The question of Cleopatra VII's ethnic identity has become politically fraught in ways that the historical question doesn't really merit. What the evidence shows is fairly clear: she was Macedonian Greek by descent, the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty founded by one of Alexander's generals.

What is genuinely interesting is that Cleopatra VII was, according to ancient sources, the first Ptolemaic ruler to actually learn to speak Egyptian — remarkable given that her dynasty had ruled Egypt for three centuries. Plutarch lists it as evidence of her intellectual gifts and political acuity.

Her policy was essentially what any ruler in her position would pursue: survival through alliance. The alliances with Caesar and then Antony were calculated bids to maintain Ptolemaic independence against Roman absorption. They nearly worked. The tragedy of Actium was that she backed the losing side in a Roman civil war.

The 'oriental seductress' framing is Roman propaganda developed by Antony's political enemies and amplified by Augustan writers. It tells us far more about Roman gender anxiety than about Cleopatra.