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On August 12, 30 BC, Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, the last ruler of the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty, commited suicide allegedly by inducing an asp to bite her. An excerpt from the article:
"Death
After suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Roman rival Octavian, Mark Antony, believing Cleopatra to be dead, killed himself. Cleopatra followed by also committing suicide, supposedly by being bitten by an asp, although the truth is unknown. After her death on August 12, 30 B.C., Cleopatra was buried alongside Antony in a yet to be discovered location. Following Cleopatra's death, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire.
Legacy
In the centuries since her reign, the life of Cleopatra has captivated historians, storytellers and the general public. Her story resonates because of what she represented in such a male-dominated society; in an era when Egypt was roiled by internal and external battles, Cleopatra held the country together and proved to be as powerful a leader as any of her male counterparts.
Children
In 47 B.C., Cleopatra bore Caesar a son, whom she named Caesarion. However, Caesar never acknowledged the boy was his offspring, and historical debate continues over whether he was indeed his father. Later, she had three children with Antony: twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene and another son, Ptolemy Philadelphus.
Movies and Shakespeare Play
The saga of Cleopatra's life, rife with political ambition and romantic intrigue, has been the subject of many dramatic retellings over the years. Its most famous big screen incarnation was the acclaimed and wildly expensive 1963 feature Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor as the Egyptian queen. Previous versions include a 1917 film, starring Theda Bara, and a 1934 production, with Claudette Colbert.
Her affair with Rome's Mark Antony also inspired a famous play by William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, which was first performed in 1607."
"Death
After suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Roman rival Octavian, Mark Antony, believing Cleopatra to be dead, killed himself. Cleopatra followed by also committing suicide, supposedly by being bitten by an asp, although the truth is unknown. After her death on August 12, 30 B.C., Cleopatra was buried alongside Antony in a yet to be discovered location. Following Cleopatra's death, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire.
Legacy
In the centuries since her reign, the life of Cleopatra has captivated historians, storytellers and the general public. Her story resonates because of what she represented in such a male-dominated society; in an era when Egypt was roiled by internal and external battles, Cleopatra held the country together and proved to be as powerful a leader as any of her male counterparts.
Children
In 47 B.C., Cleopatra bore Caesar a son, whom she named Caesarion. However, Caesar never acknowledged the boy was his offspring, and historical debate continues over whether he was indeed his father. Later, she had three children with Antony: twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene and another son, Ptolemy Philadelphus.
Movies and Shakespeare Play
The saga of Cleopatra's life, rife with political ambition and romantic intrigue, has been the subject of many dramatic retellings over the years. Its most famous big screen incarnation was the acclaimed and wildly expensive 1963 feature Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor as the Egyptian queen. Previous versions include a 1917 film, starring Theda Bara, and a 1934 production, with Claudette Colbert.
Her affair with Rome's Mark Antony also inspired a famous play by William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, which was first performed in 1607."
Cleopatra VII
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Cleopatra: Ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt
Cleopatra VII is one of the most famous women who has ever lived. Her story has inspired poets, dramatists, and artists for more than 2,000 years. Through cu...
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for reminding us that on "August 12, 30 BC, Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, the last ruler of the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty, committed suicide allegedly by inducing an asp to bite her.
Images:
1. Cleopatra VI's death painted by Reginald Arthur
2. Cleopatra VII silver tetradrachm, 1st century BC.
3. Silver Tetradrachm portraying Antony and Cleopatra photo by Sailko
4. Bust of Cleopatra VII.
Cleopatra: Ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt
Cleopatra VII is one of the most famous women who has ever lived. Her story has inspired poets, dramatists, and artists for more than 2,000 years. Through cunning and guile, she survived to rule Egypt as all of her siblings perished by the wayside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzkozy31Z4w
Background from {[https://www.ancient.eu/Cleopatra_VII/]}
Cleopatra VII
by Joshua J. Mark published on 30 October 2018
Cleopatra VII (l.c. 69-30 BCE, r. 51-30 BCE) was the last ruler of Egypt before it was annexed as a province of Rome. Although arguably the most famous Egyptian queen, Cleopatra was actually Greek and a member of the Ptolemaic Dynasty (323-30 BCE) which ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great (l. 356-323 BCE). Cleopatra is probably best known for her love affair with the Roman general and statesman Mark Antony (l. 83-30 BCE) as well as her earlier affair with Julius Caesar (l. 100-44 BCE) but was a powerful queen before her interaction with either and a much stronger monarch than any of the latter Ptolemaic Dynasty.
Cleopatra was fluent in a number of languages, is reported to have been extremely charming, and was an effective diplomat and administrator. Her involvement with both Caesar and Mark Antony came about after she had already successfully ruled and steered Egypt through a difficult period. Her affair with Antony brought her into direct conflict with Octavian Caesar (later known as Augustus Caesar, r. 27 BCE-14 CE) who was Antony's brother-in-law. Octavian would defeat Cleopatra and Antony and the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE, ending her reign. She and Antony would then both commit suicide the following year and Octavian would found the Roman Empire and relegate Cleopatra to a minor chapter in Rome's past. Scholar Stacy Schiff comments:
The rewriting of history began almost immediately. Not only did Mark Antony disappear from the [official] record, but Actium wondrously transformed itself into a major engagement, a resounding victory, a historical turning point. It went from an end to a beginning. Augustus had rescued the country from great peril. (297)
The Roman historians seized on the concept of the seductive woman from the East who had threatened Rome and paid the price. This image of Cleopatra has, unfortunately, remained through the intervening centuries and only in the last century have scholarly attempts been made to portray her in a more realistic, and flattering, light.
Youth & succession
In June of 323 BCE, Alexander the Great died and his vast empire was divided among his generals. One of these generals was Ptolemy I Soter (r. 323-282 BCE), a fellow Macedonian, who would found the Ptolemaic Dynasty in ancient Egypt. The Ptolemaic line, of Macedonian-Greek ethnicity, would continue to rule Egypt until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BCE when it was taken by Rome. Ptolemy I, Ptolemy II (r.285-246 BCE), and Ptolemy III (r.246-222 BCE) governed Egypt well but after them their successors ruled poorly until Cleopatra came to the throne. In fact, the difficulties she had to overcome were primarily the legacy of her predecessors.
Cleopatra VII Philopator was born in 69 BCE and ruled jointly with her father, Ptolemy XII Auletes. When she was 18 years old, her father died, leaving her the throne. Because Egyptian tradition held that a woman needed a male consort to reign, her twelve-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII, was ceremonially married to her. Cleopatra soon dropped his name from all official documents, however, and ruled alone.
The Ptolemies, insisting on Macedonian-Greek superiority, had ruled in Egypt for centuries without ever learning the Egyptian language or embracing the customs. Cleopatra, however, was fluent in Egyptian, eloquent in her native Greek, and proficient in other languages as well. Because of this, she was able to communicate easily with diplomats from other countries without the need of a translator and, shortly after assuming the throne, without bothering to hear the counsel of her advisors on matters of state. Schiff notes how, "Cleopatra had the gift of languages and glided easily among them" (160). Plutarch, from whose works Schiff draws this observation, writes:
It was a pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another; so that there were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by an interpreter. (Lives, Antony and Cleopatra, Ch. 8)
Her habit of making decisions and acting on them without the counsel of the members of her court upset some of the high ranking officials. One example of this was when Roman mercenary lieutenants employed by the Ptolemaic crown murdered the sons of the Roman governor of Syria to prevent them from requesting her assistance. She immediately arrested the lieutenants responsible and turned them over to the aggrieved father for punishment.
In spite of her many achievements, her court was not pleased with her independent attitude. In 48 BCE her chief advisor, Pothinus, along with another, Theodotus of Chios, and the General Achillas, overthrew her and placed Ptolemy XIII on the throne, believing him to be easier to control than his sister. Cleopatra and her half-sister, Arsinoe, fled to Thebaid for safety.
Pompey, Caesar & The Coming of Rome
At about this same time the Roman general and politician, Pompey the Great, was defeated by Julius Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus. Pompey was the state-appointed guardian over the younger Ptolemy children and, on his campaigns, had spent considerable time in Egypt. Believing he would be welcomed by friends, Pompey fled from Pharsalus to Egypt but, instead of finding sanctuary, was murdered under the gaze of Ptolemy XIII as he came on shore at Alexandria.
Caesar’s army was numerically inferior to Pompey’s and it was believed that Caesar’s stunning victory meant that the gods favoured him over Pompey. Further, it seemed to make more sense to Ptolemy XIII’s advisor Pothinus to align the young king with the future of Rome rather than the past.
Upon arriving in Egypt with his legions, in pursuit of Pompey, Caesar was allegedly outraged that Pompey had been killed, declared martial law, and set himself up in the royal palace. Ptolemy XIII fled to Pelusium with his court. Caesar, however, was not about to let the young ruler slip away to foment trouble and had him brought back to Alexandria.
Cleopatra was still in exile and knew there was no way she could simply walk into the palace unmolested. Recognizing in Caesar her chance to regain power, she is said to have had herself rolled in a rug, ostensibly a gift for the Roman general, and carried through the enemy lines. Plutarch tells the story:
Cleopatra, taking only one of her friends with her (Apollodorus the Sicilian), embarked in a small boat and landed at the palace when it was already getting dark. Since there seemed to be no other way of getting in unobserved, she stretched herself out at full length inside a sleeping bag and Apollodorus, after tying up the bag, carried it indoors to Caesar. This little trick of Cleopatra's, which first showed her provocative impudence, is said to have been the first thing about her which captivated Caesar. (Lives, Caesar, Ch. 49)
She and Caesar seemed to strike up an instant affinity for each other and, by the next morning when Ptolemy XIII arrived to meet with Caesar, Cleopatra and Caesar were already lovers. The young pharaoh was outraged.
