[428] Discovered near a sanctuary of Isis in Rome and dated to the 1st century BC, it is either Roman or Hellenistic-Egyptian in origin. [350][351] Cleopatra was directly involved in the administrative affairs of her domain,[352] tackling crises such as famine by ordering royal granaries to distribute food to the starving populace during a drought at the beginning of her reign. 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. [471] Also based on Shakespeare's play was Samuel Barber's opera Antony and Cleopatra (1966), commissioned for the opening of the Metropolitan Opera House. [228], Relations between Antony and Cleopatra perhaps soured when he not only married Octavia, but also sired her two children, Antonia the Elder in 39 BC and Antonia Minor in 36 BC, and moved his headquarters to Athens. She has become a pop culture icon of Egyptomania since the Victorian era, and in modern times, Cleopatra has appeared in the applied and fine arts, burlesque satire, Hollywood films, and brand images for commercial products. [250], As Antony prepared for another Parthian expedition in 35 BC, this time aimed at their ally Armenia, Octavia traveled to Athens with 2,000 troops in alleged support of Antony, but most likely in a scheme devised by Octavian to embarrass him for his military losses. [note 8]. Cleopatra traveled to Rome as a client queen in 46 and 44 BC, where she stayed at Caesar's villa. [58][62][note 20] Berenice IV sent an embassy to Rome to advocate for her rule and oppose the reinstatement of her father Ptolemy XII, but Ptolemy had assassins kill the leaders of the embassy, an incident that was covered up by his powerful Roman supporters. Caesarion was murdered in 30 BCE, at the . [295][296][297] Burstein writes that partisan Roman writers would later accuse Cleopatra of cowardly deserting Antony, but their original intention of keeping their sails on board may have been to break the blockade and salvage as much of their fleet as possible. [41][42] The three younger children of Ptolemy XII, Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe IV and brothers Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator and Ptolemy XIV,[38][39][40] were born in the absence of his wife. Cleopatra was born Cleopatra VII Philopator in Egypt as a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek family of Macedonian origin. [265][266][267] Cleopatra Selene II was bestowed with Crete and Cyrene. [27][29], Cleopatra VII was born in early 69 BC to the ruling Ptolemaic pharaoh Ptolemy XII and an unknown mother,[33][34][note 13] presumably Ptolemy XII's wife Cleopatra VI Tryphaena (also known as Cleopatra V Tryphaena),[35][36][37][note 14][note 4] the mother of Cleopatra's older sister, Berenice IV Epiphaneia. [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. 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. The former gave a fiery speech condemning Octavian, now a private citizen without public office, and introduced pieces of legislation against him. [293] While some in Antony's camp suggested abandoning the naval conflict to retreat inland, Cleopatra urged for a naval confrontation, to keep Octavian's fleet away from Egypt. [186][187] Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March (15 March 44 BC), but Cleopatra stayed in Rome until about mid-April, in the vain hope of having Caesarion recognized as Caesar's heir. [385] The Augustan-period authors Virgil, Horace, Propertius, and Ovid perpetuated the negative views of Cleopatra approved by the ruling Roman regime,[385][388] although Virgil established the idea of Cleopatra as a figure of romance and epic melodrama. 0. [245][246], Antony's enlargement of the Ptolemaic realm by relinquishing directly controlled Roman territory was exploited by his rival Octavian, who tapped into the public sentiment in Rome against the empowerment of a foreign queen at the expense of their Republic. The Gentlemen's Blog to Midnite Cinema [300] A male servant holds the mouth of an artificial Egyptian crocodile (possibly an elaborate tray handle), while another man standing by is dressed as a Roman. [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. [422][423][424][note 67] Both the Berlin Cleopatra and Vatican Cleopatra have royal diadems, similar facial features, and perhaps once resembled the face of her bronze statue housed in the Temple of Venus Genetrix. [99][100][101], Despite Cleopatra's rejection of him, Ptolemy XIII still retained powerful allies, notably the eunuch Potheinos, his childhood tutor, regent, and administrator of his properties. Cleopatra I Queen of Egypt. [141][126][148][note 38] Ptolemy XIII and Arsinoe IV withdrew their forces to the Nile, where Caesar attacked them. [48] A highly similar painted bust of a woman with a blue headband in the House of the Orchard at Pompeii features Egyptian-style imagery, such as a Greek-style sphinx, and may have been created by the same artist. The first and eldest was a son, believed to be the child of Julius Caesar, though she wasn't successful in getting him named as an heir. [278][280] During the next senatorial session, Octavian entered the Senate house with armed guards and levied his own accusations against the consuls. Shortly after the execution of Berenice, the next