21 Plutarch, Life of Alexander, 1: 2. Translated by B. Perrin.
22 Ibid., 82.
23 Ibid., 83, 84.
24 Ibid., 86.
Chapter 8: Cleopatra’s Children
1 T. Gautier (1838), Une Nuit de Cléopâtre. Translated by L. Hearn (1882), One of Cleopatra’s Nights and Other Fantastic Romances, B. Worthington, New York.
2 Horace (Odesi, 1.37: 25–9), Virgil (The Aeneid, 8: 696–7), Propertius (Elegies, 3. 11: 53–4). Virgil uses more twin-snake imagery when relating the fate of Laocoön and his sons, and again when describing the vision sent to Turnus by Allecto.
3 Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, 5: 2.
4 Given modern society’s reluctance to accept that glittering celebrities can die, it is not surprising that several theories have evolved to explain that Cleopatra survived. In the 1920s, for example, A. J. Bethell decided that Cleopatra did not die but was sent by Octavian to be the wife of Phraates IV of Parthia: unpublished work quoted in Hughes-Hallett (1990): 108.
5 Not to be confused with the entirely different modern Mauritania on Africa’s Atlantic coast.
6 Aristotle was another who believed that the Nile originated in Mauretania. See D. Braund (1984), ‘Anth. Pal. 9.235: Juba II, Cleopatra Selene and the Course of the Niel’, Classical Quarterly, 34: 1: 175–8. Three centuries earlier, Alexander the Great had announced that he had discovered the source of the Nile when he encountered crocodiles in India.
7 W. N. Weech (1932), ‘Rambles in Mauretania Caesariensis (continued)’, Greece and Rome: 2: 65–73: 72.
8 Crinagoras, 18. After A. S. F. Gow and D. L. Page (1968), The Greek Anthology. The Garland of Philip, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
9 Suetonius, Life of Gaius (Caligula) (The Twelve Caesars) 35. 2.
10 Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 36: 72. Translated by H. Rackham.
11 Cassius Dio, Roman History, 51: 22. Translated by E. Cary.
Chapter 9: History Becomes Legend
1 Chorus from ‘Cleopatra had a Jazz Band’, words by J. Morgan and J. Coogan, music by J. Coogan (1917). The sheet music gives ‘has a jazz band’ for the chorus but the title of the piece is ‘had a jazz band’, so I have adjusted the words here.
2 Virgil, The Aeneid, 4: 330. Translated by D. West.
3 Ibid., 8: 680.
4 Propertius, Elegies, 3: 11 and 4: 6. Discussed in more detail in Wyke (2002): 195–243.
5 Horace, Epode 9, Ode 1: 37.
6 Plutarch, Life of Alexander, 1. Translated by B. Perrin.
7 Cassius Dio, Histories, 51: 15. Translated by E. Cary.
8 Flavius Josephus, Against Apion, 2: 7.
9 O. Abd el-Galil (2000), Tarikh Misr li-Yohana Al-Niqusi, Dar Ain, Cairo.
10 Al-Masudi, Muruj: quoted in el-Daly (2005): 133. El-Daly provides a full exploration of the medieval Arab and Islamic historians.
11 Plutarch, Life of Antony 26. W. J. Skeat (1875, revised edition 1892), Shakespeare’s Plutarch, Macmillan and Co., London. Skeat uses the republished 1612 version of North. It is not clear which version Shakespeare used: Antony and Cleopatra, 2: 2.
12 The development of Cleopatra in popular culture is outlined by Hughes-Hallet (1990), Hamer (1993) and Wyke (2002). All three supply more detailed references.
13 Hamer (1993): xv.
14 The 1930 edition of the Cambridge Ancient History famously quotes Shakespeare; this was removed from subsequent editions. Samson (1990) gives twenty-five footnotes for the Cleopatra section of her book, over half of them references to Shakespeare. These are by no means the only texts to fall into this trap.
15 Including Gianna Terribili Gonzales (1913); Theda Bara (1917), her stage name being an anagram of ‘Arab death’; Claudette Colbert (1934); Vivien Leigh (1945); Elizabeth Taylor (1962). Each of these actresses was, to a greater or lesser extent, required by the studios and the media to live out the role of Cleopatra in her private life. Amanda Barrie, frolicking with Sid James in the discarded Taylor–Burton sets, was a very British Cleopatra in the 1964 camp comedy Carry on Cleo. The recent BBC television series Rome (2005) included a playful yet determined Cleopatra ruling over a decadent court.
