Cleopatra was the queen of Egypt. I classified it in the Rome file because it was through Caesar and Marc Antony that it had such a great influence on the course of the history of the ancient world
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Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (in Greek, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ) (v. -69 / August 12 -30) is a queen of ancient Egypt of the Lagides family who governs her country between -51 and -30, successively with her brothers and husband Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV then with the Roman general Marc Antoine. She is known for her relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony.
Cleopatra is a character whose legend took hold, even during her lifetime, and the tragedy of her death only reinforced the tendency towards the romantic which surrounds the character and which sometimes hinders the historian in an objective approach to this queen of Egypt, arguably the most famous woman of antiquity.
We have few sources and the main ones, Plutarch, Suetonius and Appian, only mention Cleopatra insofar as she takes place in Roman history. Thus we know practically nothing of what she did in Rome after Caesar's assassination, nor in Alexandria during the absence of Marc Antoine between -40 and -37.
Moreover, the ancient historiography is generally unfavorable to her because inspired by the winner of Cleopatra, the Emperor Augustus and his entourage whose interest is to blacken the queen in order to make her the evil adversary of Rome and the evil genius of Mark Anthony. Thus this judgment of the historian of the 1st century, Flavius Josephus:"She made Antoine the enemy of his fatherland by the corruption of his amorous charms". This explains the caution of current historians and the enthusiasm of filmmakers or novelists for such a character.
Summary
Cleopatra was born during the winter of -69/-68[4] probably in Alexandria. She is one of the three (known) daughters of Ptolemy XII Auletes, king of Egypt and presumably a concubine, since Strabo asserts that Ptolemy XII had only one legitimate daughter, Berenice IV, who reigned from - 58 to -55.
This bastardy is not a handicap, Ptolemy XII himself is an illegitimate son of Ptolemy IX, but it maintains the mystery on the maternal origins of Cleopatra, with the hypothesis of an Egyptian ancestry. This is one of the factors, in addition to the fact that she speaks Egyptian, that some historians put forward to explain the queen's curious title, philopatris ("who loves his country"), which is surprising in a dynasty that rather favors dynastic ties ("who loves his father...his mother...his sister...", etc.) than the attachment to the countries and peoples he governs. But perhaps we should only see a more marked attention, rare among his predecessors if we except Ptolemy VIII said Physcon, to indigenous Egypt. Unless philopatris evokes the Macedonian origin of the lagide dynasty.
Youth
We know nothing about his childhood and teenage years. The most we can imagine is that she must have observed the events of her father's chaotic reign with great acuity. The disaffection between the Egyptian population and the Lagide dynasty is obvious under the reign of Ptolemy XII (Alexandria is not said to be in Egypt but near Egypt). The causes are numerous:physical and moral degeneration of the sovereigns, outrageous centralization, corruption and greed of the administrators. The multiplication of native revolts, the loss of Cyprus and Cyrenaica made this reign one of the most calamitous of the dynasty.
The power of Rome, which intervenes militarily to restore Ptolemy XII in -55, overthrown by his eldest daughter Berenice IV three years earlier, is certainly an element understood and assimilated by the young Cleopatra. Restored by Gabinius[5], the governor of Syria, Ptolemy XII embarked on a series of massacres, proscriptions and assassinations (including his own daughter Berenice, the half-sister of Cleopatra) which did not restore his authority to a puppet king who is maintained only by the Roman presence which moreover burdens the finances of the country. The tribulations of the previous reign thus teach the future queen to use all means to get rid of her adversaries or those who hinder her projects like her younger brother Ptolemy XIV in -44.
The woman
It is difficult to define the true personality of Cleopatra, which a certain romanticism contributed to distort, but she obviously had a lot of courage and was powerful enough to worry the Romans.
No reliable source comes to enlighten us on its physical aspect which escapes a banal aesthetic classification. The bust of Cherchell (opposite), made well after his death, on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter, Cleopatra Selene, to King Juba II of Mauretania, is idealized. Some ancient authors insist on its beauty[6]. But the few coins in our possession give the image of a woman with heavy features and a rather prominent nose. On the other hand, we know that she had a strong presence and charm, that she exuded a powerful seduction and that all this was completed by a bewitching voice as well as a brilliant and cultivated spirit.
