[234] With two legions granted by Octavian and a thousand soldiers lent by Octavia, Antony traveled to Antioch, where he made preparations for war against the Parthians. Cleopatra was born 2,500 years after the Great Pyramid at Giza was built, yet only 2,000 years before the first lunar landing was achieved. [95][96] Cleopatra sent the Gabiniani culprits to Bibulus as prisoners awaiting his judgment, but he sent them back to Cleopatra and chastised her for interfering in their adjudication, which was the prerogative of the Roman Senate. [3][418][419], Of the surviving Greco-Roman-style busts and heads of Cleopatra,[note 66] the sculpture known as the "Berlin Cleopatra", located in the Antikensammlung Berlin collection at the Altes Museum, possesses her full nose, whereas the head known as the "Vatican Cleopatra", located in the Vatican Museums, is damaged with a missing nose. Ptolemy XIII tried to flee by boat, but it capsized, and he drowned. [452] This material largely surpasses the scope and size of existent historiographic literature about her from classical antiquity and has made a greater impact on the general public's view of Cleopatra than the latter. [75][76] Crassus replaced him as governor of Syria and extended his provincial command to Egypt, but he was killed by the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. Still, unreliable flooding of the Nile resulted in failing crops, leading to inflation and hunger. (which is where she appears on the Bible Timeline Chart with World History.) [275][276] The accusation that Antony had stolen books from the Library of Pergamum to restock the Library of Alexandria later turned out to be an admitted fabrication by Gaius Calvisius Sabinus. [271][269][172][note 51] Antony claimed that his rival had illegally deposed Lepidus from their triumvirate and barred him from raising troops in Italy, while Octavian accused Antony of unlawfully detaining the king of Armenia, marrying Cleopatra despite still being married to his sister Octavia, and wrongfully claiming Caesarion as the heir of Caesar instead of Octavian. Her mother was believed to be Cleopatra V Tryphaena, the king’s wife (and possibly his half-sister). He carried out the execution of Arsinoe at her request, and became increasingly reliant on Cleopatra for both funding and military aid during his invasions of the Parthian Empire and the Kingdom of Armenia. The former gave a fiery speech condemning Octavian, now a private citizen without public office, and introduced pieces of legislation against him. The life of the last Queen of Egypt is a story of love, greed, and romance. [56][57] In it she wears a royal diadem, red or reddish-brown hair pulled back into a bun,[note 74] pearl-studded hairpins,[440] and earrings with ball-shaped pendants, the white skin of her face and neck set against a stark black background. [65][66][67], The Roman financiers of Ptolemy XII remained determined to restore him to power. [105] After returning to Italy from the wars in Gaul and crossing the Rubicon in January of 49 BC, Caesar had forced Pompey and his supporters to flee to Greece. With Alexandria under attack from Octavian’s forces, Antony heard a rumor that Cleopatra had committed suicide. [1] Contemporary images of Cleopatra were produced both in and outside of Ptolemaic Egypt. [262][263] It concerns certain tax exemptions in Egypt granted to either Quintus Caecillius or Publius Canidius Crassus,[note 52] a former Roman consul and Antony's confidant who would command his land forces at Actium. [63][54][64][note 21] When the Roman Senate denied Ptolemy XII the offer of an armed escort and provisions for a return to Egypt, he decided to leave Rome in late 57 BC and reside at the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. [405][433] Behind her golden diadem, crowned with a red jewel, is a translucent veil with crinkles that suggest the "melon" hairstyle favored by the queen. Favorite Answer. In the golden city of Alexandria, Cleopatra VII (69-30 BC), Queen of Egypt, holes up in her self-made mausoleum, as her arch-nemesis Octavian (later known as … Despite his brilliant military prowess, his political skills and his ...read more, Cleopatra’s death appears to have played out as dramatically as the life she lived. [165][159] He left three legions in Egypt, later increased to four, under the command of the freedman Rufio, to secure Cleopatra's tenuous position, but also perhaps to keep her activities in check. [362][363] Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios were present in the Roman triumph of Octavian in 29 BC. [247] Octavian, fostering