[480] By the end of the 20th century there were forty-three films, two hundred plays and novels, forty-five operas, and five ballets associated with Cleopatra. [394] Although the common view of Cleopatra was one of a prolific seductress, she had only two known sexual partners, Caesar and Antony, the two most prominent Romans of the time period, who were most likely to ensure the survival of her dynasty. [174][169][175][note 43] As with their father Ptolemy XII, Caesar awarded both Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIV the legal status of "friend and ally of the Roman people" (Latin: socius et amicus populi Romani), in effect client rulers loyal to Rome. [1][419] However, the British Museum head, once belonging to a full statue, could potentially represent Cleopatra at a different stage in her life and may also betray an effort by Cleopatra to discard the use of royal insignia (i.e. [307][305] Cleopatra had no other option but to stay in Egypt and negotiate with Octavian. [212][208] He also had his subordinates, such as Publius Ventidius Bassus, drive the Parthians out of Anatolia and Syria. [206][207] Cleopatra's former rebellious governor of Cyprus was also handed over to her for execution. [55][56][57], In 58 BC the Romans annexed Cyprus and on accusations of piracy drove Ptolemy of Cyprus, Ptolemy XII's brother, to commit suicide instead of enduring exile to Paphos. When Cleopatra learned that Octavian planned to bring her to his Roman triumphal procession, she killed herself by poisoning, contrary to the popular belief that she was bitten by an asp. Childhood and Rise to Egypt's Throne The previous rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty spoke only Greek and refused to learn Egyptian. [114][418], Various coins, such as a silver tetradrachm minted sometime after Cleopatra's marriage with Antony in 37 BC, depict her wearing a royal diadem and a 'melon' hairstyle. [119][117][122][note 31] Ptolemy XIII believed he had demonstrated his power and simultaneously defused the situation by having Pompey's head, severed and embalmed, sent to Caesar, who arrived in Alexandria by early October and took up residence at the royal palace. [68][69][70] Although it put him at odds with Roman law, Gabinius invaded Egypt in the spring of 55 BC by way of Hasmonean Judea, where Hyrcanus II had Antipater the Idumaean, father of Herod the Great, furnish the Roman-led army with supplies. [99][100][101] A long-held royal Egyptian practice, it was loathed by contemporary Greeks. [5] The Ptolemaic practice of sibling marriage was introduced by Ptolemy II and his sister Arsinoe II. [438] A set of double doors on the rear wall of the painting, positioned very high above the people in it, suggests the described layout of Cleopatra's tomb in Alexandria. Unfortunately, fans should expect to wait awhile before the new Cleopatra premieres. [367][369] However, Ptolemy was eventually executed by the Roman emperor Caligula in 40 AD, perhaps under the pretense that Ptolemy had unlawfully minted his own royal coinage and utilized regalia reserved for the Roman emperor. [27][28] However, with opposition building at the royal court against the idea of a sole reigning female monarch, Berenice III accepted joint rule and marriage with her cousin and stepson Ptolemy XI Alexander II, an arrangement made by the Roman dictator Sulla. Octavian wanted to publicize it for propaganda purposes, but the two consuls, both supporters of Antony, had it censored from public view. [355][356][357] Apparent financial troubles led Cleopatra to debase her coinage, which included silver and bronze currencies but no gold coins like those of some of her distant Ptolemaic predecessors. After losing the 48 BC Battle of Pharsalus in Greece against his rival Julius Caesar (a Roman dictator and consul) in Caesar's Civil War, the Roman statesman Pompey fled to Egypt. [365][364][323] The emperor Augustus installed Juba II and Cleopatra Selene II, after their wedding in 25 BC, as the new rulers of Mauretania, where they transformed the old Carthaginian city of Iol into their new capital, renamed Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell, Algeria). Her official name is Cleopatra VII Philopater, which is definitely a bigger mouthful than just calling her Cleopatra, like most tend to do. [283][284] Cleopatra's insistence that she be involved in the battle for Greece led to the defections of prominent Romans, such as Ahenobarbus and Lucius Munatius Plancus. "[406], Another painting from Pompeii, dated to the early 1st century AD and located in the House of Giuseppe II, contains a possible depiction of Cleopatra with her son Caesarion, both wearing royal diadems while she reclines and consumes poison in an act of suicide. [note 7] Her native language was Koine Greek, and she was the only Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language. [274] Pliny the Elder claims in his Natural History that Cleopatra once dissolved a pearl worth tens of millions of sesterces in vinegar just to win a dinner-party bet. [107][108] In perhaps their last joint decree, both Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII agreed to Gnaeus Pompeius's request and sent his father 60 ships and 500 troops, including the Gabiniani, a move that helped erase some of the debt owed to Rome. [472] In his unfinished 1825 short story The Egyptian Nights, Alexander Pushkin popularized the claims of the 4th-century Roman historian Aurelius