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'Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator' (in Greek, ''Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ''; January 69 BC – 12 August 30 BC) was a Hellenistic co-ruler of Egypt with her father (Ptolemy XII Auletes) and later with her brothers/husbands Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV. She later became the supreme ruler of Egypt, as pharaoh, consummated a liaison with Gaius Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne, and, after Caesar's assassination, aligned with Mark Antony, with whom she produced twins. In all, Cleopatra had four children, one by Caesar (Caesarion) and three by Antony (Cleopatra Selene II, Alexander Helios, and Ptolemy Philadelphus). Her unions with her brothers produced no children. It is possible that they were never consummated; in any case, they were not close. Her reign marks the end of the Hellenistic Era and the beginning of the Roman Era in the eastern Mediterranean. She was the last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, ruled in name only before Augustus had him executed). Even though she still bore the ancient Egyptian title Pharaoh, her society's language was Greek and its culture was Hellenistic. When Cleopatra was born, the Great Pyramid was already at least 2,500 years old. Her society's understanding of the Ancient hieroglyphic language and culture of Egypt already was spotty. It was at best a reconstruction, not first hand knowledge.
After Antony's rival and Caesar's legal heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian (who later became the first Roman Emperor, Augustus), brought the might of Rome against Egypt, it is said that Cleopatra took her own life on 12 August 30 BC, allegedly by means of an asp. Her legacy survives in the form of numerous dramatizations of her story, including William Shakespeare's ''Antony and Cleopatra'', Bernard Shaw's ''Caesar & Cleopatra'', several films and the recent HBO/BBC series ''Rome''.
Her mother was Cleopatra V of Egypt—who co-ruled Egypt with another daughter, Berenice IV, for a year before her death—yet Cleopatra, borne of the union with Ptolemy XII Auletes, was a direct descendant of Alexander the Great's general, Ptolemy I Soter, son of Arsinoe and Lacus, both of Macedon. A Greek by language and culture, Cleopatra is reputed to have been the first member of her family in their 300-year reign in Egypt—to have learned the Egyptian language.

Contents

Early years

Childhood

Accession to the throne

Cleopatra and Julius Caesar

Assassination of Pompey

Caesar and Caesarion

Cleopatra and Mark Antony

The Legend of Her "Suicide"

Cleopatra in art, film, TV, and literature

Literature: Drama

Literature: Other

Films

Television

Opera

Ballet

Video games

Ancient art—triumph painting, sculpture

Paintings, Renaissance onwards

The suicide

Other

Notes

External links

General

Paintings of Cleopatra

Early years

Childhood

Little is known about Cleopatra's childhood, but she would have observed the disordered events and loss of public affection for the Ptolemaic dynasty under the reign of her father. It is said that her father survived two assassination attempts when a servant found a deadly puff adder in his bed, and a servant who tasted his wine died afterward. Her eldest sister Tryphaena also tried to poison her, so she began using food-tasting servants. This disloyalty occurred for many reasons, including the physical and moral degeneration of the sovereigns, centralization of power and corruption. This led to uprising in and loss of Cyprus and of Cyrenaica, making Ptolemy's reign one of the most calamitous of the dynasty. When Ptolemy made a journey to Rome with Cleopatra, Tryphaena seized the Crown of Egypt. Shortly after arrangements for Roman assistance in Egypt, Ptolemy's followers assassinated Tryphaena and killed her guard. Berenice's guards in turn killed those followers.
In 58 BC Cleopatra's older sister, Berenice IV seized power from her father. With the assistance of the Roman governor of Syria, Aulus Gabinius, Ptolemy XII overturned his eldest daughter in 55 BC and had her executed. Cleopatra's other older sister Tryphaena took over shortly after that. She was killed as well, which left Cleopatra with her husband and younger brother, Ptolemy XIII, joint heirs to the throne.