the narrative that Antony was neglecting his virtuous Roman wife Octavia, granted both her and Livia, his own wife, extraordinary privileges of sacrosanctity. [478][19][479] Aëtius of Amida attributed a recipe for perfumed soap to Cleopatra, while Paul of Aegina preserved alleged instructions of hers for dyeing and curling hair. [278] Ahenobarbus, wary of having Octavian's propaganda confirmed to the public, attempted to persuade Antony to have Cleopatra excluded from the campaign against Octavian. [137][135][129][note 34] Caesar then attempted to arrange for the other two siblings, Arsinoe IV and Ptolemy XIV, to rule together over Cyprus, thus removing potential rival claimants to the Egyptian throne while also appeasing the Ptolemaic subjects still bitter over the loss of Cyprus to the Romans in 58 BC. [393] 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. )", "194 Marble head of a Ptolemaic queen with vulture headdress", "The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids", "HRH Cleopatra: the Last of the Ptolemies and the Egyptian Paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema", "197 Marble portrait, perhaps of Cleopatra VII's daughter, Cleopatra Selene, Queen of Mauretania", "262 Veiled head from a marble portrait statue", "Dying Like a Queen: the Story of Cleopatra and the Asp(s) in Antiquity", "Searching for Cleopatra's image: classical portraits in stone", "The Great Seducer: Cleopatra, Queen and Sex Symbol", "The Amazing Afterlife of Cleopatra's Love Potions", "324 Gilded silver dish, decorated with a bust perhaps representing Cleopatra Selene", "325 Painting with a portrait of a woman in profile", "Glamour Girls: Cleomania in Mass Culture", Ancient Roman depictions of Cleopatra VII of Egypt, How History and Hollywood Got 'Cleopatra' Wrong, Cleopatra's Daughter: While Antony and Cleopatra have been immortalised in history and in popular culture, their offspring have been all but forgotten. [464] Fictional novels such as H. Rider Haggard's Cleopatra (1889) and Théophile Gautier's One of Cleopatra's Nights (1838) depicted the queen as a sensual and mystic Easterner, while the Egyptologist Georg Ebers's Cleopatra (1894) was more grounded in historical accuracy. [490][491][493][note 80] It is generally believed that the Ptolemies did not intermarry with native Egyptians. Since no contemporary accounts exist of Cleopatra’s life, it is difficult to piece together her biography with much certainty. [211][213][214][note 46], Cleopatra carefully chose Antony as her partner for producing further heirs, as he was deemed to be the most powerful Roman figure following Caesar's demise. [460], In the performing arts, the death of Elizabeth I of England in 1603, and the German publication in 1606 of alleged letters of Cleopatra, inspired Samuel Daniel to alter and republish his 1594 play Cleopatra in 1607. [7] The masculine form would have been written either as Kleópatros (Κλεόπᾰτρος) or Pátroklos (Πᾰ́τροκλος). [265][266][267] Cleopatra Selene II was bestowed with Crete and Cyrene. [323][324] Octavian promised that he would keep her alive but offered no explanation about his future plans for her kingdom. However she did visit Rome,some historians think twice and she was at Rome when Caesar was killed. [413] Cleopatra had actually achieved this masculine look in coinage predating her affair with Antony, such as the coins struck at the Ashkelon mint during her brief period of exile to Syria and the Levant, which Joann Fletcher explains as her attempt to appear like her father and as a legitimate successor to a male Ptolemaic ruler. This event, their marriage, and Antony's divorce of Octavian's sister Octavia Minor led to the Final War of the Roman Republic. In late 32 B.C., the Roman Senate stripped Antony of all his titles, and Octavian declared war on Cleopatra. Pompey had been a political ally of Ptolemy XII, but Ptolemy XIII, at the urging of his court eunuchs, had Pompey ambushed and killed before Caesar arrived and occupied Alexandria. [331][334][330], Cleopatra decided in her last moments to send Caesarion away to Upper Egypt, perhaps with plans to flee to Kushite Nubia, Ethiopia, or India. [note 54] The legal argument for war was based less on Cleopatra's territorial acquisitions, with former Roman territories ruled by her children with Antony, and more on the fact that she was providing military support to a private citizen now that Antony's triumviral authority had expired. [157][126][148][note 40] The exact date at which Cyprus was returned to her control is not known, although she had a governor there by 42 