16 C. M. Franzero (1957), The Life and Times of Cleopatra, The Philosophical Library, New York. This book was subsequently revised and republished, with the original illustrations replaced by stills from the film, as Cleopatra Queen of Egypt (1962), Panther Books, London; this extract is taken from the 1968 edition, page 17. It perhaps goes without saying that there was no ‘old custom’ of deflowering virgins in the Karnak temple.
17 Weigall (1914, revised edition 1924): vi.
18 Ibid.: 440.
Who was Who
1 Samson (1985): 103.
2 To ensure consistency, all dates in this section have been taken from J. Baines and J. Malek (1984), Atlas of Ancient Egypt, Phaidon, Oxford.
Bibliography
Many, many books, scholarly articles and works of fiction have been written about Cleopatra, her family, life and times. As this book is primarily aimed at the general reader, I have listed here the more accessible and up to date, giving preference to those written in English. Most of them provide their own list of further reading. More specialised references are given, where appropriate, as footnotes to the text.
I have deliberately excluded websites dealing with Cleopatra as, by their very nature, these tend to be ephemeral and are of varying accuracy. However, the Ptolemaic genealogies compiled and constantly updated by Chris Bennett offers a valuable exception to this rule (www.geocieties.com/christopherjbennett/index.htm).
Classical Texts
Many of the older translations of classical texts, now in the public domain, are available for free consultation on the Internet.
Appian, The Civil Wars, Volumes III and IV of Roman History, Translated by H. White (1912–13), Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and Heinemann, London
Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander. Translated by E. J. Chinnock (1893), George Bell and Sons, London
Athenaeus, Deipnosophists or Banquet of the Learned. Translated by C. D. Yonge (1854) 3 vols, Henry G. Bohn, London
Julius Caesar, The Alexandrian Wars. Translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn (1869), Harper and Brothers, New York
Cassius Dio, Roman History. Translated by E. Cary (1914–27) 9 vols, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. and Heinemann, London
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History Book I. Translated by C. H. Oldfather (1933), Vol. I, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and Heinemann, London
Flavius Josephus, Against Apion. Translated by W. Whiston (1895; updated and republished 2001), The Works of Josephus, Complete and Unabridged, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Mass.
— Antiquities of the Jews. Translated by W. Whiston (1895; updated and republished 2001), The Works of Josephus, Complete and Unabridged, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Mass.
Herodotus, The Histories. Translated by A. de Sélincourt (1954), revised with introduction and notes by J. Marincola (1996), Penguin Books, Harmondsworth
Kleiner, D. E. E. (2005) Cleopatra and Rome, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Pliny the Elder, Natural History. Translated by H. Rackham (1938–40), Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and Heinemann, London
Plutarch, The Parallel Lives: Life of Alexander. Translated by B. Perrin (1919), Vol VII, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and Heinemann, London
— The Parallel Lives: Life of Antony. Translated by B. Perrin (1920), Vol. IX, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and Heinemann, London
— The Parallel Lives: Life of Caesar. Translated by B. Perrin (1919), Vol. VII, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and Heinemann, London
— The Parallel Lives: Life of Pompey. Translated by B. Perrin (1917), Vol. V, Loeb Class
ical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and Heinemann, London
Strabo, The Geography. Translated by H. L. Jones (1917–32), Vols 1–8 (Books 1–17), Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and Heinemann, London
Suetonius, Julius Caesar, Afterwards deified and Augustus, Afterwards deified, part of The Twelve Caesars. Translated by Robert Graves, revised with an introduction by Michael Grant (1979), Penguin Books, Harmondsworth
Virgil, The Aeneid. Translated by D. West (1990), Penguin Books, Harmondsworth
Further Reading
Arnold, D. (1999), Temples of the Last Pharaohs, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York
Ashton, S.-A. (2003), The Last Queens of Egypt, Pearson Education, Harlow
Bingen, J. (2007), Hellenistic Egypt: Monarchy, Society, Economy, Culture, edited by R. S. Bagnall, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh
Bowman, A. K. (1990), Egypt After the Pharaohs, Oxford University Press, Oxford
Burstein, S. M. (2004), The Reign of Cleopatra, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn.