Accession to the throne

Ptolemy XII died in March 51 BC, making the 18-year-old Cleopatra and her brother, the 12-year-old Ptolemy XIII joint monarchs. The first three years of their reign were difficult, due to economic difficulties, famine, deficient floods of the Nile, and political conflicts. Although Cleopatra was married to her young brother, she quickly showed indications that she had no intentions of sharing power with him.
In August 51 BC, relations between the sovereigns completely broke down. Cleopatra dropped Ptolemy's name from official documents and her face appeared alone on coins, which went against Ptolemaic tradition of female rulers being subordinate to male co-rulers. This resulted in a cabal of courtiers, led by the eunuch Pothinus, removing Cleopatra from power and making Ptolemy sole ruler in circa 48 BC (or possibly earlier, as a decree exists from 51 BC with Ptolemy's name alone). She tried to raise a rebellion around Pelusium, but she was soon forced to flee Egypt with her only surviving sister, Arsinoë.^[1]

Cleopatra and Julius Caesar

Assassination of Pompey

While Cleopatra was in exile, Ptolemy became embroiled in the Roman civil war. In the autumn of 48 BC, Pompey fled from the forces of Julius Caesar to Alexandria, seeking sanctuary. Ptolemy, only fifteen years old at that time, had set up a throne for himself on the harbour from where he watched as on September 28 48 BC Pompey was murdered by one of his former officers, now in Ptolemaic service. He was beheaded in front of his wife and children, who were on the ship he had just disembarked from. Ptolemy is thought to have ordered the death as a way of pleasing Julius Caesar and thus become an ally of Rome, to which Egypt was in debt. This was a catastrophic miscalculation on Ptolemy's part. When Caesar arrived in Egypt two days later, Ptolemy presented him with Pompey's severed, pickled head. Caesar was enraged. This was probably due to the fact that, although he was Caesar's political enemy, Pompey was a Consul of Rome and the widower of Caesar's only legitimate daughter, Julia (who died in childbirth with their son). Caesar seized the Egyptian capital and imposed himself as arbiter between the rival claims of Ptolemy and Cleopatra.

Caesar and Caesarion

Eager to take advantage of Julius Caesar's anger with Ptolemy, Queen Cleopatra returned to the palace rolled into a Persian carpet and had it presented to Caesar by her servants: when it was unrolled, Cleopatra tumbled out. It is believed that Caesar was charmed by the gesture, and she became his mistress. Nine months after their first meeting, Cleopatra gave birth to their baby. It was at this point that Caesar abandoned his plans to annex Egypt, instead backing Cleopatra's claim to the throne. After a short civil war, Ptolemy XIII was drowned in the Nile and Caesar restored Cleopatra to her throne, with another younger brother Ptolemy XIV as new co-ruler.
Despite the thirty year age difference, Cleopatra and Caesar became lovers during his stay in Egypt between 48 BC and 47 BC. They met when they were 21 (Cleopatra) and 50 (Caesar). On 23 June 47 BC Cleopatra gave birth to a child, Ptolemy Caesar (nicknamed "Caesarion" which means "little Caesar"). Cleopatra claimed Caesar was the father and wished him to name the boy his heir, but Caesar refused, choosing his grand-nephew Octavian instead. Caesarion was the intended inheritor of Egypt and Rome, uniting the East and the West.
Cleopatra and Caesarion visited Rome between 47 BC and 44 BC and were probably present when Caesar was assassinated on 15 March, 44 BC. Before or just after the assassination she returned to Egypt. When Ptolemy XIV died due to deteriorating health, Cleopatra made Caesarion her co-regent and successor. To safeguard herself and Caesarion she also had her sister Arsinoe killed, a common practice of the times.

