VisitMy Modern Met Media. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. 40-30 BCE. Its believed that Cleopatra worked hard to control how she was perceived by the public, and her image on Egyptian coins was a way to appear more masculine in order to emphasize her power and right to rule. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Each of the floats required hundreds of men to pull them along, partly because of the ingenious, mechanicaland presumably very heavydisplays that they carried. Cleopatra was in Rome when Caesar was murdered in 44 bce. The enormous lighthouse, commissioned by Ptolemy I at the beginning of the third century BC and standing more than three hundred feet tall at the citys harbor entrance, was one of the wonders of the ancient world. She was 39 and had been a queen for 22 years and Antonys partner for 11. The Alexandrians themselves were a good match for their city. In a bid to curry favor with the Romans, he married Octavians sister Octavia (they were very creative with names back then). To be sure, there are one or two pieces of vivid historical testimony, occasionally more or less firsthand, buried within these stories. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Even without a turbulent queen, Egypt was always liable to be trouble. Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff Little, Brown, 368 pp., $29.99 Mary Beard Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge. She's officially known as Cleopatra VII Philopater. And for good reason: her reign is rich in story and scandal. When you think of Cleopatra, theres likely just one Egyptian queen that comes to mind. Shes officially known as Cleopatra VII Philopater. For a few years, he cloistered himself in a damp cave . Roman propaganda painted Cleopatra as a debauched temptress who used her sex appeal as a political weapon, but she may have been more renowned for her intellect than her appearance. In Alexandria, Cleopatra and Antony formed a society of inimitable livers whose members lived what some historians have interpreted as a life of debauchery and folly and others have interpreted as lives dedicated to the cult of the mystical god Dionysus. In the reign of Cleopatra (5130 BC), before the large-scale investment in building, art, and culture in Rome itself at the end of the first century BC, Alexandria was the jewel of the Mediterranean. After the death of Ptolemy XIII, there was just one heir eligible for the Egyptian throne leftanother younger brother, this one named Ptolemy XIV. That means that for those 300 years, the person ruling the Egyptians didnt even speak their language. Even today, over 2,000 years after her death, Cleopatra remains one of historys most intriguing and memorable women. Soon after, Cleopatra was forced to flee Egypt for Syria, where she raised an army and in 48 bce returned to face her brother at Pelusium, on Egypts eastern border. back to Egypt, where she was co-regent with her younger brother/husband, Ptolemy XIV. Caesar was dazzled by the sight of the young queen in her royal garb, and the two soon became allies and lovers. As we mentioned earlier, while in Egypt, Cleopatra had fancied herself the reincarnation of the Greek goddess Isis. In addition to the affair setting tongues wagging, Cleopatra became a fashion and beauty icon amongst Roman women. Cleopatra had been made up to look like the goddess Aphrodite, and she sat beneath a gilded canopy while attendants dressed as cupids fanned her and burned sweet-smelling incense. For there had been the ancient equivalent of a brain-drain to Ptolemaic Alexandria. Foreign Influence Why would an Egyptian queen bear a Greek name, you ask? Take, for example, that leopard-skin wine-sack, whose contents dribbled out along the road (presumably, we are meant to imagine, into the cups and flagons of the spectators). Her famous end is perhaps well enough served, with some further eyewitness testimony (however biased or unreliable it may be, and all from her enemys side). But the galaxy of surviving Alexandrian literature includes some of the hymns of Callimachus (not liturgical texts, but fantastically learned, highly crafted poems on the subject of the godsand one of the touchstones of difficult writing in antiquity); the brilliant multivolume epic on Jason and the Argonauts (the Argonautica) by Callimachus pupil and great rival Apollonius; the pastoral idylls of Theocritus, which were the inspiration of Virgils Eclogues and the origin of the whole later tradition of pastoral poetry, through Spenser and Milton to Matthew Arnold and beyond. Cleopatra, (Greek: Famous in Her Father) in full Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (Cleopatra the Father-Loving Goddess), (born 70/69 bcedied August 30 bce, Alexandria), Egyptian queen, famous in history and drama as the lover of Julius Caesar and later as the wife of Mark Antony. That ally was Gaius Proculeius, and as Cleopatra prepared to set her tomb, her possessions, her attendants (what a great boss) and herself on fire, he arrived at the scene. They were inseparablethey hunted together, drank together, played dice together, and she watched while he performed military exercises. The Egyptian Queen commanded her own army, enamored not one but two Roman rulers, and inspired countless works of art, literature, and film. In short, Antony was a goner. Cleopatra was actually the seventh woman in the Ptolemaic dynasty to bear the name. As a part of this, might somebody have remembered some rumor they had heard about Caesar's pet names for Cleopatra back from when she was Caesar's mistress prior to his death? The era of the Pharaohs was almost incomprehensibly longthe first dynasty of Egypt began in 3100 BCover 5,000 years ago. Antonywho considered himself the embodiment of the Greek god Dionysuswas instantly charmed and the pair later married. