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HI205 Cleopatra: Chronology & Sources
“Had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the face of the world would have changed’’
(Pascal, Pensées, pre-1662, p. 180)
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Questions for class discussion on Friday:
What did Cleopatra represent to Caesar? to Rome until 41? to Antony after they met? to Octavian?
What kind of character of Cleopatra emerges from the Roman sources below?
Why do we remain interested in Cleopatra today?
born to Ptolemy XII Auletes (b. 117 BCE) and Cleopatra V Tryphaena
succeeds with her brother Ptolemy XIII
supplies Pompey with ships, men, grain against Caesar in the civil war (49-48)
Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus; Pompey killed in Egypt; Cleopatra expelled from Egypt
by Ptolemy XIII mid-year; raises an army in Arabia and Palestine
Ptolemy XIII drowns; Cleopatra restored by Caesar with Ptolemy XIV as co-ruler
gives birth to Ptolemy Caesar “Caesarion”; Caesar abandons annexation of Egypt
visits Rome with Caesarion and stays at Caesar’s Transtiberim villa
Caesar erects golden statue of Cleopatra-as-Isis in Temple of Venus Genetrix
(1st time a statue of a living figure was placed in a temple next to a goddess in Rome)
assassination of Caesar; death of Ptolemy XIV (at Cleopatra’s instigation?)
associated as senior ruler with her son Ptolemy XV Theos Philopator Philometor
sides with Antony and Octavian against Cassius and Brutus
meets Mark Antony in Tarsus, Cilicia, to face charges she aided Cassius, but probably for
Antony to secure support for Parthian campaign; arrives as Venus in purple and gold
has rebel sister Arsinoe IV executed on steps of Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
gives birth to Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, Antony’s children
Antony marries Octavia, Octavian’s sister, who bears him two daughters
presents Antony with his children and marries him
Antony, with Cleopatra’s fleet, defeated by Parthians (10,000 men lost)
Antony joins Cleopatra in Alexandria, avoiding Octavia
gives birth to Ptolemy Philadelphus
Alexandrian Donations: “Queen of Kings”
– Cleopatra and Caesarion: Egypt, Cyprus
– Alexander Helios:
Armenia, Media, Parthia
– Cleopatra Selene:
Cyrenaica, Libya
– Ptolemy Philadelphus:
Syria, Phoenicia, Cilicia
Antony, Cleopatra go to Ephesus to build fleet of 500 ships and 100,000 soldiers
Antony divorces Octavia
Senate outlaws Antony and declares war on Antony and Cleopatra
Battle of Actium: Antony and Cleopatra flee to Egypt and die via suicide in 30
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Sources for Cleopatra and Caesar
Dio Cassius 52.34-35, 44-45
34. These were the events which occurred in Rome during Caesar's absence. Now the reasons why he
was so long in coming there and did not arrive immediately after Pompey's death were as follows.
The Egyptians were discontented at the levies of money and indignant because not even their
temples were left untouched. For they are the most religious people on earth in many respects and
wage wars even against one another on account of their beliefs, since they are not all agreed in their
worship, but are diametrically opposed to each other in some matters. As a result, then, of their
vexation at this and, further, of their fear that they might be surrendered to Cleopatra, who had great
influence with Caesar, they began a disturbance. Cleopatra, it seems, had at first urged with Caesar
her claim against her brother by means of agents, but as soon as she discovered his disposition
(which was very susceptible, to such an extent that he had his intrigues with ever so many other
women — with all, doubtless, who chanced to come in his way) she sent word to him that she was
being betrayed by her friends and asked that she be allowed to plead her case in person. For she was
a woman of surpassing beauty, and at that time, when she was in the prime of her youth, she was
most striking; she also possessed a most charming voice and a knowledge of how to make herself
agreeable to every one. Being brilliant to look upon and to listen to, with the power to subjugate
every one, even a love-sated man already past his prime, she thought that it would be in keeping
with her rôle to meet Caesar, and she reposed in her beauty all her claims to the throne. She asked
therefore for admission to his presence, and on obtaining permission adorned and beautified herself
so as to appear before him in the most majestic and at the same time pity-inspiring guise. When she
had perfected her schemes she entered the city (for she had been living outside of it), and by night
without Ptolemy's knowledge went into the palace.