Cleopatra and Mark Antony

In 42 BC, Mark Antony, one of the triumvirs who ruled Rome in the power vacuum following Caesar's death, summoned Cleopatra to meet him in Tarsus to answer questions about her loyalty. Cleopatra arrived in great state, and so charmed Antony that he chose to spend the winter of 41 BC–40 BC with her in Alexandria. On 25 December 40 BC she gave birth to two children Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II.
Four years later, in 37 BC, Antony visited Alexandria again en route to make war with the Parthians. He renewed his relationship with Cleopatra, and from this point on Alexandria would be his home. He married Cleopatra according to the Egyptian rite (a letter quoted in Suetonius suggests this), although he was at the time married to Octavia Minor, sister of his fellow triumvir Octavian. He and Cleopatra had another child, Ptolemy Philadelphus.
At the Donations of Alexandria in late 34 BC, following Antony's conquest of Armenia, Cleopatra and Caesarion were crowned co-rulers of Egypt and Cyprus; Alexander Helios was crowned ruler of Armenia, Media, and Parthia; Cleopatra Selene II was crowned ruler of Cyrenaica and Libya; and Ptolemy Philadelphus was crowned ruler of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Cleopatra also took the title of Queen of Kings.
Antony's behavior was considered outrageous by the Romans, and Octavian convinced the Senate to levy war against Egypt. In 31 BC Antony's forces faced the Romans in a naval action off the coast of Actium. Cleopatra was present with a fleet of her own. Popular legend tells us that when she saw that Antony's poorly equipped and manned ships were losing to the Romans' superior vessels, she took flight and that Antony abandoned the battle to follow her, but no contemporary evidence states this was the case.
Following the Battle of Actium, Octavian invaded Egypt. As he approached Alexandria, Antony's armies deserted to Octavian on August 12 30 BC
There are a number of unverifiable but famous stories about Cleopatra, of which one of the best known is that, at one of the lavish dinners she shared with Antony, she playfully bet him that she could spend ten million sesterces on a dinner. He accepted the bet. The next night, she had a conventional, unspectacular meal served; he was ridiculing this, when she ordered the second course — only a cup of strong vinegar. She then removed one of her priceless pearl earrings, dropped it into the vinegar, allowed it to dissolve, and drank the mixture. The earliest report of this story comes from Pliny the Elder and dates to about 100 years after the banquet described would have happened. The calcium carbonate in pearls does dissolve in vinegar, but slowly unless the pearl is first crushed.^[2]

The Legend of Her "Suicide"

Mark Antony committed suicide, having been told Cleopatra was dead. According to the doctor Olympus (an eye-witness), he was brought to Cleopatra's tomb and died in her arms. A few days later, on 12 August, Cleopatra also died by snakebite. The ancient sources generally agree that she had two asps hidden in a fig basket so as she was eating she would never know when she would die. Her two handmaidens died with her. Octavian, waiting in a building nearby, was informed of her death, and went to see for himself.^[3]
Cleopatra's son by Caesar, Caesarion, was proclaimed pharaoh by the Egyptians, but Octavian had already won. Caesarion was captured and executed, his fate reportedly sealed by Octavian's famous phrase: "Two Caesars are one too many." This ended not just the Hellenistic line of Egyptian pharaohs, but the line of all Egyptian pharaohs. The three children of Cleopatra and Antony were spared and taken back to Rome where they were taken care of by Antony's wife, Octavia Minor, who was also Octavian's sister.

Cleopatra in art, film, TV, and literature

Cleopatra's story has fascinated scores of writers and artists through the centuries. While she was a powerful political figure in her own right, it is likely that much of her appeal lay in her legend as a great seductress who was able to ally herself with two of the most powerful men (Julius Caesar and Mark Antony) of her time.

