Ancient Egyptian Bastet cat with earring, cast metal, patinated and partially gilded

When Alexander the Great succeeded in driving the Persians out of Egypt in 332 BC, he was celebrated as a liberator and crowned king in Memphis. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the empire disintegrated due to ongoing succession disputes until, finally, in 305 BC, Alexander's general Ptolemy secured rule over Egypt and founded a dynasty that remained in power for 300 years. With the assassination of her brother Ptolemy XIII in 48/47 BC, Cleopatra VII assumed sole power. The Roman general Julius Caesar, who had tried in vain to mediate between Cleopatra and her brother, eventually found himself in a difficult position and was forced to set fire to the Egyptian fleet anchored off Alexandria. Cleopatra bore Caesar a son, whose claim to the throne she sought to secure. After Caesar's death, she allied herself with Mark Antony, whose victories brought Egypt dominion over the Near East one last time. The conflicts with Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus, ended in defeat for Mark Antony in 31 AD. He returned to Cleopatra and together they chose to take their own lives. Thus, Egypt became a province of Rome.