Ptolemaic Egypt. She was the descendant of Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great’s generals. Her family had ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries, but this Greek dynasty was in decline.

Don’t trust Hollywood movies: Cleopatra was probably not the femme fatale we imagine. Coins from the era show her with a prominent nose and pronounced chin. But she had something more valuable than beauty: intelligence, charisma, and an enchanting voice. Plutarch writes that “her conversation had an irresistible charm.”

She was also cultured. Unlike her ancestors, she spoke Egyptian in addition to Greek. She knew several other languages. She was interested in philosophy, science, medicine. In a world where women were supposed to be silent, she was formidably articulate.

At 18, she ascended to the throne with her younger brother Ptolemy XIII, whom she was supposed to marry according to Ptolemaic tradition. But very quickly, her brother’s advisors pushed her into exile. She seemed finished.

Catherine: The Ambitious Foreigner

Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst was born in 1729 in a small German principality. Her father was a minor prince, her mother an ambitious woman who dreamed of greatness for her daughter. No one could have predicted that she would one day become the most powerful sovereign in Europe.

At 14, she was chosen to marry the future Tsar of Russia, Peter III. She left Germany, converted to Russian Orthodoxy, took the name Ekaterina (Catherine), and learned Russian with fierce determination. She wanted to become more Russian than the Russians.

Her marriage was a disaster. Peter was immature, obsessed with his toy soldiers, possibly impotent. Catherine despised him. She took lovers - many lovers, over the years - and built a network of allies at court. She read Enlightenment philosophers, corresponded with Voltaire, cultivated her image as an enlightened intellectual.

When Peter III finally ascended to the throne in 1762, he quickly became unpopular. He openly admired Frederick II of Prussia, Russia’s enemy. He alienated the army, the Church, the nobility. Six months after his coronation, Catherine organized a coup d’état with the help of her lover, Grigory Orlov, and the Imperial Guard. Peter was arrested, then assassinated a few days later. Catherine became Empress of all the Russias.

The Art of Taking Power

Cleopatra: Seduction as a Political Weapon

In exile, Cleopatra didn’t give up. When Julius Caesar arrived in Egypt in pursuit of Pompey, she saw an opportunity. Legend has it that she had herself delivered to Caesar rolled up in a carpet. True or false, this story captures the essence of Cleopatra: audacity, a sense of spectacle, the ability to turn a desperate situation into an advantage.

Caesar, the greatest man in Rome, was conquered. He was 52, she was 21. He restored her to her throne, eliminated her brother-rival, and stayed in Egypt for several months. She gave him a son, Caesarion.

But Cleopatra was not just a mistress. She was a political partner. She accompanied Caesar to Rome, where she was received as a queen. When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE, she returned to Egypt and waited to see who would emerge victorious from the Roman civil war.

It was Mark Antony. And once again, Cleopatra knew how to seize the opportunity. Their meeting at Tarsus has remained legendary: she arrived on a ship with a gilded stern, purple sails, herself dressed as Aphrodite, surrounded by young boys disguised as Cupids. Antony, who had summoned her to call her to account, fell at her feet.

What followed was a political alliance as much as a love story. Antony needed Egypt’s money and resources. Cleopatra wanted to protect her kingdom and extend her influence. Together, they dreamed of an Eastern empire that would rival Rome.

Catherine: The Perfect Coup d’État

Catherine didn’t seduce to take power - she conspired. For years, she cultivated allies, studied her husband’s weaknesses, waited for the right moment. When it came, she acted with military precision.

On June 28, 1762, Catherine went to the barracks of the Izmailovsky Guard in Saint Petersburg. The soldiers acclaimed her as empress. She put on a guard uniform, mounted a horse, and led her troops toward Peterhof where Peter was. Caught off guard, he abdicated without a fight.

What’s striking about this coup is its professionalism. No chaos, no bloodbath (at least not immediately). Catherine had planned everything: the contacts in the army, the support of the Orthodox Church, the manifesto justifying her seizure of power. She transformed a putsch into a legitimate accession.