BC. Meanwhile, after allowing the Roman general Pompey to be murdered, Ptolemy XIII welcomed the arrival of Pompey’s rival, Julius Caesar, to Alexandria. [454] His depiction of Cleopatra and Antony, her shining knight engaged in courtly love, has been interpreted in modern times as being either playful or misogynistic satire. Both sides asked for Egyptian support, and after some stalling Cleopatra sent four Roman legions stationed in Egypt by Caesar to support the triumvirate. [404][398] 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. [48][49] 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. [195][197] However, these troops were captured by Cassius in Palestine. [445] The Dendera Temple complex, near Dendera, Egypt, contains Egyptian-style carved relief images along the exterior walls of the Temple of Hathor depicting Cleopatra and her young son Caesarion as a grown adult and ruling pharaoh making offerings to the gods. [454] However, Chaucer highlighted Cleopatra's relationships with only two men as hardly the life of a seductress and wrote his works partly in reaction to the negative depiction of Cleopatra in De Mulieribus Claris and De Casibus Virorum Illustrium, Latin works by the 14th-century Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio. [294][290][286] Cleopatra, aboard her flagship, the Antonias, commanded 60 ships at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf, at the rear of the fleet, in what was likely a move by Antony's officers to marginalize her during the battle. [297] Antony followed Cleopatra and boarded her ship, identified by its distinctive purple sails, as the two escaped the battle and headed for Tainaron. I know Cesar met Jesus and had his men imprison him. [291][290], Cleopatra and Antony had the support of various allied kings, but Cleopatra had already been in conflict with Herod, and an earthquake in Judea provided him with an excuse to be absent from the campaign. [210][211] In Egypt, Antony continued to enjoy the lavish royal lifestyle he had witnessed aboard Cleopatra's ship docked at Tarsos. [78][81][82][note 22] Within a year Rabirius was placed under protective custody and sent back to Rome after his life was endangered for draining Egypt of its resources. [278][280] During the next senatorial session, Octavian entered the Senate house with armed guards and levied his own accusations against the consuls. 12 August 30 BC in the later Julian calendar. [307][304] Octavian sent his diplomat Thyrsos to Cleopatra after she threatened to burn herself and vast amounts of her treasure within a tomb already under construction. In 69 BC Cleopatra was born into Egypt’s Ptolemaic dynasty, a dynasty in decline and under the protection of Rome. Cleopatra was the last of the Egyptian pharaohs. [467] Its popularity led to the perception that the 1885 painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema depicted the meeting of Antony and Cleopatra on her pleasure barge in Tarsus, although Alma-Tadema revealed in a private letter that it depicts a subsequent meeting of theirs in Alexandria. Many of the scholars believe that Cleopatra would have been buried within Alexandria, possibly in an area that is now underwater. [340][note 56] With the fall of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Roman province of Egypt was established,[341][296][342][note 57] marking the end of the Hellenistic period. When he died in 51 BC, the joint reign of Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII began, but a falling-out between them led to open civil war. [320][304], Octavian entered Alexandria, occupied the palace, and seized Cleopatra's three youngest children. On August 12, 30 B.C., after burying Antony and meeting with the victorious Octavian, Cleopatra closed herself in her chamber with two of her female servants. [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. [13][487][489][note 79], Cleopatra I Syra was the only member of the Ptolemaic dynasty known for certain to have introduced some non-Greek ancestry. [490][491] Her mother Laodice III was a daughter born to King Mithridates II of Pontus, a Persian of the Mithridatic dynasty, and his wife Laodice who had a mixed Greek-Persian heritage. [78][79][80] He allowed Gabinius's largely Germanic and Gallic Roman garrison, the Gabiniani, to harass people in the streets of Alexandria and installed his longtime Roman financier Rabirius as his chief financial officer. [206][209] Antony was well received by the populace of Alexandria, both for his heroic actions in restoring Ptolemy XII to power and coming to Egypt without an occupation