Victor, previously largely ignored, that Cleopatra had prostituted herself to men who paid for sex with their lives. [23], Roman interventionism in Egypt predated the reign of Cleopatra. [258][259] When this was declined, Antony marched his army into Armenia, defeated their forces and captured the king and Armenian royal family. [72][74], Gabinius was put on trial in Rome for abusing his authority, for which he was acquitted, but his second trial for accepting bribes led to his exile, from which he was recalled seven years later in 48 BC by Caesar. [242][229] At the expense of the Nabataean king Malichus I (a cousin of Herod), Cleopatra was also given a portion of the Nabataean Kingdom around the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea, including Ailana (modern Aqaba, Jordan). [52][53][54][note 17] However, Ptolemy XII's profligate behavior bankrupted him, and he was forced to acquire loans from the Roman banker Gaius Rabirius Postumus. [50][51] Ptolemy XII responded to the threat of possible annexation by offering remuneration and lavish gifts to powerful Roman statesmen, such as Pompey during his campaign against Mithridates VI of Pontus, and eventually Julius Caesar after he became Roman consul in 59 BC. [note 8]. in Alexandria, Egypt to King Ptolemy XII Auletes. [211] Her rival Herod was occupied with civil war in Judea that required heavy Roman military assistance, but received none from Cleopatra. [385][386][387][note 59] The writings of Cicero, who knew her personally, provide an unflattering portrait of Cleopatra. [363][364] Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios were present in the Roman triumph of Octavian in 29 BC. [477] In addition to her portrayal as a "vampire" queen, Bara's Cleopatra also incorporated tropes familiar from 19th-century Orientalist painting, such as despotic behavior, mixed with dangerous and overt female sexuality. [360][427][232][note 47] A possible Parian-marble sculpture of Cleopatra wearing a vulture headdress in Egyptian style is located at the Capitoline Museums. [58][60][61] Ptolemy XII was then exiled from Egypt by force, traveling first to Rhodes, then Athens, and finally the villa of triumvir Pompey in the Alban Hills, near Praeneste, Italy. [307] Although most likely later pro-Octavian propaganda, it was reported that at this time Cleopatra started testing the strengths of various poisons on prisoners and even her own servants. [186][187] Cicero, who was present at the festival, mockingly asked where the diadem came from, an obvious reference to the Ptolemaic queen whom he abhorred. During her early childhood, Cleopatra was brought up in the palace of Alexandria in Egypt and received a primarily-Hellenistic Greek education from her tutor, Philostratus, who was a scholar in the well known library of Alexandria. Their daughter, Cleopatra Selene, became an important ruler in her own right, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cleopatra&oldid=1134355104, This page was last edited on 18 January 2023, at 07:55. [123][126][125][note 32], Ptolemy XIII arrived at Alexandria at the head of his army, in clear defiance of Caesar's demand that he disband and leave his army before his arrival. Ridiculus sociosqu cursus neque cursus curae ante scelerisque vehicula. [405][399] In his Kleopatra und die Caesaren (2006), Bernard Andreae[de] contends that this basalt statue, like other idealized Egyptian portraits of the queen, does not contain realistic facial features and hence adds little to the knowledge of her appearance. [141][142][143][note 36] Ganymedes then tricked Caesar into requesting the presence of the erstwhile captive Ptolemy XIII as a negotiator, only to have him join the army of Arsinoe IV. My opinion on it is pretty neutral. [484][19][485] Atius of Amida attributed a recipe for perfumed soap to Cleopatra, while Paul of Aegina preserved alleged instructions of hers for dyeing and curling hair. was cleopatra going to be named jillian. She is famed for her savvy political alliances with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. [366] She also named her son Ptolemy of Mauretania, in honor of their Ptolemaic dynastic heritage. [1][383][384] Plutarch, in his Life of Antonius, claimed that the public statues of Antony were torn down by Augustus, but those of Cleopatra were preserved following her death thanks to her friend Archibius paying the emperor 2,000 talents to dissuade him from destroying hers. [240][217][236] She also received Ptolemais Akko (modern Acre, Israel), a city that was established by Ptolemy II. [483] Only fragments exist of these medical and cosmetic writings, such as those preserved by Galen, including remedies for hair disease, baldness, and dandruff, along with a list of weights and measures for pharmacological purposes. [115][117][118][note 29] Given his close relationship with the Ptolemies, Pompey ultimately decided that Egypt would be his place of refuge, where he could replenish his forces. [3][2] Her strong, almost masculine facial features in these particular coins are strikingly different from the smoother, softer, and perhaps idealized sculpted images of her in either the Egyptian or Hellenistic styles. Publications on ancient Greek medicine attributed to her are,[376] however, likely to be the work of a physician by the same name writing in the late first century AD. Ptolemy XIII tried to flee by boat, but it capsized, and he drowned. 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