Cleopatra VII.

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Name of Cleopatra VII.
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Cleopatra VII Philopator ( Greek Κλεοπάτρα Θεά Φιλοπάτωρ ; * 69 BC in Alexandria ; † August 12, 30 BC there) ruled as the last queen of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic Empire and at the same time as the last female pharaoh of Egypt from 51 BC. Until 30 BC BC. Cleopatra is not Egyptian, but a Macedonian name. For the first four years she ruled together with her brother Ptolemy XIII., the 47 BC Died at the age of 14 years, later with other male co-rulers, since Rome's legal regulations provided for a double occupation of the throne under the guarantee of Rome .

She wanted to consolidate and expand her empire, but could not achieve this goal against the world power Rome. Therefore, she won the two most powerful Romans of her time, first Gaius Julius Caesar and, after his murder, Marcus Antonius , as lovers, and with their help she was able to significantly improve the power of the Ptolemaic Empire for some time. Antony's defeat by the later Emperor Augustus meant the end of their rule. Cleopatra and Antony committed suicide and Egypt became the Roman province of Aegyptus .

The love drama of Antony and Cleopatra, the relationship between the Egyptian queen and Caesar and the mysterious circumstances of her death have stimulated human imagination since ancient times and inspired numerous important writers, composers, painters and, since the 20th century, film producers. The tragedy Antonius and Cleopatra (around 1606/07) by William Shakespeare is considered to be the main literary work on this subject .

Life

ancestry

Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysus, father of Cleopatra VII. Marble bust; Louvre , Paris

Cleopatra is not an Egyptian, but a Macedonian name: through her father Ptolemy XII. Neos Dionysus († 51 BC) descended from Cleopatra VII in a straight line of the old Macedonian nobility; her ancestor Ptolemy I was an officer of Alexander the Great . Your year of birth - 69 BC - is derived from Plutarch's statement that she died at the age of 39. She was one of five children of Ptolemy XII. His oldest child was Berenike IV. , Who lived from 58 to 55 BC. Ruled as Ptolemaic queen. Then came Cleopatra and, as the third daughter, Arsinoë IV. , Who lived between 68 and 65 BC. Came into the world. The last children were the future husbands and co-regents of Cleopatra, Ptolemy XIII. and Ptolemy XIV , the 61 and 59 BC Were born in BC.

The sources do not mention the mother of Cleopatra VII. According to recent research, the wife of Ptolemy XII, Cleopatra VI. Tryphaina , excrete. Since it was not until 69 BC. Was rejected, she could have been the mother of Cleopatra VII, but according to Strabo only the eldest of the three daughters of Ptolemy XII. (i.e. Berenike IV.) a child from a legitimate relationship. Therefore Cleopatra and her younger siblings are likely to have come from a second marriage of their father, for which there is no evidence and which would have been considered illegitimate by the Greeks. The second wife of Neos Dionysus is assumed to be a noble Egyptian, possibly a member of the high priestly family from Memphis . Then it would also be understandable that Cleopatra VII, according to a claim by Plutarch, in contrast to the earlier Ptolemies, mastered the Egyptian language . In this case, she would have been of Macedonian and Egyptian origins.

Childhood and adolescence

Little information is available about Cleopatra's youth. She was born in Alexandria and should have had a good upbringing. This is supported by the inclinations of her father, who, despite many vices, was very interested in culture and music. He brought scientists and philosophers to his court and discussed with them. Therefore, he will have provided his children with a proper education. Plutarch reports that, in addition to Egyptian , Cleopatra also mastered Ethiopian , the language of the troglodytes , Hebrew , Arabic , Syriac , Median , Parthian and other languages. Her mother tongue, like that of the entire Ptolemaic ruling class, was Greek . She is said to have been the first of her family to speak Egyptian during their 300-year rule over Egypt . This was not to be taken for granted, since the Ptolemaic dynasty was of Macedonian origin.

In terms of power politics, Egypt was heavily dependent on Rome at the time. Hence Ptolemy XII went, when he 58 BC. Was driven out of Alexandria by an uprising, to Rome in order to gain support for his re-establishment as ruler. It is uncertain whether Cleopatra accompanied her father to Rome or - like her siblings - stayed in Egypt. Perhaps she can be identified with that "eleven-year-old Libyan king's daughter" who lived around 58 BC. Had a tomb built for her deceased maid in Athens . Then she would have traveled to Rome with her father via Athens. In any case, she was not sure about the disempowerment of her father by Berenike IV and her mother Cleopatra VI. involved. Otherwise Ptolemy XII., Berenike IV. After his 55 BC. He had returned to Egypt executed with Roman military aid, Cleopatra was not intended to be his successor. That she had a good relationship with her father is also suggested by the nickname Philopator - "the father-lover" - chosen by her after she came to power.

As a Roman cavalry leader, Cleopatra's later lover, Mark Antony, contributed significantly to the forcible reinstatement of Ptolemy XII. and saw 15-year-old Cleopatra for the first time, who is said to have fascinated him even then. To finance his repatriation, Ptolemy XII. took out large loans, and especially his chief believer, Gaius Rabirius Postumus, who was promoted to finance minister, exploited Egypt to such an extent that he ultimately had to flee. The greedy and imperious behavior of the Romans would certainly not have left the precocious and proud Cleopatra untouched.

