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Cleopatra VII

Spring 2003
Humanities 1
3009 words

Cleopatra VII

    Cleopatra, the famous queen of Egypt, is best known to us as either the heroine or villainess of countless tales, books, movies, and paintings. Most people are familiar with that fictional Cleopatra, not the factual Cleopatra. The true Cleopatra was not a bewitching seductress, but a wise and intelligent monarch.

    Cleopatra’s full name was Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator. Her other titles were Philadelphus, "Brother-loving," and Thea Neotera, "Younger Goddess." Cleopatra, a family name, meant "Father-Glory." The title of Thea Philopator meant "Goddess and Lover of her Fatherland." In Egyptian tradition, the ruling figures were seen as incarnations of the gods. Cleopatra was identified with the Egyptian mother goddess Isis. Cleopatra, however, was not Egyptian as most people assume. She was a Ptolemy, and therefore Greek.

    The Ptolemies were the ruling family of Egypt. They had been one of the great families who shared the rule of the Greek world after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. The Ptolemaic empire had spanned from Asia Minor to the north, to Syria to the east. However, an earlier king Ptolemy had asked Rome for financial help, and in return had willed most of the empire but Egypt to them. Egypt was the last piece of Greece that Rome had not yet taken. However, the existence of Egypt hung in the balance of Rome.

    Egypt, although mostly desert, was a rich country filled with natural resources. Alexandria, at the time the capital of Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great, was a cultural Mecca for the people of the ancient world, perhaps more so than Rome. It sat on the very end of the Nile, with a great lighthouse that was one of the seven wonders of the world, before an earthquake destroyed it. People of all types were welcome in Alexandria: Greeks, Egyptians, Arabs, Africans, Jews, and all other sorts of people. Alexandria had a university and the biggest library of the ancient world (which unfortunately burned down sometime after Cleopatra’s death, resulting in a loss of its literature forever).

    Into all of this, Cleopatra VII was born in 69 BC, the third child of Ptolemy XII (her mother is unknown to us, but was probably Ptolemy XII’s sister, as was the custom). She had two older sisters, Cleopatra Tryphaena and Berenice. She later gained another sister, Arsinoe, and two brothers, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy IV (Ptolemy, Cleopatra, Berenice and Arsinoe were all family names which were passed down from generation to generation). Already, when Cleopatra was a young girl, her family was already betraying each other for power. Ptolemy XII had a reputation for weakness. He gave support to the Romans in return for protection. On one of his trips to Rome, his eldest daughter, Cleopatra Tryphaena, took the throne, but by the time he returned from Rome, she had already been assassinated, and the second sister, Berenice, had taken it. She was executed upon his return.

    In 51 BC, Ptolemy XII died, naming Cleopatra, who was 18, and her brother Ptolemy XIII, who was ten, joint heirs. It was the custom, both in ancient and Greek Egypt, as it was in many countries, for brothers and sisters of the royal to marry, in order to keep the royal blood in the family. Ptolemy XIII was assigned a regent, a eunuch called Pothinus, to rule in his stead, as he was too young. Pothinus was extremely anti-Roman. Cleopatra, however, realized that the future of Egypt was in Rome’s hands. One of the first things Cleopatra tried to do was send troops to the Roman governor of Syria for use against the Parthians, Rome’s latest enemy at the time. Although her soldier's mutinied, Rome decided that it was the thought that counted, and Cleopatra was considered an ally. However, her people, and Pothinus especially, did not like this idea.

    In September of 49 BC, Cleopatra left Alexandria for some reason. While she was gone, Pothinus began issuing orders in Ptolemy XIII’s name alone. At this time, in Rome, Julius Caesar and his once co-consul Pompey were quarrelling. Pompey’s son asked Egypt for help against Caesar. Pothinus promised them ships, men, and grain. Still, won the conflict, and Pompey fled to Alexandria, thinking them his friends. The Alexandrians, however, did not wish to take the side of a loser, cut off his head as soon as he arrived. When Caesar arrived in Alexandria, he was presented with Pompey’s head, "but instead of thanking the Egyptians for ridding him of his enemy and leaving, as they trusted he would, he expressed himself outraged by this treacherous murder of a great Roman and he showed no eagerness to depart." (Hughes-Hallet, 18) The people rioted against this Roman leader’s presence in their city, and Caesar locked himself up in the palace.