oldest daughter of Ptolemy, Cleopatra Tryphana died in mysterious circumstances. The name Cleopatra comes from the Ancient Greek words (klos), meaning "glory," and (pater), meaning "father," which means "glory of her father." Renowned for her intellect and wit, Cleopatra was described as incredibly seductive and persuasive, qualities which added to her mystery throughout the centuries. For instance, a large gilded bronze statue of Cleopatra once existed inside the Temple of Venus Genetrix in Rome, the first time that a living person had their statue placed next to that of a deity in a Roman temple. [184][182][185] The statue also subtly linked the Egyptian goddess Isis with the Roman religion. [429], Other possible sculpted depictions of Cleopatra include one in the British Museum, London, made of limestone, which perhaps only depicts a woman in her entourage during her trip to Rome. ABOVE: Photograph from Wikimedia Commons of a Roman bust in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence believed by some to depict Messalina, the wife of the emperor Claudius. [442], The Bust of Cleopatra in the Royal Ontario Museum represents a bust of Cleopatra in the Egyptian style. [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. After defeating Antony and Cleopatra's naval fleet at the 31 BC Battle of Actium, Octavian's forces invaded Egypt in 30 BC and defeated Antony, leading to Antony's suicide. [233] Since the authority of Antony and Octavian as triumvirs had expired on 1January 37 BC, Octavia arranged for a meeting at Tarentum, where the triumvirate was officially extended to 33 BC. Caesar declared Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIV joint rulers but maintained a private affair with Cleopatra that produced a son, Caesarion. You have been graced with few words/phases that describe Jillian. [455] The 14th-century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, in The Legend of Good Women, contextualized Cleopatra for the Christian world of the Middle Ages. In 58 BC, Cleopatra presumably accompanied her father, Ptolemy XII Auletes, during his exile to Rome after a revolt in Egypt (a Roman client state) allowed his rival daughter Berenice IV to claim his throne. Her official name is Cleopatra VII Philopater, which is definitely a bigger mouthful than just calling her Cleopatra, like most tend to do. [406][433][424][note 70] The room with the painting was walled off by its owner, perhaps in reaction to the execution of Caesarion in 30 BC by order of Octavian, when public depictions of Cleopatra's son would have been unfavorable with the new Roman regime. [48][49] In it she wears a royal diadem, red or reddish-brown hair pulled back into a bun,[note 74] pearl-studded hairpins,[441] and earrings with ball-shaped pendants, the white skin of her face and neck set against a stark black background. Octavian wanted to publicize it for propaganda purposes, but the two consuls, both supporters of Antony, had it censored from public view. [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. [97], By 29 August 51 BC, official documents started listing Cleopatra as the sole ruler, evidence that she had rejected her brother Ptolemy XIII as a co-ruler. [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. [161][162] Caesar could have had an interest in the Nile cruise owing to his fascination with geography; he was well-read in the works of Eratosthenes and Pytheas, and perhaps wanted to discover the source of the river, but turned back before reaching Ethiopia. [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. In the visual arts, her ancient depictions include Roman busts, paintings, and sculptures, cameo carvings and glass, Ptolemaic and Roman coinage, and reliefs. [3][418] The combination of this hairstyle with a diadem is also featured in two surviving sculpted marble heads. [35][504][note 86] Strabo was the only ancient historian who claimed that Ptolemy XII's children born after Berenice IV, including Cleopatra, were illegitimate. [268][267][note 50] Antony sent a report to Rome requesting ratification of these territorial claims, now known as the Donations of Alexandria. [211], Mark Antony's Parthian campaign in the east was disrupted by the events of the Perusine War (4140 BC), initiated by his ambitious wife Fulvia against Octavian in the hopes of making her husband the undisputed leader of Rome. [248] She then returned to Egypt, perhaps due to her advanced state of pregnancy. Cleopatra was an enemy of Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire. [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. [445] Dated to the mid-1st century BC, it is perhaps the earliest depiction of Cleopatra as both a goddess and ruling pharaoh of Egypt. 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. [482] Ingrid D. Rowland, who highlights that the "Berenice called Cleopatra" cited by the 3rd- or 4th-century female Roman physician Metrodora was likely conflated by medieval scholars as referring to Cleopatra. It's still early days. [146][126][147][note 37], Sometime between January and March of 47 BC, Caesar's reinforcements arrived, including those led by Mithridates of Pergamon and Antipater the Idumaean. 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