with its militarism, but the overall state of affairs is far removed from the Republican restraint. Indeed, the Rome of "Antony and Cleopatra" is a city given to dancing in "Egyptian bacchanals" and even eating "Egyptian cookery." The cultural fascination with Egypt is depicted as a source of Roman weakness. Rome is represented as being all too prone to the charms of Egypt, as represented by Cleopatra. Egypt is a cipher for decadence, sensuality, and languid passivity, whereas Rome is a cipher for declining greatness, overbearing pride, and a lapse in the discipline requisite for being the rulers of the world.

In this play, Rome represents the world of the rational, the logical, the carefully practical, and the puritanical. It is the world of the strong, heroic male warrior. Egypt, on the other hand, symbolizes the land of sensuous pleasure, of the irrational, the enchanting, and the deceptive. As Antony is seduced by this feminine world, whose chief representative is the queen, Cleopatra, he loses power as a warrior. He is symbolically held by Cleopatra in "strong Egyptian fetters" (Act I, scene ii) that he cannot break, even after his marriage to Octavia. He has become a "strumpet's fool," (Act 1, scene 1) losing his Roman discipline and clearheadedness in the process. Cleopatra's power over him represents the disorder and sensuous intoxication of Egypt.

If Antony is enslaved by everything Egypt symbolizes—passion, pomp, luxury, ease, and beauty—Octavius Caesar embodies the rigid duty and austerity that Rome symbolizes. As a dedicated warrior, he would drink, if necessary, "the stale [urine] of horses," (Act I, scene iv), he attacks his enemies only when he cold-bloodedly calculates that he can win, and he manages his supplies with careful frugality, thinking it a "waste" to offer his army a feast (Act IV, scene i). He, like Rome, represents the logical, the hardheaded, and the practical.

In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare presents a contrast between Western civilization, represented by Rome and symbolized by Octavius Caesar, and Eastern civilization, represented by Egypt and symbolized by Cleopatra.

Most Elizabethans had little more than a passing familiarity with Rome, Roman history, or Roman culture, and very few had any acquaintance with or understanding of Eastern cultures, particularly Egyptian culture at the time of Antony and Cleopatra in 41–30 BCE.

Shakespeare's audience believed what he told them about Rome and about Egypt, even if what he told them was historically inaccurate or pure fiction. Shakespeare is much more concerned with dramatic effect than with historical accuracy. His history plays provide ample evidence of that. Where history lack drama, Shakespeare provides it. Where history lacks an event to dramatize, Shakespeare makes one up.

In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare depicts the Western civilization of Rome in terms of duty, responsibility, reason, respectability, discipline, and order. He depicts Cleopatra's Egypt in terms of leisure, pleasure, sensual indulgence, and passion, and as separate from and indifferent to world affairs.

In the first scene of the play, Antony is shown to disdain the problems of the world—Rome in particular—and to embrace the Eastern pleasure culture.

A messenger arrives from Rome, and Antony has no interest in listening to his messages. Antony acts as if the messenger is intruding on his life, and lets the messenger know how he feels about having to deal with problems in Rome.

ANTONY. Let Rome in Tiber melt and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall. (1.1.38–39)

Later in the scene, Antony shows the extent to which he embraces the Egyptian love of pleasure.

ANTONY. But stirred by Cleopatra.
Now for the love of Love and her soft hours,
Let’s not confound the time with conference harsh.
There’s not a minute of our lives should stretch
Without some pleasure now. (1.1.50–54)

This theme of the clash of cultures recurs throughout the play. Antony is caught between these two extremes, torn between his duty to Rome and his passion for Cleopatra. Antony is as culturally out of place in Cleopatra's world as Cleopatra is out of place in Antony's world. Nevertheless, Cleopatra tries to accommodate Antony's duty to Rome and the Roman culture, and Antony tries to reconcile his duty to Rome with his love for Cleopatra and her culture.

Ultimately, though, both Antony and Cleopatra lose everything, including their lives, because no matter how much they love each other, they simply aren't able to live in each other's world.

You need to know a little about Egyptian history and the history of the Roman Empire.

As the Roman Empire expanded throughout the world, Egypt became one of the many countries taken over by Rome. Augustus established Roman rule in Egypt in 30 B.C. Egypt was an extremely rich country, very fertile, so many nations wanted to conquer her. Because of the Nile River Valley, Egypt was the major supplier of grain for Rome.

Cleopatra was queen of Egypt before it was taken over by Rome. The historian Plutarch wrote a lot about her, from which Shakespeare got his information. Her character in the play is different from the real Cleopatra, who was well-educated and wise, not the emotional and flighty drama queen you see in the play. Cleopatra was from the Ptolemaic dynasty (her father was named Ptolemy, as well as her brothers). She ruled Egypt with her two brothers at first – she even married one of them – but she was able to wrest sole power from them eventually. In order to keep this power, she formed an alliance with Julius Caesar to strengthen her claim to the throne of Egypt. After Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, she formed an alliance with Mark Antony against Octavian (Augustus) Caesar, Julius Caesar’s heir. There actually was an historical battle between Egypt and Rome. Egypt was defeated, as in the play, and became part of the Roman Empire. Mark Antony really did commit suicide after losing the battle, as did Cleopatra later, same as in the play. Although Mark Antony was a Roman, he fought against Rome (Octavian/Augustus), aligned with his lover, Cleopatra.

Read about the play here on eNotes.