Cleopatra & Julius Caesar
Ptolemy XIII turned to his general Achillas for support and war broke out in Alexandria between Caesar’s legions and the Egyptian army. Caesar and Cleopatra were besieged in the royal palace for six months until Roman reinforcements were able to arrive and break the Egyptian lines. It is at this time, according to some historians, that the great library at Alexandria was accidentally burned, though this claim has been challenged.
Before the Roman victory over Ptolemy XIII, however, Cleopatra’s half-sister, Arsinoe, who had returned with her, fled the palace for Achillas’ camp and had herself proclaimed queen in Cleopatra’s place. Ptolemy XIII drowned in the Nile attempting to escape after the battle and the other leaders of the coup against Cleopatra were killed in battle or shortly afterwards. Arsinoe was captured and sent to Rome in defeat but was spared her life by Caesar who exiled her to live in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus where she would remain until 41 BCE when, at Cleopatra’s urging, Mark Antony had her executed.
Cleopatra travelled through Egypt with Caesar in great style and was hailed by her subjects as Pharaoh. She gave birth to a son, Ptolemy Caesar (known as Caesarion) in June of 47 BCE and proclaimed him her heir. Caesar himself was content with Cleopatra ruling Egypt as the two of them found in each other the same kind of stratagem and intelligence, bonding them together with a mutual respect.
In 46 BCE, Caesar returned to Rome and, shortly after, brought Cleopatra, their son, and her entire entourage to live there. He openly acknowledged Caesarion as his son (though not his heir) and Cleopatra as his consort. As Caesar was already married to Calpurnia at this time, and the Roman laws against bigamy were strictly adhered to, many of the members of the Senate, as well as the public, were upset by Caesar’s actions. Cleopatra's famous gifts of flattery failed to make the situation any better and Cicero (l. 106-43 BCE) was especially outraged as he makes clear in a letter from 45 BCE:
I detest the Queen. For all the presents she promised were things of a learned kind, and consistent with my character, such as I could proclaim on the housetops...and the insolence of the Queen herself when she was living in Caesar's trans-Tiberine villa, the recollection of it is painful to me. (Lewis, 118)
Whatever Cicero or the others thought of Cleopatra or her relationship with Caesar, it does not seem to have mattered to either of them. They continued to appear in public together even though propriety suggested they keep a lower profile.
Cleopatra & Mark Antony
When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE, Cleopatra fled Rome with Caesarion and returned to Alexandria. Caesar’s right-hand man, Mark Antony, joined with his grandnephew Octavian and friend Lepidus to pursue and defeat the conspirators who had murdered Caesar. After the Battle of Phillipi, at which the forces of Antony and Octavian defeated those of Brutus and Cassius, Antony emerged as ruler of the eastern provinces, including Egypt, while Octavian held the west.
In 41 BCE, Cleopatra was summoned to appear before Antony in Tarsus to answer charges she had given aid to Brutus and Cassius. Cleopatra delayed in coming and then delayed further in complying with Antony’s summons, making it clear that, as Queen of Egypt, she would come in her own time when she saw fit. Egypt was, at this time, teetering on the edge of economic chaos but, even so, Cleopatra made sure to present herself as a true sovereign, appearing in luxury on her barge, dressed as Aphrodite:
She came sailing up the river Cydnus in a barge with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay all along, under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed as Venus in a picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted Cupids, stood on each side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like Sea Nymphs and Graces, some steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes...perfumes diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered with multitudes, part following the galley up the river on either bank, part running out of the city to see the sight. The market place was quite emptied, and Antony at last was left alone sitting upon the tribunal while the word went, through all the multitude, that Venus was come to feast with Bacchus for the common good of Asia. (Plutarch, Life of Marcus Antonius, Ch. 7)
Mark Antony and Cleopatra instantly became lovers and would remain so for the next ten years. She would bear him three children and he considered her his wife, even though he was married, first, to Fulvia and then to Octavia, the sister of Octavian. He eventually divorced Octavia to marry Cleopatra legally.
Roman Civil War & Cleopatra's Death
During these years, Antony’s relationship with Octavian would steadily disintegrate. Octavian was outraged by Antony's behavior and, especially, the disrespect shown to his sister as well as to himself. He repeatedly rebuked Antony and, in at least one instance, Antony responded directly. In 33 BCE, Antony returned a letter to Octavian:
What has upset you? Because I go to bed with Cleopatra? But she's my wife and I've been doing so for nine years, not just recently. And anyway, is [your wife] your only pleasure? I expect that you will have managed, by the time you read this, to have hopped into bed with Tertulla, Terentilla, Rufilla, Salvia Titisenia, or the whole lot of them. Does it really matter where, or with what women, you get your excitement? (Lewis, 133)
Octavian did not appreciate the reply nor any of Antony's other breaches of policy, courtesy, or propriety and their personal and professional relationship degenerated further to the point where civil war broke out. After a number of engagements which almost routinely favored Octavian, Cleopatra’s and Antony’s forces were defeated by Octavian’s at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and, a year later, they both committed suicide. Antony, upon hearing the false report of Cleopatra’s death, stabbed himself. He learned, too late, that she still lived and Octavian allowed him to be brought to the queen where he died in her arms.
Octavian then demanded an audience with the queen where the conditions of her defeat were made plain to her. The terms were hardly favorable and Cleopatra understood she would be brought to Rome a captive to adorn Octavian’s triumph. Recognizing that she would not be able to manipulate Octavian as she had Caesar and Antony, Cleopatra asked for, and was granted, time to prepare herself.
She then had herself poisoned through the bite of a snake (traditionally an asp, though most scholars today believe it was an Egyptian cobra). Octavian had her son Caesarion murdered and her children by Antony brought to Rome where they were raised by Octavia; thus ended the Ptolemaic line of Egyptian rulers.
Although traditionally regarded as a great beauty, the ancient writers uniformly praise her intelligence and charm over her physical attributes. Plutarch writes:
Her own beauty, so we are told, was not of that incomparable type that immediately captivates the beholder. But the charm of her presence was irresistible and there was an attraction in her person and in her conversation that, along with a peculiar force of character in her every word and action, laid all who associated with her under her spell. (Lives, Antony and Cleopatra, Ch. 8)
Cleopatra has continued to cast that same spell throughout the centuries since her death and remains the most famous queen of ancient Egypt. Movies, books, television shows, and plays have been produced about her life and she is depicted in works of art in every century up to the present day. Even so, as Schiff notes, she is almost universally remembered as the woman who seduced two powerful men rather than for what she accomplished before meeting them. Schiff writes:
The personal inevitably trumps the political and the erotic trumps all: we will remember that Cleopatra slept with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony long after we have forgotten what she accomplished in doing so, that she sustained a vast, rich, densely populated empire in its troubled twilight, in the name of a proud and cultivated dynasty. She remains on the map for having seduced two of the greatest men of her time, while her crime was to have entered into those same `wily and suspicious' marital partnerships that every man in power enjoyed. (299)
Cleopatra was only 39 years old when she died and had ruled for 22 of those years. In an age when women rarely or never asserted political control over men, she managed to maintain Egypt in a state of independence for as long as she held the throne and never forgot what was due to her people. In keeping with the ancient traditions of the land, she tried to maintain the concept of ma'at - balance and harmony - as well as she could under the circumstances of the time. Though she was Macedonian-Greek, not Egyptian, she has come to symbolize ancient Egypt in the popular imagination more than any other Egyptian monarch.
Author's Note: Special thanks to scholar Arienne King for contributions to this article.
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Images:
1. Cleopatra VI's death painted by Reginald Arthur
2. Cleopatra VII silver tetradrachm, 1st century BC.
3. Silver Tetradrachm portraying Antony and Cleopatra photo by Sailko
4. Bust of Cleopatra VII.
Cleopatra: Ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt
Cleopatra VII is one of the most famous women who has ever lived. Her story has inspired poets, dramatists, and artists for more than 2,000 years. Through cunning and guile, she survived to rule Egypt as all of her siblings perished by the wayside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzkozy31Z4w
Background from {[https://www.ancient.eu/Cleopatra_VII/]}
Cleopatra VII
by Joshua J. Mark published on 30 October 2018
Cleopatra VII (l.c. 69-30 BCE, r. 51-30 BCE) was the last ruler of Egypt before it was annexed as a province of Rome. Although arguably the most famous Egyptian queen, Cleopatra was actually Greek and a member of the Ptolemaic Dynasty (323-30 BCE) which ruled Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great (l. 356-323 BCE). Cleopatra is probably best known for her love affair with the Roman general and statesman Mark Antony (l. 83-30 BCE) as well as her earlier affair with Julius Caesar (l. 100-44 BCE) but was a powerful queen before her interaction with either and a much stronger monarch than any of the latter Ptolemaic Dynasty.
