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. Barbara Stepko is a New Jersey-based freelance editor and writer who has contributed to AARP magazine and the Wall Street Journal. Within months of taking the throne, Cleopatra made it clear she had no interest in sharing power with her younger brother. The Roman Senate deprived Antony of his prospective consulate for the following year, and it then declared war against Cleopatra. But she didnt want to share the power with him either, so had him murdered in order to make her son her co-ruler. So, she married himafter all, it had worked with the last brother. In 50 BC, only a year after she ascended to the throne, Cleopatra became embroiled in a dispute between Roman troops and a Syrian governor. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. (July 2017). Antony helped her to protect her crown, while Cleopatra provided him access to Egypts riches and resources. as the people around her would soon find out. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Following the war, Cleopatra remarried to her younger brother Ptolemy XIV, but she is believed to have had him murdered in a bid to make her son her co-ruler. In Alexandria we must rely on heroic archaeology under water. Create good names for games, profiles, brands or social networks. Poison, however, was most likely her method of choice. She's not actually Egyptian. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Why would an Egyptian queen bear a Greek name, you ask? Caesar sought money for repayment of the debts incurred by Cleopatras father, Auletes, as he struggled to retain his throne. Cleopatra was known to conceal a deadly poison in one of her hair combs, and many scholars now suspect she used a pin dipped in some form of a potent toxin to end her own life. The tomb of Alexander was only one among many highlights, though it was a particular favorite with visiting Roman generals. Named after his mother, I guess. The prestige of the Egyptian capital had a lot to do with its famous monuments and tourist sites. Coins from back in the day bearing her likeness show a woman with a sharp, jutting chin, a strong pointed nose, and a prominent forehead. Is it OK for a 13 year old to shave their legs? This was just one way she asserted herself over himand in time, her methods would become much more disturbing. He had no idea what was coming next. In it, he complains about his long sea journey and the fact that he has been torn from the embrace of my father and grandma and mother and brothers and sisters and children and intimate friends (a rather cozier view of imperial family life than Tacitus offersand especially striking when you recall that his grandma was the notoriously scheming empress Livia). Cleopatra actively influenced Roman politics at a crucial period, and she came to represent, as did no other woman of antiquity, the prototype of the romantic femme fatale. 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. She spoke (at least) a dozen languages, was well-versed in mathematics, philosophy, and astronomy. The truth is that peel[ing] away the encrusted myth of Cleopatra reveals that there is very little underneath the ancient fictional surface, and certainly nothing that can be the stuff of a plausible life storyunless it is padded out with half-relevant background that is, in a sense, fiction of a different kind. Cleopatra knew her days were numbered, and she refused to go out quietly, so she came up with a dark plan. Cleopatra and Antonys relationship had its political advantages. The naval Battle of Actium, in which Octavian faced the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra on September 2, 31 bce, was a disaster for the Egyptians. but mysteries still abound about her death and final resting place. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. She wore the hairstyle of her Greek ancestors, with her hair braided into a bun. Or sheer fantasy? In 41 BCE, the beguiling empress employed similar theatrics when she was summoned to meet Mark Antony, the Roman triumvir in Tarsus. Cleopatra's father's name was Ptolemy XII. A royal name in ancient Egypt that's never quite made it to the modern world, though nickname Cleo is widely used. Cleopatra, dressed as the goddess Aphrodite, arrived to meet Mark Antony. Cleopatra was never one to be casual about anything. 5 What kind of poison did Cleopatra use to kill herself? Cleopatra, Mark Antony, and Octavian all spent nearly a year negotiating a plan amenable to all three, but Octavian grew frustrated by it allafter all, Cleopatra and Mark Antony had lost at the Battle of Actium. The Parthian campaign was a costly failure, as was the temporary conquest of Armenia. 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. Why, its because she was actually Greek. Nevertheless, in 34 bce Antony celebrated a triumphal return to Alexandria. The name Cleopatra is a girls name of Greek origin meaning glory of the father. 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. she didnt want to be paraded around as a prisoner. Antony and Cleopatra spent the winter of 3231 bce in Greece. Whether Caesar was the father of Caesarion, as his name implies, cannot now be known. What was a nickname for Cleopatra? She may have been dubbed Queen of the Nile, but Cleopatra wasnt Egyptian by birth. Originally from Northern Ireland, she is an artist now based in Berlin. Though she got the throne at 17, she was well-educated and well-prepared to take over the reins. Cleopatra was hailed as queen of kings, Caesarion as king of kings. Her codename, "Miss Golden Mouth" stems from a nickname of . Even without a turbulent queen, Egypt was always liable to be trouble. Her first sibling-husband, Ptolemy XIII, ran her out of Egypt after she tried to take sole possession of the throne, and the pair later faced off in a civil war. 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Ancient embalmers likely placed the tongue-shaped, gold foil amulet in the deceased's mouth to ensure they could speak in the afterlife. So not only did he sort-of ditch Cleopatra, he also had two children with Octavia. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Omissions? (Photo: Wikimedia Commons [Public Domain]). When the two met, sparks flew, and they quickly became lovers. We do not know. READ MORE:Did Cleopatra Really Die by Snake Bite? Cleopatra fancied herself the reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis. Popularity: very popular. He took the name Emperor Augustus, and he carried a statue of her through Romes streets every August in triumph. 