Undoubtably the most famous depiction of Cleopatra is Elizabeth Taylor’s in the 1963 American/British/Swiss epic, but history’s most famous female leader’s outings haven’t been confined to the big screen.
In addition to appearances on TV, for instance in Rome where she was played by Lyndsey Marshal, she’s also made the leap into the world of gaming.
One of her first appearances was Sid Meier’s Civilization II, the 1996 sequel to Meier’s hugely popular original turn-based strategy game which allowed players to step into the shows of great leaders and build a mighty empire.
Players who encountered Cleopatra’s Egypt quickly learnt that this was a woman not to be underestimated.
She returned as a playable leader in both the 2001 follow-up Civilization III and 2008 console game, Civilization Revolution.
Between appearances in the Civilization franchise, Cleopatra also popped up in Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, is mentioned in the backstory of Assassin’s Creed II and makes an appearance in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, the game based on the so-so film of the same name.
She also headlined an expansion pack, Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile, for Sierra Entertainment’s 1999 Pharaoh and a gigantic Queen Cleopatra and her lover Mark Antony also appear in the 2010 Electronic Arts game, Dante’s Inferno.
The resonance of her name has also seen her attached to online games, including 888games’s Cleopatra Slots.
Here at seenit we’re hoping the warrior queen might yet return to the Civ universe, ready to tangle with her fellow despots all over again.