Ancient Egyptian Bastet Cat with Earring, Metal Casting, 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 constant succession disputes until Alexander's general Ptolemy secured control of Egypt in 305 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 government power. The Roman general Julius Caesar, who had tried in vain to mediate between Cleopatra and her brother, finally found himself in trouble and was forced to set fire to the Egyptian fleet anchored near 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 Middle East for the last time. The conflict with Octavian, later Emperor Augustus, ended in defeat for Mark Antony in 31 AD. He returned to Cleopatra and, together with her, chose suicide. Thus, Egypt became a province of Rome.