Cleopatra: A Sphinx RevisitedMargaret Melanie Miles Cleopatra—a brave, astute, and charming woman who spoke many languages, entertained lavishly, hunted, went into battle, eliminated siblings to consolidate her power, and held off the threat of Imperial Rome to protect her country as long as she could—continues to fascinate centuries after she ruled Egypt. These wide-ranging essays explore such topics as Cleopatra’s controversial trip to Rome, her suicide by snake bite, and the afterlife of her love potions. They view Cleopatra from the Egyptian perspective, and examine the reception in Rome of Egyptian culture, especially of its religion and architecture. They discuss films about her, and consider what inspired Egyptomania in early modern art. Together, these essays illuminate Cleopatra’s legacy and illustrate how it has been used and reused through the centuries. |
Contents
Cleopatra Queen of Egypt 21 | 21 |
Facts and Fantasies | 37 |
Cleopatra Isis and the Formation of Augustan Rome | 78 |
The Amazing Afterlife of Cleopatras Love Potions | 132 |
The Last of the Ptolemies and the Egyptian | 150 |
Cleomania in Mass Culture | 172 |
Every Mans Cleopatra | 195 |
Epilogue | 208 |
Contributors | 233 |
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Actium Alexander Alexandria Ancient Egypt Annius antiquity Antony and Cleopatra Apis Apollo Archaeology Arsinoe Arsinoe II artists Ashton Augustan Augustus authors Belvedere Borgia British Caesarion Cambridge century Cicero Cinema Classical Cleopatra VII cult cultural Dio Cassius dynastic early Egyptian queen Egyptomania Elizabeth Taylor female film goddess Goldast Greek Hellenistic hieroglyphs History Hollywood Hughes-Hallett humanist imagery Imperial inscriptions inspired Isis Iulius Iversen Julius Caesar Laocoön later Latin letters literary London Marc Antony Memphis modern monuments Museum myth Nile obelisk Octavian Orientalism Osiris paintings pharaoh Photo Plutarch poem political pope popular portrait Priapeia Ptolemaic queens Ptolemaic Royal Ptolemy Ptolemy XIII regina Renaissance representations role Roma Roman Rome Rome’s Royal Sculpture ruler Sarapis scene Schoppe sexual Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema snakes Soranus star statue story suicide Swanson symbols temple Theda Theda Bara tion tradition uraeus Vatican Victorian Viterbo woman women Wyke York καὶ