Ptolemy XII gave his four children still alive the title "New Sibling-Loving Gods" and probably appointed them in 52 BC. BC, shortly before his death, Cleopatra became co-regent . According to her father's will, after his death around March 51 BC, she climbed the mountain. Together with her younger brother Ptolemy XIII. the throne. After this last will, the siblings entered into a sibling marriage , which corresponded to Ptolemaic tradition.

The fight for the throne

Inner Ptolemaic power struggle

The bookish animal, divinely venerated by the Egyptians at Hermonthis (south of Thebes ), was at the beginning of 51 BC. Died; thereupon, according to an inscription in the Buchis sanctuary ( Bucheum ) in Hermonthis, on March 22, 51 BC. A new bull enthroned. The inscription was dated after an unnamed king and after a queen with the surname Thea Philopator . According to this testimony, Cleopatra was already ruling at that time and was personally present at the ritual journey of the new Buchis animal on the Nile to Hermonthis in the presence of the priests, while earlier Ptolemies probably only sent functionaries to this ceremony.

From the beginning Cleopatra must have tried to rule alone. She had witnessed the tough power struggles between her father and her older sister and, thanks to her education, had surely also gained insight into the practice of Ptolemaic politics and the consolidation of power, which extended to the murder of relatives. In any case, she always acted ruthlessly against her siblings in order to maintain her position as ruler. Apparently as soon as she ascended the throne, the 18-year-old Cleopatra took up the power struggle with three influential courtiers who defended the interests of her ten-year-old brother husband Ptolemy XIII. represented and acted as its guardian. The most powerful of these men was the minister and eunuch Potheinos , followed by Achillas , the troop commander, and the young king's rhetoric teacher, Theodotus of Chios . The strong-willed Cleopatra certainly did not want to accept Ptolemaic law, which gave every king of a community government priority over his co-regent and thus the one behind Ptolemy XIII. standing men would have given the real power in their hands.

Cleopatra's stele consecrated by Onnophris, now in the Louvre, Paris

From some documents it seems to be evident that Cleopatra initially prevailed and exercised sole rule for about 18 months. She put her first year of reign in documents - probably to signal dynastic continuity - equal to her father's 30th and hid his father's death for some time in order to consolidate her position, since in Rome it was not until the end of June 51 BC. The death of Ptolemy XII. got known. Beginning of July 51 BC The double dating in the documents disappears and Cleopatra is mentioned alone, without mentioning her brother. The Isis priest consecrated Onnophris, probably in Soknopaiu Nesos , on July 2nd, 51 BC. A stele for Cleopatra without mentioning her brother. Thus the young queen ruled even more independently of her male co-ruler than earlier Ptolemaic women had already practiced to an ever greater extent, and these women certainly served her as role models. This can also be seen in her coinage, on which - in contrast to previous queens - she only had her portrait and name depicted, but not her respective co-regent.

The first known government act of Cleopatra was directed against the Gabiniani , a "Roman" force consisting predominantly of Gauls and Germanic tribes, who protected Ptolemy XII. after its reinstatement was stationed in Egypt. These soldiers soon lost their relationship with Rome; some of them also married Egyptian women. On behalf of the Roman governor of Syria, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus , his two sons were supposed to be at the end of 51 BC. The Gabiniani lead as reinforcements for the fight against the feared Parthians from Egypt to Syria. The Gabiniani, however, did not feel like doing this dangerous mission and killed the sons of Bibulus. Immediately, on Cleopatra's orders, the murderers who were extradited to Bibulus were arrested. Cleopatra thus continued her father's Rome-friendly attitude, but made herself hated by the Gabiniani, as well as by Alexandrian circles who did not want good relations with Rome. To compensate for her unpopularity in the capital, the queen evidently sought to win the sympathy of the powerful priesthood, especially in Upper Egypt, for example by participating in the introduction of the beech animal.

Papyri shows that crop failures due to insufficient flooding of the Nile caused famine in Egypt. In addition, there were tax collections, which further fueled domestic political tensions. According to the decree of October 27, 50 BC. Grain buyers in Middle Egypt were only allowed to transport their goods to Alexandria; violators face the death penalty. Apparently there was a risk of famine and the resulting unrest in the capital. Since in the decree the king is named before his co-regent (and appears for the first time in a document from Cleopatra's reign), it was the guardians of Ptolemy XIII. at that time succeeded in ending Cleopatra's sole rule. Probably the connection of the Gabiniani to Ptolemy XIII. contributed. At the latest since June 49 BC. The king counted after his first year of reign and put it in front of the third of his sister, who was equated with it, in documents.

In spring or summer 49 BC Chr. Came Gnaeus Pompey , the son of the triumvir Pompey , to Egypt in military aid for the recently broken out civil war with Julius Caesar to demand. Since the triumvir Pompey was a guest and patron of Ptolemy XII. had been and also had a massive military presence in the east of the Roman Empire, the Ptolemaic court complied with his request and sent 50 warships and 500 Gabiniani. Plutarch forges a love affair with the young Pompey to Cleopatra at the time.