35. Caesar, upon seeing her and hearing her speak a few words was forthwith so completely
captivated that he at once, before dawn, sent for Ptolemy and tried to reconcile them, thus acting as
advocate for the very woman whose judge he had previously assumed to be. For this reason, and
because the sight of his sister within the palace was so unexpected, the boy was filled with wrath and
rushed out among the people crying out that he was being betrayed, and at last he tore the diadem
from his head and cast it away. In the great tumult which thereupon arose Caesar's troops seized the
person of the prince and the Egyptian populace continued to be in an uproar. They assaulted the
palace by land and sea at the same time and might have taken it without a blow, since the Romans
had no adequate force present, owing to the apparent friendship of the natives; but Caesar in alarm
came out before them, and standing in a safe place, promised to do for them whatever they wished.
Afterward he entered an assembly of theirs, and producing Ptolemy and Cleopatra, read their father's
will, in which it was directed that they should live together according to the custom of the Egyptians
and rule in common, and that the Roman people should exercise a guardianship over them. When he
had done this and had added that it belonged to him as dictator, holding all the power of the people,
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to have an oversight of the children and to fulfill their father's wishes, he bestowed the kingdom
upon them both and granted Cyprus to Arsinoë and Ptolemy the Younger [Ptolemy XIII], a sister and
a brother of theirs.
Civil war ensued in Egypt, as both Cleopatra’s brother and sister competed for the kingdom and she was forced
into exile ca. mid-year of 48 BCE. By August, Ptolemy has drowned in the Nile and Caesar has restored
Cleopatra to the throne of Egypt, which she will rule until her death in 30 BCE.
44. In this way Caesar overcame Egypt. He did not, however, make it subject to the Romans, but
bestowed it upon Cleopatra, for whose sake he had waged the conflict. Yet, being afraid that the
Egyptians might rebel again, because they were delivered over to a woman to rule, and that the
Romans might be angry, both on this account and because he was living with the woman, he
commanded her to "marry" her other brother [Ptolemy XIV], and gave the kingdom to both of them,
at least nominally. For in reality Cleopatra was to hold all the power alone, since her husband was
still a boy, and in view of Caesar's favour there was nothing that she could not do. Hence her living
with her brother and sharing the rule with him was a mere pretence which she accepted, whereas in
truth she ruled alone and spent her time in Caesar's company. 45. She would have detained him even
longer in Egypt or else would have set out with him at once for Rome, had not Pharnaces not only
drawn Caesar away from Egypt, very much against his will, but also hindered him from hurrying to
Italy.
Plutarch Julius Caesar 48.5-49
48.5 As for the war in Egypt, some say that it was not necessary, but due to Caesar's passion for
Cleopatra, and that it was inglorious and full of peril for him …. 49. So Cleopatra, taking only
Apollodorus the Sicilian from among her friends, embarked in a little skiff and landed at the palace
when it was already getting dark; and as it was impossible to escape notice otherwise, she stretched
herself at full length inside a bed-sack, while Apollodorus tied the bed-sack up with a cord and
carried it indoors to Caesar. It was by this device of Cleopatra's, it is said, that Caesar was first
captivated, for she showed herself to be a bold coquette, and succumbing to the charm of further
intercourse with her, he reconciled her to her brother on the basis of a joint share with him in the
royal power.