Literature: Drama

Among the more famous works on her:

★ ''Antony and Cleopatra'' (c. 1609) by William Shakespeare

★ ''All for Love'' (1678) by John Dryden

★ ''Caesar and Cleopatra'' (1901) by George Bernard Shaw

★ ''The Death of Cleopatre'' by Ahmed Shawqi

★ ''Cleopatra'' by Samuel Daniel

Literature: Other

★ ''Cléopâtre'' by Jules-Émile-Frédéric Massenet

★ ''Incipit Legenda Cleopatrie Martiris, Egipti Regine'' from Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Legend of Good Women''

★ ''Cléopatre'' by Victorien Sardou

★ ''Cleopatra (1889) by H. Rider Haggard

★ ''The Memoirs of Cleopatra'' by Margaret George

★ ''Kleopatra'' and ''Pharaoh'' by Karen Essex

★ Many Asterix books, particularly Asterix and Cleopatra, with a Cleopatra inspired by Elizabeth Taylor.

★ Sheba, a comic book by Walter S. Crane IV

★ In the satirical newspaper column ''archy and mehitabel'', the cat mehitabel claims to be the reincarnation of Cleopatra.

★ ''The Royal Diaries: Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile, Egypt, 57 B.C.'' by Kristiana Gregory, a fictionalized story of Cleopatra's childhood and adolescence beginning from about 1 year before her sister, Tryphaena seizes the crown and ending a few months before she herself is crowned.

★ ''Ides of March'' an epistolatory novel by Thornton Wilder. This describes Cleopatra's visit to Rome just before the assassination of Julius Caesar and includes an imagined correspondence between the two characters.

Films

The earliest Cleopatra-related motion picture was ''Antony and Cleopatra'' (1908) with Florence Lawrence as Cleopatra. The earliest film on Cleopatra as the main subject was ''Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt'', starring Helen Gardner (1912).
Other films and TV movies inspired by the Queen of the Nile include:
; ''Cleopatra'' (1917) : Based on Émile Moreau's play ''Cléopatre'', Sardou's play ''Cléopatre'', and Shakespeare's ''Antony and Cleopatra''. Starred Theda Bara (Cleopatra), Fritz Leiber (Caesar), Thurston Hall (Antony); directed by J. Gordon Edwards.
; ''Cleopatra'' (1934) : Oscar-winning Cecil B. DeMille epic. Starred Claudette Colbert (Cleopatra), Warren William (Caesar), Henry Wilcoxon (Antony).
; ''Caesar and Cleopatra'' (1945) : Oscar-nominated version of George Bernard Shaw's play of the same name. Starred Vivien Leigh (Cleopatra), Claude Rains (Caesar), Stewart Granger, Flora Robson; Leigh also played Cleopatra opposite then-husband's Laurence Olivier's Caesar in a later London stage version.
; ''Serpent of the Nile'' (1953) : Starred Rhonda Fleming (Cleopatra), Raymond Burr (Mark Antony), Michael Fox (Octavian).
; ''Cléo de 5 à 7'' (1961) : French New Wave Feminist film by Agnes Varda about a contemporary beautiful Parisian, symbolizing Cleopatra, in the last 2 hours of her death.
; ''Cleopatra'' (1963) : Oscar-winning blockbuster most (in)famously remembered for the off-screen affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and the at-the-time massive $44 million cost — today just under $270 million —, making it the second most expensive film ever made (after ''War and Peace (1968)''). Starred Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra), Rex Harrison (Caesar), Richard Burton (Antony).
; ''Totò e Cleopatra'' (1963) : An Italian comedy movie about Cleopatra and Mark Antony, who was played by the Italian actor Totò.
; ''Carry On Cleo'' (1964) : A parody of the American 1963 film, with Amanda Barrie as Cleopatra, Sid James as Mark Antony, and Kenneth Williams as Caesar.
; ''Kureopatora (Cleopatra: Queen of Sex)'' (1970) : A Japanese animated film by Osamu Tezuka. When released in the United States, the film was promoted as being X-rated in an attempt to cash in on the success of ''Fritz the Cat''. In actuality, ''Cleopatra'' had not been submitted to the MPAA, and it is considered to be highly unlikely that it would have received an X rating if it had been submitted. The English subtitled version is said to be lost, but a clip from the dubbed version is available on YouTube.
; ''The Notorious Cleopatra'' (1970) : A grossly inaccurate sexploitation film by Harry Novak. In this version Cleopatra is stabbed to death in her tub by Mark Anthony.
; ''Antony & Cleopatra'' (1974) : Television production performed by London's Royal Shakespeare Company, shown in the US in 1975 to great critical acclaim. Starred Janet Suzman (Cleopatra), Richard Johnson (Antony), and Patrick Stewart (Enobarbus).
; ''Miss Cleopatra'' (1990) : A Pakistani movie in Punjabi starring the Babra Sharif.
; ''Cleopatra'' (1999) : Based on the book ''Memoirs of Cleopatra'' by Margaret George, it is less faithful to history than the earlier versions. Starred Leonor Varela (Cleopatra), Timothy Dalton (Caesar), Billy Zane (Antony).
; '' (2000) :French film based on the comic book ''Astérix et Cléopatre'' by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. Starred Monica Bellucci (Cleopatra), Alain Chabat (Caesar), Christian Clavier, Gerard Depardieu.
; ''Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy?'' (2005) : Scooby-Doo and the gang investigate the curse of Cleopatra.