    At this point, Cleopatra returned to Alexandria. There is a famous tale about how she smuggled herself back into the palace, encased in a large carpet. She met with Caesar, and he took her side and tried to reconcile the two siblings. He agreed that they should reign jointly, and even arranged a formal marriage for them. Although Pothinus and Ptolemy XIII agreed to this compromise, their commander marched the army into the city and stormed the palace. Cleopatra’s youngest and now only living sister, Arsinoe, joined this army, and declared herself queen. Caesar had been informed that Pothinus was in league with Arsinoe, and so had him executed. He let Ptolemy XIII go, and when reinforcements came, he was able to defeat the army. Later, Ptolemy XIII was found drowned in the Nile, supposedly by the weight of his own armor.

    Caesar did not take Egypt for Rome, not out of love for her (although many in Rome believed she had bewitched him), but perhaps "on the grounds given by the historian Juetonius, that any Roman governor of Egypt would be so rich and powerful as to pose a serious threat to the central government in Rome." (Hughes-Hallet, 19) Instead of annexing Rome, he gave it back to Cleopatra and her youngest brother, Ptolemy XIV, who was now about twelve. He married them and declared them joint rulers. Ptolemy XIV was too young to want any power of his own, and so Cleopatra was in reality the sole ruler of Egypt. Caesar left her with three Roman legions "to assist her, or perhaps to remind her that she held her throne on sufferance." (Hughes-Hallet, 19) Caesar went back to Rome in 46 BC, and there he celebrated his triumphs, in which all the captured goods and prisoners were marched down the streets of Rome. Arsinoe was one of these prisoners. Apparently were so moved by the sight of a princess being led in chains that the government decided it was best not to execute her at the end of the triumph and instead to allow to her take asylum at the temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

    Back in Alexandria, Cleopatra gave birth to the son she had gained from her brief affair with Caesar. She named him Ptolemy Caesar (although he was called Caesarion). Caesar never acknowledged Caesarion as his heir as Cleopatra wished him to. If Caesarion would have been Caesar's hair, he would inherit the whole Roman empire at Caesar’s death, and Cleopatra would be able to rule it in his stead. To the Romans, this was unthinkable. Even the fact that Cleopatra and her son went on a trip to Rome and stayed in one of Caesar’s guest houses was scandalous. Cleopatra was in Rome the day Caesar was assassinated, in March of 44 BC. She left to return to Alexandria immediately afterwards.

    By September of 44 BC, Ptolemy XIV was dead of illness, and Cleopatra made her infant son joint ruler in his place. In Rome, Octavius, Caesar’s adopted grand-nephew, who was 19 at the time, agreed to share the empire with Antony, who was highest in power after Caesar, and a man named Lepidus, to create a Triumvirate. They would split the governing of the empire between them: Octavius to take the west, Antony the east, and Lepidus the small portion of Africa that was Rome's. Together they would fight against Caesar’s murderers, and Cleopatra gave them her support. Eventually Octavius and Antony kicked Lepidus out of the Triumvirate, and split the empire between themselves. Antony took a tour of his realm and eventually came to Alexandria. Cleopatra supported him on his campaign against the Parthians (although this campaign failed horribly), while meanwhile, she was going about having all of her rivals executed, including her sister Arsinoe, who had tried to declare herself queen again, although she was stuck in a temple nowhere near Alexandria. By this time, Antony and Cleopatra had become lovers, but in October of 40 BC, Octavius and Antony created the Treaty of Brundisium, which reconfirmed their co-rule, and as part of the deal, Antony married Octavius’ sister, Octavia. Ironically, around this time, Cleopatra gave birth to twins by Antony, which she named Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene.

