1. Download Sierra's old strategy game, Pharaoh, for free on this page. In the game, Pharaoh you'll going to walk and build as an Egyptian. The game is somewhat like Civilization but with focus on Egypt instead of the whole World.
2. Cleopatra: Official Pharaoh Expantion 2.1 Update (cleopatra21) (ZIP file) 684 KB This will update Cleopatra to verion 2.1. Please view the patch readme.txt for details on what the update fixes.

• Pharaoh Cleopatra Game Guide
• Pharaoh Cleopatra For Mac Os

Pharaoh is a city building simulation game set in the ancient Egypt, developed by Impressions Games and published by Sierra Entertainment in 1999 for Windows. The game uses the Caesar III engine, with a 2D isometric view, and it allows players to manage the creation of cities, the growth of the population, taking care of the health and protection of citizens at the times of the ancient Egypt.

Pharaoh is an isometriccity-building game that was released on October 31, 1999, created by Impressions Games and published by Sierra Studios, for Microsoft Windows. Using the same game engine and principles of Caesar III (also by Sierra Entertainment), it is the first such game in Sierra's City Building series to focus on another civilization of ancient times. Players oversee the construction and management of cities and settlements in Ancient Egypt, micro-managing every aspect of the city to ensure citizens are fed, employed, healthy and protected from diseases, disasters and wars. An expansion pack, Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile, was released in 2000 by BreakAway Games. In 2001, both the game and expansion pack were bundled together as Pharaoh Gold.^[1] In August 2020, a remake titled Pharaoh: A New Era was announced by Triskell Interactive and Dotemu to be released in 2021.

Gameplay[edit]

Pharaoh is played from a two-dimensionalisometric perspective; the magnification level is fixed, but the viewing angle can be changed at 90-degree angles, either counter-clockwise or clockwise. Much of the control is managed through the mouse and keyboard shortcuts, in an interface system similar to that of Caesar III. Many buttons exist for different types of construction like housing and roads, viewing messages, undoing mistakes, cycling through trouble spots, a map of Ancient Egypt and the surrounding regions, a group of advisors (called Overseers) who provide information on the city's development and any problems encountered, and in-game overlays that detail issues and the fulfillment of housing's demands. All aspects of city life, such as housing, religion, warfare and trade, are designed carefully to closely reflect that of actual Ancient Egyptian cities of the time, including the goods and services available. Names of various pharaohs are used with the appearance of historical characters from Egypt's ancient history, and limited encyclopedic information about ancient Egyptian practices is provided in the game's help menu and instruction booklet. While the game uses the deben as its currency, no standardized metal currency is known to have been used in Ancient Egypt. Although the puzzle-like aspect of Pharaoh keeps the simulation far from realistic, the game stays true to the chronological order and timing of major events in the history of Egypt, including monument construction, wars and national disasters, the births and deaths of notable leaders, and the founding and fall of ancient cities.

Game modes[edit]

The game features two modes of play – campaign and free-build. In campaign mode, players focus on establishing cities during different periods of Ancient Egypt, initially working on nomad settlements, before being entrusted with building up trade centres, grand cities and monuments for various Ancient Egyptian leaders. As campaign mode progresses, players earn promotions until they become the Pharaoh themselves. Players operate in five periods of Ancient Egyptian history (six with the inclusion of Cleopatra), with the first period acting as a basic tutorial. In later periods, players get a choice between two missions, usually peaceful and military alternatives, but only one of the two needs to be completed to move on in the campaign.

In free-build mode, players are given a choice of around a dozen standalone scenarios. Some do not have win conditions, allowing open-ended 'sandbox' city-building, whereas others present goals to attain. A map editor is provided with the game to facilitate the creation of user-designed scenarios for this mode.

Gameplay elements[edit]

Pharaoh simulates many aspects of Egyptian life and city management. While many of the elements of the game, from housing to industry, are borrowed from Caesar III, the game distinguishes itself with differences and new features.^[2] For example, after housing plots are designated, immigrants can move into them and build their residences. Housing will automatically be improved, including in appearance, when demands for goods, services and desirable surroundings are fulfilled.^[2] While Population, Prosperity and Culture are retained in the game, Favor is renamed as 'Kingdom' and maintains the same function in that the score is based upon the ruling Pharaoh's view on a player's performance. Peace is replaced with a new goal, 'Monument', which focuses on a player's efforts to establish the monuments needed within their city; players will usually be given the knowledge of the monuments they need to build during a briefing of their next mission.