Cabfora, L. (1987), The Vanished Library: A Wonder of the Ancient World, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles
Chauveau, M. (2000), Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society Under the Ptolemies, translated by D. Lorton, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London
— (2002), Cleopatra: Beyond the Myth, translated by D. Lorton, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London
Corbelli, J. A. (2006), The Art of Death in Graeco-Roman Egypt, Shire Publications, Princes Risborough
El-Daly, O. (2005), Egyptology: The Missing Millennium – Ancient Egypt in Medieval Arabic Writings, UCL Press, London
Empereur, J.-Y. (1998), Alexandria Rediscovered, translated by M. Maehler, British Museum Press, London
Fantham, E. et al. (1994), Women in the Classical World, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford
Flamarion, E. (1997), Cleopatra: From History to Legend, Thames and Hudson, London
Fraser, P. M. (1972), Ptolemaic Alexandria, Oxford University Press, Oxford
Garland, R. (2003), Julius Caesar, Bristol Phoenix Press, Bristol
Goddio, F. et al. (1998), Alexandria: The Submerged Royal Quarters, Periplus Ltd, London
Grant, M. (1972), Cleopatra: A Biography, Barnes and Noble Books, New York
— (1982), From Alexander to Cleopatra: The Hellenistic World, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London
Hamer, M. (1993), Signs of Cleopatra, Routledge, London and New York
Höbl, G. (2001), A History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Translated by T. Saavedra, Routledge, London and New York
Hughes-Hallett, L. (1990), Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams and Distortions, Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, London
Jacob, C. and de Polignac, F. (2000), Alexandria Third Century BC: The Knowledge of the World in a Single City. Translated by Colin Clement, Harpocrates, Alexandria
Jones, P. J. (1971), Cleopatra: A Sourcebook, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman
Lane Fox, R. (2004 updated edition), Alexander the Great, Penguin Books, London
Lefkowitz, M. and Rogers, G. M., eds (1996), Black Athena Revisited, North Carolina University Press, Chapel Hill
Matyszak, P. (2003), Chronicle of the Roman Republic, Thames and Hudson, London
Mysliewic, K. (2000), The Twilight of Ancient Egypt: First Millennium BC. Translated by D. Lorton, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London
Pomeroy, S. B. (1975, revised edition 1995), Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves, Schocken Books, New York
Pomeroy, S. B., Burnstein, S. M., Donlan, W. and Tolbert Roberts, J. (1999), Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford
Ray, J. (2002), Reflections of Osiris, Profile Books, London
Rice, E. E. (1999), Cleopatra, Sutton Publishing, Stroud
Rowlandson, J., ed. (1998), Women and Society in Greek and Roman Egypt: A Sourcebook, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Samson, J. (1990, second edition), Nefertiti and Cleopatra: Queen-Monarchs of Ancient Egypt, Rubicon Press, London
Shakespeare, W. (1606/7), Antony and Cleopatra
Stanwick, P. E. (2002), Portraits of the Ptolemies: Greek Kings as Egyptian Pharaohs, University of Texas Press, Austin
Troy, L. (1986), Patterns of Queenship in Ancient Egyptian Myth and History: Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations 14, Boreas, Uppsala
Tyldesley, J. A. (2006), Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt, Thames and Hudson, London
Vasunia, P. (2001), The Gift of the Nile: Hellenizing Egypt from Aeschylus to Alexander, University of California Press, Berkeley
Walker, S. and Ashton, S.-A. (2006), Cleopatra, Bristol Classical Press, Bristol
Walker, S. and Ashton, S.-A., eds (2003), Cleopatra Reassessed, British Museum Occasional Papers 103, London
Walker, S. and Higgs, P., eds (2001), Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth, British Museum Publications, London
Whitehorn, J. (1994), Cleopatras, Routledge, London and New York
Weigall, A. (1914, revised edition 1924), The Life and Times of Cleopatra Queen of Egypt: A Study in the Origin of the Roman Empire, G. P. Putnam’s and Sons, New York, and Knickerbocker Press, London
Witt, R.E. (1971), Isis in the Ancient World, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London (originally published as Isis in the Graeco-Roman World)
Wyke, M. (2002), The Roman Mistress; Ancient and Modern Representations, Oxford University Press, Oxford