force like Caesar had done. In 42 B.C., after defeating the forces of Brutus and Cassius in the battles of Philippi, Mark Antony and Octavian divided power in Rome. [38][39][40][note 15] Cleopatra Tryphaena disappears from official records a few months after the birth of Cleopatra in 69 BC. Cleopatra was not Egyptian. [469][470] Cleopatra also became appreciated outside the Western world and Middle East, as the Qing-dynasty Chinese scholar Yan Fu wrote an extensive biography of her. [303] Herod, who had personally advised Antony after the Battle of Actium that he should betray Cleopatra, traveled to Rhodes to meet Octavian and resign his kingship out of loyalty to Antony. On August 12, 30 B.C., after burying Antony and meeting with the victorious Octavian, Cleopatra closed herself in her chamber with two of her female servants. [228][229] This act put Herod on a collision course with Cleopatra, who would desire to reclaim the former Ptolemaic territories that comprised his new Herodian kingdom. Cleopatra lived from 69 BC to 30 BC, during the Hellenistic period of Egypt. [note 87] The family tree given below also lists Cleopatra V, Ptolemy XII's wife, as a daughter of Ptolemy X Alexander I and Berenice III, which would make her a cousin of her husband, Ptolemy XII, but she could have been a daughter of Ptolemy IX Lathyros, which would have made her a sister-wife of Ptolemy XII instead. Cleopatra's legacy survives in ancient and modern works of art. Her romantic liaisons and military alliances with the Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, as well as her supposed exotic beauty and powers of seduction, earned her an enduring place in history and popular myth. [3][412] These similar facial features followed an artistic convention that represented the mutually-observed harmony of a royal couple. On top of the tunic, Cleopatra wore a sheer cloak, so the intricate pleating and folding of the tunic below could be seen. [268][267][note 50] Antony sent a report to Rome requesting ratification of these territorial claims, now known as the Donations of Alexandria. 9 years ago. By this point, Cleopatra had strongly identified herself with the goddess Isis, the sister-wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. [438][335][311] The portrait painting of Cleopatra's death was perhaps among the great number of artworks and treasures taken from Rome by Emperor Hadrian to decorate his private villa, where it was found in an Egyptian temple. [411] Coins dated to the period of her marriage to Antony, which also bear his image, portray the queen as having a very similar aquiline nose and prominent chin as that of her husband. [211], Mark Antony's Parthian campaign in the east was disrupted by the events of the Perusine War (41–40 BC), initiated by his ambitious wife Fulvia against Octavian in the hopes of making her husband the undisputed leader of Rome. With those two men he was integral to Rome’s transition from republic to empire. [379] Plutarch's work included both the Augustan view of Cleopatra—which became canonical for his period—as well as sources outside of this tradition, such as eyewitness reports. Cleopatra and Ptolemy started the Ptolemaic Dynasty which ruled Egypt for three centuries ending with Caesarian, the 17-year-old son of Julius Caesar and the Cleopatra, the one that Elizabeth Taylor brought to life for so many of us. [473] 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. [427] Discovered near a sanctuary of Isis in Rome and dated to the 1st century BC, it is either Roman or Hellenistic-Egyptian in origin. [255][256][note 49] Antony received these troops but told Octavia not to stray east of Athens as he and Cleopatra traveled together to Antioch, only to suddenly and inexplicably abandon the military campaign and head back to Alexandria. [56], The Portland Vase, a Roman cameo glass vase dated to the Augustan period and now in the British Museum, includes a possible depiction of Cleopatra with Antony. Cleopatra Meets Antony. [218] Cleopatra provided Antony with 200 ships for his campaign and as payment for her newly acquired territories. [27][29][30] Ptolemy XI, and perhaps his uncle Ptolemy IX or father Ptolemy X Alexander I, willed the Ptolemaic Kingdom to Rome as collateral for loans, so that the Romans had legal grounds to take over Egypt, their client state, after the assassination of Ptolemy XI. [151] However, Antony, an officer of his, helped to secure Caesar's appointment as dictator lasting for a year, until October 47 BC, providing Caesar with the legal authority to settle the dynastic dispute in Egypt.