Cleopatra was fluent in a number of languages, is reported to have been extremely charming, and was an effective diplomat and administrator. Her involvement with both Caesar and Mark Antony came about after she had already successfully ruled and steered Egypt through a difficult period. Her affair with Antony brought her into direct conflict with Octavian Caesar (later known as Augustus Caesar, r. 27 BCE-14 CE) who was Antony's brother-in-law. Octavian would defeat Cleopatra and Antony and the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE, ending her reign. She and Antony would then both commit suicide the following year and Octavian would found the Roman Empire and relegate Cleopatra to a minor chapter in Rome's past. Scholar Stacy Schiff comments:
The rewriting of history began almost immediately. Not only did Mark Antony disappear from the [official] record, but Actium wondrously transformed itself into a major engagement, a resounding victory, a historical turning point. It went from an end to a beginning. Augustus had rescued the country from great peril. (297)
The Roman historians seized on the concept of the seductive woman from the East who had threatened Rome and paid the price. This image of Cleopatra has, unfortunately, remained through the intervening centuries and only in the last century have scholarly attempts been made to portray her in a more realistic, and flattering, light.
Youth & succession
In June of 323 BCE, Alexander the Great died and his vast empire was divided among his generals. One of these generals was Ptolemy I Soter (r. 323-282 BCE), a fellow Macedonian, who would found the Ptolemaic Dynasty in ancient Egypt. The Ptolemaic line, of Macedonian-Greek ethnicity, would continue to rule Egypt until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BCE when it was taken by Rome. Ptolemy I, Ptolemy II (r.285-246 BCE), and Ptolemy III (r.246-222 BCE) governed Egypt well but after them their successors ruled poorly until Cleopatra came to the throne. In fact, the difficulties she had to overcome were primarily the legacy of her predecessors.
Cleopatra VII Philopator was born in 69 BCE and ruled jointly with her father, Ptolemy XII Auletes. When she was 18 years old, her father died, leaving her the throne. Because Egyptian tradition held that a woman needed a male consort to reign, her twelve-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII, was ceremonially married to her. Cleopatra soon dropped his name from all official documents, however, and ruled alone.
The Ptolemies, insisting on Macedonian-Greek superiority, had ruled in Egypt for centuries without ever learning the Egyptian language or embracing the customs. Cleopatra, however, was fluent in Egyptian, eloquent in her native Greek, and proficient in other languages as well. Because of this, she was able to communicate easily with diplomats from other countries without the need of a translator and, shortly after assuming the throne, without bothering to hear the counsel of her advisors on matters of state. Schiff notes how, "Cleopatra had the gift of languages and glided easily among them" (160). Plutarch, from whose works Schiff draws this observation, writes:
It was a pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another; so that there were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by an interpreter. (Lives, Antony and Cleopatra, Ch. 8)
Her habit of making decisions and acting on them without the counsel of the members of her court upset some of the high ranking officials. One example of this was when Roman mercenary lieutenants employed by the Ptolemaic crown murdered the sons of the Roman governor of Syria to prevent them from requesting her assistance. She immediately arrested the lieutenants responsible and turned them over to the aggrieved father for punishment.
In spite of her many achievements, her court was not pleased with her independent attitude. In 48 BCE her chief advisor, Pothinus, along with another, Theodotus of Chios, and the General Achillas, overthrew her and placed Ptolemy XIII on the throne, believing him to be easier to control than his sister. Cleopatra and her half-sister, Arsinoe, fled to Thebaid for safety.
Pompey, Caesar & The Coming of Rome
At about this same time the Roman general and politician, Pompey the Great, was defeated by Julius Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus. Pompey was the state-appointed guardian over the younger Ptolemy children and, on his campaigns, had spent considerable time in Egypt. Believing he would be welcomed by friends, Pompey fled from Pharsalus to Egypt but, instead of finding sanctuary, was murdered under the gaze of Ptolemy XIII as he came on shore at Alexandria.
Caesar’s army was numerically inferior to Pompey’s and it was believed that Caesar’s stunning victory meant that the gods favoured him over Pompey. Further, it seemed to make more sense to Ptolemy XIII’s advisor Pothinus to align the young king with the future of Rome rather than the past.
Upon arriving in Egypt with his legions, in pursuit of Pompey, Caesar was allegedly outraged that Pompey had been killed, declared martial law, and set himself up in the royal palace. Ptolemy XIII fled to Pelusium with his court. Caesar, however, was not about to let the young ruler slip away to foment trouble and had him brought back to Alexandria.
Cleopatra was still in exile and knew there was no way she could simply walk into the palace unmolested. Recognizing in Caesar her chance to regain power, she is said to have had herself rolled in a rug, ostensibly a gift for the Roman general, and carried through the enemy lines. Plutarch tells the story:
Cleopatra, taking only one of her friends with her (Apollodorus the Sicilian), embarked in a small boat and landed at the palace when it was already getting dark. Since there seemed to be no other way of getting in unobserved, she stretched herself out at full length inside a sleeping bag and Apollodorus, after tying up the bag, carried it indoors to Caesar. This little trick of Cleopatra's, which first showed her provocative impudence, is said to have been the first thing about her which captivated Caesar. (Lives, Caesar, Ch. 49)
She and Caesar seemed to strike up an instant affinity for each other and, by the next morning when Ptolemy XIII arrived to meet with Caesar, Cleopatra and Caesar were already lovers. The young pharaoh was outraged.
Cleopatra & Julius Caesar
Ptolemy XIII turned to his general Achillas for support and war broke out in Alexandria between Caesar’s legions and the Egyptian army. Caesar and Cleopatra were besieged in the royal palace for six months until Roman reinforcements were able to arrive and break the Egyptian lines. It is at this time, according to some historians, that the great library at Alexandria was accidentally burned, though this claim has been challenged.
Before the Roman victory over Ptolemy XIII, however, Cleopatra’s half-sister, Arsinoe, who had returned with her, fled the palace for Achillas’ camp and had herself proclaimed queen in Cleopatra’s place. Ptolemy XIII drowned in the Nile attempting to escape after the battle and the other leaders of the coup against Cleopatra were killed in battle or shortly afterwards. Arsinoe was captured and sent to Rome in defeat but was spared her life by Caesar who exiled her to live in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus where she would remain until 41 BCE when, at Cleopatra’s urging, Mark Antony had her executed.
Cleopatra travelled through Egypt with Caesar in great style and was hailed by her subjects as Pharaoh. She gave birth to a son, Ptolemy Caesar (known as Caesarion) in June of 47 BCE and proclaimed him her heir. Caesar himself was content with Cleopatra ruling Egypt as the two of them found in each other the same kind of stratagem and intelligence, bonding them together with a mutual respect.
In 46 BCE, Caesar returned to Rome and, shortly after, brought Cleopatra, their son, and her entire entourage to live there. He openly acknowledged Caesarion as his son (though not his heir) and Cleopatra as his consort. As Caesar was already married to Calpurnia at this time, and the Roman laws against bigamy were strictly adhered to, many of the members of the Senate, as well as the public, were upset by Caesar’s actions. Cleopatra's famous gifts of flattery failed to make the situation any better and Cicero (l. 106-43 BCE) was especially outraged as he makes clear in a letter from 45 BCE:
I detest the Queen. For all the presents she promised were things of a learned kind, and consistent with my character, such as I could proclaim on the housetops...and the insolence of the Queen herself when she was living in Caesar's trans-Tiberine villa, the recollection of it is painful to me. (Lewis, 118)
Whatever Cicero or the others thought of Cleopatra or her relationship with Caesar, it does not seem to have mattered to either of them. They continued to appear in public together even though propriety suggested they keep a lower profile.
Cleopatra & Mark Antony
When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE, Cleopatra fled Rome with Caesarion and returned to Alexandria. Caesar’s right-hand man, Mark Antony, joined with his grandnephew Octavian and friend Lepidus to pursue and defeat the conspirators who had murdered Caesar. After the Battle of Phillipi, at which the forces of Antony and Octavian defeated those of Brutus and Cassius, Antony emerged as ruler of the eastern provinces, including Egypt, while Octavian held the west.
In 41 BCE, Cleopatra was summoned to appear before Antony in Tarsus to answer charges she had given aid to Brutus and Cassius. Cleopatra delayed in coming and then delayed further in complying with Antony’s summons, making it clear that, as Queen of Egypt, she would come in her own time when she saw fit. Egypt was, at this time, teetering on the edge of economic chaos but, even so, Cleopatra made sure to present herself as a true sovereign, appearing in luxury on her barge, dressed as Aphrodite:
She came sailing up the river Cydnus in a barge with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay all along, under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed as Venus in a picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted Cupids, stood on each side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like Sea Nymphs and Graces, some steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes...perfumes diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered with multitudes, part following the galley up the river on either bank, part running out of the city to see the sight. The market place was quite emptied, and Antony at last was left alone sitting upon the tribunal while the word went, through all the multitude, that Venus was come to feast with Bacchus for the common good of Asia. (Plutarch, Life of Marcus Antonius, Ch. 7)
Mark Antony and Cleopatra instantly became lovers and would remain so for the next ten years. She would bear him three children and he considered her his wife, even though he was married, first, to Fulvia and then to Octavia, the sister of Octavian. He eventually divorced Octavia to marry Cleopatra legally.
Roman Civil War & Cleopatra's Death
During these years, Antony’s relationship with Octavian would steadily disintegrate. Octavian was outraged by Antony's behavior and, especially, the disrespect shown to his sister as well as to himself. He repeatedly rebuked Antony and, in at least one instance, Antony responded directly. In 33 BCE, Antony returned a letter to Octavian:
What has upset you? Because I go to bed with Cleopatra? But she's my wife and I've been doing so for nine years, not just recently. And anyway, is [your wife] your only pleasure? I expect that you will have managed, by the time you read this, to have hopped into bed with Tertulla, Terentilla, Rufilla, Salvia Titisenia, or the whole lot of them. Does it really matter where, or with what women, you get your excitement? (Lewis, 133)
Octavian did not appreciate the reply nor any of Antony's other breaches of policy, courtesy, or propriety and their personal and professional relationship degenerated further to the point where civil war broke out. After a number of engagements which almost routinely favored Octavian, Cleopatra’s and Antony’s forces were defeated by Octavian’s at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and, a year later, they both committed suicide. Antony, upon hearing the false report of Cleopatra’s death, stabbed himself. He learned, too late, that she still lived and Octavian allowed him to be brought to the queen where he died in her arms.