List of Illustrations
1. Alexander the Great. From the British Museum © the Trustees of the British Museum.
2. Ptolemy XII ‘The New Dionysos’. From the Louvre Museum © RPL.
3. Dionysos. From the Staatliche Museum, Berlin © RPL.
4. Ptolemaic papyrus. From the Staatliche Museum, Berlin © RPL.
5. Limestone stela. From the Louvre Museum © RPL.
6. Portrait head, believed to be Cleopatra VII. From the Staatliche Museum, Berlin © RPL.
7. Marble portrait of Cleopatra VII. From the Vatican Museum © Sandro Vannini / Corbis.
8. ‘Cleopatra restored’. From the Vatican Museum © RPL.
9. Egyptian Cleopatra. From the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg © Sandro Vannini / Corbis.
10. Arsinoë II. From the British Museum © the Trustees of the British Museum.
11. Cleopatra II or Cleopatra III? From the Louvre Museum © RPL.
12. Romans relaxing on the Nile. From the Staatliche Museum, Berlin © RPL.
13. Ptolemy II © RPL.
14. Mosaic depicting Berenice II. From the Graeco—Roman Museum, Alexandria © RPL.
15. Julius Caesar. From the Staatliche Museum, Berlin © RPL.
16. Isis and Dionysos as snakes. From the British Museum © the Trustees of the British Museum.
17. The ‘Alabaster Tomb’ of Alexandria © RPL.
18. Serapis. From the Vatican Museum © RPL.
19. Osiris. From the Manchester Museum © RPL.
20. The Egyptian goddess Isis. From ‘The Tomb of Siptah’ illustrated by E. Harold Jones, published in The Tomb of Siptah by Theodore Davis (1908).
21. Isis as mother. From the Staatliche Museum, Berlin © RPL.
22. Amaryllis. From the National Museum, Athens © RPL.
23. Isis carrying the sistrum. From the Capitoline Museum, Rome © RPL.
24. Cleopatra and Caesarion. From the Dendera Temple © RPL.
25. Mark Antony. From Kingston Lacy, The Bankes Collection © NTPL / Paul Mulcahy.
26. Octavian: the Emperor Augustus. From the National Museum, Athens © RPL.
Page 61 – Tetradrachm of Cleopatra VII. From the Garstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool © RPL.
Page 71 – Tetradrachm of Alexander the Great. From the Garstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool © RPL.
Page 75 – Tetradrachm of Ptolemy I. From the G
arstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool © RPL.
Page 120 – Armant scene recorded by Lepsius (Denkmäler IV, 60a and 59b).
Page 123 – ‘Cleopatra’. From A.B. Edwards, A Thousand Miles up the Nile (1877).
Page 160 – Tetradrachm of Mark Antony. From the Garstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool © RPL.
Family Tree and Maps
Family Tree adapted from Walker S. and Higgs P., eds (2001), Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth, British Museum Publications, London.
Cleopatra’s World adapted from Walker S. and Higgs P., eds (2001), Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth, British Museum Publications, London.
Cleopatra’s Egypt adapted from Höbl G. (2001), A History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Translated by T. Saavedra, Routledge, London and New York.
Cleopatra’s Alexandria adapted from various sources.
Cartouches
Alexander the Great – Alexandros
Ptolemy XII – Ptolemy living forever, beloved of Ptah and Isis
Cleopatra VII – Cleopatra the Father-loving goddess
Ptolemy Caesar (Caesarion) – Caesar living forever, beloved of Ptah and Isis
Octavian – Autocrator (‘ruler’)
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to John Ray, who patiently read through the first draft of Cleopatra and offered helpful advice. Any mistakes are, of course, my own. I would also like to thank Judith Corbelli and Steven Snape for their encouragement, advice and enthusiasm. At Profile, Peter Carson believed in this book, and Bohdan Buciak, Penny Daniel, Anna-Marie Fitzgerald, Lesley Levene and Nicola Taplin helped it to become a reality. In 2006 the Society of Authors generously awarded me a grant from the Author’s Foundation, which allowed me to travel to Egypt in search of Cleopatra. I will always be grateful for their support.
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