    Antony eventually tried to invade Parthia again, and asked once more for Cleopatra’s support. She agreed to build a fleet, and to help supply his army. In exchange, Cleopatra asked for the territories that are now Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. The Roman people were outraged at Antony “giving away” pieces of their empire, claiming that his love for Cleopatra had made him crazy, but "in fact such grants were consistent with his policy or governing Rome’s eastern dominions through alliances with client monarchs. He had done the same with King Herod." (Hughes-Hallet, 25) In May of 36 BC, Antony left for Parthia again, and around this time, Cleopatra had her third child by him, a son that she named Ptolemy Philadelphus. Antony was doing poorly in Parthia, and she came to his aide in 35 BC, with pay and winter clothing for the soldiers. Antony’s wife Octavia was also coming with more troops and supplies, but Antony told her to go home to Rome.

    This action angered Octavius, who said that Antony was a tool of Cleopatra's who "intended to establish his capital in Alexandria and to make Rome a dependency of an oriental empire ruled jointly by himself and Cleopatra." (Hughes-Hallet, 26) In this same year, 35 BC, Cleopatra and Antony returned to Alexandria to raise money for the military. They held a parade in the streets that was similar to a Roman triumph, and in a ceremony Antony named Cleopatra "Queen of Kings," and her son Caesarion "King of Kings." The younger children he made monarchs of their own bits of land, which were in reality only titles, "all of the territories in question already had incumbent rulers." (Hughes-Hallet, 26) However, just the idea of holding a non-Roman triumph, of naming Cleopatra "Queen of Kings," and of naming her children monarchs of their land enraged the Romans. Octavius and Antony were now more enemies than co-rulers. The empire was taking its sides. In 32 BC, two consuls and three hundred senators came to Antony, and he divorced Octavia, enraging Octavius.

    In March of 31 BC, Octavius' friend Agrippa took a port city called Methone, and from there, began taking more and more of Antony’s territory. Finally, Octavius' army settled at Actium. Cleopatra and Antony went out to meet them, and on September 2nd, 31 BC, a great battle took place on the water, the Battle of Actium. Perhaps Antony and Cleopatra would have one, had they fought on land and not at sea. But instead, many ships were taken, and Cleopatra and Antony, seeing that there was no hope, took as many ships as they could, and returned to Alexandria, defeated. However, Octavius had to deal with rebelling soldiers who wanted their pay back in Rome, so Cleopatra and Antony had several months to recuperate. In 30 BC, Octavius came to Alexandria. The Egyptian fleet and Antony’s cavalry surrendered to him. Cleopatra stashed all of her wealth in a monument built in her honor, planning to set it on fire, but instead shut herself up in it. Antony, in a typical Roman custom, stabbed himself rather than face the humiliation of being killed at the hands of Octavius. Cleopatra tried to do the same, but was stopped.

    After her first attempt, she was taken prisoner. But somehow she managed to succeed on her second try. Everyone knows the story of her famous suicide. There are numberless pictures of her, naked, with a snake held to her breast, or already dead, her maids dying around her. However, today, the way in which she killed herself is disputed. First of all, she was not nude. She dressed herself in her finest clothing, and seated herself on a fine throne in the monument. As for the cause of death itself, two puncture wounds were found on her arm, not her breast. And no snake was found, only the two wounds were seen, which looked very much like a snake bite, but may have been the result of a prick from a poisoned brooch or hairpin. Many think that Cleopatra’s suicide was because of her sadness at Antony's death. However, Cleopatra was able to survive the death of a loved one quite well, as she had demonstrated with Caesar. In reality, she was left with no other choice but to be led in chains in Octavius' triumph down the streets of Rome, as had happened to her sister Arsinoe years before. As Antony had done, rather than face such terrible humiliation, she killed herself.

