In high school, we discussed the story of Pygmalion and Galatea in our literature class. The myth tells the story of a sculptor named Pygmalion who made a statue of a woman whom he made so beautiful that he fell in love with it. Day and night, he treated the statue like a human being by offering food before it and clothing it with elegant drapes. Moved with compassion, Aphrodite turned the statue into a real woman and brought her to Pygmalion. The sculptor named her Galatea and made her his companion.
In UA&P, I am lucky to work with the team which is holding a play entitled Pygmalion, starting this Friday, Feb 22. There, I learned that the main character, a woman, was transformed from her low-class personality into a real, elegant lady. Thus, she is compared to Galatea who transforms from a lifeless mass of stone into a graceful and beautiful maiden. The theme of the article? Transformation. I believe this is the reason why we attend school and universities. We want to be transformed from something that is bland to someone who can face the world with character and intellect. Students leave school as transformed persons who carry in their minds the knowledge of their lessons, the culture of their school and the personality that helped shape their learning. I think this also applies to everyone, working or not working, old or young. That is why we keep on searching for information, looking for things to occupy ourselves with, and at the same time improving who we are and developing our skills. This sort of Transformation does not only happen in school but also in other activities where learning happens, either great or small. That is why there is a Galatea inside of us if we only allow ourselves to see what we can develop and make us better persons. In UA&P, we are told that our CAS subjects enable us to become well-rounded persons where we do not only focus our knowledge on a single subject but also traverse the knowledge across different subjects.

Who said that kings and queens rule without brains?

In UA&P, we are taught of Christian Civilizations and culture of nations in Asia. But we never are taught about Egyptian or Mesopotamian civilizations (we're suppose to have taken them up in high school). So, just to refresh your memory, I thought of sharing something about renowned ruler of Egypt who was for so long misinterpreted.

Many movies and paintings depict Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt as seductive and romantic. We had been told that she captivated great Roman leaders by her indescribable beauty. But who is the real Cleopatra? Why did she become one of the famous queens of Egypt and in the world?
Let's change our view of the queen and see the REAL Cleopatra...
It must be first clarified that Cleopatra was not Egyptian by blood! She was of Macedonian descent. Her roots can be traced as far as the conquest of Alexander the Great in Egypt. When Alexander died with no heir to take over the vast empire, different generals and officials who served Alexander divided the empire among them and ruled separately. Egypt fell to the leadership of Ptolemy, a Greek, whose descendants would later on rule the kingdom and end with the reign of the famous Cleopatra VII. It is interesting to know that she came from a family with an unlikable background, including murderous and irresponsible ruling ancestors. Well, Cleopatra proved to be different.
So what makes Cleopatra a scholarly queen? You see, she was raised in a kingdom and in an
age where there was a mix of Egyptian, Roman and Greek culture. If you were heir to the throne of such kingdom, you would be wise enough to learn these culture and their languages, and Cleopatra was competent enough to do so. She was well-versed in philosophic writing and quite a mathematician. She had a taste for politics which led to her unending claim for the throne of Egypt against her brother Ptolemy. Cleopatra valued learning and loved books. Egypt during her time housed the Great Library of Alexandria and was the learning capital in the world. Sadly, when part of library got burned when the Romans fought within the city, many manuscripts were destroyed. Some included Plato's works and manuscripts that may hold answers to many biblical questions about the Old Testaments. The burning of the great library was a terrible event for Cleopatra.
What about her lovers? Was she really a beauty? Look at the bust of her head. (this is the closest image of Cleopatra that we can refer to) She wears a simple Greek head band with not much designs. Her hair is simply tied at the back with no dangling locks to show seduction. Her hair is wavy and not straight; not the kind of style you'd likely fall in love with. Sources say her hair is reddish. She is not wearing any jewelries, and no earrings are even carved on her ears. Her nose is a bit hooked at the end and her lips are not attractive at all. This is not the portrait of a seductive goddess. Ancient sources say that Cleopatra was witty, a linguist and a great political thinker. It was her intelligence that made Roman leaders fall in love with her. It was not her beauty!
Julius Caesar was very impressed at Cleopatra's intelligence that the queen promised that she will bear the son that Caesar longed for. As an aside, How did Caesar and Cleopatra meet? Cleopatra was exiled from Alexandria and was at war with her brother, Ptolemy, when Caesar came to Egypt to reconcile them with his role as Rome, the Guardian of Egypt. For fear that Ptolemy would kill Cleopatra whenever she would show herself in the palace, Cleopatra sent her servant to Caesar to present him a rolled carpet as a gift, and which was to be presented in the presence of Caesar alone. Alone in the room with Cleopatra's servant, Caesar unrolled the rug and behold! Cleopatra emerged and was lying on the floor while the servant proclaimed to Caesar her divinity and her title as rightful queen of Egypt.
After the birth of the son of Caesar, Cleopatra and Julius had great plans for their heir that they vowed to make an empire greater than that of Alexander. With the disagreement of the Roman senate to make Caesar a dictator and the assassination of the latter, Cleopatra dared to claim part of the Roman empire since she was the mother of Caesar's heir. Marc Anthony, now in love with Cleopatra, gave her 1/3 of the Roman territories which enraged Rome. Marc Anthony, a Roman and now a follower of Cleopatra, was an enemy of Rome. War broke out between Egypt and Rome where the former lost the war at sea.

Marc Anthony stabs himself with a sword while Cleopatra commits suicide by letting a cobra, the symbol of Egypt, bite her. As the Octavius, Cleopatra and Marc Anthony's rival, arrives in time to seize the two lovers, he opens the doors of Cleopatra's quarters and sees the dead queen on a bed and dressed in royal Egyptian robes with the symbols of Egypt on her hand and her head. Two of her servants lie dead too at her side to accompany her in the afterlife. The intelligent queen who had great hopes of leading an empire now ends the reign of so many noble rulers.

This is the life of the great Cleopatra.

Source: Discovery Channel: The Great Egyptians: The Real Cleopatra
Brought to you by JR Monsale of The University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P)