The Real Cleopatra

  The "real" Cleopatra?

Cleopatra is barely mentioned in De Bello Alexandrino, the memoirs of an unknown staff officer who served under Caesar. The writings of Cicero, who knew her personally, provide an unflattering portrait of Cleopatra although it actually sounds more like Cicero did not feel he was greeted by her as one of the most important senators of Rome.  I found this imagined letter between Cicero and J.W. Worthy, late professor of philosophy at John Tarleton Military Academy, based on Cicero's writings, interesting:

"I do not wish to be unfair to the graecula.  She is clever beyond words, no denying it.  You may understand my impatience with her if I remind you that, although she chatters on in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Greek of course, Parthian, Median, Egyptian (she is said to be the first Ptolemy to master that), Ethiopian, and Trogodyte, all with marvelous fluency so they say, she was unable to receive me in Latin!  Or claimed to be unable to do so, so that right here in the city I was compelled to converse in Greek.  It is no different with her vaunted drive, energy and ambition:  they were not enough to motivate her to cultivate the most important Roman senator.  And of  her fabled treasure:  although her aides had promised a purely literary acknowledgment of my merits, I came and went empty handed".  

For more of Professor Worthy's "correspondence", see:

https://lettersfromthedustbowl.com/home.html

The Augustan-period authors Virgil, Horace, Propertius, and Ovid perpetuated the negative views of Cleopatra approved by the ruling Roman regime, although Virgil established the idea of Cleopatra as a figure of romance and epic melodrama. Horace also viewed Cleopatra's suicide as a positive choice, an idea that found acceptance by the Late Middle Ages with Geoffrey Chaucer. The historians Strabo, Velleius, Valerius Maximus, Pliny the Elder, and Appian, while not offering accounts as full as Plutarch, Josephus, or Dio, provided some details of her life that had not survived in other historical records.

Cassius Dio, writing in the 3rd century CE claimed Cleopatra was a woman of surpassing beauty, and at the time (48 BCE), was "most stunning" in the prime of her youth.  He said even at Mark Antony's funeral, where she appeared in mourning garments, she was still "most stunning."  In Octavian's propaganda, Cleopatra was presented as a beautiful witch that cast a spell over Antony, consciously refusing to acknowledge her as the wealthiest and most powerful female sovereign of the Hellenistic Mediterranean.  Plutarch, however, said her beauty did not exceed Octavia's, Antony's official Roman wife and sister of Octavian.  But he does admit her charm rested in her persuasive character and stimulating discourse  because she was highly educated and spoke many foreign languages.

The fragmentary Libyka commissioned by Cleopatra's son-in-law Juba II provides a glimpse at a possible body of historiographic material that presented a more favorable view of Cleopatra.

Cleopatra's gender has perhaps led to her depiction as a minor if not insignificant figure in ancient, medieval, and even modern historiography about ancient Egypt and the Greco-Roman world. For instance, the historian Ronald Syme asserted that she was of little importance to Caesar and that the propaganda of Octavian magnified her importance to an excessive degree. 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. 

There is an excellent article by Branko van Oppen on the Ancient History Encyclopedia about various portraits of Cleopatra:

https://www.ancient.eu/article/1491/was-cleopatra-beautiful/

Seal impression with bust of Cleopatra VII at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada courtesy of the museum.

An ancient Roman portrait head, c. 50–30 BCE, now located in the British Museum, London, that depicts a woman from Ptolemaic Egypt, either Queen Cleopatra or a member of her entourage during her 46–44 BCE visit to Rome courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Roman fresco in the Pompeian Third Style possibly depicting Cleopatra, from the recently reopened House of the Orchard at Pompeii, Italy, mid-1st century CE

A probable posthumously painted portrait of Cleopatra with red hair and her distinct facial features, wearing a royal diadem and pearl-studded hairpins, from Roman Herculaneum, Italy, 1st century CE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Ángel M. Felicísimo from Mérida, Spain.

Egyptian portrait of a Ptolemaic queen, possibly Cleopatra, c. 51–30 BCE, located in the Brooklyn Museum courtesy of Wikimedia Commons courtesy of the museum.

A silver tetradrachm of Cleopatra minted at Ascalon, Israel courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor PHGCOM.

A silver tetradrachm of Cleopatra minted at Seleucia Pieria, Syria courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor PHGCOM

If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!