In late summer 49 BC Cleopatra was excluded from the government by the counselors of her brother husband (mainly by Potheinos). Because since about September 49 BC Were papyri only after Ptolemy XIII. dated, while Cleopatra is no longer mentioned. According to Malalas , she first withdrew from Alexandria to Upper Egypt in the Thebais , where she was later popular. In the autumn of 49 BC Recognized that part of the Senate that supported Pompey and met in Thessalonike , Ptolemy XIII. as the Egyptian king, but apparently not Cleopatra as she is not named. With this, Pompey, under the pressure of his situation, confirmed the balance of power in Egypt and Cleopatra had to leave her country soon afterwards.

Caesar's Arrival and Alexandrian War

Bust of Gaius Iulius Caesar ( Altes Museum , Berlin )

To attempt to regain the throne, Cleopatra recruited Arab mercenaries in Palestine , including in the important city of Askalon , the 49-47 BC. BC issued coins with her image. Soon Ptolemy XIII. march with his advisors and the army, which also included the Gabiniani, to defend his rule near the Egyptian border post Pelusion , where he was in the summer of 48 BC. BC moved into a camp across from his sister's troops. Unexpectedly, however, Pompey Magnus appeared on the Egyptian coast at that time to ask for admission because of his good relations with the Ptolemies after his defeat by Caesar in the battle of Pharsalus . But the counselors of Ptolemy XIII. did not want Egypt to be drawn into the Roman civil war and not make Caesar an enemy. For tactical reasons they therefore had Pompey murdered.

Two days later, on July 27, 48 BC. BC (according to the Julian calendar), Caesar landed in Alexandria. He did not see the murder of Pompey as an attempt by Ptolemy to remain neutral, but rather as partisanship for himself, settled in the palace and behaved so imperiously that he aroused the displeasure of the Alexandrians. Caesar also demanded the payment of a large sum of money, allegedly an unpaid debt of the late Ptolemy XII. for his repatriation. He also wanted the Egyptian controversy for the throne according to the will of Ptolemy XII. mediate that the common rule of Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII. had placed under the protection of the Roman people. Caesar's demands came down to the fact that the warring siblings should dismiss their armies, come to Alexandria and accept his arbitration.

Potheinos traveled to Alexandria with his protégé, but left his army ready for action at Pelusion under the orders of Achillas. Cleopatra first negotiated with Caesar through messengers, but soon asked him to meet in person. In the end, only the intervention of the Roman general in her favor could help her to restore her previous position of power. Since her brother tried by all means to prevent her from entering Alexandria, according to Plutarch, Cleopatra is said to have traveled in a small boat to the vicinity of the royal palace of the capital and, as night fell, from her only companion, a Sicilian named Apollodorus , hidden in a bed sack in the palace to have Caesar carried. He was immediately impressed by this cunning and risky action.

After a short time, an affair between the two began. The young queen could hope that Caesar would emphatically defend her position in the Ptolemaic controversy for the throne. She won his support in her demand for her re-establishment as ruler of Egypt, according to Lucan, among other things by pointing out that as regent she would be much more obedient to his wishes than her brother's party. The greatest danger for him would come from Potheinos. For Caesar, domination of Egypt by a queen who was personally devoted to him certainly seemed tempting, since his relationship with the king's advisers was bad from the start. However, these knew the Alexandrians and the Egyptian army behind them.

When Ptolemy XIII. the day after Cleopatra's arrival met his sister at Caesar's, he angrily fled and called on the Alexandrians for help. But Caesar was apparently able to reconcile the two siblings and to get Cleopatra recognized as co-regent by referring to her father's will - undoubtedly a great success for the queen. Now Caesar, Cleopatra and their siblings as well as Potheinos lived in a tense situation in the palace. Cleopatra now seemed to hold all power in her hands with Caesar's support. Their opponents feared they would feel their revenge and lose all influence over the affairs of government. So Potheinos fueled the rejection of the Alexandrines against the Romans and secretly called Achillas and his troops to Alexandria, which were five times stronger than Caesar's armed forces. Certainly the aim of the military action was the elimination of the Roman ruler and his beloved.

Therefore, in the Alexandrian War that broke out, there was a battle of strength between the Roman legions and the Egyptian army commanded by Achillas . Because of his low troop strength, Caesar had to entrench himself with the royal family as hostages in the palace quarter, for the time being confined to its defense and waiting for relief. Arsinoe , Cleopatra's sister, fled to the army of Achillas, where she was able to achieve her recognition as queen. She quickly fell out with the Egyptian military leader, who was overthrown and killed. Potheinos had secretly supported Achillas in this dispute through messengers and was therefore executed by Caesar. Now Arsinoë's tutor Ganymedes took over the supreme command of the Ptolemaic Imperial Army and achieved some successes against the Romans. So Caesar had to endure more difficult battles, in which his life was at one point in danger. Then he dismissed for reasons disputed in the research at the request of the Alexandrians Ptolemaios XIII. to his army, which now commanded the Egyptian army. Soon afterwards Caesar was able to unite his army with the reinforcement troops of Mithridates of Pergamon , who had finally advanced to the vicinity of Alexandria . BC (Julian) the decisive battle against Ptolemy XIII. to win. The young king drowned in the Nile and many of his soldiers fell. Now Alexandria surrendered too.

