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Cleopatra

The Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra is often
portrayed in movies as a woman of great
beauty. But writers of the time and portraits of
her tell a different story. Although she was pretty,
those who met her praised her mind and manner
more than her beauty.
Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C.E. in
Alexandria. At that time, the city was the capital
of Egypt. The daughters of pharaohs played as
large a role in governing as the sons did. The
children of a pharaoh married each other and
then ruled as co-pharaohs. So Cleopatra
received the same education as her male
relatives.
Her education was broad. Cleopatra studied
the classics of Greek literature. She read the
works of Herodotus and Thucydides. (These
writers are still studied today as important
thinkers.) From them she would have learned
about history, war and politics. She also learned
arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. She
practiced the art of speechmaking. She even
took courses on medicine. Her real talent,
though, lay in learning foreign languages. One
historian of the time wrote that she could speak
at least seven languages, if not more.
Alexandria was known as the most learned
city in the ancient world. In the third century
B.C.E., the famous "School of Alexandria"
thrived there. This was a group of poets, artists
and scientists. Euclid, who gave us geometry,
was part of this group. During Cleopatra's time,
scholars came from all over to study there.
Alexandria had the largest library of the ancient
world. Cleopatra was a product of this tradition
of learning.

Which of the following best summarizes the passage?

User Monu Kumar
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2 Answers

2 votes
The story is about how Cleopatra went to school and studies a variety of material and it also talked about the school she went to. 
User Protozoid
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8.2k points
5 votes

Answer: Deep inside Cleopatra's life.

Step-by-step explanation:

The short article is actually trying to portrait a different perspective about Cleopatra, different from the ones shown in movies and series which usually depict her just as a beautiful woman. This article instead, intends to show a different side of her history. Even though she was a woman, she was quite a scholar, having the opportunity to educate herself to an unbelievable level considering her time where women could have been seen as something less than men. Therefore, the text is giving Cleopatra a kind of woman pride where despite her beauty, she could haven been considered more than a "pretty face" due to all the knowldge she possesed leaving a mark in history that could be followed by women of next generations.

User Donquixote
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8.0k points