Peter’s death, a few days later, remains mysterious. Officially, he died of a “hemorrhoidal colic.” In reality, he was probably assassinated by the Orlov brothers. Catherine denied any involvement, but she clearly benefited.

Ruling: Two Styles, Two Challenges

Cleopatra: Saving a Doomed Kingdom

Cleopatra inherited a kingdom on borrowed time. Ptolemaic Egypt was rich but weak, caught between the great powers of the era. Rome, in particular, had its eyes on the granaries of the Nile. Several times, Roman politicians had proposed simply annexing Egypt.

Cleopatra’s strategy was to ally with Rome’s strongmen. First Caesar, then Antony. This wasn’t weakness - it was realism. Egypt couldn’t defeat Rome militarily. But it could become indispensable to an ambitious Roman.

With Antony, Cleopatra almost succeeded. He gave her territories (Cyprus, Crete, part of Syria), recognized their children, and perhaps secretly married her (he was already married to Octavia, Octavian’s sister). Together, they created a sumptuous court in Alexandria, a blend of Greek, Egyptian, and Roman culture.

But in Rome, Octavian (the future Augustus) used this alliance to attack Antony. Roman propaganda depicted Cleopatra as an Eastern witch who had bewitched a noble Roman. War became inevitable.

Catherine: Modernizing an Empire

Catherine inherited an immense but backward empire. Russia in 1762 was still largely feudal. Serfs made up the majority of the population, treated like slaves. The administration was corrupt and ineffective. The army needed reforms.

Catherine saw herself as an enlightened sovereign, in the tradition of the philosophers she admired. She wrote an “Instruction” for a legislative commission, inspired by Montesquieu and Beccaria. She encouraged education, founded schools, opened the first school for noble girls in Russia. She collected art, invited European intellectuals, made Saint Petersburg a cultural capital.

But Catherine was also a pragmatic autocrat. When the Pugachev Rebellion (1773-1775) threatened her power, she crushed it without mercy. When nobles opposed her reforms, she backed down. Serfdom not only persisted under her reign but extended to newly conquered territories.

Her real triumph was territorial expansion. Under Catherine, Russia annexed Crimea, part of Poland, and territories on the Black Sea. She realized Peter the Great’s dream: making Russia a great European power.

The Men in Their Lives

Cleopatra: Two Loves, One Strategy

Caesar and Antony were not Cleopatra’s “weaknesses” - they were her instruments. She chose the two most powerful men of their era, and she used them to protect and enlarge her kingdom.

With Caesar, she had a son, Caesarion, whom she presented as the legitimate heir of the dictator. It was a bold political move: if Caesarion was recognized, he would unite Egypt and Rome under one dynasty.

With Antony, she had three children and built a true political alliance. Their “Donations of Alexandria” in 34 BCE distributed Roman territories to their children, provoking Octavian’s fury. It was perhaps a strategic error, but it was also an act of assertion: Cleopatra didn’t want to be a client of Rome, she wanted to be an equal.

History has transformed these alliances into romances. It’s simpler, more digestible. But to reduce Cleopatra to a seductress is to ignore that she was the last sovereign of a 300-year-old dynasty, that she ruled alone for over 20 years, and that she nearly changed the course of Mediterranean history.

Catherine: Love and Power Separated

Catherine had many lovers - at least a dozen official “favorites” during her reign. This love life has fueled centuries of gossip and slander. But here too, we must look beyond the scandal.

First, Catherine was a woman in a man’s world. She couldn’t remarry without threatening her power. A husband could have claimed the throne. Lovers, on the other hand, stayed in their place.

Second, her favorites were not just lovers - they were collaborators. Grigory Orlov helped her take power. Grigory Potemkin was her closest advisor for decades, perhaps even her secret husband. He conquered Crimea for her, founded cities, modernized the southern army.

Catherine chose her favorites carefully. They had to be handsome, yes, but also intelligent, cultured, capable. When she tired of them, she dismissed them generously: estates, titles, pensions. None was disgraced or executed. It was a system, not disorder.

