Page 74 - All About History - Issue 18-14

CLEOPATRA’SRUTHLESSRISETOPOWER

cities, Cleopatra’s popularity plummeted, and her presented with the head of his rival. However, in
repeated decisions that seemed designed to please mere moments Ptolemy’s advisors realised their
Rome at Egypt’s expense reminded the bitter mistake, for the Roman general was completely
population of her despised father. andutterlyappalled.Heweptloudlyandopenly
InthemiddleofthispoliticalturmoilCleopatra before leading his forces to the royal palace in
foundherselffacingafamiliarrival.Herbrother Alexandria. As he observed the local resentment
was back and, aided by his many guardians and and civil war threatening to break the land in
regents,wasnowaviciousandruthlesskingwho twohemadeadecision–heneededthewealth
was not afraid to wipe her from the land and from thatAlexandriantaxeswouldgivehimandthe
history. He completely erased his sister’s name only way of increasing taxes was to establish
from all official documents and backdated his stability in the city; the sibling rivalry had to end.
monarchy,claimingsolerulesincehisfather’s He summoned Cleopatra and Ptolemy to appear
death. With her popularity and reputation already before him.
in tatters, the disgraced queen fled from the city This was easy for Ptolemy who swiftly
of her birth before an angry mob could storm the journeyed to Alexandria, but Cleopatra would
FIVE MYTHS palace and inflict upon her the same have to use all her cunning just to make it
into the city alive. With the harbour
grisly fate as so many of her greedy
UNRAVELLED and ill-fated predecessors. blockedbyherbrother’sships,she
Having lost not only the slipped away from her troops
support of her people “With her skill, and travelled in a small
Shewassmuggledinarug but also the land she so boat along the coast in the
The image of a dishevelled and flushed strongly believed was hers drive and cunning dead of night. Her journey
Cleopatra being unrolled from a Persian to rule, Cleopatra escaped had been completely
rug at Caesar’s feet after being smuggled into the she was perfect for
palacecomesfromtheoverzealouspenofGreek to Syria with a small and utterly unfitting for
biographer Plutarch, but it’s difficult to prove this band of loyal supporters. rule, she deserved a pharaoh of Egypt, a
happened.ItseemsunlikelythatCaesar,oneof Fuelled by outrage at her Ptolemy queen; but victory
themostpowerfulmenintheworld,wouldhave brother,andevenmore Egypt, and she demanded sacrifice and she
welcomed a suspicious package into his room and
even if so, there’s no reason for her not to have soattheadvisorswhohad wasn’t going to was confident the streets and
emerged earlier and made a more elegant entrance. crafted him into a vicious share it” waters she was smuggled down
enemy, Cleopatra did not sink wouldsoonbehersagain.Ithad
She was a femme fatale
TheideathatCleopatraflitteredbetween into depression or abandon her beenachallengetomakeitintothe
powerful men, wooing and manipulating ambitions,butsetaboutbuildingthe palacedistrict,buttherealnight’swork
with no idea of who fathered her children, is army she would need to reclaim her throne. As wasabouttobegin–shewasabouttogofaceto
theresultofanancientsmearcampaignrun
againstherbyRomanofficials.Infactthere’s thefemalepharaohamassedherforcesinSyria, facewitharguablythemostpowerfulmaninthe
only evidence of her having been with two men – her young brother, barely 13 years old, became known world.
Caesar and Mark Antony. distracted by the ever-pressing Roman civil war. Herbrotherwouldbendoverbackwards,slay
After a humiliating defeat to Caesar in Pharsalus, Caesar’senemiesandkisshisfeetforhissupport,
She was Egyptian
OneofthemostfamousEgyptian the Roman military leader Pompey the Great fled buthewasquicktopanic,eagertopleaseand
pharaohs of all time wasn’t Egyptian at all totheoneplacehewasassuredhecouldfind terrified of angering Rome. Her brother was a
– she was Greek. Her family line is that of Ptolemy, refuge;hisoldally,Egypt. fool.CaesarneededEgyptasmuchasEgypt
oneofthegeneralsofAlexandertheGreat,and
despite her family living in Egypt for over 300 With his wife and children watching nervously needed Rome and she would use that fact to her
years, she would have been regarded as Greek. from afar Pompey disembarked his grand ship advantage.Shewouldnotwaittobowandscrape
Cleopatra was actually rare in that she could speak to board a small fishing boat to the shore. The andpleadhercasealongsideachild,shewas
Egyptian,unlikemanyofherpredecessors.
Egyptianboypharaoh,Ptolemy,satontheshore going to speak to the Roman general that night.
Sheworeafakebeard in a throne fashioned specifically for the occasion. Shesneakedintothepalaceandfoundherway
The concept of female Egyptian queens He watched Pompey closely, his face guarded and into Caesar’s private chamber.
sporting fake beards comes from the unreadable,butthemenaroundhimthrewtheir
EgyptianbeliefthatthegodOsirishadagrand
beard, prompting Egyptian pharaohs to do the arms open and, with wide smiles, cried, “Hail,
sametoestablishthemselvesasdivinebeings.But commander!”Itwasnotuntiltheshipreachedthe
bythetimeofCleopatrathistraditionhadallbut shore that Pompey realised the murderous web in
died out, and there’s no record of her donning a
fake beard. In fact, the only female pharaoh known which he was entangled. Before he could cry out
to have worn one is Hatshepsut. hewasranthroughwithaswordandstabbedover
andoveragainintheback.Whiletheonce-great
She died from an asp bite consul was decapitated and his mutilated
Thismythhasgainedmomentumdueto
paintings of Cleopatra holding a snake corpse thrown into the sea, Ptolemy
to her bosom as she passes away. However, the did not even rise from his throne.
accounts of this event are in some doubt, mainly The entire ceremony had been
becauseanaspwillnotcauseaquickdeathas
Cleopatra’swasreportedtobe.Itismorelikely aruse;arivalofCaesar’s
shedrankacombinationofpoisons.Theideathat was more valuable dead
theaspbitherbreastiscertainlyincorrect,asall than alive.
ancientsourcesstateitbitheronthearm.
When Caesar
arrived in the harbour
of Alexandria four
days later, he was

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