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"Cleopatra" redirects here. For other uses, see Cleopatra (disambiguation).

Cleopatra VII Philopator (January 69 BC – August 12 30 BC) was queen of ancient Egypt, the last member of the Ptolemaic dynasty and hence the last Hellenistic ruler of Egypt. Although many other Egyptian Queens shared the name, she is usually known as simply Cleopatra, and all of her similarly named predecessors have been mostly forgotten.

As co-ruler of Egypt with her father (Ptolemy XII Auletes), her brother/husband Ptolemy XIII, and later her son Caesarion, Cleopatra survived a coup engineered by her brother's courtiers, consummated a liaison with Julius Caesar that solidified her grip on the throne, and, after Caesar's assassination, aligned with Mark Antony, with whom she produced twins. She later married Mark Antony and gave birth to another son. In all, Cleopatra had 4 children, 3 by Antony and 1 by Caesar. Her union with her brother produced no children.

After Antony's rival and Caesar's legal heir, Octavian, brought the might of Rome against Egypt, Cleopatra took her own life on August 12, 30 BC. Her legacy survives in the form of numerous dramatizations of her story, including William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and several modern films.

Life

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.

File:Cleopatra VII Philopator inscriptions.JPG
An ancient stone tablet depicting Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar, Alexandria, Egypt

Birth and rule with father

"Cleopatra" is Greek for "father's glory," and her full name, "Cleopatra Thea Philopator" means "the Goddess Cleopatra, the Beloved of Her Father." She was the third daughter of the king Ptolemy XII Auletes, with whom she was first made to rule.

Rule with Ptolemy XIII

On their father's death in the spring of 51 BC, at only 18 and as Auletes' oldest child (two older sisters having died), she became co-ruler with her younger brother Ptolemy XIII. She married him and consummated the marriage to strengthen her hold on the throne.

Fall, recovery, Caesar

By August 51 BC she was dropping his name from official documents, which flew in the face of Ptolemaic tradition that female rulers be subordinate to male co-rulers. Furthermore, it was Cleopatra's face alone that appeared on coins. Perhaps because of her independent streak a cabal of courtiers, led by the eunuch Pothinus, removed Cleopatra from power — possibly in 48 BC, possibly earlier — a decree exists with Ptolemy's name alone from 51 BC. She tried to raise a rebellion around Pelusium but she was soon forced to flee Egypt. Her only surviving sister, Arsinoë accompanied her. [1]

In the autumn of 48 BC, however, Ptolemy imperiled his own power by injudiciously meddling in the affairs of Rome. When Pompey, fleeing the victorious Julius Caesar, arrived in Alexandria seeking sanctuary, Ptolemy had him murdered in order to ingratiate himself with Caesar. Caesar was so repelled by this treachery that he seized the Egyptian capital and imposed himself as arbiter between the rival claims of Ptolemy and Cleopatra. (It should be noted that Pompey had been married to Caesar's daughter, who died giving birth to their son). After a short war, Ptolemy XIII was killed and Caesar restored Cleopatra to her throne, with another younger brother Ptolemy XIV as new co-ruler.

Caesar wintered in Egypt in 48 BC–47 BC, and Cleopatra shored up her political advantage by becoming his lover. Egypt remained independent, but three Roman legions were left to protect it. Cleopatra's winter liaison with Caesar produced a son whom they named Ptolemy Caesar (nicknamed Caesarion, little Caesar). However, Caesar refused to make the boy his heir, naming his grand-nephew Octavian instead.

Cleopatra and Caesarion visited Rome between 46 BC and 44 BC and were present when Caesar was assassinated. Before or just after she returned to Egypt, Ptolemy XIV died mysteriously (possibly poisoned by Cleopatra). Cleopatra then made Caesarion her co-regent and successor (44–30 BC).

Mark Antony, final fall, suicide

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 42 BC–41 BC with her in Alexandria. During the winter, she became pregnant with twins, who were named Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios.

Four years later, in 37 BC, Antony visited Alexandria again while 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 may have 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 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.

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.

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.

The Death of Cleopatra by Reginald Arthur

Following the Battle of Actium, Octavian invaded Egypt. As he approached Alexandria, Antony's armies deserted to Octavian. Cleopatra and Antony both committed suicide, Cleopatra by using a snake to poison herself on August 12 30 BC. Cleopatra's son by Caesar, Caesarion, was executed by Octavian. The three children of Cleopatra with Antony were spared and taken back to Rome where they were reared by Antony's wife, Octavia.

It is often said that Cleopatra used an asp to kill herself. "Asp" technically refers to a variety of venomous snakes, but here, it refers to the Egyptian cobra, which was sometimes used to execute criminals. There is also a story that Cleopatra asked several of her servants to test out various forms of suicide, before choosing the method which she believed to be most effective. Other sources suggest that she experimented different forms of "suicide" on prisoners. There is also an alternate theory that suggests she was assassinated by Octavian, instead of committing suicide; but this theory does not appear to be sustained by our sources.

Cleopatra in art, film, TV, and literature

Cleopatra's story has fascinated scores of writers and artists through the centuries. No doubt, 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 (Caesar and Antony) of her time.

Literature-Drama

Among the more famous works on her:

Literature-other

TV

Films

File:Filmed cleopatra plays.JPG
Films on Cleopatra

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).

Among the film/TV works inspired by the Queen of the Nile:

A longer discussion of Cleopatra films is at: Cleopatra sucks (movie).

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, he 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 Plut. Ant. 86 and App. Civ. II.102, although the latter may well refer to a statue, and Cass. Dio LI.21.3 reports that the "image" was of gold, and thus not a painting at all. The purported painting was seen and engraved in the early 19th century: it was 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.

Busts and other sculpture are portrayed throughout this page.

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; the subject appealing in particular to French academic painters.

A very partial chronological list follows:

The suicide

  • Suicide of Cleopatra. Oil on canvas. 46 x 36-3/4 in. (116.8 x 93.3 cm) 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.
File:Guido Cagnacci Death of Cleopatra.jpg
Guido Cagnacci, Death of Cleopatra, 1658
  • The Death of Cleopatra, painted by Guido_Cagnacci, painted in 1658. Oil on canvas. Hanging in the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum.

Other

  • 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.

Summary: Cleopatra VII was Egypt's last ruler. Together with her husband, Mark Antony, she tried to take over parts of the Roman Empire. The couple were defeated by the Roman army and killed themselves. Legend says Cleopatra died by a bite from an asp.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Alexander to Actium: Peter Green pp661-664

General

Paintings of Cleopatra

Preceded by Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt
with Ptolemy XII, Ptolemy XIII, Ptolemy XIV, and Ptolemy XV 		Succeeded by

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