Femme Fatale

The Czech Mint commemorates the antiquity by the fourth issue from the Fateful Women cycle. A gold coin weighing one troy ounce was dedicated to Cleopatra, the female ruler of the Nile.

Egyptian queen Cleopatra of the Greek-Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty entered history as a charismatic woman who charmed the most powerful men of ancient history. She ensured country's sovereignty and independence from the almighty Rome. Later, however, her decisions brought the millennial Egyptian empire to ruin. Even though she was often portrayed as a beautiful and fragile vamp woman that was admired by Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius, in fact, it was also her intellect that she used to achieve political goals. Compared to her ancestors, she considered herself an Egyptian rather than Greek. She was educated in mathematics, philosophy, or astronomy, and spoke many languages. She revived the ancient Egyptian traditions, raised the Nile economy and did not hesitate to command the war fleet. Her death had become as legendary as her life — she preferred snake bite to humiliation of conqueror Octavian. The mighty Egypt died along with Cleopatra and became a mere Roman province…

The reverse side of the commemorative coin was processed by Vojtěch Dostál, DiS., and it is dominated by Cleopatra's portrait. The queen's charm is underlined by the characteristic make-up and exotic hairstyle that became a fashion hit of the ancient world during Cleopatra's stay in Rome. The inscription CLEOPATRA is witty - the letters A are in the form of Egyptian pyramids. The obverse side of the coin bears the nominal value of 50 DOLLARS (NZD), the name and the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II., together with the year of the issue 2019, which means the attributes of the island of Niue, which provides the Czech Mint with a foreign license to issue its own commemorative coins.

The Fateful Women cycle will continue in 2020 - it will return to Bohemia and commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Božena Němcová.