Television

★ (1993): An ''Animaniacs'' short featuring Rita and Runt also portrayed as sly, seductive Cleopatra dominating over a cowardly Mark Antony. The cartoon also pointed out the use of animal sacrifices in Ancient Egypt.

★ (1993–1995) in ''Legends of the Hidden Temple'', one of the artifacts was the Snake Bracelet of Cleopatra.

★ (1998): ''Histeria!'' frequently featured Cleopatra, usually portrayed by a tanned World's Oldest Woman or, if she were being portrayed as attractive, Pepper Mills.

★ (2002–2003): '' Clone High'', Cleopatra was featured on Clone High as one of the main characters. In the show, Cleopatra is portrayed as beautiful and popular.

★ (2005/2007): A version of Cleopatra appears in the HBO/BBC series ''Rome'', portrayed by Lyndsey Marshal. She is introduced (along with brother Ptolemy XIII) in the Season 1 episode ''Caesarion'', which begins with Pompey's assassination and ends with the birth of Caesarion. Cleopatra also appears in four episodes in Season 2, in which she makes an enemy of Atia of the Julii (Polly Walker) and later allies with Mark Antony (James Purefoy). The series finale features Antony and Cleopatra's deaths, and Octavia taking in the twins (Ptolemy Philadelphus is not acknowledged in the series). ''Rome'' also invents a subplot in which Caesarion is eventually revealed to actually be Cleopatra's son with lowly Roman soldier Titus Pullo, who saves the boy from execution by telling Octavian that he murdered Caesarion.

★ Cleopatra was featured twice in . She was played by Gina Torres in her first appearance then by Josephine Davison in her second.

Opera

★ Appears as a character in operas by Handel (''Giulio Cesare''), Carl Heinrich Graun (''Cleopatra e Cesare''), Johann Adolph Hasse, Jules Massenet (''Cléopâtre'') and Johann Mattheson (''Cleopatra'').

★ ''Cleopatra's Night'' by American composer Henry Kimball Hadley, based on a short story by Theophile Gautier premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1920.

★ ''Anthony and Cleopatra'' by Samuel Barber opened the new Metropolitan Opera House in 1966.

★ ''Kleopatra by Slovenian composer Danilo Švara

Ballet

★ ''One More Gaudy Night'' (1961) by American choreographer Martha Graham

Video games

★ '' for the arcades and on the NES and Genesis has Cleopatra as the final boss.

★ ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure'' for the NES she is one of 16 historical figures kidnapped and left stranded in another time by time-space rebels.

★ ''Cleopatra: The Official Pharaoh Expansion Pack'' was the official expansion pack for the popular City building series of PC games by Impression games.