Compare this with the kings of her era, who maintained official mistresses without anyone being offended. The double standard is glaring.

Their Falls: Tragedy vs Triumph

Cleopatra: Defeat and Chosen Death

The Battle of Actium in 31 BCE sealed the fate of Cleopatra and Antony. Facing Octavian’s fleet, commanded by Agrippa, they were defeated. The details remain controversial: did Cleopatra flee cowardly, or did she execute a withdrawal plan? Did Antony follow her out of blind love, or calculation?

What is certain is that they ended up in Alexandria, besieged, abandoned by their allies. Antony committed suicide by falling on his sword, believing (wrongly) that Cleopatra was dead. He died in her arms.

Cleopatra tried to negotiate with Octavian. She wanted to save her kingdom for her children. But Octavian wanted to parade her through the streets of Rome, like a trophy. Rather than suffer this humiliation, Cleopatra chose death.

Legend says she had herself bitten by an asp. The reality is probably less romantic - perhaps poison. But the gesture remains: she died as a queen, not a captive. She was 39.

With her died independent Egypt. The country became a Roman province, and remained so for seven centuries.

Catherine: The Peaceful Death of a Great Sovereign

Catherine reigned for 34 years. She died in 1796, at 67, from a stroke in her palace in Saint Petersburg. Until the end, she governed, worked, wrote.

She left behind a transformed empire. Russia had become an unavoidable European power. Its territory had grown by 520,000 km². Its population had almost doubled. Its institutions, though imperfect, were more modern than at her accession.

Her failures were also real. Serfdom persisted. The promised reforms hadn’t materialized. Her son Paul, whom she had excluded from power, succeeded her and undid part of her work.

But overall, Catherine succeeded where Cleopatra failed: she transmitted her power, if not intact, at least substantial. The Russian Empire she had enlarged would survive for more than another century.

What We Can Learn from Them

Power in the Feminine

Cleopatra and Catherine show us that women can rule - and rule well. They were not fragile exceptions in a man’s world, but complete sovereigns, with their strengths and weaknesses.

They had to navigate a hostile world. Use tools that men didn’t need to use. Endure criticism that men would never have endured. But they succeeded.

Their example raises a question that remains relevant today: why are women of power judged differently from men? Why do we always talk about their private lives, their appearance, their “femininity”?

Political Intelligence

What unites these two women is their exceptional political intelligence. They understood power: how to take it, how to keep it, how to use it.

Cleopatra knew that Egypt couldn’t survive alone. She sought allies, found them, used them. Her strategy failed, but it wasn’t a bad strategy - it was a risky bet that didn’t pay off.

Catherine understood Russia better than the Russians themselves. She knew when to advance and when to retreat. She cultivated her image while exercising real power. She lasted 34 years on a throne she had taken by force.

Beyond the Legends

History has transformed these two women into novel characters. Cleopatra the seductress. Catherine the nymphomaniac. These images are reductive, even insulting.

The real Cleopatra was a cultured sovereign who governed a kingdom for two decades and nearly created a Mediterranean empire. The real Catherine was an enlightened autocrat who transformed Russia into a great European power.

They deserve to be judged as we judge Caesar or Peter the Great: on their actions, their achievements, their impact on history. Not on their lovers.

Conclusion: Two Queens, One Same Struggle

Cleopatra and Catherine the Great lived in different eras, in different cultures, with different destinies. One lost everything, the other triumphed. But they shared something essential: the will to reign in a world that didn’t want them to reign.

Cleopatra reminds us that even the greatest can fail. Not through weakness, not through error, but because the forces at play were too powerful. She played her part brilliantly, and she lost. But she lost as a queen.

Catherine shows us that a woman can not only take power but keep it and enlarge it. That she can be both a lover and a warrior, an intellectual and an autocrat, a woman and a sovereign.

Together, they embody the possibilities and obstacles of women of power throughout history. Their stories are reminders: women have always been capable of ruling, even when the world told them no. And perhaps, by finally looking at them for what they really were - rulers, not seductresses - we can begin to change how we look at women of power today.