Indeed, while the education of girls, even from royal families, was neglected in the Greek or Hellenistic world, Cleopatra apparently benefited from the teaching of cultivated pedagogues. Plutarch insists on his intellectual qualities. This is how Cleopatra is a real polyglot and speaks, in addition to Greek, Egyptian (the first and last of her dynasty to make this effort although there is a doubt for Ptolemy VIII said Physcon!), Aramaic , Ethiopian, Mede, Arabic, probably also Hebrew as well as the language of the Troglodytes, a people living in southern Libya. Such gifts did not leave her powerless for Latin either, even though Romans as cultured as Caesar spoke perfect Greek.
Access to the throne
The will of King Ptolemy XII, who died in March -51, designates as his successors Cleopatra and a younger brother of her, Ptolemy XIII, about fifteen years old, to whom she is nominally married because according to Ptolemaic custom. , it cannot reign alone. Nothing proves that Cleopatra wanted to exercise all the power at the time, in any case the titles of this period always give her second place. These first three years of reign are difficult due to economic difficulties:famine in the years -50/-48, insufficient flooding of the Nile and political struggle between the eunuch Potheinos and General Achillas who seek to oppose brother and sister.
In the fall of -49, relations deteriorated completely between the two sovereigns. The causes of this rupture are ignored. Still, from this date the name of the queen appears in official texts before that of Ptolemy XIII. In fact, a real war broke out between the two monarchs since in the summer of -48 they faced each other at Pelusium. It seems that Cleopatra is in trouble because she has to flee to Syria and then to Ascalon, where she finds help.
Caesar and Cleopatra
The assassination of Pompey
This is where Roman power comes in. Indeed Pompey, defeated by Julius Caesar in Pharsalia at the beginning of June -48, tries to find refuge in Egypt. The young king Ptolemy XIII and his advisers judge his cause lost and think of currying the good graces of the winner by having him assassinated, as soon as he sets foot on Egyptian soil on July 30 -48, under the eyes of his entourage. . Caesar, who landed two days later, was apparently furious at this cowardly crime (he had Pompey's head buried in the grove of Nemesis on the edge of the eastern wall of the enclosure of Alexandria) and did not feel for the pharaoh whom contempt.
The meeting with Caesar
What were Caesar's intentions when he landed in Egypt? It's hard to say clearly. There are political reasons, Caesar certainly intending to annex Egypt, but also more private reasons, although he points to headwinds to delay his return. Indeed, he tries to obtain the repayment of debts that Ptolemy XII had contracted with a Roman banker and that he took over on his own. He considers it essential to reconcile the royal couple and tries to do so at the end of the year -48. The two sovereigns are summoned to the royal palace of Alexandria. Ptolemy XIII goes there after various procrastination as well as Cleopatra. It is at this moment that takes place, if it is authentic, the episode of the carpet in which the queen would have been rolled up in order to reach Caesar[13]. This tries to impose the "status quo ante", that is to say the return to the will of Ptolemy XII, which Cleopatra seems to accept but not her brother, hardly impressed by the small numbers of Caesar (about 7,000 men). This one even finds himself prisoner in Alexandria at the end of -48, without reinforcements. Only the drowning of Ptolemy XIII in the Nile on January 15, -47 put an end to the conflict. Caesar apparently gave up his annexation project at this time. Was it the romance with the queen thirty years younger who had become his ally[14], the military difficulties encountered during the winter of -48/-47 or his trip on the Nile that made him give up annexation for him? prefer an alliance? Difficult to be affirmative, but there is a reason that can explain this change. In these troubled times (Caesar has not yet reduced the last supporters of Pompey) an ambitious governor of Egypt could starve Rome by depriving it of Egyptian wheat and make it a springboard for his political ambitions. Augustus later forbade the senators access to Egypt in order to avoid unnecessary temptations. Maintaining a discredited dynasty while maintaining military control of the country (three Roman legions remain after Caesar's departure) is therefore the solution, perhaps temporary in the conqueror's mind, the most convenient.
