Seleucus IV Philopator

Star Wars has always fascinated me. As a small child, the lightsaber duels and Anakin and Obi-Wan captured my attention. The battles between clones and droids were exciting; the designs of the clones were sleek and robust, and the villains had mind-blowing powers. I found myself asking for countless Star Wars toys over the years; hence, I reenacted parts of the movies with my twin sister because I wanted to be like the characters: powerful like Anakin, loyal and heroic like Luke, and charming…

As a fan of Star Trek and Star Wars, both blockbuster franchises, I have heard a repeated argument between other fans who prefer one franchise over the other. Star Trek fans accuse Star Wars of being a simplistic good vs. bad story meant to appeal to everyone, while Star Wars fans consider Star Trek far too talkative, too plot driven, and loaded with technobabble. This friendly argument inadvertently touches on the essential differences between blockbuster and independent films. The studio…

In June of 323 BCE, amongst the lush vegetation, Alexander of Macedon, also known as Alexander the Great, took his last breath. You may be wondering why I am mentioning this in a paper focused on Cleopatra, but this significance of this cannot be overlooked. Simply because it would be his death and the events that happened after that led to Cleopatra taking the throne of Egypt. For 12 years, Alexander the Great, who led his first battle at 16 and became king at 20, propelled into the world and…