Suetonius Julius Caesar 52
He had love affairs with queens too … but above all with Cleopatra, with whom he often feasted
until daybreak, and he would have gone through Egypt with her in her state-barge almost to
Aethiopia, had not his soldiers refused to follow him. Finally he called her to Rome and did not let
her leave until he had ladened her with high honours and rich gifts, and he allowed her to give his
name to the child which she bore. In fact, according to certain Greek writers, this child was very like
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Caesar in looks and carriage. Mark Antony declared to the senate that Caesar had really
acknowledged the boy, and that Gaius Matius, Gaius Oppius, and other friends of Caesar knew this.
Dio Cassius 53.27
But he incurred the greatest censure from all because of his passion for Cleopatra — not now the
passion he had displayed in Egypt (for that was a matter of hearsay), but that which was displayed in
Rome itself. For she had come to the city with her husband and settled in Caesar's own house [in 46
BCE], so that he too derived an ill repute on account of both of them. He was not at all concerned,
however, about this, but actually enrolled them among the friends and allies of the Roman people.
Cicero Letter to Atticus 15.15 (June 13, 44 BCE)
I can't stand the Queen: and the voucher for her promises, Hammonius, knows that I have good
cause for saying so. What she promised, indeed, were all things of the learned sort and suitable to my
character - such as I could avow even in a public meeting …. The Queen's insolence, too, when she
was living in Caesar's trans-Tiberine villa, I cannot recall without a pang. I won't have anything to do
therefore with that lot.
Plutarch Mark Antony 27
For her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those
who saw her; but converse with her had an irresistible charm, and her presence, combined with the
persuasiveness of her discourse and the character which was somehow diffused about her behaviour
towards others, had something stimulating about it. There was sweetness also in the tones of her
voice; and her tongue, like an instrument of many strings, she could readily turn to whatever
language she pleased.
Dio Cassius 42.34
For she was a woman of surpassing beauty, and at that time, when she was in the prime of her youth,
she was most striking; she also possessed a most charming voice and a knowledge of how to make
herself agreeable to every one. Being brilliant to look upon and to listen to, with the power to
subjugate every one, even a love-sated man already past his prime, she thought that it would be in
keeping with her rôle to meet Caesar, and she reposed in her beauty all her claims to the throne. She
asked therefore for admission to his presence, and on obtaining permission adorned and beautified
herself so as to appear before him in the most majestic and at the same time pity-inspiring guise.
When she had perfected her schemes she entered the city (for she had been living outside of it), and
by night without Ptolemy's knowledge went into the palace.
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Sources for Cleopatra and Antony
Plutarch, Life of Mark Antony 25.5-28.1, 29
25.5 [Caesar and Pompey knew Cleopatra when she was] still a girl, and ignorant of the world, but it
was a different matter in the case of Antony, because she was ready to meet him when she had
reached the time of life when women are most beautiful and have full understanding. So she
prepared for him many gifts and money and adornment, of a magnitude appropriate to her great
wealth and prosperous kingdom, but she put most of her hopes in her own personal magical arts and
charms.
26. Although she had received many letters from Antony and his friends asking her to come to meet
him [in Cilicia], she took his summons so lightly and laughed at it, that she sailed up the Cydnus
river in a barge with a gilded stern, with purple sails outstretched, pulled by silver oars in time to
piping accompanied by fifes and lyres. She herself lay under a gold-embroidered awning, got up like
Aphrodite in a painting, with slaves dressed as Erotes fanning her on either side. Likewise the
prettiest slave-women, dressed like Nereids and Graces, were at the tillers and the ropes. Remarkable
perfumes from many censers surrounded them. People followed after Cleopatra on both sides of the
river, and others came downstream from the city to see the sight. When finally the entire crowd in the
marketplace had disappeared, Antony was left sitting on the tribunal by himself, and word got round
that Aphrodite was leading a festival procession to Dionysus for the benefit of Asia.
Antony sent messengers inviting her to dinner. She insisted instead that he come to her. Because he
wished to show his readiness to accept her invitation and his friendship, he obeyed her summons and
came. The preparations she had made for him were indescribable, and he was particularly struck by
the number of lights. Many are said to have been lowered and lit up at the same time, ordered and
arranged in such intricate relationships with one another, and patterns, some in squares, some in
circles, so that it was a sight among the most noteworthy and beautiful.