Octavian then demanded an audience with the queen where the conditions of her defeat were made plain to her. The terms were hardly favorable and Cleopatra understood she would be brought to Rome a captive to adorn Octavian’s triumph. Recognizing that she would not be able to manipulate Octavian as she had Caesar and Antony, Cleopatra asked for, and was granted, time to prepare herself.
She then had herself poisoned through the bite of a snake (traditionally an asp, though most scholars today believe it was an Egyptian cobra). Octavian had her son Caesarion murdered and her children by Antony brought to Rome where they were raised by Octavia; thus ended the Ptolemaic line of Egyptian rulers.
Although traditionally regarded as a great beauty, the ancient writers uniformly praise her intelligence and charm over her physical attributes. Plutarch writes:
Her own beauty, so we are told, was not of that incomparable type that immediately captivates the beholder. But the charm of her presence was irresistible and there was an attraction in her person and in her conversation that, along with a peculiar force of character in her every word and action, laid all who associated with her under her spell. (Lives, Antony and Cleopatra, Ch. 8)
Cleopatra has continued to cast that same spell throughout the centuries since her death and remains the most famous queen of ancient Egypt. Movies, books, television shows, and plays have been produced about her life and she is depicted in works of art in every century up to the present day. Even so, as Schiff notes, she is almost universally remembered as the woman who seduced two powerful men rather than for what she accomplished before meeting them. Schiff writes:
The personal inevitably trumps the political and the erotic trumps all: we will remember that Cleopatra slept with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony long after we have forgotten what she accomplished in doing so, that she sustained a vast, rich, densely populated empire in its troubled twilight, in the name of a proud and cultivated dynasty. She remains on the map for having seduced two of the greatest men of her time, while her crime was to have entered into those same `wily and suspicious' marital partnerships that every man in power enjoyed. (299)
Cleopatra was only 39 years old when she died and had ruled for 22 of those years. In an age when women rarely or never asserted political control over men, she managed to maintain Egypt in a state of independence for as long as she held the throne and never forgot what was due to her people. In keeping with the ancient traditions of the land, she tried to maintain the concept of ma'at - balance and harmony - as well as she could under the circumstances of the time. Though she was Macedonian-Greek, not Egyptian, she has come to symbolize ancient Egypt in the popular imagination more than any other Egyptian monarch.
Author's Note: Special thanks to scholar Arienne King for contributions to this article.
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Cleopatra - The Last Pharaoh Documentary
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Cleopatra - The Last Pharaoh Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLtZTzSatHY
Images:
1. The Egyptian goddess Isis holds her son, Horus, in her lap. Cleopatra commissioned coins and temple artwork depicting her and her own son as these deities.
2. Mural of Cleopatra and Caesarion as Venus and Cupid
3. Relief of Cleopatra VII and Caesarion at the Dendera Temple by Olaf Tausch
4. This statue head is thought to represent Caesarion, the alleged child of Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar.
Background from {[https://www.thoughtco.com/cleopatra-last-pharaoh-of-egypt-3528679]}
Biography of Cleopatra, Last Pharaoh of Egypt
By Jone Johnson Lewis Updated July 21, 2019
Cleopatra (69 BC–August 30, 30 BC) was the ruler of Egypt as Cleopatra VII Philopater, She was the last of the Ptolemy dynasty of Egyptian rulers, and the very last Pharaoh of Egypt, ending a dynastic rule of some 5,000 years.
Fast Facts: Cleopatra
• Known For: The last dynastic pharaoh of Egypt
• Also Known As: Cleopatra Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra VII Philopater; Cleopatra Philadelphus Philopator Philopatris Thea Neotera
• Born: Early 69 BCE
• Parents: Ptolemy XII Auletes (d. 51 BCE, ruled 80–51 BCE except for 58–55 BCE) and Cleopatra V Tryphaina (co-ruler 58–55 BCE with their daughter, Berenice IV, sister of Cleopatra VII)
• Died: August 30, 30 BCE
• Education: Studied with a tutor and at the Mouseion at the Library of Alexandria, medicine, philosophy, rhetoric, oratory, and many languages, including Greek, Latin, and Aramaic
• Spouse(s): Ptolemy XIII, Ptolemy XIV, Marc Antony
• Children: Ptolemy Caesarion (b. 46 BCE, with Julius Caesar); and three children by Marc Antony, twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene (b. 40 BCE), and Ptolemy Philadelphus (b. 36 BCE)
Cleopatra VII was the descendant of Macedonians who were established as rulers over Egypt when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 323 BCE. The Ptolemy dynasty was descended from the Greek Macedonian named Ptolemy Soter, whom Alexander the Great installed in Egypt, so much of Cleopatra's ancestry was Macedonian Greek. There is some controversy about the possible African origins of her mother or her paternal grandmother.
Early Life
Cleopatra VII was born around the beginning of 69 BCE, the second of five children of Ptolemy XII and his wife Cleopatra V. Tryphania. Although not much is available about her early life, young royal women of the Ptolemaic dynasty were well educated, and although the Library of Alexandria was no longer the intellectual powerhouse of the Mediterranean, the facility and its adjacent research center the Mouseion were still a center for learning. She took medical studies—she was a medical writer as a young woman—and she studied philosophy, rhetoric, and oratory with a tutor. She was a gifted linguist: in addition to her native Greek, Plutarch reported that she spoke Ethiopian, Trogodyte, Hebraic (probably Aramaic or less likely Hebrew), Arabic, Syrian, Median, and Parthian as well as many others. She undoubtedly read Greek, Egyptian, and Latin, and perhaps others.
During Cleopatra's early years, her father Ptolemy XII tried to maintain his failing power in Egypt by bribing powerful Romans. In 58 BCE, her father fled Rome to escape the anger of his people for the failing economy. Cleopatra, about 9 years old at the time, likely went with him. Her oldest sister was Berenike IV, and when Ptolemy XII fled, she and her mother Cleopatra VI Tryphaina, and his eldest daughter, Berenice IV, assumed the rulership jointly. When he returned, apparently Cleopatra VI had died, and with the help of Roman forces, Ptolemy XII regained his throne and executed Berenice. Ptolemy then married his son, about 9 years old, to his remaining daughter, Cleopatra, who was by this time about 18.
Rule and Political Strife
On the death of Ptolemy XII in February or March of 51 BCE, the rule of Egypt was to go to Cleopatra and her brother and husband, Ptolemy XIII; but Cleopatra moved swiftly to take control, but not without issues.
When Cleopatra VII took the double crown, Egypt was still facing the financial issues that her predecessors had created—Julius Caesar was owed 17.5 million drachmas—and there was still scattered civil strife. Drought, failed crops, and food shortages were becoming more serious, and by 48 BCE the Nile flood was extremely low. Cleopatra set about restoring the bull cult; but the largest issue was the presence in her kingdom of Ptolemy XIII, only about 11 years old at the time.
Ptolemy had the support of his tutor Potheinos and a powerful set of advisers, including many of the top generals, and by the autumn of 50 BCE, Ptolemy XIII was in the dominant position in the country. At the same time, Pompey—with whom Ptolemy XII had allied himself—appeared in Egypt, chased by forces of Julius Caesar. In 48 BCE, Pompey named Ptolemy XIII the sole ruler, and Cleopatra went first to Thebes, then to Syria to gather an army of supporters among the opponents of Pompey, but her army was halted in the Nile delta region at Pelousion by Ptolemy's forces.
In the meantime, Ptolemy's advisers were becoming alarmed at the rise in turmoil in the Roman Empire, and seeking to back away from that conflict, they had Pompey assassinated and his head sent to Caesar. Shortly thereafter, Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria. He sent messages to Cleopatra and Ptolemy, asking them to disband their armies and reconcile with one another; Ptolemy kept his army but came to Alexandria, while Cleopatra set messengers and then came herself to see Caesar.
Cleopatra and Julius Caesar
Cleopatra, according to the stories, had herself delivered to Julius Caesar's presence in a rug and won his support. Ptolemy XIII died in a battle with Caesar, and Caesar restored Cleopatra to power in Egypt, along with her brother Ptolemy XIV as co-ruler.
In 46 BCE, Cleopatra named her newborn son Ptolemy Caesarion, emphasizing that this was the son of Julius Caesar. Caesar never formally accepted paternity, but he did take Cleopatra to Rome that year, also taking her sister, Arsinoe, and displaying her in Rome as a war captive. That he was already married (to Calpurnia) yet Cleopatra claimed to be his wife added to political tensions in Rome that ended with Caesar's assassination in 44 BCE.
After Caesar's death, Cleopatra returned to Egypt, where her brother and co-ruler Ptolemy XIV died, probably assassinated by her. She established her son as her co-ruler Ptolemy XV Caesarion.
Cleopatra and Marc Antony
When the next Roman military governor of the region, Marc Antony, demanded her presence—along with that of other rulers who were controlled by Rome—she arrived dramatically in 41 BCE and managed to convince him of her innocence of charges about her support of Caesar's supporters in Rome, captivated his interest, and gained his support.