Cleopatra becomes the undisputed pharaoh

Cleopatra could only wait and see during the war. The death of her brother and other powerful enemies, as well as her relationship with Caesar, now gave her a strong position. With the help of this friendship through the allied monarch, the dictator wanted to secure Egypt's resources personally and also not turn the rich country into a Roman province because he feared that a governor would have an ideal basis for a possible rebellion where his was Autonomy was by no means secured. Cleopatra remained queen. Because of their unpopularity with the Alexandrians, Caesar stationed three legions in Egypt to support them , but they were also supposed to control their allegiance to Rome. As the commander of these occupation forces, he appointed a loyal but ineffective and directly dependent officer named Rufio . Taking tradition into account, Caesar appointed the youngest, twelve-year-old brother of Cleopatra, Ptolemy XIV , as co-regent and probably also married both siblings. However, the entire power of government rested exclusively with Cleopatra, who continued to have only her portrait depicted on coins and was named before her brother in papyri dating. Arsinoë had to leave Egypt, on Caesar's triumphal procession in 46 BC. And was then allowed to go into exile to Ephesus . The Roman province of Cyprus , which was subordinate to her before the war , now fell to Cleopatra.

According to Suetonius and Appian, Caesar took Cleopatra on a pleasure trip by ship on the Nile as far as southern Egypt, but his army did not want to follow him that far. The majority of researchers accept this tradition and see Caesar's political intention to get to know the newly won land better, as well as a demonstration of the new balance of power vis-à-vis the Upper Egyptian residents. In contrast, the historians Manfred Clauss and Christoph Schäfer consider the trip to the Nile to be an invention, since the earliest surviving sources ( Alexandrian War , Lucan) do not report anything about it and after his long stay in Egypt, Caesar urgently had to fight in other theaters of war.

In the spring of 47 BC Caesar left Egypt, defeated Pharnakes II on May 20, 47 BC. (Julian) in a brief war with Zela in Asia Minor - where he sent his famous message of victory Veni, vidi, vici (“I came, saw, conquered”) to Rome - and won on February 7, 46 BC. BC (Julian) in North Africa the decisive battle at Thapsus against his newly formed Pompeian opponents.

Birth of Caesarion

Depiction of Cleopatra and Caesarion on the back of the Hathor temple in Dendera . As a small figure between the two Caesarion's father Gaius Iulius Caesar

Cleopatra was able to maintain her position of power under the protectorate of Caesar. Soon after Caesar's departure from Egypt - according to the testimony of a stele on June 23, 47 BC. - Cleopatra gave birth to a son whom she called Ptolemy Kaisar (Latin Ptolemaeus Caesar ), with which she proclaimed his descent from the Roman dictator. She probably left the political claims associated with this naming in the dark, but in any case emphasized clearly that her son was of Ptolemaic and Roman descent. This was formulated even more clearly by the nicknames Philopator and Philometor (father and mother lover) , which were later given to him . The Alexandrians called him Kaisarion (Latin Caesarion , meaning "little Caesar"). Most modern scholars regard Caesarion as the only biological son of Caesar, although some ancient and modern authors doubted his fatherhood. The Roman general recognized Caesarion as his son and never officially contradicted fatherhood. However, he did not appoint Caesarion as his heir, but made his great-nephew Gaius Octavius ​​(the later Emperor Augustus , who is usually referred to as Octavian before his elevation) his adoptive son and heir in his will. He did not marry Cleopatra either, as he was already married to the Roman Calpurnia and did not want to damage his reputation any further.

Cleopatra in Rome

Coin portrait of Cleopatra

In July 46 BC Caesar celebrated his great fourfold triumph in Rome (over Gaul, Egypt, Pontus and Mauritania), in which Arsinoe also had to appear and was pitied by the masses. Perhaps at Caesar's invitation, Cleopatra left in June 46 BC. BC Egypt and traveled to Rome with her brother Ptolemy XIV, a large retinue and most likely also with Caesarion. It is not known whether she was already present at Caesar's triumph and saw her sister's humiliation or only arrived in Rome afterwards. Officially, her state visit was the signing of an alliance between Egypt and Rome, but the Egyptian queen certainly hoped that her personal presence would be able to exert more influence on Caesar, who might also want his lover close by. The dictator quartered her and her companions in one of his houses on the other side of the Tiber .

In her domicile in Caesar's villa, Cleopatra seems to have established a brilliant and cultivated court. Obviously she organized luxurious garden parties and banquets, which were probably attended by numerous high-ranking Romans. Many of Caesar's opposition senators may have been irritated by the presence of the oriental potentate in Rome because she was condescending to them. Cicero's letters that have survived , in particular , show how unsympathetic and haughty the speaker - and with him many senators - found the Egyptian queen, whom he regarded as a presumptuous vassal ruler. He wrote these letters only after Cleopatra left Rome, when they no longer posed a threat. Presumably, many Roman politicians wanted to win the favor of Caesar's lover, who probably tried to get involved in world politics because of her influence on the dictator.

Caesar honored his lover in that it in the founded by him Temple of Venus Genetrix - the mythical ancestor of the newly built - the Julier Forum Traiani ( " Forum of Caesar had erected a golden statue with the trains Cleopatra"). This gesture was an unprecedented act that recognized the divinity of the foreign monarch as the incarnation of Isis (Roman Venus). In Egypt, the setting up of statues of queens in temples had long been a custom that Caesar had now also adopted in Rome. This deification of an Egyptian vassal queen was received with indignation by the Romans.

