Cleopatra was - ethnically - more or less Greek (or Macedonian, depending whom you ask, hahaz), and the cultural and political events that led to her rulership are tied to the events of Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic era. She was descended from the Ptolemy dynasty; Ptolemy being a cousin of Alexander the Great, who, as we are told too many times, conquered all the way from the Greek penninsula to northern India. After his death, Alexanders empire fractured. The Ptolemies maintained their rulership of Egypt into the Roman period. It is however, also important to understand that Cleopatra appears to have felt very strongly that she was truly an Egyptian queen, and not a vestige of foreign occupation. She spoke seven languages (I believe, don't quote me on the exact number) - Egyptian important among them, and seems to have cared a great deal about the well-being and cultural autonomy of Egypt (despite the enormous influx of Graeco-Roman influences).