In terms of farming, floodplain farms are a new feature built near the Nile River.^[2] A further addition is the use of Irrigation Ditches to increase the fertility of farmland. Fishers operate in boats, usually situated in the Nile. Hunting is a new feature in Pharaoh; animals to be hunted are present on the game map. A wide variety of raw materials and manufactured goods are available in Pharaoh. Materials include clay, which is manufactured into pottery; reeds, which are manufactured into papyrus;^[3] and various types of stone.^[4] Both raw materials and goods can be traded with other cities in exchange for currency. On some city maps, the raw materials necessary to produce certain goods are unavailable, so importing sometimes expensive materials is necessary. Exports are often necessary to produce money for city finances.^[2]

Much like the Senate building of Caesar III, the palace operates as the main treasury of the city. While architects operate out of their own building like Caesar III, fire and crime prevention are done by two separate buildings and walkers – firehouses and fire marshals, and police stations and constables. Players may also build Courthouses. Another new feature to the series, monuments from Ancient Egyptian history can be built on a variety of missions. Such projects require various worker facilities and building materials^[3] and, unlike most other buildings, take time to be built.^[4]

The game has five gods to appease, who each focus on a different aspect of the city – Ra (the kingdom), Bast (the home), Osiris (agriculture), Ptah (industry) and Seth (warfare). Each city is given one or several of the gods to worship: one is the patron god of the city, while the others are local deities. Players can construct shrines, temples or temple complexes to appease the gods. Like in Caesar III, the gods bestow gifts when they are appeased and disasters when they are angered, depending on their focus; for example, Osiris can improve the flooding of the Nile and increase crop yields, but can also decrease the quality of the Nile's annual flooding.^[3]

Fighting Egypt's enemies is a secondary element of the game.^[2]Pharaoh features three different unit types: infantry, archers and chariot riders. A player's city can be attacked by enemy forces, usually multiple times over the course of a mission. Troops can also be sent to help fellow Egyptian armies in battles outside the city. A new feature to Pharaoh is naval combat. Players have access to two types of ships – transports, which ferry ground troops across water, and warships, which fight enemy ships that arrive in the region.^[5]

The game also leaves out certain aspects from Caesar III, such as large bridges and inability to traverse large bodies of water other than by ferry.^[2][4]

Reception[edit]

Critical reception[edit]

Daniel Erickson reviewed the PC version of the game for Next Generation, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that 'Pyramid building and floodplain management come together for a brilliant city builder.'^[8]

Pharaoh garnered mainly positive reviews, with an average rating of 82.45% on GameRankings.^[6]

Sales[edit]

In the German market, Pharaoh debuted at #4 on Media Control's computer game sales charts in the second half of November 1999.^[10] It had spent six weeks in the top rankings by the end of the year, with a fifth-place finish in December.^[11] The following year, Pharaoh continued at #5 in January and secured sixth for February.^[12] In April 2000, the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) presented the game with a 'Gold' award,^[13] indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.^[14] It remained in Media Control's top 10 by August 2000,^[15] and in the top 20 through November. By that time, Pharaoh had held in the firm's top 30 for 13 months.^[16]

Pharaoh became a worldwide hit. According to MeriStation, its combined global sales with Caesar III surpassed 1 million units by July 2000.^[17]

Expansion pack[edit]

The game was complemented with an expansion pack called Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile, developed by BreakAway Games the following year, which extended the game's main campaign into the Hellenistic period. Both the original game and expansion pack are commonly referred to, and may be purchased as one, under the title Pharaoh and Cleopatra.^[18]

Remake[edit]

A remake titled Pharaoh: A New Era was announced in August 2020 by Triskell Interactive and Dotemu to be released in 2021. This remake will feature new code for modern computer systems and an updated user interface, as well as new gameplay modes including a sandbox mode, but will include the campaign modes from both Pharaoh and the Cleopatra expansion.^[19][20]

References[edit]