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). According to the philosopher, Plutarch, Cleopatra didn't have outstanding beauty the way she's often portrayed in movies. Antony, meanwhile, desired access to Egypts resources. . In 19 AD, almost fifty years after the death of Cleopatra, the Roman prince Germanicus paid a visit to Alexandria, the city that had once been the capital of her kingdom, and was now the administrative center of the Roman province of Egypt. Three years later Antony was convinced that he and Octavian could never come to terms. Noticing eight boars being cooked, he assumed that a very large party was being catered. Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIIIs rejected queenbut few people know her even darker history. Theres speculation to this day about the way that Cleopatra took her own life. When Cleopatra was 14, tragedy struck. Ouch, man. Admittedly, we have only a few scraps of the work of Didymus (probably not a great loss). The mummies found at Taposiris Magna were not in particularly good shape, but they were buried with some other treasure, including coins depicting the face of Cleopatra, which means they were entombed around . 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. Like many royal houses, members of the Ptolemaic dynasty often married within the family to preserve the purity of their bloodline. The Death of Cleopatra by Juan Luna, 1881. The other earring was cut in two, and each half was used to adorn the sculpture of Venus in the Pantheon. When they started attacking him, Caesar tried to flee, but, blinded by his own blood, he tripped and fell. At Factinate, were dedicated to getting things right. What kind of poison did Cleopatra use to kill herself? Cleopatra entered her tomb and put her plan in motion. In this case the rich evidence on papyrus that survives from Greco-Roman Egypt hardly helps. Another was the wine-sack made of leopard skin and holding 3,000 measures, which gradually released its contents onto the processional route. When Cleopatra sided with the Syrians, the Romans retaliated by helping her husband-brother Ptolemy XIII steal the throne from her. Her wit and intelligence were often downplayed or overshadowed entirely by her sexiness in accounts written by her Roman critics. Despite their 31-year age difference, Cleopatra and Julius Caesar were lovers for two years. She was 39 and had been a queen for 22 years and Antonys partner for 11. Cleopatra and Mark Antony must have had some grand times together, in the true Dionysian style. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. In keeping with this custom, Cleopatra eventually married both of her adolescent brothers, each of whom served as her ceremonial spouse and co-regent at different times during her reign. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. According to popular belief, Cleopatra killed herself by allowing an asp (Egyptian cobra) to bite her, but for Greek and Roman historians, Cleopatra poisoned herself using either a toxic ointment or by introducing the poison with a sharp implement such as a hairpin. Cleopatra and Antony famously took their own lives in 30 B.C., after Octavians forces pursued them to Alexandria. It was Sosigenes who proposed the idea of leap years and leap days. Its generally agreed upon that Cleopatra was responsible for his death, and that she poisoned himwhich seemed like something of a habit for her. One such writer is famous playwright George Bernard Shaw, whose 1901 Caesar and Cleopatra chronicles the relationship of the two lovers. Antony proclaimed Caesarion to be Caesars sonthus relegating Octavian, who had been adopted by Caesar as his son and heir, to legal illegitimacy. 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. Like any good Egyptian ruler, a luxurious tomb was already waiting for her. Their daughter, Cleopatra Selene, became an important ruler in her own right. In June 47 bce she gave birth to Ptolemy Caesar (known to the people of Alexandria as Caesarion, or little Caesar). Between them, the library and the research institute in the Musaeum attracted men such as the mathematician Euclid and Herophilus from Chalcedon (in modern Turkey), the scientist who first identified the difference between veins and arteries. A sculpture of the Roman emperor Julius Caesar near the old orangery in the public Lazienki Park, Warsaw. (She was known to conceal a poison in one of her hair combs. She experimented with practical alchemy but is also credited as one of the four female alchemists who could produce the Philosopher's stone. Cleopatra and her son were now co-regents. Anyone sailing from Alexandria to Rome in 46 BC (when Cleopatra herself made that journey to visit Julius Caesar) would have felt, to use Schiffs apt comparison, rather as if they were going from eighteenth-century Versailles to eighteenth- century Philadelphia. Foreign Influence Why would an Egyptian queen bear a Greek name, you ask? Ordered to appear before the general in Tarsus (in modern day Turkey), Cleopatra took her sweet time to get there, then arrived on a golden barge. One of Antony and Cleopatras favorite activities supposedly involved wandering the streets of Alexandria in disguise and playing pranks on its residents. The fairly traditional picture she paints of Cleopatraas a powerful, independent queen, strategizing to serve her own best interests, and manipulating a succession of Roman grandees with her sexual and intellectual wilesis not necessarily wrong. To view it, confirm your age. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); There is something elusive, even a whiff of spin, about him, Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge. This page may contain sensitive or adult content that's not for everyone. Shes officially known as Cleopatra VII Philopater. Cleopatras younger brother Ptolemy XIII now sat on the Egyptian throne at only 13 years old, and he ruled with all the maturity and tact one would expect from a 13-year-old. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. A fragment of a Ptolemaic relief believed to show Queen Cleopatra. 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