Stay in Rome
Cleopatra then married another of her younger brothers, Ptolemy XIV, on Caesar's orders. However, she is the only one to really hold the power (under Roman protectorate) and the protocol records this preponderance by placing the name of the queen at the head of official acts. Her affair with Caesar is no mystery to anyone. The latter, however, must soon leave Alexandria to fight the king of Pontus, Pharnaces, then the last supporters of Pompey in Africa. Back in Rome he summons the lagides sovereigns in -46 The reasons for this summons are imprecise. Caesar, himself married, does he want to find his mistress, whom he lodges in his property on the right bank of the Tiber? Does he want to impress with the brilliance of the four triumphs he celebrates during the summer of -46? Does he have the objective of showing what it costs to revolt against Rome by including in his triumph the sister of Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIV, Arsinoe, who had had himself recognized as queen by the troops of Ptolemy XIII? ? Does he want to keep hostage the two sovereigns of a state whose wheat resources are vital to Rome? Difficult to decide for one hypothesis rather than another. Still, Egypt was administered during this time by the officers of its troops who remained in Alexandria.
Little is known about this two-year stay in Rome. Caesar's only official gesture in his favor was to have a golden statue of the queen placed in the sanctuary of Venus Genetrix, mythical ancestor of the gens Iulia from which he descended.
Cleopatra sole ruler
To imagine that the presence of Cleopatra in Rome is explained by the active role she would have played there and to attribute to Caesar the intention of transporting its capital to Alexandria (according to Suetonius) is very excessive. It seems difficult to imagine Caesar ruling Italy from Egypt when the political situation remains murky. In his will he makes no allusion to Caesarion (whose precise date of birth remains questionable, no doubt he was born after the death of Caesar), born of Cleopatra, but makes Octave his heir. It is therefore certain that living Caesar is more of an obstacle to the project of restoring the Lagide power that Cleopatra nurtures. So his death is a surprise but also an opportunity that the queen will exploit.
At the beginning of the year -44 Caesar was assassinated. Taking advantage of the confusing situation that ensued, Cleopatra then left Rome in mid-April, stopped over in Greece, then sailed to Alexandria where she arrived in July -44. She began to restore the authority of Egypt over Cyprus, which had been ceded to Rome by Ptolemy XII in -59.
Barely back in her country, she had Ptolemy XIV, both useless monarch and potential rival, assassinated. The birth of her son assures her of an eventual successor and she therefore assumes the title of queen alone.
Marc Anthony
Difficult years
Cleopatra, finally sole ruler of Egypt, even if it is in the name of her son, is facing difficult years. In -43 a famine fell on his country, then the flooding of the Nile failed for two consecutive years (-41/-42). It seems that the queen was mainly concerned with supplying her capital, which is the real center of her power and quick to rebel. In addition, she has to reckon with the three Roman legions installed by her late lover, who engage in abuses until their departure in -43.
The war between the assassins of Caesar, Cassius and Brutus and his heirs, Octave and Marc Antoine, forces the queen to diplomatic contortions. Indeed Brutus holds Greece as well as Asia Minor while Cassius settles in Syria. Cleopatra's governor in Cyprus, Serapion, therefore helps Cassius with no doubt the queen's consent regardless of the feelings that one of Caesar's assassins inspires in him. Serapion is officially disavowed later.
At the same time Cleopatra sends a fleet to Caesar's supporters, who recognize Caesarion as king. This fleet is the victim of a storm off Libya but the gesture places the queen in the camp of the winners when in -42 the Republicans are crushed in Philippi. Moreover it returns the legions (towards -43) which station in Egypt against Cassius. she hopes that they will oppose him but in fact they rally to his cause. Cassius seems to be planning to seize Alexandria when the landing in Greece of Antony and Octavian forces him to give up his plans[18].
The meeting with Marc Antoine
We do not know since when Cleopatra, aged 29 in -41, and the Roman general, who is in his early forties, have known each other. We know that Marc Antoine was one of the officers who had taken part in the restoration of Ptolémée XII in -55 but it is unlikely that they attended each other, Cleopatra having at the time only about fifteen years old, although Appian indicates that Antony had noticed the future queen. It is more likely that they met during Cleopatra's stay in Rome. Yet when they met in -41 they seem to know each other rather poorly.
