Consider the dramatic way she introduced herself to Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Her most recent book is SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome . For a few years, he cloistered himself in a damp cave . He had no idea what was coming next. So is the description an exaggeration? But the real reason, Tacitus insists, was sight-seeingfor the monuments of the Egyptian pharaohs, already thousands of years old in 19 AD, were almost as much an attraction to Roman visitors as they are to modern tourists. Frankly, we shall never know. The Queen of the Nile has been portrayed on the silver screen by the likes of Claudette Colbert and Sophia Loren, but she was most famously played by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 sword-and-sandal epic Cleopatra. The film was plagued by production problems and script issues, and its budget eventually soared from $2 million to $44 millionincluding some $200,000 just to cover the cost of Taylors costumes. Who was nicknamed the Golden Mouth? Coins with her portrait show her with manly features and a large, hooked nose, though some historians contend that she intentionally portrayed herself as masculine as a display of strength. The boys sister, Cleopatra Selene, was to be ruler of Cyrene. Some claim it was by means of an asp, the symbol of divine royalty. Caesar sought money for repayment of the debts incurred by Cleopatras father, Auletes, as he struggled to retain his throne. The life of Cleopatra VII, the last monarch of the Ptolemaic dynasty, is even more mythical than the story of Alexandria, and the real queen is even harder to excavate than the remains of her capital. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. When you think of Cleopatra, theres likely just one Egyptian queen that comes to mind. Shed been known for her penchant for poison, so its generally agreed upon that it played a role, with one rumor claiming shed poisoned herself. Hollywood has made no less than four worshipful big-screen movies and Stacy Schiffs biography, Cleopatra: A Life, made The New York Times Best Seller list not too long ago not to mention the number of women who don kohl eyes and trinkets each year to attend Halloween bashes as the Egyptian queen. The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra, 41 BCE. by Lawrence Alma Tadema, 1885. I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life. One of Antony and Cleopatras favorite activities supposedly involved wandering the streets of Alexandria in disguise and playing pranks on its residents. Schiff follows many other modern writers in placing it in 69 BC, relying entirely on Plutarch, who writes in his biography of Mark Antony that she was thirty-nine when she died in 30 BC. But the queen wasnt much of a looker. It does not store any personal data. Cleopatra eventually married Mark Antony and had three children with him, but their relationship also spawned a massive scandal in Rome. The line had been founded by Alexanders general Ptolemy, who became King Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt. Who controlled the House of Representatives in 1982? Cleopatra and Mark Antony had three sons together. 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. Native Tongue Cleopatra was the first Ptolemaic ruler who learned to speak and write in Egyptian. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. For Cleopatra, there is nothing as vivid as those few lines of Germanicus speech uttered as he stepped off the boat. Even when these are reasonably well documented by ancient standards, there are always huge gaps in the evidence. The era of the Pharaohs was almost incomprehensibly longthe first dynasty of Egypt began in 3100 BCover 5,000 years ago. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Caesar didnt hide that she was his mistressshe even came to the city with their lovechild, Caesarion, in towand many Romans were scandalized when he erected a gilded statue of her in the temple of Venus Genetrix. Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter. 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. Julius Caesar, in particular, had an eye on Egypts wealth, needing it to support expensive Roman battles. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. The name Cleopatra (in Greek ) means she who comes from glorious father.. Following the war, Cleopatra remarried her other younger brother, Ptolemy XIV. Alexandria was a place of star-studded luxury, laid out with parkland, colonnades, and wide thoroughfares (according to Schiff, its main street could accommodate eight chariots driving abreast). The Parthian campaign was a costly failure, as was the temporary conquest of Armenia. There have been at least five biographies of Cleopatra in English in the last five years, and the appetite on the part of readers and publishers for life stories of ancient characters seems insatiable. Eva Blanchefleur is a writer at Factinate. As per custom, she was then forced to marry her younger brother. John was born in 347 in Antioch, Syria. Cleopatra, (Greek: "Famous in Her Father") in full Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator ("Cleopatra the Father-Loving Goddess"), (born 70/69 bce died 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. Check out 10 surprising facts about the fabled Queen of the Nile. The Great Pyramids at Giza were constructed between 2550 to 2490 BC. Soon after her return to Alexandria, in 44 bce, Cleopatras coruler, Ptolemy XIV, died. Roman reinforcements arrived the following spring, and Ptolemy XIII fled and drowned in the Nile. In this conversation. Caesar and Cleopatra became lovers and spent the winter besieged in Alexandria. She came to represent, as did no other woman of antiquity, the prototype of the romantic femme fatale. He was tragically captured and executed shortly after his mother's suicide. encounter with Mark Antony. Were also on Pinterest, Tumblr, and Flipboard. Her most recent book is SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. It is almost certain that she did not even meet Antony until 41 BC, which would give a period of nine years at most, even on the most generous interpretation of ruling together. Whatever accounts for the error in Plutarchs text (maybe a medieval copyist simply miscopied the figure, or maybe Plutarch himself got it wrong), the standard scholarly confidence that Cleopatra was born in 69 is just