1. ^'The Sierra Chest – Pharaoh Gold'. Sierra Entertainment.
2. ^ ^abcdefgDulin, Ron (2 May 2000). 'Pharaoh Review'. GameSpot. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
3. ^ ^abcdWard, Trent (12 November 1999). 'Pharaoh Review'. IGN. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
4. ^ ^abcdUdell, Scott (23 December 1999). 'Pharaoh'. Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on 1 April 2005.
5. ^Gagnon, Lisa. 'Pharaoh'(PDF). Sierra Studios.
6. ^ ^ab'Pharaoh for PC'. GameRankings. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
7. ^Carter, Tim (February 2000). 'Jewel of the Nile'. Computer Gaming World (187): 124.
8. ^ ^abErickson, Daniel (February 2000). 'Finals'. Next Generation. Vol. 3 no. 2. Imagine Media. p. 104.
9. ^Bub, Andrew S. 'Pharaoh'. PC Gamer US. Archived from the original on 29 March 2008.
10. ^Staff (February 2000). 'Aktuell; Spiele-Charts'. PC Player: 40.
11. ^'CD-ROM Spiele über DM 55,--; Stand 2. Hälfte Dezember 1999' (in German). Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland. Archived from the original on 21 May 2000. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
12. ^Staff (May 2000). 'Aktuell; Spiele-Charts'. PC Player (in German): 32.
13. ^'VUD Sales Awards: April 2000' (Press release). Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland. Archived from the original on 22 April 2003. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
14. ^Horn, Andre (14 January 2004). 'VUD-Gold-Awards 2003'. GamePro Germany. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018.
15. ^'Stand: September 2000' (in German). Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland. Archived from the original on 24 October 2000. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
16. ^'Stand: November 2000' (in German). Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland. Archived from the original on 9 December 2000. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
17. ^'Últimas noticias de Impressions Games, los padres de Faraón' [Latest news from Impressions Games, Pharaoh's creators]. MeriStation. 7 July 2000. Archived from the original on 27 October 2004. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
18. ^'Pharaoh: Cleopatra Queen of the Nile Expansion'. sierra.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2008. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
19. ^Bell, Alice (27 August 2020). 'Rejoice! Absolute classic citybuilder Pharaoh is getting a remake next year'. Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
20. ^Kim, Matt T.M. (27 August 2020). 'Pharaoh: A New Era Is a Full Remake of the 1999 City Building Game'. IGN. Retrieved 31 August 2020.

External links[edit]

• Pharaoh at MobyGames
• Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile at MobyGames
• Pharaoh Heaven – A fan site

Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator The Last Pharaoh 51–30 BC

Birth Name: Cleopatra netjeret mer-it-es “Goddess Beloved of Her Father”

Historical accounts of Cleopatra tell of a beautiful, highly educated woman who was schooled in physics, alchemy, and astronomy, and could speak many languages. Her voice, said the Greek biographer Plutarch, “was like an instrument of many strings, which could pass from one language to another.”

Cleopatra was of Macedonian descent and not a native Egyptian. She was the second daughter of King Ptolemy XII and the last sovereign of her dynasty, which had been founded by Alexander’s general, Ptolemy, in 326 BC. She came to power in 51 BC, at the age of seventeen, and was married to her eldest brother, Ptolemy XIII. He attempted to murder her and seize power for himself but she escaped safely into Syria and later returned with an army.

Either Cleopatra or Ptolemy could gain a decisive advantage until the Romans entered the picture. Egypt was the largest supplier of grain to Rome and so that the grain supply was not disrupted it was vital that the country be politically stable. However, Cleopatra and Ptolemy’s struggle for power coincided with the Roman generals Pompey and Caesar’s own rivalry and, after his defeat at the battle of Pharsalus, Pompey fled to Egypt hoping to seek sanctuary.

Ptolemy miscalculated; he hoped to please Caesar by having Pompey beheaded, but Caesar was sickened by the dishonorable manner of Pompey death and sided with Cleopatra. Ptolemy then attacked the small Roman garrison on the Island of Pharos, intending to drive Caesar out of Egypt.

Caesar set fire to the Egyptian fleet in the harbor but the flames spread to the city and the great library, which held over a million unique books, the largest collection in the ancient world. It was destroyed, Ptolemy was drowned during the battle and Cleopatra became the undisputed ruler of Egypt.

Caesar was the dictator of Rome, and although Egypt was rich, Rome was a world military power. This fact wasn’t lost on Cleopatra, so she pursued the great man. For his part, Caesar needed money and Egypt could supply his needs. So, out of both a strong personal attraction and mutual interest, the two became lovers. Together, they sailed up the Nile visiting the ancient monuments, and Caesar was fascinated by ancient Egypt whose history was, at that time, over two thousand four hundred years older than Rome’s.

Eventually, Caesar returned to Rome leaving Cleopatra pregnant. She gave birth, in 46 BC, to a boy whom she called Caesarion and in 45 BC, she visited Rome. Her wealth and sophistication caused jealousy among the Roman nobility and the Senate became suspicious of Caesar’s intentions, believing that he wanted to make himself a king so they murdered him.

Cleopatra’s hopes of influence and power were dashed when Caesar was assassinated. She returned to Egypt where she concentrated on building up the economy and consolidating her power. Her first act was to have her younger brother poisoned so that she could elevate her son, Caesarion, in his place.