27. The next day he invited her in return, and he considered it a matter of honour to exceed the
magnificence and care of her entertainment, but when he was outdone and vanquished by her in both
respects, he was the first to make fun of himself for his bombast and rusticity. Cleopatra saw the
soldierly and common nature of Antony's jokes, and she used the same soldier's humour towards
him in a relaxed and confident manner. For (as they say) it was not because her beauty in itself was so
striking that it stunned the onlooker, but the inescapable impression produced by daily contact with
her: the attractiveness in the persuasiveness of her talk, and the character that surrounded her
conversation was stimulating. It was a pleasure to hear the sound of her voice, and she tuned her
tongue like a many-stringed instrument expertly to whatever language she chose, and only used
interpreters to talk to a few foreigners; usually she gave responses by herself, as in the case of
Ethiopians, Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabs, Syrians, Medes, Parthians, and she is said to have learned
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the languages of many other peoples, although her predecessors on the throne did not bother to learn
Egyptian, and some had even forgotten how to speak the Macedonian dialect.
28. She took such hold over Antony, that while his wife Fulvia was carrying on the war in Rome
against Octavian on his behalf, and the Parthian army had been gathered in Mesopotamia (the
general of that Army, Labienus was now being addressed by the generals of the King of Persia as
Commander of the Parthians) and was about to invade Syria, Antony was carried off by Cleopatra to
Alexandria, and amused himself there with the pastimes of a boy on holiday and games, and spent
and luxuriated away that (as Antiphon says) most precious of commodities, time ...
29. Cleopatra used not (as Plato says) the four kinds of flattery [sophistic, rhetoric, pastry-cooking,
and cosmetics], but many, and whether Antony were in a serious or playful mood she could always
produce some new pleasure or charm, and she kept watch over him and neither by day or night let
him out of her sight. She played dice with him and hunted with him and watched him exercising
with his weapons, and she roam around and wander about with him at night when he stood at
people's doors and windows and made fun of the people inside, dressed in a slave-woman's outfit;
for he also attempted to dress up like a slave.
He returned from these expeditions having been mocked in return, and often beaten, although most
people suspected who he was. But the Alexandrians got pleasure from his irreverence and
accompanied it with good timing and good taste, enjoying his humour and saying that he showed his
tragic face to the Romans and his comic one to them.
Although it would be a waste of time to catalogue all of his amusements, one time he went fishing
and had the misfortune not to catch anything while Cleopatra was present. So he ordered the
fisherman secretly to dive underneath and attach fish that had already been caught to his hooks, but
Cleopatra was not fooled after she saw him pull up two or three. She pretended to be amazed and
told her friends and invited them come as observers on the next day. After a large audience had
gathered on the fishing boats and Antony had lowered his line, Cleopatra told one of her slaves to get
in ahead of the others and attach a salted fish from the Black Sea to his hook. When Antony thought
he had caught something he pulled it up, and when (as might be expected) loud laughter followed,
she said 'General, leave the fishing rod to us, the rulers of the Pharos and Canopus; your game is
cities and kingdoms and countries'.
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Sources for Cleopatra: Augustan Age Poets
Vergil Aeneid 8.677-730: The Shield of Aeneas
For the shield's central glory could be seen
great fleets of brazen galleys, and the fight
at Actium; where, ablaze with war's array,
Leucate's peak glowed o'er the golden tide.
Caesar Augustus led Italia's sons
to battle: at his side concordant moved
Senate and Roman People, with their gods
of hearth and home, and all Olympian Powers.
Uplifted on his ship he stands; his brows
beneath a double glory smile, and bright
over his forehead beams the Julian star.
in neighboring region great Agrippa leads,
by favor of fair winds and friendly Heaven,
his squadron forth: upon his brows he wears
the peerless emblem of his rostral crown.