In Spain, Caesar led from November 46 to September 45 BC. Successful battles against the last remaining leaders of the Pompeians and there began a love affair with Eunoë , the attractive wife of King Bogud II of Mauritania (perhaps he had already maintained this relationship during his campaign in North Africa in 46 BC) . Since on the one hand, according to his biographer Suetonius, Caesar dismissed Cleopatra showered with splendid gifts, but on the other hand the presence of the Egyptian queen at Caesar's murder is clearly established on the basis of a few letters from Cicero. I stayed only briefly in Rome, then returned home and at a later date traveled again to see Caesar in the Eternal City. In any case, it was at the beginning of 44 BC. In Rome and Caesar resumed his relationship with her after his return from Spain. The public liaison, of course, got him talking. After all, he was married to Calpurnia while Cleopatra had traveled with her brother "husband". But the dictator ignored public opinion.

Egyptian and thus Cleopatra's influence moved Caesar to several projects. In 46 BC he led with the advice of the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes . The Julian calendar and planned the construction of canals as well as the construction of large public libraries in Rome for the collection of Greek and Roman literature under the direction of the scholar Marcus Terentius Varro .

Caesar strove more and more clearly for sole rule and was probably encouraged by Cleopatra. Under their influence, he increasingly acted like a Hellenistic ruler and then also shaped his religious policy, for example by having divine honors paid to himself. Cleopatra, who grew up in an absolute monarchy, had no understanding of the senators' claims to power, and Caesar also increasingly rejected the Roman tradition of a republican form of government - apparently also on the basis of autocratic ideas from the East. The Romans probably feared that Caesar was aiming to establish a kingdom based on the Hellenistic model, mixed with Roman elements, and wanted to found a new dynasty by marrying the Ptolemaic woman. Accordingly, rumors circulated that the capital would be relocated to Alexandria and the tribune Gaius Helvius Cinna allegedly claimed that Caesar wanted to pass a law apparently aimed at a marriage to Cleopatra that would have allowed him several legitimate marriages, including with women of non-Roman origin. The Egyptian queen is likely to have contributed to the aristocrats' growing dissatisfaction with the dictator, who therefore died on the Ides of March 44 BC. BC fell victim to the conspiracy of a group of senators around Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus .

With the death of Caesar, Cleopatra lost her position of power in the Roman Empire. She was not mentioned in the dictator's will, soon there was bitter fighting for his successor and the queen, as an object of hate for many senators, even had to fear for her own life. Cleopatra and her companions soon fled Rome and returned to the Nile.

Egypt during the Roman Civil War

Elimination of Ptolemy XIV and raising of Caesarion to co-regent

Ptolemy XIV returned to Egypt with Cleopatra, is stated in a document from Oxyrhynchus of July 26, 44 BC. Chr. Still mentioned, but died shortly afterwards. According to the statement by Cleopatra, who was mostly unquestioned by modern research, to the very negative Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus , the queen had poisoned her brother. Perhaps she wanted to consolidate her position, which is still controversial, and to prevent hostile Alexandrian circles of her brother like Ptolemy XIII. served as a central figure and legitimation to fight against them. Since, according to Egyptian tradition, a woman should always rule with a male co-regent , Cleopatra raised her three-year-old son Caesarion as Ptolemy XV. on the throne and gave him the nickname God Loving Father and Mother . By referring to his father, she confirmed claims connected with the name Caesar. In documents, however, she was still mentioned in front of her co-regent.

In the birth temple at Hermonthis, Cleopatra had Caesarion's birth depicted realistically and in accordance with Egyptian beliefs alongside that of Horus . In doing so, she identified her child with the son of Isis and Osiris and evidently drew parallels with Egyptian mythology , in which Horus was supposed to avenge the murder of his father and follow him as ruler. Apparently Cleopatra had intended the same task for her son. This later had to bring him into opposition to Octavian, who claimed to be the sole avenger and heir to Caesar. Furthermore, there is a colossal relief in the Hathor temple of Dendera , which depicts Caesarion together with his mother.

Measures against famine in Egypt

In Egypt, Cleopatra struggled with famine and epidemics like the plague. Occasional allegations that she did not clean silted irrigation channels and thereby contributed to the famine are rejected by most researchers, since the queen was able to provide provisions for the entire army in Antony's last war against Octavian. Rather, the cause is to be found in insufficient flooding of the Nile (attested for 43 and 42 BC - the cause was an eruption of the Okmok volcano ). When the grain from the royal granaries was distributed to the Alexandrines to alleviate hunger, the Jewish population of the capital was ignored with the claim that they had no citizenship. A decree of Cleopatra of April 13, 41 BC. BC - the last known decree of a Ptolemaic ruler - shows that the queen took care of agriculture. In the decree, she emphatically ordered the officials in the Gau to respect the privileges of the Alexandrians employed on agriculture outside the Egyptian metropolis and not to continue to illegally demand taxes from them. In Upper Egypt , in a period between 44 and 39 BC. The priests' resolution - the name of Cleopatra is only mentioned in the dating - awarded an important strategist of the Thebais named Callimachos with exceptionally high honors such as the erection of his statues because he helped the destroyed city of Thebes to rebuild and later decisive in overcoming an epidemic and famine had contributed. Apparently this strategist, who was relatively independent of the Alexandrian central government, acted independently for the benefit of the people of Thebes and was therefore regarded as the charitable “savior” (Soter) of the city instead of Cleopatra .

