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CLEOPATRA VII
1. Before we turn to members of the new “imperial family”, especially JULIA
and LIVIA, respectively daughter and wife of AUGUSTUS, we must say
(finally) a little about CLEOPATRA VII.
Born 69 BC
Died 30 BC
Queen (alone)
51 – 48 BC
and 47 - 30 BC
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Against a background of dynastic tensions and national set-backs, the father of
Cleopatra, Ptolemy XII (king since 80 BC) was overthrown in 58 BC, the throne
passing to his daughter Berenice IV.
Ptolemy fled to Rome, probably taking his next daughter, Cleopatra, with him.
He was in exile until 55 BC when he returned to Alexandria (with Roman
backing) to reclaim his throne and overthrow his daughter Berenice.
When he died in the March of 51 BC he named the 18-year-old CLEOPATRA
and her 10-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII as joint rulers.
Relations between the two quickly deteriorated because of Cleopatra’s
determination not to share power with her ‘brother-husband’.
But she soon came into conflict with the Roman troops who had returned with
her father, in 55 BC, to ensure his control of Egypt and she was ousted (in 48
BC) by her brother, who, along with some of the courtiers, took advantage of
this situation to remove her influence.
8. When Cleopatra tried to organize a rebellion to stage a come-back she was
forced to flee.
9. Within months her brother, Ptolemy XII, sole ruler, made a fatal miscalculation.
10. Pompey, the bitter rival of Julius Caesar in the Roman civil war, had just lost
the Battle of Pharsalus in Macedonia and had fled to Egypt.
11. Julius Caesar was in hot pursuit.
12. Hoping to ingratiate himself with Julius Caesar, Ptolemy had Pompey betrayed and
beheaded.
13. BUT Julius Caesar’s reaction was one of rage and he and his forces seized
Alexandria and Caesar declared that he would mediate the rival claims of
Cleopatra and Ptolemy to the Egyptian throne - although it is more likely that
Caesar had no intention of going beyond making Egypt a puppet state.
14. It was at this point that CLEOPATRA determined to win Caesar’s support for
herself alone and managed somehow to gain access to him – in ‘legend’ by means of
the likely totally fictitious “carpet incident”.
“Caesar and Cleopatra”
Jean-Léon Gerôme
(1866)
15. i) Caesar was well over 30 years Cleopatra’s senior and who seduced whom
we will never know.
ii) BUT it is very likely that it was CLEOPATRA alone who had a definite plan
in mind - a plan to ensure that she emerged as sole ruler of Egypt with
Rome’s backing.
16. How far any physical charms entered into the equation is again something we
cannot know, but she and Caesar do seem to have shared an appreciation of
each other’s political acumen AND Caesar, who above all else needed
MONEY, appears to have realized that CLEOPATRA was a better bet than
her brother in gaining him what was vital to him - short of trying to control
Egypt directly with all the accompanying complications this would bring.
17. That Caesar and Cleopatra became lovers for the duration of his stay in Egypt
between 48 and 47 BC and that she bore him a son, ‘Caesarion’, after his return
to Rome is of little importance.
18. After the defeat and death of her brother, Ptolemy XIII, at the ‘Battle of the
Nile’ in early 47 BC and the exile of her sister Arsinöe IV, who had sided with
him against her, CLEOPATRA could feel more secure about her future and that
of her son, ALTHOUGH …….
a) she was forced to share the throne for three years (until 44 BC) with her
younger brother, Ptolemy XIV (aged 12 or 13), until he died, probably of poison,
at the age of 15 or 16;
AND
b) she had to be on constant guard against the machinations from exile of her
remaining half-sister Arsinöe until she could arrange her eventual murder
(through the agency of Marcus Antonius) in 41 BC.
19. While there were dangers in her leaving Alexandria, she, her son (‘Caesarion’)
and her brother (Ptolemy XIV) visited Rome in the summer of 46 BC - her
presence, admittedly at a villa outside the city, contributing to the growing
hostility against Caesar.
20. She was still there when he was assassinated in March of 44 BC – all of her
security snatched away in one moment - especially at the hands of “the
assassins” who had killed Caesar in the name of “the Republic”.