Antony spent a winter in Alexandria with Cleopatra (41–40 BCE) and then left. Cleopatra bore twins to Antony. He, meanwhile, went to Athens and, his wife Fulvia having died in 40 BCE, agreed to marry Octavia, the sister of his rival Octavius. They had a daughter in 39 BCE. In 37 BCE Antony returned to Antioch, Cleopatra joined him, and they went through a sort of marriage ceremony the following year. That year of that ceremony, another son was born to them, Ptolemy Philadelphus.
Marc Antony formally restored to Egypt—and Cleopatra—territory which the Ptolemy's had lost control of, including Cyprus and part of what is now Lebanon. Cleopatra returned to Alexandria and Antony joined her in 34 BCE after a military victory. He affirmed the joint rulership of Cleopatra and her son, Caesarion, recognizing Caesarion as the son of Julius Caesar.
Octavian and Death
Antony's relationship with Cleopatra—his supposed marriage and their children, and his granting of territory to her—was used by the Roman emperor Octavian to raise Roman concerns over his loyalties. Antony was able to use Cleopatra's financial support to oppose Octavian in the Battle of Actium (31 BCE), but missteps—probably attributable to Cleopatra—led to defeat.
Cleopatra tried to get Octavian's support for her children's succession to power but was unable to come to an agreement with him. In 30 BCE, Marc Antony killed himself, reportedly because he'd been told that Cleopatra had been killed, and when yet another attempt to keep power failed, Cleopatra killed herself.
Legacy
Much of what we know about Cleopatra was written after her death when it was politically expedient to portray her as a threat to Rome and its stability. Thus, some of what we know about Cleopatra may have been exaggerated or misrepresented by those sources. Cassius Dio, one of the ancient sources that tell her story, summarizes her story as "She captivated the two greatest Romans of her day, and because of the third she destroyed herself."
What we know for certain is that Egypt became a province of Rome, ending the rule of the Ptolemies. Cleopatra's children were taken to Rome. Caligula later executed Ptolemy Caesarion, and Cleopatra's other sons simply disappear from history and are assumed to have died. Cleopatra's daughter, Cleopatra Selene, married Juba, king of Numidia and Mauritania.
Sources
• Chauveau, Michel. "Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society under the Ptolemies." Trans. Lorton, David. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2000.
• Chaveau, Michel, ed. "Cleopatra: Beyond the Myth." Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002.
• Kleiner, Diana E.E., and Bridget Buxton. "Pledges of Empire: The Ara Pacis and the Donations of Rome." American Journal of Archaeology 112.1 (2008): 57-90.
• Roller, Duane W. "Cleopatra: A Biography. Women in Antiquity." Eds. Ancona, Ronnie and Sarah B. Pomeroy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010."
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLtZTzSatHY
Images:
1. The Egyptian goddess Isis holds her son, Horus, in her lap. Cleopatra commissioned coins and temple artwork depicting her and her own son as these deities.
2. Mural of Cleopatra and Caesarion as Venus and Cupid
3. Relief of Cleopatra VII and Caesarion at the Dendera Temple by Olaf Tausch
4. This statue head is thought to represent Caesarion, the alleged child of Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar.
Background from {[https://www.thoughtco.com/cleopatra-last-pharaoh-of-egypt-3528679]}
Biography of Cleopatra, Last Pharaoh of Egypt
By Jone Johnson Lewis Updated July 21, 2019
Cleopatra (69 BC–August 30, 30 BC) was the ruler of Egypt as Cleopatra VII Philopater, She was the last of the Ptolemy dynasty of Egyptian rulers, and the very last Pharaoh of Egypt, ending a dynastic rule of some 5,000 years.
Fast Facts: Cleopatra
• Known For: The last dynastic pharaoh of Egypt
• Also Known As: Cleopatra Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra VII Philopater; Cleopatra Philadelphus Philopator Philopatris Thea Neotera
• Born: Early 69 BCE
• Parents: Ptolemy XII Auletes (d. 51 BCE, ruled 80–51 BCE except for 58–55 BCE) and Cleopatra V Tryphaina (co-ruler 58–55 BCE with their daughter, Berenice IV, sister of Cleopatra VII)
• Died: August 30, 30 BCE
• Education: Studied with a tutor and at the Mouseion at the Library of Alexandria, medicine, philosophy, rhetoric, oratory, and many languages, including Greek, Latin, and Aramaic
• Spouse(s): Ptolemy XIII, Ptolemy XIV, Marc Antony
• Children: Ptolemy Caesarion (b. 46 BCE, with Julius Caesar); and three children by Marc Antony, twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene (b. 40 BCE), and Ptolemy Philadelphus (b. 36 BCE)
Cleopatra VII was the descendant of Macedonians who were established as rulers over Egypt when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 323 BCE. The Ptolemy dynasty was descended from the Greek Macedonian named Ptolemy Soter, whom Alexander the Great installed in Egypt, so much of Cleopatra's ancestry was Macedonian Greek. There is some controversy about the possible African origins of her mother or her paternal grandmother.
Early Life
Cleopatra VII was born around the beginning of 69 BCE, the second of five children of Ptolemy XII and his wife Cleopatra V. Tryphania. Although not much is available about her early life, young royal women of the Ptolemaic dynasty were well educated, and although the Library of Alexandria was no longer the intellectual powerhouse of the Mediterranean, the facility and its adjacent research center the Mouseion were still a center for learning. She took medical studies—she was a medical writer as a young woman—and she studied philosophy, rhetoric, and oratory with a tutor. She was a gifted linguist: in addition to her native Greek, Plutarch reported that she spoke Ethiopian, Trogodyte, Hebraic (probably Aramaic or less likely Hebrew), Arabic, Syrian, Median, and Parthian as well as many others. She undoubtedly read Greek, Egyptian, and Latin, and perhaps others.
During Cleopatra's early years, her father Ptolemy XII tried to maintain his failing power in Egypt by bribing powerful Romans. In 58 BCE, her father fled Rome to escape the anger of his people for the failing economy. Cleopatra, about 9 years old at the time, likely went with him. Her oldest sister was Berenike IV, and when Ptolemy XII fled, she and her mother Cleopatra VI Tryphaina, and his eldest daughter, Berenice IV, assumed the rulership jointly. When he returned, apparently Cleopatra VI had died, and with the help of Roman forces, Ptolemy XII regained his throne and executed Berenice. Ptolemy then married his son, about 9 years old, to his remaining daughter, Cleopatra, who was by this time about 18.
Rule and Political Strife
On the death of Ptolemy XII in February or March of 51 BCE, the rule of Egypt was to go to Cleopatra and her brother and husband, Ptolemy XIII; but Cleopatra moved swiftly to take control, but not without issues.
When Cleopatra VII took the double crown, Egypt was still facing the financial issues that her predecessors had created—Julius Caesar was owed 17.5 million drachmas—and there was still scattered civil strife. Drought, failed crops, and food shortages were becoming more serious, and by 48 BCE the Nile flood was extremely low. Cleopatra set about restoring the bull cult; but the largest issue was the presence in her kingdom of Ptolemy XIII, only about 11 years old at the time.
Ptolemy had the support of his tutor Potheinos and a powerful set of advisers, including many of the top generals, and by the autumn of 50 BCE, Ptolemy XIII was in the dominant position in the country. At the same time, Pompey—with whom Ptolemy XII had allied himself—appeared in Egypt, chased by forces of Julius Caesar. In 48 BCE, Pompey named Ptolemy XIII the sole ruler, and Cleopatra went first to Thebes, then to Syria to gather an army of supporters among the opponents of Pompey, but her army was halted in the Nile delta region at Pelousion by Ptolemy's forces.
In the meantime, Ptolemy's advisers were becoming alarmed at the rise in turmoil in the Roman Empire, and seeking to back away from that conflict, they had Pompey assassinated and his head sent to Caesar. Shortly thereafter, Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria. He sent messages to Cleopatra and Ptolemy, asking them to disband their armies and reconcile with one another; Ptolemy kept his army but came to Alexandria, while Cleopatra set messengers and then came herself to see Caesar.
Cleopatra and Julius Caesar
Cleopatra, according to the stories, had herself delivered to Julius Caesar's presence in a rug and won his support. Ptolemy XIII died in a battle with Caesar, and Caesar restored Cleopatra to power in Egypt, along with her brother Ptolemy XIV as co-ruler.
In 46 BCE, Cleopatra named her newborn son Ptolemy Caesarion, emphasizing that this was the son of Julius Caesar. Caesar never formally accepted paternity, but he did take Cleopatra to Rome that year, also taking her sister, Arsinoe, and displaying her in Rome as a war captive. That he was already married (to Calpurnia) yet Cleopatra claimed to be his wife added to political tensions in Rome that ended with Caesar's assassination in 44 BCE.
After Caesar's death, Cleopatra returned to Egypt, where her brother and co-ruler Ptolemy XIV died, probably assassinated by her. She established her son as her co-ruler Ptolemy XV Caesarion.
Cleopatra and Marc Antony
When the next Roman military governor of the region, Marc Antony, demanded her presence—along with that of other rulers who were controlled by Rome—she arrived dramatically in 41 BCE and managed to convince him of her innocence of charges about her support of Caesar's supporters in Rome, captivated his interest, and gained his support.