Foreign policy

While Cleopatra was stabilizing the internal situation of her country, she also had to watch the power struggles raging in the Roman Empire. The leading opponents of the Caesar murderers were Mark Antony and Octavian, but they did not harmonize with one another. While Antonius was an excellent general, womanizer, daredevil and darling of his soldiers, and also already held a significant position of power, Octavian, two decades younger, only 18 years old, was new to the political arena, often sickly and militarily inexperienced, but coolly calculating and everyone carefully weighing his steps; he owed the cornerstone of his rapid political rise only to Caesar's will. In the months after the Ides of March 44 BC. As consul, Antonius was in fact sole ruler in Rome and hindered Octavian's career as much as he could. Through an alliance with the Senate under Cicero's leadership, the Caesar heir initially temporarily defeated Antonius, but switched to mid-43 BC. After the occupation of Rome, the Senate and was reconciled with Antonius. With Octavian and Lepidus he concluded the Second Triumvirate , which gave the three men almost the same powers as Caesar once did. Thousands of knights and senators fell victim to the proscriptions that were now imposed ; their fortune was confiscated and served the triumvirs to finance the war against the Caesar murderers.

Meanwhile, Brutus and Cassius had crossed from Italy to the east in order to create a domain for themselves there. Because of her past, Cleopatra stuck to the Caesarians and formed an alliance in early 43 BC. With their leader in the east, Publius Cornelius Dolabella , who recognized Caesarion as their co-regent. The Queen sent him the four legions stationed in her country, but they overran to Cassius. Dolabella got into a hopeless situation in the fight against Cassius in Syria and perpetrated in July 43 BC. Suicide. The murderer of Caesar had already asked for ships and supplies to be sent from Cleopatra, which Cleopatra refused, despite Cassius' powerful position, with reference to the famine in Egypt. Cleopatra's strategist in Cyprus, Serapion , surrendered his fleet to Cassius against the will of his mistress. The invasion of Egypt planned by Cassius did not materialize because Brutus found him at the end of 43 BC. Urgently called back to Asia Minor. Cleopatra now drove west with her fleet from Alexandria to strengthen the Caesarians' naval power, but a storm severely affected their ships and, together with their illness, forced them to return, so that Antony and Octavian in October 42 BC. BC victorious in the decisive battle at Philippi without Egyptian support over the murderers of Caesar. Some historians wrongly concluded from this fact that Cleopatra behaved neutrally in the Roman civil war.

First meeting of Antony and Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII and Marcus Antonius, denarius, 32 BC Chr.
The children of Cleopatra and Antonius in the interplay of the Julian-Claudian imperial family.

Since Antonius had had the main part in the victory of the triumvirs, he could choose his territories and took over the organization of the rich East, where he should also raise funds for the veterans. On the other hand, Octavian had much more difficult tasks to solve in Italy. Because Cleopatra allegedly behaved ambiguously during the civil war, Antony had her at the beginning of 41 BC. BC by his confidante Quintus Dellius to Tarsos in Cilicia , where the Kydnos flows into the Mediterranean . This reason for their summons was probably only a pretext; Antony was more concerned with securing Egyptian aid for his planned Parthian campaign, since Cleopatra was the most important of the clientele rulers of the Orient. She knew that Antony was celebrated as the new Dionysus and was considered a pleasure addict; then she directed her presentation at the entry into Tarsos, which Plutarch vividly describes. On board their gilded magnificent galley with purple sails stood beautiful girls and pleasure boys dressed as Nereids ; she herself appeared as the earthly incarnation of the goddess Aphrodite or her Egyptian counterpart Isis, ie in a skilful presentation of scanty clothing, facing the new Dionysus Antonius. She asked him to come on her ship and apparently received him in a highly erotic atmosphere. In the days that followed, she hosted luxurious banquets for Antony and, according to the ancient authors, it was she who conquered him with this performance and not the other way around. In addition to the personal component, political reasons also suggested cooperation for both sides. For the population, Cleopatra put her meeting with Antony on a religious level and let it be spread that Aphrodite was coming to Dionysus for the benefit of Asia. In this encounter, the subjects could see an earthly manifestation of the sacred union of Aphrodite and Dionysus or of Isis and Osiris, who at that time represented the main deities of the Eastern religions.

Cleopatra had now once again made the most powerful Roman her lover and used his influence to win over her former rival and younger sister Arsinoe IV, her disobedient strategist Serapion and a man who stood up for her late brother Ptolemy XIII. pretended to be cleared out of the way. After the provisional order of the political situation in Syria, Antonius followed Cleopatra, who had already traveled home, to Egypt and - unlike Caesar earlier - spent the winter of 41/40 BC as a private individual there. Cleopatra kept her lover happy all the time. Plutarch states that the couple kept throwing banquets, joking and indulging. According to his grandfather Lamprias, the biographer reports on the enormous effort for Antonius' feast. He also describes tricks that Cleopatra allegedly played on her lover because of his lack of fishing skills; Also, like Hārūn ar-Raschīd later, the two are said to have roamed the capital at night in disguise, but to tease the residents. According to the historian Appian, Antony appeared statesmanlike by visiting temples and discussing with scholars. Allegedly, only the love life in Egypt caused Antonius 'inaction in the Peruvian War , which Fulvia , Antonius' confident wife, and Lucius Antonius , the brother of the triumvir, waged against Octavian. It was not until the invasion of the Parthians that Antony prompted him in early 40 BC. BC to set off for Asia Minor, from where he returned to Italy on the news of Fulvias and Lucius' defeat.

