Cleopatra VII was the last Greek pharaoh and the only one who learned the Egyptian language.She was the most famous ao all the formidable Ptolemaic women who ruled Egypt,her twenty-one-year reign (51-30BCE) briefly restored the country's greatness in the face of Roman aggresion.Her suicide marked the end of Egypt's self- government and is often taken as the notional end of ancient Egypt.The Roman Portraits (left) on coffins became more lifelike during the Roman period. Artists mixed paint with melted beeswax to brighten the colors.
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