Antony spent a winter in Alexandria with Cleopatra (41–40 BCE) and then left. Cleopatra bore twins to Antony. He, meanwhile, went to Athens and, his wife Fulvia having died in 40 BCE, agreed to marry Octavia, the sister of his rival Octavius. They had a daughter in 39 BCE. In 37 BCE Antony returned to Antioch, Cleopatra joined him, and they went through a sort of marriage ceremony the following year. That year of that ceremony, another son was born to them, Ptolemy Philadelphus.
Marc Antony formally restored to Egypt—and Cleopatra—territory which the Ptolemy's had lost control of, including Cyprus and part of what is now Lebanon. Cleopatra returned to Alexandria and Antony joined her in 34 BCE after a military victory. He affirmed the joint rulership of Cleopatra and her son, Caesarion, recognizing Caesarion as the son of Julius Caesar.
Octavian and Death
Antony's relationship with Cleopatra—his supposed marriage and their children, and his granting of territory to her—was used by the Roman emperor Octavian to raise Roman concerns over his loyalties. Antony was able to use Cleopatra's financial support to oppose Octavian in the Battle of Actium (31 BCE), but missteps—probably attributable to Cleopatra—led to defeat.
Cleopatra tried to get Octavian's support for her children's succession to power but was unable to come to an agreement with him. In 30 BCE, Marc Antony killed himself, reportedly because he'd been told that Cleopatra had been killed, and when yet another attempt to keep power failed, Cleopatra killed herself.
Legacy
Much of what we know about Cleopatra was written after her death when it was politically expedient to portray her as a threat to Rome and its stability. Thus, some of what we know about Cleopatra may have been exaggerated or misrepresented by those sources. Cassius Dio, one of the ancient sources that tell her story, summarizes her story as "She captivated the two greatest Romans of her day, and because of the third she destroyed herself."
What we know for certain is that Egypt became a province of Rome, ending the rule of the Ptolemies. Cleopatra's children were taken to Rome. Caligula later executed Ptolemy Caesarion, and Cleopatra's other sons simply disappear from history and are assumed to have died. Cleopatra's daughter, Cleopatra Selene, married Juba, king of Numidia and Mauritania.
Sources
• Chauveau, Michel. "Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society under the Ptolemies." Trans. Lorton, David. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2000.
• Chaveau, Michel, ed. "Cleopatra: Beyond the Myth." Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002.
• Kleiner, Diana E.E., and Bridget Buxton. "Pledges of Empire: The Ara Pacis and the Donations of Rome." American Journal of Archaeology 112.1 (2008): 57-90.
• Roller, Duane W. "Cleopatra: A Biography. Women in Antiquity." Eds. Ancona, Ronnie and Sarah B. Pomeroy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010."
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Cleopatra's Murderous Rise To Power | Cleopatra: Portrait of A Killer | Odyssey
For 2,000 years almost all evidence of Cleopatra had disappeared - until now. Neil Oliver investigates the story of a ruthless queen who would kill her own s...
Cleopatra's Murderous Rise To Power | Cleopatra: Portrait of A Killer | Odyssey
For 2,000 years almost all evidence of Cleopatra had disappeared - until now. Neil Oliver investigates the story of a ruthless queen who would kill her own siblings for power. Cleopatra - the most famous woman in history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeIgC27gWNY
Images:
1. Painting of Cleopatra VII with a servant by De Agostini
2. Basalt statue of Cleopatra VII (51-30 b.c.) | Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia
3. In 31 BC, both Marc Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide during the war rather than be captured
4. Cleopatra VII ruler of Egypt antique medallion.
Background from {[https://www.livescience.com/44071-cleopatra-biography.html]}
Cleopatra VII, often simply called “Cleopatra,” was the last of a series of rulers called the Ptolemies who ruled Egypt for nearly 300 years. She was also the last true pharaoh of Egypt. Cleopatra ruled an empire that included Egypt, Cyprus, part of modern-day Libya and other territories in the Middle East.
Modern-day depictions of her tend to depict a woman of great physical beauty and seductive skills — indeed, her romantic involvements with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony have been immortalized in art, music and literature for centuries. However, a number of ancient records, as well as recent historical research, tell a different story. Rather than some sort of sex kitten, they tell of an intelligent, multilingual, female ruler who affirmed her right to rule Egypt and other territories.
Her “own beauty, as they say, was not, in and of itself, completely incomparable, nor was it the sort that would astound those who saw her; but interaction with her was captivating, and her appearance, along with her persuasiveness in discussion and her character that accompanied every interchange, was stimulating,” wrote Plutarch, a philosopher who lived A.D. 46-120 (Translation by Prudence Jones).
“Cleopatra was no mere sexual predator, and certainly no plaything of Caesar,” writes Erich Gruen, a professor emeritus of history at University of California Berkeley, in an article in the book “Cleopatra: A Sphinx Revisited” (University of California Press, 2011).
“She was queen of Egypt, Cyrene and Cyprus, heir to the long and proud dynasty of the Ptolemies … a passionate but also very astute woman who had maneuvered Rome – and would maneuver Rome again – into advancing the interests of the Ptolematic legacy.”
A troubled dynasty
Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C. into a troubled royal dynasty. The Ptolemies were descended from a Macedonian general who had served under Alexander the Great. Although they had ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries, their kingdom was eclipsed by the power of Rome and there was a great deal of internal dissension that eventually led to Cleopatra fighting against her own brother.
Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy XII and a mother whose identity we do not know. Ptolemy XII (reign 80-58 B.C.) was under a great deal of pressure from the Romans and struggled to hold onto power.
“Ptolemy XII was heavily dependent upon the Romans and as their ‘friendship’ put an increased strain upon the Egyptian economy, his rule came under increasing scrutiny from the Egyptian elite,” writes Sally-Ann Ashton, a keeper at the University of Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, in her book “Cleopatra and Egypt” (Blackwell Publishing, 2008). In 58 B.C., Ptolemy XII was exiled and a woman named “Cleopatra Tryphaena” (a different Cleopatra) became ruler of Egypt, dying not long afterwards. She was succeeded by another woman named Berenice IV.
In 55 B.C., with the support of the Romans, Ptolemy XII was put back on the throne and took his 17-year-old daughter Cleopatra (VII) as his co-ruler. After the king died in 51 B.C., he said in his will that Cleopatra should share the throne with her brother (and husband) Ptolemy XIII.
Ptolemy XIII and his advisers refused to acknowledge this arrangement and fighting broke out between them, with Cleopatra being forced to flee the royal palace. It would be Julius Caesar who helped Cleopatra regain her throne.
Caesar and Cleopatra
Caesar was about 30 years older than Cleopatra, and his arrival in Egypt was something of an accident. He had been fighting a civil war against the Roman general Pompey.
After a series of defeats, Pompey fled to Egypt in 48 B.C., hoping to win support from Ptolemy XIII. The young pharaoh decided that Pompey was more trouble than he was worth and had him executed.
When Caesar landed with a small body of troops in Alexandria, he was presented with Pompey’s head — something that he was said to be unhappy about. For reasons lost to history, Caesar decided to stay in Egypt and deal with the dispute between Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra. It could be because Rome depended on Egypt for its grain supplies and a stable Egypt was seen by Caesar as being in Rome’s interest.
Ptolemy XIII tried to convince Caesar to acknowledge him as sole ruler of Egypt and barred Cleopatra from seeing him. Cleopatra, however, managed to sneak into the palace in Alexandria and successfully plead her case to Caesar, something that surprised and enraged Ptolemy XIII.
“Ptolemy XIII had gone to bed that night a happy lad, secure in the knowledge that his sister, trapped at Pelusium, would be unable to plead her case before Caesar,” writes Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley in her book “Cleopatra, Last Queen of Egypt” (Profile Books, 2008).
“He woke up the next morning to find that his sister had somehow arrived at the palace. She was already on the most intimate of terms with Caesar and had managed to persuade him to support her cause,” she writes.
“It was all too much for a thirteen-year-old boy to bear. Rushing from the palace he ripped off his diadem and, in a well-orchestrated public display of anger, the crowd surged forward, intent on mobbing the palace.” However, “Caesar would not be intimidated. Before a formal assembly he read out (Ptolemy XII’s) will, making it clear that he expected the elder brother and sister to rule Egypt together.”
Caesar had saved Cleopatra and returned her to power. The two became intimate and had a son known as Caesarion (although Caesar was said to have been hesitant to acknowledge that the child was his). Ptolemy XIII later died in a failed rebellion and was replaced as co-ruler by his and Cleopatra's younger brother Ptolemy XIV, who Cleopatra would eventually have killed. Cleopatra also had her sister Arsinoe IV killed.
Being the mother of Caesar’s son gave Cleopatra greater power, and the child became Cleopatra’s co-ruler.
“With a son by her side, Cleopatra VII could abandon any thought she might have had of adopting the role of a female king and could develop instead a powerful new identity as a semi-divine mother: an identity that had the huge advantage of being instantly recognisable to both her Egyptian and her Greek subjects,” writes Tyldesley.
Cleopatra had already become a goddess toward the end of her father’s reign. “But now she was to be specifically identified with Egypt’s most famous single mother, the goddess Isis.”
A relief of Cleopatra and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, is carved into the Temple of Dendera. (Image credit: Public domain.)
Antony and Cleopatra
With the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. on the Ides of March, Cleopatra found herself in an awkward position. Ancient writers say that she was in Rome when the assassination occurred and she quickly returned to Egypt.
A civil war broke out between forces led by Antony and Octavian against those who had organized Caesar’s assassination. After they prevailed, Octavian, renamed Augustus Caesar, ruled the western half of the empire while Antony controlled the east.