    After Cleopatra’s death, Octavius took all of the Roman empire, now including Egypt, as his own, and gave himself a new title: Augustus Caesar. Cleopatra’s oldest son by Caesar was assassinated, but her sons and daughter by Antony were allowed to live. Cleopatra Selene was wed to the Numidian Prince Juba, and her brothers were allowed to live with her in the Numidian court. When Cleopatra XII had first come to power, Egypt had massive debts left over from her father’s right, and was also suffering from famine. By the time Rome took Egypt, Egypt had regained its wealth. When Octavian gained all of Cleopatra’s wealth, "prices [in Rome] soared and the interest rate fell from twelve to four percent." (Hughes-Hallet, 23) Cleopatra was a wise businesswoman. According to Josephus, a 1st century Jewish historian, she had bought oil rights from the Nabatean Arabs, and she received the territory of Jericho from Antony and began making profits from dates and balsam, and then lent it back to Herod of Judea for even more profit. Although Cleopatra had struggled with international politics, in Egypt, things were relatively calm during her reign. The Egyptian people rioted against previous Ptolemaic rulers, yet they loved Cleopatra. Perhaps this was because she learned their language and practiced their religion, and also because of all the good she had done for their country. They saw her as the incarnation of the goddess Isis, and Cleopatra often played into that role (just the story of how she wrapped the snake around her arm is an example, the asp pictured in this manner was a symbol of Isis).

    Most of the factual information we know about Cleopatra comes from the historian Plutarch. Nearly 200 years after Cleopatra’s death, Plutarch read the memoirs and notes (which can no longer be found) of those who had known Cleopatra in real life. He gives us some interesting facts. Although the name Cleopatra always conjures up the image of some amazingly beautiful woman, the truth was practically the opposite! According to Plutarch, people who knew Cleopatra in real life reported that she wasn’t all that attractive. Indeed, the only real images of her that survives to this day are on coins, and those show a woman with a hooked nose and a strong, jutting chin. Plutarch wrote, "For her actual beauty, it is said, was not in itself so remarkable. For the attraction of her person and the character that attended all she said or did was something bewitching." (Lifetime Home Video) Cleopatra attracted her peers with her charm, wit, and intelligence. And she was amazingly intelligent for a woman of her day. The Alexandrians took women much more seriously than the rest of the rest of the world, and Cleopatra had been well educated. She spoke seven languages, and was the only member of her family that learned to speak the native Egyptian tongue (Greek was the language of the court).

    Over the years, the story of Cleopatra has become so twisted that the truth is almost the total opposite from the reality. She is often seen as some sort of ancient hooker who would sleep with anyone of importance who crossed her path, but in reality she was celibate for more than half of her adult life (keep in mind that she died at a young age). Her marriages with her brothers were probably never consummated, her affair with Caesar was extremely brief, and although her relationship with Antony might have lasted until they were both old and gray, it too was cut short. Even in Cleopatra’s day, rumors and stories were strewn around on purpose to cast her in a positive or negative light. Octavius and Cleopatra were both excellent propagandists. "In the imagination of the Romans she was a barbaric debauchee and a femme fatale who lured their generals off the path of duty. To her own Egyptian subjects she was a goddess and a universal mother. To the Hellenistic peoples of the eastern Mediterranean, she was a Messiah and a liberator, come to free them from political oppression and to usher in a Golden Age." (Hughes-Hallet, 15)

    Perhaps it is best to end with the words of Theophile Gautier, who in 1845 wrote: "The most complete woman to ever have existed, the most womanly woman and the most queenly queen, a person to be wondered at, to whom the poets have been able to add nothing, and whom dreamers find always at the end of their dreams." (Hughes-Hallet, 1)

Works Cited

Hughes-Hallet, Lucy. Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams, and Distortions. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1990

Lifetime Home Video. Intimate Portrait: Cleopatra. Lifetime Productions, Inc., 1997