21. She was forced to pack up and return to Egypt.
22. Re-enter (very briefly) Publius Cornelius DOLABELLA, the erstwhile son-inlaw of Cicero.
23. He swung for a time between “the Caesarians” (led by Marcus Antonius and
Caesar’s chosenheir, his great-nephew, Octavian) and “the Republicans” led by
Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.
24. i) While Dolabella proved a failure because of his conduct, for a time he seemed
likely to take control of Syria for “the Caesarians”.
ii) And there are some indications that CLEOPATRA saw him as a suitable ally
to protect her and her son’s interests.
25. i) When Dolabella failed badly and committed suicide, CLEOPATRA appears
to have decided to hitch her star to MARCUS ANTONIUS, who had been
Caesar’s right-hand-man – especially when he and Octavian divided the work
that needed to be done and Marcus Antonius moved to re-organize the eastern
regions of the empire (once “the Republicans” had been defeated decisively
at Philippi in October 42 BC).
ii) Any rational punter would have seen MARCUS ANTONIUS as the senior
and stronger “Caesarian” and the better man to be most closely allied to.
26. Consequently, CLEOPATRA appears to have followed her instincts and opted
for MARCUS ANTONIUS, although it was a risky move, given the volatility of
Roman politics at this point.
27. She probably suspected that he would need the resources of Egypt to achieve his
goals against the Parthian Empire.
28. The quid pro quo would be his guarantee that she would remain in undisputed
control of an independent Egypt.
29. By 41 BC MARCUS ANTONIUS had called CLEOPATRA to meet him – and
their alliance began – with a genuine chemistry developing very quickly
between them.
30. While in Alexandria with her in the winter of 41/40 BC Marcus Antonius seems
to have been captivated by Egyptian luxury and the exotic nature of Egyptian
culture, but in 40 BC he had to return to Italy to patch things up with Octavian
(as we have seen) and, in the outcome, to marry his sister OCTAVIA.
31. In 37 BC CLEOPATRA financed Marcus Antonius’ campaign against Parthia,
but his humiliating failure in this venture made it virtually impossible for him to
go back to Rome - despite Octavian’s efforts to cause a rift between him and his
mistress in 35 BC by sending OCTAVIA to him.
32. From 37 BC onwards, in fact, MARCUS ANTONIUS and CLEOPATRA were
committed irretrievably to each other.
COINS OF THE 30s BC
33. CLEOPATRA was a godsend to OCTAVIAN in his propaganda war against
MARCUS ANTONIUS.
34. Despite Marcus Antonius still commanding the respect of a large section of the
Roman nobility and, before too long, having a large part of the Senate with him
in the east, OCTAVIAN succeeded, in the spring of 32 BC, in having the Roman
state declare war on Egypt and its queen.
35. i) Realizing the danger to her power, CLEOPATRA - or so it has been claimed
- made overtures to Octavian without Marcus Antonius’ knowledge, but he
could not be bought.
ii) In OCTAVIAN CLEOPATRA had met her match.
36. She and Marcus Antonius were, of course, defeated on 2nd September 31 BC.
37. At this point the melodrama of Cleopatra’s demise begins.
38. i) She probably truly loved Marcus Antonius, but she seems, in the end, to have
sacrificed him in the interests of clinging to power and protecting her son.
ii) She led Marcus Antonius to believe that she was committing suicide with the
result that Marcus Antonius killed himself.
iii) But she had not killed herself (even though she had probably put everything
in place for her death if committing suicide became necessary) and she
opened negotiations with Octavian when he reached Alexandria.
39. Failing to reach any agreement with Octavian, she did then kill herself on 12th
August 30 BC - more likely by poison than by the legendary ‘bite from an asp’
- in order to avoid being led as a prisoner in chains in Octavian’s triumphal
parade back in Rome.
40. But the version which involves the asp’s bite has been the version which has
appealed to many an artist.
Giampietrino
1500 - 1540
Pierre Mignard
1670
Jean-Baptiste
Regnault
(1754-1829)
Hans Makart
1875
Reginald Arthur
1892
German von
Bohn
(1812-1899)
Juan Luna
1881
Jean
André
Rixens
(1846-1925)