 |
Readers may remember my not-so-secret passion is classical history so you can imagine my excitement over the news at CNN. Ancient texts and artifacts are telling us ever more about the woman at the center of Roman and Egyptian history whose influence and beauty has been debated for centuries:
Plutarch wrote in his “Life of Antony” that “for her beauty was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her.” In other words, she was plain. Plutarch goes on to write, however, that she was intelligent, charming and has “sweetness in the tones of her voice.”
Today Kathleen Martinez, a young archaeologist from the Dominican Republic, is passionate to learn the truth about a woman she describes as ‘way ahead of her time.’
The last queen of Ancient Egypt, she told me, “spoke nine languages, she was a philosopher, she was a poet, she was a politician, she was a goddess, and she was a warrior.”
Why the renewed media fervor? It’s reported that Martinez’s team may be close to finding the long-lost tomb of Antony and Cleopatra. You can bet I’ll be following this story with great interest when excavation begins…
April 21st, 2009 at 10:44 am
The movie was fabulous. But wasn’t there some recent archeological evidence based on coins which hinted that Antony and Cleopatra might have been uglier than portrayed in contemporary works? However, I will only say what Cacofonix The Bard said about her…”What a nose, what a nose…”
April 21st, 2009 at 11:14 am
Cleopatra has certainly attracted a great deal of mythology. I am struck by the fact that she was able to become the ruler of Egypt, something quite remarkable in light of the anti-feminist attitudes of her Greek forebears (although not so strange for Egyptians). Certainly she excited the imagination of the Romans because it was so unusual for a woman to have political power. I am dubious, however, that there was a lot of romance or sexual attraction in their relationship. Antony needed the legitimacy and money that Cleopatra could provide, and Cleopatra needed a Roman protector for her throne. The Romans were, after all, an especially unromantic culture. Off the top of my head, I cannot recall a single great romantic couple in all of Roman history or lore (although they inherited some from the Greeks). The Romans were just as serious about sex as anybody else, but they weren’t very big on romance.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:20 am
Look back at some of Pompey’s marriages.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Caligula and Drusilla…
April 21st, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Caligula and Drusilla?!?!?! I don’t think that would qualify as romance, not in, shall we say, a Jane Austen sense. My main point here is that, while romantic relationships surely existed, they weren’t important to the culture; they were not celebrated for their undying love. Most cultures have tales of glorious lovers who always, it seems, are denied their love. But the Romans weren’t so taken by such tales; they preferred tales of power and conquest. It’s an interesting insight into their culture.
April 21st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
@Ashutosh
Ewwww! Incest is never romantic.
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Sarcasm, people
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I bet Cleopatra was smokin’ hot. If they find the tomb, I want some one to make a Cleopatra clone for me. I’ll call her Clonopatra. If not…then I wouldn’t be opposed to boning her bones.
Man, I hope every one is smart enough to know that was a joke.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Incest is never romantic? One era’s perversions are another era’s normatives–or so Oedepus says.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Clonopatra – I actually laughed out loud
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Cleopatra as a warrior? Have we forgotten the Battle of Actium?
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:09 pm
It would be great to find some artefacts giving us some clue as to what she looked like (other than worn coins which vary in their portrayal anyway). I’m betting the tomb was robbed long ago though, but if they find a mummy that’s just swell.
I think the romance of Antony and Cleopatra is much hyped; so much said and written, so little actually known. The less we know the more we can imagine.
April 24th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Hard to believe after all these centuries we still care and debate the life, loves, and luminosity of this woman. Are there any in this past or present century that will fire the imaginations of our successors as intensely for the same kinds of “maybe” accomplishments? Indira Ghandi or Margaret Thatcher, or even Hillary R. Clinton? What will they say about them and their contributions to history and lore?
April 28th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
The Romans probably had the same views on women as the Athenians before them. As Pericles said, wives are there to run the household and bear legitimate children.
They left plenty of poetry that could be considered romantic, though, such as a poem mourning a girlfriend’s pet sparrow.
Some women are remembered for ever, like Helen of Troy a thousand years before the Romans. I wonder how beautiful she really was.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
I thought you might be interested in the following video which I hope you will consider embedding this video on your website:
http://heritage-key.com/blogs/sean-williams/digging-cleopatras-tomb-taposiris-magna
It is a video interview with Kathleen Martinez, a young archaeologist from the Dominican Republic, who has been excavating a site near Alexandria in the search for the tomb of Cleopatra. After being given permission to conduct a dig at the site for 2 months, Dr Martinez’s team have discovered two chambers which has won them the right to continue the dig into the next season. Describing the tomb that was discovered at Taposiris Magna, Dr Martinez remains confident that she will uncover the tomb of Cleopatra and Marc Anthony.