one of the many examples where modern biographers cherry-pick the parts of an ancient text that suit them and turn a blind eye to those that do not. While she gave them a good fight, she ultimately lost the battle. In part maybe, but it was not just that. Impressively, Cleopatra spoke as many as a dozen languages and was educated in mathematics, philosophy, oratory, and astronomy. Cleopatra later employed a similar bit of theater in her 41 B.C. Her full name is Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (meaning the father-loving goddess in Greek). Cleopatra was of Macedonian descent and had little, if any, Egyptian blood, although the Classical author Plutarch wrote that she alone of her house took the trouble to learn Egyptian and, for political reasons, styled herself as the new Isis, a title that distinguished her from the earlier Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra III, who had also claimed to be the living embodiment of the goddess Isis. His Cleopatra not only goes to enormous trouble to acquire the snake with which to kill herself, but she also manages cleverly to conceal it in some aromatic plants, so that it bites Octavian as well when he comes to discover her body. But she didnt have a lot to live for at that point: Egypt had fallen to Rome, and the once-proud queen was penniless and powerless, soon to be paraded through the streets of Rome as a trophy. she didnt want to be paraded around as a prisoner. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. In June 47 bce she gave birth to Ptolemy Caesar (known to the people of Alexandria as Caesarion, or little Caesar). This was the only province of the Roman Empire to which such travel restrictions applied. Verified account Protected Tweets @; Suggested users It was the most expensive movie ever made at the time of its release, and nearly bankrupted its studio despite raking in a fortune at the box office. Cleopatra fancied herself the reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis. 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. 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. Cleopatras dynasty of the Ptolemies had taken over the city on the death of Alexander in 323 BC: the first King Ptolemy, a Macedonian Greek, had been one of the heros leading generals and had even managed to hijack his body for burial in Alexandriaan ancient publicity coup, intended to blazon forever the otherwise brief association of this new city with the ancient worlds greatest conqueror. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons [Public Domain]). Following Caesars death, Cleopatra tried to have her son Caesarion recognized as his heir to no avail. According to the historian Tacitus, the ostensible purpose of this imperial visit was to relieve the famine then afflicting the country (which he did by simply opening up some granaries where grain was stored). If the splendor of the show seems almost beyond belief, that is most likely because it is not to be believed. 10 Facts About the Ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, The Good, the Bad, and the Mad: 7 Fascinating Emperors of Ancient Rome, 4,200-Year-Old Egyptian Temple Discovered to Have Remarkably Well Preserved Artwork, Designer Reimagines Famous Historical Figures as Modern People Living Today. It all sounds more like the melting pot of New York than the showy decadence of Versailles. Germanicus trip, however, did not go down well with his adoptive father, the reigning emperor Tiberius, since the young man had broken the rules by going to Egypt without the emperors express permission. In a last excess of devotion, he had himself carried to Cleopatras retreat and there died, after bidding her to make her peace with Octavian. To be sure, there are one or two pieces of vivid historical testimony, occasionally more or less firsthand, buried within these stories. Cleopatra not only adopted the Egyptian religion and worshiped traditional Egyptian gods, she actually believed she was one of them. Author of. . Cleopatra also considered her sister Arsinoe a rival to the throne, so in 41 BCE, Cleopatra had her assassinated on the steps of a temple in Rome. She was catnip to men It is a useful assemblage of references to womens medicine in antiquity, but has nothing at all to do with Cleopatra. Antonywho considered himself the embodiment of the Greek god Dionysuswas instantly charmed and the pair later married. Cleopatra not only spoke Greek and Egyptian. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery. He finally decided to stop playing nice and invade Egypt. After the Roman armies of Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) defeated their combined forces, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, and Egypt fell under Roman domination. Antony had already left Alexandria to return to Italy, where he was forced to conclude a temporary settlement with Octavian. My mom never told me how her best friend died. The epithet (Chrysostomos, anglicized as Chrysostom) means golden-mouthed in Greek and denotes his celebrated eloquence.John Chrysostom. Richard Burton as Mark Antony with Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in Cleopatra (1963). Antony, who equated himself with the god Dionysus, was captivated. Cleopatra was charismatic and intelligent, and she used both qualities to further Egypt's political aims. Cleopatra was the first Ptolemaic ruler who learned to speak and write in Egyptian. Of the beginning of her life we know almost nothing. As for the fragmentary, difficult, and disputed archaeology of Alexandria, it continues to produce new theories on the possible site of her palace or her tomb, each one as implausible (and newsworthy) as the last. Her full name is Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (meaning "the father-loving goddess" in Greek). This information is drawn from any ancient source that can conveniently be brought into the picture, all jumbled together: the second-century-AD doctor Soranus, who provides most of the information we have about ancient obstetrics (including the detail of the obsidian), a papyrus letter from five centuries earlier (on what to look for in a midwife), and a considerable variety of writers on the principles and practice of contraception, from the Hippocratic corpus to the Roman satirist Juvenal. Cleopatra's father's name was Ptolemy XII. 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