After Antony took power in the east, he summoned Cleopatra to Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) to question why she had not given support to his troops while they were fighting Caesar’s assassins.
Cleopatra said that she had assembled a fleet to attack the assassins but it could not reach the battlefield in time.
“Antony, struck by her intelligence as well as her appearance, was captivated by her as if he were a young lad, although he was forty years old,” wrote Appian, who lived in the second century A.D. (translation by Prudence Jones). “The acute interest Antony had once shown in all things suddenly dulled; whatever Cleopatra dictated was done, without regard for the laws of man or nature.”
Battle of Actium
In the years leading up to the Battle of Actium, Antony and Cleopatra forged a close bond and had three children together, including the twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene in 40 B.C.
Meanwhile, relations between Antony and Octavian frayed and the two gradually slid into a civil war. In 32 B.C., the two officially went to war, with Octavian putting much of the blame, rightly or wrongly, on Cleopatra.
The leaders in Rome “voted to pardon and praise his (Antony’s) supporters if they would desert him, and they unequivocally declared war on Cleopatra,” wrote Cassius Dio who lived A.D. 155-235. (Translation by Prudence Jones)
At “the temple of Bellona, they performed all the rites for declaring war according to custom, with Octavian acting as priest. In word, war was declared on Cleopatra, but in fact the declaration was aimed at Antony.”
Although Antony held a numerical advantage on land, the war was decided on the sea and ultimately by an engagement fought near Actium in 31 B.C. on the Ionian Sea. What happened during the battle is a mystery. Ancient sources claim that Octavian and Antony were at a standstill when Cleopatra, for some reason, fled the battle, leading to Antony’s forces being routed. Whether this is true or not is unknown.
Ancient writers say that while Antony’s ships were heavier and could hold more troops, Octavian’s ships could maneuver better and had more experienced crews.
Death of Cleopatra
The battle sealed Antony and Cleopatra’s fate. With Octavian in control of the sea, he landed troops in Egypt and marched on Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. Although Antony managed to win a minor battle on land, he and Cleopatra were essentially trapped.
Antony, hearing falsely that Cleopatra had killed herself, decided to kill himself. According to Plutarch, Antony said of Cleopatra that “I am not pained to be bereft of you, for at once I will be where you are, but it does pain me that I, as a commander, am revealed to be inferior to a woman in courage.” He stabbed himself but he did not die right away. Instead, he was found wounded and taken to Cleopatra, where he would die with her.
“When she received him into the mausoleum and laid him on a couch, she tore her clothing over him, beat her breast and scratched it with her hands, covered her face with his blood, called him her husband and master, and almost forgot her own misfortunes as she pitied his,” wrote Plutarch.
When Octavian entered the city, Cleopatra tried to reason with him; however, it became apparent that she would be taken to Rome and paraded as a sort of war trophy, a fate she found intolerable.
After two failed attempts to commit suicide “she dressed herself in her richest attire, as was her custom, and settled herself next to her Antony in a sarcophagus filled with aromatic perfumes. She then put snakes to her veins and slipped into death as if into sleep,” wrote Florus in the second century A.D. (Translation by Prudence Jones).
The tomb and bodies of Cleopatra and Antony have never been found. Even if Antony and Cleopatra were allowed a proper burial it was common for tombs to be plundered in antiquity.
It's a love story so epic that Shakespeare saw it fit to be the subject of one of his tragedies. They met in 41 B.C. at the height of turmoil in the Roman Republic; she, an Egyptian queen, seduced him, a powerful (and already married) general, into a romantic and tenuous political alliance between their territories. The alliance would prove sour when future emperor Octavian convinced the Roman senate that Marc Antony was power-hungry and bewitched by Cleopatra, declaring war on his former partner in 31 B.C. Both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide during the war rather than be captured. (Image credit: Artist: Lawrence Alma-Tadema)
Her children's fates
Octavian had Caesarion killed but spared the lives of the three children Cleopatra had with Antony. They were sent to live with Octavia, the sister of Octavian, who at one point was married to Antony.
While two of them died in childhood, a third, Cleopatra Selene, survived and was married to Juba II, a protégé of Octavian who became ruler of Numidia, a client kingdom of Rome in northwest Africa in what is now Algeria. She brought Egyptian art as well as Greek language and culture to that kingdom.
The last pharaoh?
Although Cleopatra is often considered to be the last of the Egyptian pharaohs, we know from ancient inscriptions and art that the priests of Egypt did not believe this.
In 2010, researchers reported that a stele erected at the Temple of Isis at Philae in 29 B.C. has Octavian’s name written in a cartouche, an honor reserved for a pharaoh. Future Roman emperors (such as Claudius) would also be depicted as pharaohs in Egypt.
Although Cleopatra was dead, and her dynasty was at an end, Egyptian priests refused to let go of the idea that Egypt had a pharaoh as ruler, even though the country was being incorporated into the Roman Empire as a province.
“(The priests) had to have an acting pharaoh, and the only acting pharaoh (possible) under Octavian was Octavian,” said Martina Minas-Nerpel, a reader at Swansea University, in an interview that was published in The Independent newspaper. “The priests needed to see him as a pharaoh; otherwise, their understanding of the world would have collapsed.”
Was Cleopatra black?
Scholars are not certain of Cleopatra's appearance, and the question of whether she was black is an open one. The identity of Cleopatra's mother and paternal grandmother is uncertain.
"Cleopatra was of course part Greek, but it must also be noted that the suggestion she was part African is not based on wishful fantasy alone but on the fact that we do not know the identity of the mother of Ptolemy XII (Cleopatra's father)." writes Sally-Ann Ashton in her book.
— Owen Jarus"
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For 2,000 years almost all evidence of Cleopatra had disappeared - until now. Neil Oliver investigates the story of a ruthless queen who would kill her own siblings for power. Cleopatra - the most famous woman in history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeIgC27gWNY
Images:
1. Painting of Cleopatra VII with a servant by De Agostini
2. Basalt statue of Cleopatra VII (51-30 b.c.) | Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia
3. In 31 BC, both Marc Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide during the war rather than be captured
4. Cleopatra VII ruler of Egypt antique medallion.
Background from {[https://www.livescience.com/44071-cleopatra-biography.html]}
Cleopatra VII, often simply called “Cleopatra,” was the last of a series of rulers called the Ptolemies who ruled Egypt for nearly 300 years. She was also the last true pharaoh of Egypt. Cleopatra ruled an empire that included Egypt, Cyprus, part of modern-day Libya and other territories in the Middle East.
Modern-day depictions of her tend to depict a woman of great physical beauty and seductive skills — indeed, her romantic involvements with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony have been immortalized in art, music and literature for centuries. However, a number of ancient records, as well as recent historical research, tell a different story. Rather than some sort of sex kitten, they tell of an intelligent, multilingual, female ruler who affirmed her right to rule Egypt and other territories.
Her “own beauty, as they say, was not, in and of itself, completely incomparable, nor was it the sort that would astound those who saw her; but interaction with her was captivating, and her appearance, along with her persuasiveness in discussion and her character that accompanied every interchange, was stimulating,” wrote Plutarch, a philosopher who lived A.D. 46-120 (Translation by Prudence Jones).
“Cleopatra was no mere sexual predator, and certainly no plaything of Caesar,” writes Erich Gruen, a professor emeritus of history at University of California Berkeley, in an article in the book “Cleopatra: A Sphinx Revisited” (University of California Press, 2011).
“She was queen of Egypt, Cyrene and Cyprus, heir to the long and proud dynasty of the Ptolemies … a passionate but also very astute woman who had maneuvered Rome – and would maneuver Rome again – into advancing the interests of the Ptolematic legacy.”
A troubled dynasty
Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C. into a troubled royal dynasty. The Ptolemies were descended from a Macedonian general who had served under Alexander the Great. Although they had ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries, their kingdom was eclipsed by the power of Rome and there was a great deal of internal dissension that eventually led to Cleopatra fighting against her own brother.
Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy XII and a mother whose identity we do not know. Ptolemy XII (reign 80-58 B.C.) was under a great deal of pressure from the Romans and struggled to hold onto power.
“Ptolemy XII was heavily dependent upon the Romans and as their ‘friendship’ put an increased strain upon the Egyptian economy, his rule came under increasing scrutiny from the Egyptian elite,” writes Sally-Ann Ashton, a keeper at the University of Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, in her book “Cleopatra and Egypt” (Blackwell Publishing, 2008). In 58 B.C., Ptolemy XII was exiled and a woman named “Cleopatra Tryphaena” (a different Cleopatra) became ruler of Egypt, dying not long afterwards. She was succeeded by another woman named Berenice IV.
In 55 B.C., with the support of the Romans, Ptolemy XII was put back on the throne and took his 17-year-old daughter Cleopatra (VII) as his co-ruler. After the king died in 51 B.C., he said in his will that Cleopatra should share the throne with her brother (and husband) Ptolemy XIII.
Ptolemy XIII and his advisers refused to acknowledge this arrangement and fighting broke out between them, with Cleopatra being forced to flee the royal palace. It would be Julius Caesar who helped Cleopatra regain her throne.
Caesar and Cleopatra
Caesar was about 30 years older than Cleopatra, and his arrival in Egypt was something of an accident. He had been fighting a civil war against the Roman general Pompey.
After a series of defeats, Pompey fled to Egypt in 48 B.C., hoping to win support from Ptolemy XIII. The young pharaoh decided that Pompey was more trouble than he was worth and had him executed.