In 42 BC, at the Battle of Philippi, Caesar’s assassins were routed and the Roman Empire was divided between Mark Antony and Caesar’s great-nephew Octavian. Octavian ruled in the West and Mark Antony took charge of the Eastern Empire where he planned an invasion of Persia. But he needed money for this venture and saw the wealth of Egypt as the key to success so he sent a message for Cleopatra to meet him at the city of Tarsus in Asia Minor.

She was delighted because here was a second chance to achieve her ambition of making Egypt a great power again. She had known Mark Antony when he’d been a young staff officer in Egypt with Caesar and now, age of twenty eight, she was completely confident in her powers. She delayed her departure, took her time, then sailed into Tarsus in a great golden barge and entered the city in an extravagant show of style loaded with gifts.

Antony was so captivated by her that he decided to put off his Parthian campaign; he returned to Alexandria with Cleopatra, where he lived a life of pleasure until in 40 BC when he return to Italy, where he concluded an agreement with Octavian over power sharing. As part of this settlement he married Octavian’s sister, Octavia.

Three years later Antony once again took up his postponed Parthian campaign and needed money so he returned to Cleopatra to get finance for the campaign, which ultimately ended in failure.

Meanwhile, Octavian regarded Antony and his Egyptian power base as a threat to Rome’s dominance of the Mediterranean world and he waged a propaganda campaign against Antony. Antony made what was to prove a fatal step; he married Cleopatra. The union was an insult to his wife Octavia and her brother Octavian, but even worse, the marriage united all of Rome against him.

During Antony’s absence, Cleopatra had made her own critical mistake in foreign policy towards Herod of Judaea. Herod and Antony were old friends but Cleopatra tried, unsuccessfully, to seduce Herod on his way through Egypt. Her vanity got the better of her and she never forgave him for the rejection.

She later persuaded Antony to give her large portions of Syria and Lebanon and even tried to get the rich balsam groves of Jericho, part of Herod’s own kingdom. However, Antony refused to give her Jericho, which only inflamed her hatred of Herod. She then interfered in Herod’s unhappy family affairs by conspiring against him with the women in his household. This act came back to haunt her; when she needed Herod’s help against Rome, he would not give it.

In 34 AD, Antony celebrated a great triumph in Alexandria. The crowds saw Antony and Cleopatra seated on golden thrones with their own three children and Julius Caesar’s son, Caesarion. Antony proclaimed Caesarion to be Caesar’s son, thus diminishing Octavian’s status as Caesar’s adopted heir. Octavian responded by confiscating Antony’s will from the temple of the Vestal Virgins in Rome, to whom it had been entrusted. He then leaked its contents to the Roman people, who were outraged at Antony’s plans to bequeath his Roman possessions to this foreign woman and to transfer the capital from Rome to Alexandria.

The Roman Senate finally declared war against Cleopatra and on September 2, 31 BC, at the naval Battle of Actium, Octavian defeated the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra.

Pharaoh Cleopatra Game Guide

Cleopatra fled with her forces at the height of the battle. When it really mattered, her judgment was questionable and this fact, along with Antony’s reckless, drunken behavior, doomed them to failure against the cold, calculating Octavian.

Cleopatra retreated to her mausoleum and had a message sent to Antony saying she was dead. He was so devastated he committed suicide by falling on his sword.

Octavian eventually entered Egypt, and Cleopatra tried once again to captivate the most important Roman but Octavian was not moved. He wanted to embellish his triumph by having her and her children dragged through the streets of Rome in chains. Rather than suffer such humiliation she sent him a letter asking that she might be buried with Antony, and then committed suicide by allowing a snake to bite her. Plutarch describes the scene, saying that she was found “stone dead, lying upon a bed of gold, set out in all her royal ornaments.”

Cleopatra was thirty-nine when she died in 30 BC. She’d been a queen for twenty two years and was buried with her lover, Antony. Her high ambitions together with her arrogance ruined Egypt’s future prospects of independence. While she might have of achieved client status for Egypt within the Roman Empire, her utter failure condemned her country to becoming a mere province of Rome. And yet, this extraordinary woman is one of the most famous in history. Together with Caesar, Antony, and Octavian (who later became the Emperor Augustus), she played a crucial part in shaping the affairs of western civilization and the course of history. The Greek historian Dio Cassius said of Cleopatra, “She captivated the two greatest Romans of her day, and because of the third she destroyed herself.”

Ancient Egyptian Anecdotes

The Ancient Egyptians in their own words

Illustrated Papyri translations edited for the modern reader.

Pharaoh Cleopatra For Mac Os