Government without Antony

After brief armed conflicts, Octavian and the weakened Antony came to an agreement in the Treaty of Brundisium (autumn 40 BC) and formulated plans for the next few years. The Roman Empire was again divided, with Octavian receiving all the western provinces and Antony again the eastern provinces. He was also granted the right to raise troops in Italy. To confirm the alliance, Antony married Octavian’s widowed sister, Octavia , as Fulvia had recently died . In the meantime Cleopatra gave birth to the triumviras after his departure, the twins Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene (late 40 BC) and hoped to be able to bind Antonius through their children. But he stayed away from Egypt for more than three years. There is no record of Cleopatra's activities during this time. Presumably she received news of Antonius and Octavia's marital happiness. She was certainly disappointed that Antonius had married another woman, and Octavian's sister at that, but she did not let the connection with him be severed completely. Because an Egyptian fortune teller warned Antony about Octavian - probably on behalf of the Egyptian queen. This received at the end of 40 BC. The Jewish tetrarch Herod , who flew from the Parthian offensive to Alexandria. He turned down an offer to enter Cleopatra's service and instead took an Egyptian ship to Rome that winter. There the triumvirs supported him, appointed him Jewish king and promised him military aid against the Parthians. Cleopatra certainly did not like this appreciation of her neighbor and the two later became bitter enemies because of the historically justifiable claims of the Ptolemaic queen on Palestine. Antonius entrusted the Parthian War to his general Publius Ventidius Bassus , who soon achieved great success. Antony traveled at the end of 39 BC. BC to Greece, settled with Octavia in Athens and administered the east from there. Octavia gave birth to two daughters and was expecting in 37 BC. Her third child.

The still smoldering conflict between Antony and Octavian could be defused again by the Treaty of Tarent (summer 37 BC) brokered by Octavia ; it was the last meeting of the two triumvirs. From Taranto Antony sailed back east, left his wife in Kerkyra and went to Syria to prepare a war in the Parthian Empire from there.

The heyday of the Ptolemaic Empire

Reorganization of the east of the Roman Empire

A likely representation of Cleopatra Selene II, relief image on a gilded silver plate from the Boscoreale treasure, dated to the early 1st century AD.

Mark Antony invited Cleopatra over and resumed the broken relationship. Probably because of the tensions with Octavian, who increasingly denied him the resources of his half of the empire and did not send the troop reinforcements promised in the Treaty of Taranto, Antonius did not want to do without the resources of the rich Nile country. He needed Ptolemaic support especially during the planned Parthian War. Conversely, Cleopatra's political position was also greatly enhanced by her renewed relationship with the triumvir. So not only erotic, but also political aspects led to the renewed meeting of the beloved, which now the winter of 37/36 BC. In Antioch . The Triumvir recognized the three-year-old twin pair Alexander Helios (epithet ancient Greek ἥλιος hélios , German 'sun' ) and Cleopatra Selene (epithet σελήνη seléne , German 'moon' ) as his children and still 36 BC. In BC Cleopatra bore him another child, a son named Ptolemy Philadelphos .

After successfully defending against the Parthians, Antonius enlarged the Ptolemaic Empire when the eastern part of the Roman Empire was reorganized. Cleopatra received the rough Cilicia , the rich cities on the Phoenician coast between Egypt and the river Eleutheros (except Sidon and Tire ) as well as Iturea with the center of Chalkis , whose king Lysanias was executed by Antony on Cleopatra's accusation that he had made a pact with the Parthians had been. In addition, the Ptolemaic Empire of Cyrene, parts of Judea (including high-yielding balsam and date groves around Jericho ) and the adjacent Nabatean Empire (with rich bitumen deposits) were added. The exact area increases are not known because of the contradicting and inaccurate information provided by the authors Plutarch, Cassius Dio and Josephus, who report on this. In her increase in power, the Queen saw the beginning of a new era and introduced a new counting of her reigning years, recognizable on coins and papyri as a double dating (e.g. for 37/36 BC: "Year 16, which is also year 1" ).