Opposing, in barbaric splendor shine
the arms of Antony: in victor's garb
from nations in the land of morn he rides,
and from the Red Sea, bringing in his train
Egypt and Syria, utmost Bactria's horde,
and last—O shameless!—his Egyptian spouse.
All to the fight make haste; the slanted oars
and triple beaks of brass uptear the waves
to angry foam, as to the deep they speed
like hills on hill-tops hurled, or Cyclades
drifting and clashing in the sea: so vast
that shock of castled ships and mighty men!
Swift, arrowy steel and balls of blazing tow
rain o'er the waters, till the sea-god's world
flows red with slaughter. In the midst, the
Queen, sounding her native timbrel, wildly calls
her minions to the fight, nor yet can see
two fatal asps behind. Her monster-gods,
barking Anubis, and his mongrel crew,
on Neptune, Venus, and Minerva fling
their impious arms; the face of angry Mars,
carved out of iron, in the centre frowns,
grim Furies fill the air; Discordia strides
in rent robe, mad with joy; and at her side,
Bellona waves her sanguinary scourge.
There Actian Apollo watched the war,
and o'er it stretched his bow; which when they
knew, Egyptian, Arab, and swart Indian slave,
and all the sons of Saba fled away
in terror of his arm. The vanquished Queen
made prayer to all the winds, and more and
more flung out the swelling sail: on wind-swept
wave she fled through dead and dying; her
white brow the Lord of Fire had cunningly
portrayed blanched with approaching doom.
Beyond her lay the large-limbed picture of the
mournful Nile, who from his bosom spread his
garments wide, and offered refuge in his
sheltering streams and broad, blue breast, to all
her fallen power.
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Horace Odes 1.37
To drinking now, now all to the nimble foot
that beats the earth, now friends, now at last it's time
to heap the festive couches deep with
Salian feasts for the gods' enjoyment.
Before this day, to break out the Caecuban
from our ancestral cellars had been a crime,
while that demented queen was working
havoc to Capitol, death to Empire
with her polluted mob of retainers whom
disease alone made men-unrestrained in all
her impotence of fancied power and
drunk on sweet fortune. But seeing scarcely
a single ship come out of the flames intact
subdued her rage, and Caesar [Augustus] impelled a mind
distraught on Mareotic wine to
tangible terrors, pursuing closely
by oar her flight from Italy, even as
the hawk a gentle dove or the hunter, swift
in chase, a hare across the plains of
snow-mantled Thessaly, keen to put chains
around a monster laden with doom: one who,
intent to die more nobly, had nothing of
a woman's fear before the sword nor
fled by swift fleet to a secret border,
audacious still to gaze on her humbled court
with tranquil face, and valiant enough to take
the scaly asps in hand, that she might
drink with her body their deadly venom,
ferocious all the more in her studied death;
she was indeed-disdaining to let the fierce
Liburnian ships lead her dethroned to
arrogant triumph--no humble woman.
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Horace Epode 9.11-17
Alas, (how they will deny it in times to come!)
that Romans could bear arms and war equipment,
enslaved to a woman! or that soldiers could be
commanded by wrinkled eunuchs!
And among the standards of the army,
the sun spies a shameful sight, a canopied couch.
At this, a legion of Gallic cavalry, grumbling
[in disgust], deserts [Antony and Cleopatra],
singing the praises of Caesar [Augustus].
Propertius Elegy 3.11.29-32; 39-41; 47-49
What of her who recently affixed
disgrace upon our arms, a woman who
"rubbed it" among her own slaves,
and who has demanded as the price
of her filthy union that the walls of
Rome and the senate be added to her rule?
Indeed, the whore queen of sinful Canopus,
the one blot on Phillip’s family line,
dared to oppose a barking Anubis
against our Jupiter …
What good is it to have broken
the axes of Tarquin *the Etruscan kings of Rome, overthrown in 509 BCE+ …
if a woman must be now be suffered?
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