In the division of the Roman world that took place after the crushing of the Republicans, the east fell to Antoine. He then resumed Caesar's project before his death, that is to say a great expedition against the Parthians. For this he summons the sovereigns of the client kingdoms to Tarsus, in Cilicia, including the queen of Egypt. She knows at least one of the officer's faults, his vanity and his love of pomp, so she arrives in a ship with a golden stern and purple sails, sitting under a golden canopy surrounded by a crew disguised as Nymphs, Nereids and Cupids. Then she invites Marc Antoine on board for a sumptuous banquet. Thus began a ten-year affair, undoubtedly one of the most famous in history, even if it is difficult to know what part of calculation is in Antoine's attitude, who needs Egypt to his projects.
The reconstruction of a great lagid kingdom
At first Marc Antoine follows Cleopatra to Alexandria, where he spends the winter -41/-40, leaving his army[21]. It was at this time that a vast Parthian offensive allowed them to seize Syria, southern Asia Minor, and Cilicia. Antigone Mattathias, a prince of the Hasmonean family, hostile to the Romans, is installed on the throne of Jerusalem. Marc Antony leads a short counter-offensive from Tire then is forced to return to Rome (summer -40) where his supporters and those of Octave[22] clash. He concludes with the latter the peace of Brindes in October -40 and marries his sister, Octavie[23]. Meanwhile in Alexandria Cleopatra gives birth to twins:a boy Alexandre Hélios, and a girl Cleopatra Selene.
The separation lasts three years, from spring -40 to autumn -37, and we know little or nothing of the action of the queen during this period. When Antoine returns, the two lovers meet in Antioch in the fall of -37; this one begins a new policy. While his officers and his allies have driven out the Parthians, he substitutes where possible client states, which are loyal to him, for direct administration from Rome. This is how Herod becomes king of Judea with the direct support of Antony. It is an identical phenomenon which takes place in Galatia, in Pontus and in Cappadocia. Cleopatra derives immediate benefit from this since she is confirmed in possession of Cyprus, which has in fact been effective since -44, but also of cities on the Syrian coast, the kingdom of Chalcis, in present-day Lebanon, and the Cilician coast. It thus reconstitutes part of the thalassocracy of the first Lagide kings.
The war against the Parthians
In -37/-36 Marc Antoine began a campaign against the Parthians which turned into a disaster, largely caused by a harsh winter in the mountains of Armenia and the north-west of present-day Iran. Antoine himself barely survived. Cleopatra remained in Alexandria to deliver the couple's third child, Ptolemy Philadelphus. After -37, we begin to see in Rome in the alliance between Antoine and Cleopatra a threat against the Empire and against Octave. This one sends his sister Octavie, the legitimate wife of Antoine and the mother of his two daughters, Antonia Major the Elder (the future grandmother of Néron), and Antonia Minor the young (future mother of Germanicus and Claudius ) in early spring -35 join her husband. Antoine orders his wife, when she arrives in Athens, to turn back. Octavie, without outwardly showing the slightest sign of annoyance, orders the troops accompanying her, reinforcements from her brother for her husband, to continue their journey towards Alexandria.
Antoine indeed plans to make people forget his military failure of -36 and launches in -35 a second more fortunate expedition. Armenia and Media make an act of allegiance and Antoine celebrates a triumph, not in Rome, but in Alexandria where Cleopatra and her children are associated. A little later Caesarion was proclaimed king of kings, Alexander Helios received Armenia and the lands beyond the Euphrates as a share, Ptolemy was entrusted, nominally of course because he was about two years old, with Syria and Asia Minor. Finally Cleopatra Selene finds herself at the head of Cyrenaica. It seems that the risky and chimerical nature of these grandiose and unrealistic projects, a not insignificant part of these kingdoms are not really under the control of Marc Antoine, does not escape Cleopatra who is content more prosaically to claim from her lover, in vain Judea.
The final failure
Actium
Relations with Octave sour again in -32 and push them to confrontation. There is no doubt that Octave fears Marc Antoine and his popularity, still strong in the Senate, but the triumph of Antoine in -35[25] and the appointment of Ptolemy XV/Caesarion as king of kings make him consider an even greater danger. After all, this young man is the only son of Caesar, and he could one day come to him the idea, if the circumstances lend themselves to it, to come and claim his paternal inheritance. Also Octave will work to denigrate Marc Antoine by all means and especially Cleopatra, the Egyptian, the one who holds him under her charms and who forces him to abandon that Octave considers disastrous for Rome. Most of these accusations are in bad faith and propaganda to Roman public opinion, but are also largely at the origin of the "black legend" of Cleopatra among many ancient authors.
