Editing Cleopatra (section)

==== Liberators' civil war<span class="anchor" id="Cleopatra in the Liberators' civil war"></span> ====
{{further|Liberators' civil war}}
[[File:Cleopatra Gate in Tarsus.JPG|thumb|[[Cleopatra's Gate]] in Tarsos (now [[Tarsus, Mersin]], Turkey), the site where she met [[Mark Antony]] in 41 BC{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=77–79, Figure 6}}]]
Octavian, Antony, and [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus]] formed the [[Second Triumvirate]] in 43 BC, in which they were each [[Elections in the Roman Republic|elected]] for five-year terms to restore order in the Republic and [[Liberators' civil war|bring Caesar's assassins to justice]].{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=75}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=xxi, 21–22}} Cleopatra received messages from both [[Gaius Cassius Longinus]], one of Caesar's assassins, and [[Publius Cornelius Dolabella (consul 44 BC)|Publius Cornelius Dolabella]], proconsul of Syria and Caesarian loyalist, requesting military aid.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=75}} She decided to write Cassius an excuse that her kingdom faced too many internal problems, while sending the four legions left by Caesar in Egypt to Dolabella.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=75}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=22}} These troops were captured by Cassius in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]].{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=75}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=22}}

While [[Serapion (strategos)|Serapion]], Cleopatra's governor of Cyprus, defected to Cassius and provided him with ships, Cleopatra took her own fleet to Greece to personally assist Octavian and Antony. Her ships were heavily damaged in a Mediterranean storm and she arrived too late to aid in the fighting.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=75}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=22–23}} By the autumn of 42 BC, Antony had defeated the forces of Caesar's assassins at the [[Battle of Philippi]] in Greece, leading to the suicide of Cassius and Brutus.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=75}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=xxi, 22–23}}

By the end of 42 BC, Octavian had gained control over much of [[Greek East and Latin West|the western half]] of the Roman Republic and Antony the eastern half, with Lepidus largely marginalized.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=76}} In the summer of 41 BC, Antony established his headquarters at [[Tarsos]] in Anatolia and summoned Cleopatra there in several letters, which she rebuffed until Antony's envoy [[Quintus Dellius]] convinced her to come.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=76–77}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=xxi, 23}} The meeting would allow Cleopatra to clear up the misconception that she had supported Cassius during the civil war and address territorial exchanges in the [[Levant]], but Antony also undoubtedly desired to form a personal, romantic relationship with the queen.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=77}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=xxi, 23}} Cleopatra sailed up the [[Berdan River|Kydnos River]] to Tarsos in ''Thalamegos'', hosting Antony and his officers for two nights of lavish banquets on board the ship.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=77–79}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=23}}<ref group="note">As explained by {{harvtxt|Burstein|2004|p=23}}, Cleopatra, having read Antony's personality, boldly presented herself to him as the Egyptian goddess Isis (in the appearance of the Greek goddess [[Aphrodite]]) meeting her divine husband [[Osiris]] (in the form of the Greek god [[Dionysus]]), knowing that the priests of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus had associated Antony with Dionysus shortly before this encounter. According to {{harvtxt|Brown|2011}}, a cult surrounding Isis had been spreading across the region for hundreds of years, and Cleopatra, like many of her predecessors, sought to identify herself with Isis and be venerated. In addition, some surviving coins of Cleopatra also depict her as Venus–Aphrodite, as explained by {{harvtxt|Fletcher|2008|p=205}}.</ref> Cleopatra managed to clear her name as a supposed supporter of Cassius, arguing she had really attempted to help Dolabella in Syria, and convinced Antony to have her exiled sister, Arsinoe IV, executed at Ephesus.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=79}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=xxi, 24, 76}} Cleopatra's former rebellious governor of Cyprus was also handed over to her for execution.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=79}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=24}}