When Caesar landed with a small body of troops in Alexandria, he was presented with Pompey’s head — something that he was said to be unhappy about. For reasons lost to history, Caesar decided to stay in Egypt and deal with the dispute between Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra. It could be because Rome depended on Egypt for its grain supplies and a stable Egypt was seen by Caesar as being in Rome’s interest.
Ptolemy XIII tried to convince Caesar to acknowledge him as sole ruler of Egypt and barred Cleopatra from seeing him. Cleopatra, however, managed to sneak into the palace in Alexandria and successfully plead her case to Caesar, something that surprised and enraged Ptolemy XIII.
“Ptolemy XIII had gone to bed that night a happy lad, secure in the knowledge that his sister, trapped at Pelusium, would be unable to plead her case before Caesar,” writes Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley in her book “Cleopatra, Last Queen of Egypt” (Profile Books, 2008).
“He woke up the next morning to find that his sister had somehow arrived at the palace. She was already on the most intimate of terms with Caesar and had managed to persuade him to support her cause,” she writes.
“It was all too much for a thirteen-year-old boy to bear. Rushing from the palace he ripped off his diadem and, in a well-orchestrated public display of anger, the crowd surged forward, intent on mobbing the palace.” However, “Caesar would not be intimidated. Before a formal assembly he read out (Ptolemy XII’s) will, making it clear that he expected the elder brother and sister to rule Egypt together.”
Caesar had saved Cleopatra and returned her to power. The two became intimate and had a son known as Caesarion (although Caesar was said to have been hesitant to acknowledge that the child was his). Ptolemy XIII later died in a failed rebellion and was replaced as co-ruler by his and Cleopatra's younger brother Ptolemy XIV, who Cleopatra would eventually have killed. Cleopatra also had her sister Arsinoe IV killed.
Being the mother of Caesar’s son gave Cleopatra greater power, and the child became Cleopatra’s co-ruler.
“With a son by her side, Cleopatra VII could abandon any thought she might have had of adopting the role of a female king and could develop instead a powerful new identity as a semi-divine mother: an identity that had the huge advantage of being instantly recognisable to both her Egyptian and her Greek subjects,” writes Tyldesley.
Cleopatra had already become a goddess toward the end of her father’s reign. “But now she was to be specifically identified with Egypt’s most famous single mother, the goddess Isis.”
A relief of Cleopatra and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, is carved into the Temple of Dendera. (Image credit: Public domain.)
Antony and Cleopatra
With the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. on the Ides of March, Cleopatra found herself in an awkward position. Ancient writers say that she was in Rome when the assassination occurred and she quickly returned to Egypt.
A civil war broke out between forces led by Antony and Octavian against those who had organized Caesar’s assassination. After they prevailed, Octavian, renamed Augustus Caesar, ruled the western half of the empire while Antony controlled the east.
After Antony took power in the east, he summoned Cleopatra to Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) to question why she had not given support to his troops while they were fighting Caesar’s assassins.
Cleopatra said that she had assembled a fleet to attack the assassins but it could not reach the battlefield in time.
“Antony, struck by her intelligence as well as her appearance, was captivated by her as if he were a young lad, although he was forty years old,” wrote Appian, who lived in the second century A.D. (translation by Prudence Jones). “The acute interest Antony had once shown in all things suddenly dulled; whatever Cleopatra dictated was done, without regard for the laws of man or nature.”
Battle of Actium
In the years leading up to the Battle of Actium, Antony and Cleopatra forged a close bond and had three children together, including the twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene in 40 B.C.
Meanwhile, relations between Antony and Octavian frayed and the two gradually slid into a civil war. In 32 B.C., the two officially went to war, with Octavian putting much of the blame, rightly or wrongly, on Cleopatra.
The leaders in Rome “voted to pardon and praise his (Antony’s) supporters if they would desert him, and they unequivocally declared war on Cleopatra,” wrote Cassius Dio who lived A.D. 155-235. (Translation by Prudence Jones)
At “the temple of Bellona, they performed all the rites for declaring war according to custom, with Octavian acting as priest. In word, war was declared on Cleopatra, but in fact the declaration was aimed at Antony.”
Although Antony held a numerical advantage on land, the war was decided on the sea and ultimately by an engagement fought near Actium in 31 B.C. on the Ionian Sea. What happened during the battle is a mystery. Ancient sources claim that Octavian and Antony were at a standstill when Cleopatra, for some reason, fled the battle, leading to Antony’s forces being routed. Whether this is true or not is unknown.
Ancient writers say that while Antony’s ships were heavier and could hold more troops, Octavian’s ships could maneuver better and had more experienced crews.
Death of Cleopatra
The battle sealed Antony and Cleopatra’s fate. With Octavian in control of the sea, he landed troops in Egypt and marched on Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. Although Antony managed to win a minor battle on land, he and Cleopatra were essentially trapped.
Antony, hearing falsely that Cleopatra had killed herself, decided to kill himself. According to Plutarch, Antony said of Cleopatra that “I am not pained to be bereft of you, for at once I will be where you are, but it does pain me that I, as a commander, am revealed to be inferior to a woman in courage.” He stabbed himself but he did not die right away. Instead, he was found wounded and taken to Cleopatra, where he would die with her.
“When she received him into the mausoleum and laid him on a couch, she tore her clothing over him, beat her breast and scratched it with her hands, covered her face with his blood, called him her husband and master, and almost forgot her own misfortunes as she pitied his,” wrote Plutarch.
When Octavian entered the city, Cleopatra tried to reason with him; however, it became apparent that she would be taken to Rome and paraded as a sort of war trophy, a fate she found intolerable.
After two failed attempts to commit suicide “she dressed herself in her richest attire, as was her custom, and settled herself next to her Antony in a sarcophagus filled with aromatic perfumes. She then put snakes to her veins and slipped into death as if into sleep,” wrote Florus in the second century A.D. (Translation by Prudence Jones).
The tomb and bodies of Cleopatra and Antony have never been found. Even if Antony and Cleopatra were allowed a proper burial it was common for tombs to be plundered in antiquity.
It's a love story so epic that Shakespeare saw it fit to be the subject of one of his tragedies. They met in 41 B.C. at the height of turmoil in the Roman Republic; she, an Egyptian queen, seduced him, a powerful (and already married) general, into a romantic and tenuous political alliance between their territories. The alliance would prove sour when future emperor Octavian convinced the Roman senate that Marc Antony was power-hungry and bewitched by Cleopatra, declaring war on his former partner in 31 B.C. Both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide during the war rather than be captured. (Image credit: Artist: Lawrence Alma-Tadema)
Her children's fates
Octavian had Caesarion killed but spared the lives of the three children Cleopatra had with Antony. They were sent to live with Octavia, the sister of Octavian, who at one point was married to Antony.
While two of them died in childhood, a third, Cleopatra Selene, survived and was married to Juba II, a protégé of Octavian who became ruler of Numidia, a client kingdom of Rome in northwest Africa in what is now Algeria. She brought Egyptian art as well as Greek language and culture to that kingdom.
The last pharaoh?
Although Cleopatra is often considered to be the last of the Egyptian pharaohs, we know from ancient inscriptions and art that the priests of Egypt did not believe this.
In 2010, researchers reported that a stele erected at the Temple of Isis at Philae in 29 B.C. has Octavian’s name written in a cartouche, an honor reserved for a pharaoh. Future Roman emperors (such as Claudius) would also be depicted as pharaohs in Egypt.
Although Cleopatra was dead, and her dynasty was at an end, Egyptian priests refused to let go of the idea that Egypt had a pharaoh as ruler, even though the country was being incorporated into the Roman Empire as a province.
“(The priests) had to have an acting pharaoh, and the only acting pharaoh (possible) under Octavian was Octavian,” said Martina Minas-Nerpel, a reader at Swansea University, in an interview that was published in The Independent newspaper. “The priests needed to see him as a pharaoh; otherwise, their understanding of the world would have collapsed.”
Was Cleopatra black?
Scholars are not certain of Cleopatra's appearance, and the question of whether she was black is an open one. The identity of Cleopatra's mother and paternal grandmother is uncertain.
"Cleopatra was of course part Greek, but it must also be noted that the suggestion she was part African is not based on wishful fantasy alone but on the fact that we do not know the identity of the mother of Ptolemy XII (Cleopatra's father)." writes Sally-Ann Ashton in her book.
— Owen Jarus"
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In the 1963 move production of Cleopatra they used a narrator (Ben Wright) at several waypoints throughout the move. The very last few lines of dialogue are exchanged between General/Admiral Marcus Agrippa (Andrew Keir) and Cleopatra's High Priestess, Charmion (Isabel Cooley). Following their dialog the camera motion stops and the final scene morphs into a sort of mosaic. During this transition the narrator delivers his last lines; repeating (in story form) the dialogue between Agrippa and Charmion.
Narrator : [Repeating the previous lines] And the Roman asked, "Was this well done of your lady?" And the servant answered, "Extremely well. As befitting the last of so many noble rulers."
My understanding is that this is largely (if not totally) a takeout of Plutarch's "Parallel Lives" biographies [e.g. Mark Antony]
It's the BEST closing line ever! (IMHO)
Narrator : [Repeating the previous lines] And the Roman asked, "Was this well done of your lady?" And the servant answered, "Extremely well. As befitting the last of so many noble rulers."
My understanding is that this is largely (if not totally) a takeout of Plutarch's "Parallel Lives" biographies [e.g. Mark Antony]
It's the BEST closing line ever! (IMHO)
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