The war sees Egypt provide a significant part of the war effort, more than 200 triremes, as well as the allied kingdoms, with the notable exception of the skilful Herod who visibly bets on a victory for Octavian . It is true that it is his interest because he knows that the Queen of Egypt has been eyeing her kingdom for a very long time. But Marc Antoine, while he has the most seasoned troops and numerical superiority[26] leads the war despite common sense, without energy and while Octave is struggling to build his army, he gives him time to s 'arrange. Octave is hardly a great warlord but he counts with Agrippa, a competent officer who quickly gives him the advantage. When the naval battle of Actium broke out (September -31), Cleopatra quickly understood the final outcome of the war and broke off the fight with her fleet. This flight, the only way to save what can be saved, is obviously exploited by Octave with Antoine's officers and men, many of whom change allegiance.
The end
The last few months are not well known. Antony returns to Egypt and takes virtually no action to combat Octavian's increasingly triumphant advance. He consumes his strength in banquets, drinking parties and lavish parties without caring about the situation. What does Cleopatra do? Sources are lacking. Some claim that she is trying to seduce Octave. Is the story believable? Hard to say. It is likely that the charms of the queen approaching her forties and after at least four pregnancies had waned. It seems that she mainly sought to bring Caesarion to safety by sending him to Meroe, in Sudan.
Around August -30 Octave arrives in Alexandria. At the false announcement of Cleopatra's suicide, Marc Antoine puts an end to his life by throwing himself on his sword. Dying, he is carried by Cleopatra to his own tomb. She is led before Octave, who lets her retire with her servants. This attitude is curious on the part of the future Augustus because he seems to take no precautions to prevent the queen from committing suicide, which he nevertheless needs to figure in her triumph. Is he afraid that like his sister Arsinoé, appearing in the triumph of Julius Caesar in -46, she inspires the Romans only compassion rather than hatred? It is not impossible that Octave hoped for the suicide of Cleopatra, who could pass for an additional cowardice, accrediting the thesis defended by his own propaganda. That said, it is difficult to know the truth. Suetonius indeed affirms that Octavian, on the contrary, wishes to keep the queen alive and that he is trying to save her.
Plutarch paints a gripping and melodramatic[29] account of the queen's suicide[30]. With her two most faithful servants, Iras and Charmiane, Cleopatra committed suicide on August 12, 30[31] by having a basket of figs containing two poisonous asps carried to her. This version is the most common. For E. Will, this would perhaps be further proof of the Queen's attachment to Egyptian traditions because the bite of the uraeus was believed to confer immortality. Other historians, like M. Le Glay, have underlined the implausibilities of this account, which would be a new avatar of Octavian propaganda. Indeed, he neglects the age of Cleopatra (39 years old) and the fact that she then had four children. If Caesarion is executed by order of Octave, the three other children of Antony and Cleopatra are taken to Rome and brought up by Octavia, who has remained faithful to the memory of her husband. Cleopatra Selene will marry the Berber king and scholar Juba II of Mauretania, as she was a war orphan raised in Rome, to which we owe the beautiful bust of Cherchell which represents her mother. It is not known what became of Alexandre Hélios, who possibly survived in obscurity.
His work
His main merit is to have realized that Egypt could no longer be self-sufficient despite its glorious past and centuries-old traditions. This is how we must understand its involvement in the vagaries of Roman politics, whose power it seeks to use to consolidate its power and bring its country out of decadence, while maintaining its independence. She knows the heaviness that paralyzes her kingdom, the instability that characterizes it but believes that, from its precariousness, Egypt, which Rome needs, can make a force and tries to persuade Caesar (without much success it seems ) then Antoine (with more success at the start) that an alliance is preferable to colonization. Cleopatra never loses sight of the fact that she represents Egypt and its people. She is also the only one who really tries to rally the people of the chôra (the province as opposed to Alexandria). She protects the Jewish population[32] for whom the reign of Cleopatra is a particularly happy period[33]. It also assumes pharaonic rituals that its predecessors have neglected and it adopts the traditional ritual for the birth of Ptolemy-Caesarion-Horus, son of Caesar-Amon and Cleopatra-Isis. The throne for her is less a patrimony to be squandered than a homeland to be ruled, this simple fact distinguishes her from the last rulers of the dynasty.