Ancient art—triumph painting, sculpture

The most famous painting of Cleopatra is one that almost certainly no longer exists now. Because the queen died in Egypt well before Augustus' triumph could be put on in Rome, in which she would have walked in chains, Augustus commissioned a large painting of her, which was carried in his triumphal procession, and which may have represented her being poisoned by an asp. The sources for the story are ★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>.html#86 Plut. Ant. 86 and ★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>.html App. Civ. II.102, although the latter may well refer to a statue, and ★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>.html#22.3 Cass. Dio LI.21.3 reports that the "image" was of gold, and thus not a painting at all. A painting purported to be this work was engraved in the early 19th century: it was said to be in a private collection near Sorrento. Since then, this painting is said to have formed part of a collection in Cortona, but there no longer appears to be any trace of it; its quiet disappearance is almost certainly due to its being a fake. For comprehensive details on the entire question, see the external links at the end of this article.

Paintings, Renaissance onwards

Cleopatra and her death have inspired hundreds of paintings from the Renaissance to our own time, none of them of any historical value of course, and most misleadingly depict her as a young woman at the time of her death; the subject appealing in particular to French academic painters.

★ Sir Thomas Browne: Of the Picture describing the death of Cleopatra (1672)

★ John Sartain: On the Antique Portrait of Cleopatra (1818)

The suicide

★ ''Suicide of Cleopatra''. Oil on canvas. 46×36¾″ (116.8×93.3cm) painted by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, also called Guercino. Painted in 1621 and which hangs in the collection in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. It shows Cleopatra and in her hand a snake that she prepares to use in her suicide.

★ ''Cleopatra'', painted by Artemesia Gentileschi,1621-22, of the artist's Genovese period. Pictures the queen in the act of committing suicide. Oil on Canvas. Hangs in the Amedeo Morandorri, Milan.

★ ''Cleopatra'', painted by Artemesia Gentileschi, ca. 1630. Oil on Canvas. Collection of Fondazione Cavallini-Sgarbi, Ferrara.

★ ''The Death of Cleopatra'', painted by Jean André Rixens, painted in 1874 and that hangs in the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse, France.


★ ''The Death of Cleopatra'', painted by Guido Cagnacci, painted in 1658. Oil on canvas. Hanging in the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum.

Other

★ ''The Banquet of Cleopatra'' (1743–5). Oil on Canvas, 248.2 x 357.8cm. Painted by Giambattista Tiepolo (1696–1770), which hangs in the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, depicting the banquet in which Cleopatra dissolves her pearl earring in a glass of vinegar.

★ ''Cleopatra and Caesar'' (''Cléopâtre et César'') (1866). Oil on canvas. Painted by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904). The original painting has been lost, and only copies remain. The work depicts Cleopatra standing before a seated Caesar, painted in the Orientalist style.

Notes

1. Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age, Peter Green, , , University of California Press, 1990, ISBN 0-520-05611-6
2. Cleopatra's Pearls, , Berthold L., Ullman, The Classical Journal,
3. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Smith, William (ed.), , , Little, Brown & Company, 1867,

External links

General

★ The Queen Cleopatra at the Encyclopedia channel (230 biographical films about historical figures).

★ Cleopatra on the Web (Some 580 resources, including ancient and modern pictures).

★ Cleopatra VII Philopator (ancient sources).

★ ★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>.html Cleopatra VII (VI) at LacusCurtius (Chapter XIII of E. R. Bevan's ''House of Ptolemy'', 1923).

★ Cleopatra, a Victorian children's book by Jacob Abbott, 1852, Project Gutenberg edition.

★ Genealogy of Cleopatra VII

★ James Grout: ''Cleopatra'' (part of the Encyclopædia Romana).

★ "Mysterious Death of Cleopatra" at the Discovery Channel

★ Cleopatra VII at BBC History

Paintings of Cleopatra

★ Sir Thomas Browne: Of the Picture describing the death of Cleopatra (1672)

★ John Sartain: On the Antique Portrait of Cleopatra (1818)