Caesar's Assassins Financial "Rape" of the East

Right now I am listening to Colleen McCullough's latest Roman novel, "Antony and Cleopatra". Colleen paints a much more intellectual Antony than many ancient sources did. In the novel, Antony's meeting with Cleopatra in Tarsus was not at all the seduction experience depicted by so many others. It was more of a contest of wills with Antony trying to "bring Cleopatra to heel" and Cleopatra, of course, having none of it. This is in contrast to the effect Cleopatra had on Antony according to Plutarch:

" Antony was so captivated by her, that while Fulvia his wife maintained his quarrels in Rome against Caesar by actual force of arms, and the Parthian troops...were assembled in Mesopotamia, and ready to enter Syria, he could yet suffer himself to be carried away by her to Alexandria, there to keep holiday, like a boy, in play and diversion, squandering and fooling away in enjoyment that most costly, as Antiphon says, of all valuables, time." - Plutarch

The novel also emphasizes the financial "rape" of the east by Cassius during the civil war following Caesar's assassination. The sheer lack of resources in the traditional centers of the East is portrayed as the reason Antony turned to Cleopatra in the first place to fund his Parthian campaign.

Antony initially, at the urging of one of his advisors, charges Cleopatra with providing aid to the conspirators when she sent four legions from Alexandria to the governor of Syria who subsequently diverted them to Cassius. Cleopatra points out that Egypt was suffering from plague and famine at the time so she was only too glad to comply with the request of Sextus, the legitimate Roman governor of Syria to remove the burden of feeding the legions from Egypt's dwindling grain supply. According to Cassius Dio, Sextus was actually a relative of Caesar so Cleopatra would not have viewed granting a request by him as accommodating Caesar's assassins.

"The governor of Syria was Sextus; for since he was not only quaestor but also a relative of Caesar's, Caesar had placed in his charge all the Roman interests in that quarter, having done this on the occasion of his march from Egypt against Pharnaces." - Cassius Dio

Cleopatra in turn pointed out that it was also not her fault that the fleet she sent in support of Antony and Octavian was destroyed in a storm at sea.

I find these complex exchanges during and following the civil war with the conspirators most interesting. If you read book 47 of Cassius Dio's history of the period, you discover that there were various Romans from both sides of the controversy running around in the east claiming to be provincial governors and engaging in battles to assert their claims and issuing edicts to squeeze money from eastern populations.

"...learning that Caesar [Octavian] was growing stronger, they [Brutus and Cassius] neglected Crete and Bithynia, whither they were being sent, since they saw no prospect of any noteworthy aid in those countries; but they turned to Syria and to Macedonia, although these provinces did not belong to them at all, because they excelled as strategical positions and in point of money and troops. 2 Cassius went to Syria, because its people were acquainted with him and friendly as a result of his campaign with Crassus, while Brutus proceeded to unite Greece and Macedonia. For the inhabitants of those districts were inclined to give heed to him in any case because of the glory of his deeds and in the expectation of similar service to their country, and particularly because he had acquired numerous soldiers, some of them survivors of the battle of Pharsalus, who were even then still wandering about in that region..."

"...He [Brutus] reached Macedonia at the moment when Gaius Antonius had just arrived and Quintus Hortensius, who was his predecessor in the governorship, was about to retire; however, he experienced no trouble. For Hortensius embraced his cause at once, and Antonius was weak, being hindered during Caesar's supremacy in Rome from performing half of the duties belonging to his office. Vatinius, who was governor of Illyricum near by, came from there to Dyrrachium, seized it before Brutus could prevent it, and acted as an enemy in the present strife, but could not injure him at all; for his soldiers, who disliked him and furthermore despised him by reason of a disease, went over to the other side. So Brutus, taking over these troops, led an expedition against Antonius, who was in Apollonia; and when Antonius came out to meet him, Brutus won over his soldiers, shut him up within the walls when he fled thither before him, and captured him alive through betrayal, but did him no harm. After this success, Brutus next acquired all Macedonia and Epirus, and then despatched a letter to the senate, stating what he had accomplished and placing at its disposal himself as well as the provinces and the soldiers. The senators, who, as it chanced, already felt suspicious of Caesar [Octavian], praised him[Brutus] highly and bade him be governor of all that region..."

If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!