Facts about the life and death of Cleopatra that sound like fiction and resemble a plot for a movie

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Warriors, poets, enemies, rivals and friends, contemporaries and descendants, great empires and Hollywood film studios - all of them, as a rule, fell at the feet of the unsurpassed Egyptian queen. Sly, wise and dangerous Cleopatra to this day is a vivid example of how female beauty, deceit and intelligence can not only save the world, but also destroy it, leaving after an indelible mark in history, and thereby forcing researchers to fight in eternal guesses how the last ruler of Egypt died and where in fact is her tomb.

1. Sly, wise and clever

In 31 BC, a year before her death, Cleopatra watched as the combined navies of Egypt and Mark Antony were destroyed by Augustus' forces at the Battle of Actium. This event played an important role in the life of the Egyptian queen, who was as cunning as she was smart.

Antony and Augustus fought on the approaches to Alexandria, but Antony's army could not match the army of his enemy. Anthony's men, knowing that they were doomed, left him and joined the enemy. Antony had no choice but to surrender.

When the news of this reached Cleopatra, she fled to her temple, where she decided to fake her death by sending a note to Antony.

Some historians believe that Cleopatra was secretly negotiating with Augustus, and she knew that Antony was doomed no matter what. Whatever her motives, when the letter about Cleopatra's death reached Antony, he was devastated. According to the Greek historian Plutarch, Antony said these words:

… Antony then stabbed himself in the stomach with his own sword.

2. Death of Mark Antony

The self-inflicted wound did not end Antony's life. When the news of his condition reached Cleopatra, she ordered her wounded lover to be brought to the temple. Antony soon gave up his ghost in the arms of the queen of Egypt.

According to one version, after the death of Antony, Cleopatra tried in every possible way to gain the favor of Augustus. But as you know, the future Roman emperor wanted only one thing - to get the wealth of Cleopatra, which was in her temple. And he was ready for anything to carry out his plan.

3. Obsession with experiences

Almost two weeks passed between the deaths of Antony and Cleopatra. According to one version, Mark's body was embalmed, according to another - he was cremated in accordance with Egyptian customs. This funeral ritual gave Cleopatra a sense of foreboding and horror, and she literally became obsessed with the fact that a similar fate awaited her.

4-5. Death

Museums around the world are full of paintings of scantily clad Cleopatra clutching a venomous snake. As the story goes, the ruler lured a cobra or viper into her room, which immediately bit her. A venomous snake bite abruptly ended the life of the thirty-nine-year-old queen.

But until now, no one knows exactly how and when Cleopatra actually died. August made it clear to her that the only way out was to return with him to Rome, where she would be paraded as a prisoner. It is clear that this powerful female ruler would rather commit suicide than be subjected to such ridicule. Many historians believe that Cleopatra either poisoned herself or was killed by Augustus. One hundred years after her death, Plutarch suggested in his published annals that Augustus specifically invented the story of the snakebite as a propaganda tool to strengthen his power in Rome. And many modern scientists are also inclined towards this version.

Cleopatra's two closest maidservants remained with her until the end. In numerous chronicles and works of art, women surround the lifeless body of their queen, finding themselves in the same position as Cleopatra.

Most of the portraits show three pale women in Cleopatra's temple, surrounded by the remains of her wealth. And if you believe this version, then one poisonous snake could not be responsible for the death of three women at once. Most likely, all three took poison voluntarily or were simply poisoned. Therefore, there is still no exact explanation for what happened.

6. Rivalry and disagreement

Before the Battle of Actium, Augustus and Antony vied for control of Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. The two generals essentially divided the growing Roman Empire among themselves, and Cleopatra sided with Antony. When the romance between Cleopatra and Antony blossomed, Antony neglected his wife in Rome - Octavia, the sister of Augustus.

Then the cunning Augustus decided to use the novel of Mark and Cleopatra against them. Once Antony officially divorced Octavia, Augustus used his power to declare war on Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, in 32 BC. This step was strategic for him and helped to consolidate power.

7-8. Children of Cleopatra

Antony was not the first Roman general Cleopatra fell in love with. In 47 BC, she gave birth to a son named Caesarion, whose father was allegedly Julius Caesar. After Caesar was killed by Roman senators, Cleopatra cohabited with Antony, with whom she had three children: one girl and two boys. When Cleopatra lost the Battle of Actium, she hurriedly sent Caesarion to India, but unfortunately the seventeen-year-old was caught and killed.

Cleopatra and Antony had two sons and one daughter. After the death of their parents, the children were sent to Rome and placed in the care of Octavia, Antony's ex-wife. Cleopatra's daughter Selena, apparently, continued to live life to the fullest. The boys, Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus, eventually disappeared without a trace. What actually happened to the young people still remains a mystery.

9. The fall of the Ptolemaic dynasty

Although she held the title of Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra was not ethnically North African. Her royal family consisted entirely of Macedonian Greeks (the Ptolemaic dynasty), who controlled Egypt for nearly three hundred years. The first ruler, Ptolemy I Soter, came to power after the death of Alexander the Great, reigning as an Egyptian pharaoh and a Greek monarch.

The Ptolemies, as they came to be called, isolated themselves in their capital, Alexandria, and married in a family line to maintain their Greek ancestry.

The kingdom collapsed when Cleopatra died, and what was left of it was eventually absorbed by the Roman Empire.

10. She was buried next to her lover

Having fulfilled the last will of Cleopatra, Augustus buried the deceased queen next to Antony in a large tomb somewhere in the vicinity of Alexandria. As if in some Shakespearean play, the two lovers are reunited in their last peace. This story was confirmed by Plutarch, who wrote that Augustus announced that Cleopatra's body should be buried along with Antony's in a magnificent and regal manner.

But it still remains a mystery, where is the legendary tomb in which the remains of Cleopatra and Antony lie? One of the recent theories says, that her tomb is thirty miles from Alexandria in the ancient temple of Taposiris the Great … Scientists have looked for clues throughout and around Alexandria, but they have not been able to find anything really. Therefore, the hunt for the Egyptian queen and her Roman lover continues to this day.