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. In 48 BCE, she wrapped herself in carpet and smuggled herself into Julius Caesar's personal quarters. How long can a foreign object stay in your ear? When summoned to meet the Roman Triumvir in Tarsus, she is said to have arrived on a golden barge adorned with purple sails and rowed by oars made of silver. A fragment of a Ptolemaic relief believed to show Queen Cleopatra. Antony needed Cleopatras financial support for his postponed Parthian campaign; in return, Cleopatra requested the return of much of Egypts eastern empire, including large portions of Syria and Lebanon and even the rich balsam groves of Jericho. He finally decided to stop playing nice and invade Egypt. another younger brother, this one named Ptolemy XIV. The description of this procession oozes with amazement at the extraordinary spectacle. Create good names for games, profiles, brands or social networks. Her most recent book is SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. The mummy with the golden tongue was highly unusual, but it is only one of the fascinating relics that have been found in the 16 new burial shafts recently discovered by Kathleen Martinez and her Dominican-Egyptian team. It is likely, but not proven, that the two married soon after their fathers death. Reliefs of Cleopatra and Caesarion at the Temple of Dendera Egypt. Cleopatra, now married to her brother Ptolemy XIV, was restored to her throne. To be fair, she is not alone in this. When she reflects on how to handle the fictions that have grown up around Cleopatra and how to write a historical biographical account, Schiff writes about peel[ing] away the encrusted myth and restor[ing] context. Here she is at her weakest. Nonetheless, Cleopatra and her contemporaries could look back over the last couple of centuries to all kinds of extraordinary achievements, often powered by migrants from the rest of the Mediterranean world. Power grabs and murder plots were as much a Ptolemaic tradition as family marriage, and Cleopatra and her brothers and sisters were no different. Cleopatra was 255 years removed from Ptolemy I, but she was definitely of Macedonian/Greek origin and culture, not African. After leaving Egypt for Rome, she allied herself with Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Cleopatrasmeeting Mark Antony was truly dramatic. A heartbroken Mark Antony immediately took his own life by stabbing himself in the stomach. Were always looking for your input! Some writers consider her to be the inventor of the alembic, a distillation apparatus. Verified account Protected Tweets @; Suggested users Caesar was enchanted by the sight of the young queen, and the two soon became political allies and lovers. She personally led her fleet of over a dozen ships alongside Antonys own. More than a dozen of Cleopatras ancestors tied the knot with cousins or siblings, and its likely that her own parents were brother and sister. Cleopatra fancied herself the reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis. This is, in part, thanks to the inventive traditions of modern drama, from William Shakespeare to Elizabeth Taylor, which have indelibly fixed a languorous and decadent queen bathing in asss milk in the popular imagination. T he love affair of Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt (69-30 BC), and Marcus Antonius, Roman triumvir (83-30 BC) is legendary. The intellectual achievements of Ptolemaic Alexandria are well known to us, and indeed a good deal of its literature and scientific writing still survivesrather more, in fact, than has come down from the glory days of fifth-century classical Athens, and much more varied in character. She came to represent, as did no other woman of antiquity, the prototype of the romantic femme fatale. The Roman Senate deprived Antony of his prospective consulate for the following year, and it then declared war against Cleopatra. Cleopatra regained the upper hand by teaming with Julius Caesar, and Ptolemy drowned in the Nile River after being defeated in battle. Cleopatras legacy remains as the last true Queen of Egypt. Many portrayals of Cleopatra depict the queen as a frivolous woman who dished out money like a drunken sailor particularly when it came to beauty rituals. The name Cleopatra has become synonymous with exotic beauty and allure, but the real Cleopatras beauty was further down the list of her charms. The name "Cleopatra" (in Greek "") means "she who comes from glorious father." Flickr 2. Cleopatra first began her legendary love affair with the Roman general Mark Antony in 41 B.C. Why, its because she was actually Greek. living a life of leisure and excess in Egypt, and even formed their own drinking society known as the Inimitable Livers. The group engaged in nightly feasts and wine binges, and its members occasionally took part in elaborate games and contests. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Caesar was already married and had children, but Cleopatra asked him to make their son Caesarian his heir and successor. When you say Cleopatra in modern times, theres only one Queen of the Nile most people think of, but Cleopatra was actually the seventh woman in the Ptolemaic dynasty to bear that name. In 41 B.C., she also engineered the execution of her sister, Arsinoe, who she considered a rival to the throne. The Death of Cleopatra by Juan Luna, 1881. Their daughter, Cleopatra Selene, became an important ruler in her own right. For the most part, however, we have no knowledge of many of the most basic facts of Cleopatras life. She wore the hairstyle of her Greek ancestors, with her hair braided into a bun. With the arrival of the conquering Octavian (the future Roman emperor Augustus), Cleopatras husband, Mark Antony, committed suicide under the false impression that she was dead. Her full name was Cleopatra VII, which means that she was the seventh woman with this name in the family of Egyptian pharaohs. Receiving the false news that Cleopatra had died, Antony fell on his sword. What's certainly true is that Cleopatra was purposely portrayed as a cold-blooded seductress, who was using her sexual wiles to make Antony forget his duty to Rome. When the two met, sparks flew, and they quickly became lovers. She also possessed a mastery of politics and warfare. Cleopatra and Mark Antony had three sons together. Several of the most renowned poets of his reign chimed in enthusiastically with the official Augustan line on this demented queenwith her polluted mob of retainers (as Horace put it in a famous poem on her defeat. Ancient embalmers likely placed the tongue-shaped, gold foil amulet in the deceased's mouth to ensure they could speak in the afterlife. So, she married himafter all, it had worked with the last brother. It all sounds more like the melting pot of New York than the showy decadence of Versailles. Cleopatra and Antony famously took their own lives in 30 BCE after they lost the famous naval battle at Actium to Octavians forces. Upon her arrival, this hairstyle was adopted by Roman women along with Cleopatras makeup and signature pearl jewelry. 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