The Octavian propaganda - reflected in the ancient sources - put the enlargement of the Ptolemaic empire in a very negative light; For this purpose, Antony squandered Roman provinces and disempowered Asian monarchs just out of love for Cleopatra. On the other hand, modern research no longer sees this as the action of a willless lover, but a general strategy of the triumvir who - like Pompey before him - trusted strong, personally devoted client rulers more than Roman governors, who were more likely to become dangerous opponents. For at that time Antonius also installed other trustworthy followers across the Roman border in Asia Minor and Syria or allowed them to expand their territories. One of them was Herod, who ruled Judea, which was re-conquered by the Parthians, and was the second most powerful of the client kings allied with Antony, but who had strained relations with Cleopatra. In the newly acquired areas of Cilicia, Chalkis and Phenicia, which were all rich in shipbuilding timber, Ptolemaic representatives were supposed to use their expertise to ensure efficient fleet construction, while Cleopatra leased her areas in Judea and the Nabatean Empire back to their kings and drew 200 talents from them annually , but did not send her own officials, so that she was probably only interested in a rich source of income. Based on Thomas Schrapel's analysis of coin finds, the historian Christoph Schäfer also made a number of other corrections and reinterpretations of the ancient sources. For example, according to an inscription, the rough Cilicia arrived before 38 BC. In Ptolemaic possession. In Cyrene, the Ptolemies exercised only the civil administration, the Romans continued to exercise the military administration. In contrast, the area gains in Syria came directly under Cleopatra's control. Overall, there was strong cooperation between Roman and Egyptian officials, including the division of tasks, with Cleopatra being responsible for the fleet and Antonius for the land army. From the testimonies on site, Schäfer believes to be able to conclude that Cleopatra was not striving for a large empire like in the heyday of the Ptolemies, but only a particularly strong client state under still Roman domination. But this is not yet a communis opinio in research.

The common government of Antony and Cleopatra is also reflected in the coinage. The triumvir shaped from 37/36 BC. BC in Antioch silver tetradrachms, on the reverse of which Cleopatra was depicted, while the Queen's Coil Syrian coins show the image of Antony with his Roman titles on the reverse.

Defeat against the Parthians

Around May 36 BC After extensive armor, Antonius set out on a Parthian campaign. Cleopatra accompanied him to the Euphrates and then traveled via Apamea on the Orontes and Damascus to her enemy Herod in Judea. She fixed the lease business with him, but allegedly strived to own his entire empire. The extremely negative and implausible report of Josephus about the details of their encounter goes back to the memoirs of Herod via Nikolaos of Damascus . According to this testimony, the Egyptian queen tried to seduce Herod and lure him into a trap. The Jewish king even thought of her execution while she was still in his sphere of influence and was only prevented from doing so by his advisors, pointing out the resentment threatening him on the part of Antonius. Later, after his conversion to Octavian, Herod wanted to put himself in a favorable light with him and justify his betrayal of Antonius. He therefore described Cleopatra's behavior in an extremely negative way and characterized her according to the Augustan propaganda as the whore and evil spirit of Antony. The only thing that is certain is that at the end of her visit he gave Cleopatra rich gifts until Pelusion was there.

After Antonius suffered a catastrophic defeat and great losses against the Parthian king Phraates IV , he returned at the end of 36 BC. BC hurried back through snow-covered Armenia to the Phoenician coast. He was waiting for Cleopatra in the port of Leuke Kome , who arrived there late around January 35 BC. Arrived with money and clothes for the battered rest of the army. For its failure the triumvir blamed the allied Armenian king Artavasdes , who was attacked in the rear of Antonius and then fled. But the main responsibility undoubtedly lay with Antonius himself. With the help of his outstanding admiral Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, after three years of fighting, he defeated Sextus Pompeius and in the same year disempowered the third man of the triumvirate, Lepidus . He was thus the absolute ruler in the west of the Roman Empire.

Rejection of the Octavia

Now the conflict between the two remaining most powerful men, Antonius and Octavian, slowly came to a head. Antony had helped out the Caesar heir with ships for his war against Sextus Pompeius. In return, Octavia wanted at the beginning of 35 BC. With the permission of her brother to bring her husband 2,000 soldiers and equipment for further battles against the Parthians and waited in Athens for Antony's answer. Allegedly, Cleopatra was afraid that the Triumvir might return to her rival and made her lover fear through skillful appearances that if she did so, she would take her own life. So she managed to get Antony to reject Octavia's offer and stay with her. The ancient authors attribute this decision entirely to Cleopatra's influence. In contrast, the majority of modern historians assume that Antonius decided against Octavia because he had long had a bad relationship with her brother, who also systematically cut him off from the supply from Italy. So Antonius relied on the power of the important Ptolemaic empire. By sending auxiliaries for his triumvirate colleague, Octavian wanted to create the appearance of a generous gesture. However, the supply of such a small contingent had to appear to Antony as a provocation, as it was already in the Treaty of Taranto in 37 BC. 20,000 soldiers had been promised for the Parthian War, which he had never received. Octavian had foreseen the rejection of his sister and thus achieved the public termination of the alliance with Antonius that he wanted. In the eyes of the Romans he seemed to have treated his beloved wife unfairly. Octavian used this mood to propaganda against Antony and portrayed him as the willless lover of the Egyptian queen.

Tensions between Cleopatra and Herod

Herod had strained relations with the Hasmonean dynasty, which he had deposed . Alexandra , the mother of his wife Mariamne I , complained to Cleopatra because the Jewish king had ignored her young son Aristobulus when he was appointed high priest. In the end, to avoid complications, Herod reluctantly conferred this dignity on the boy, but soon had him secretly murdered. Now Cleopatra persuaded the triumvirs to summon the Idumean to responsibility in the Syrian city of Laodikeia (36 or 35 BC). But she did not achieve her goal of disempowering her old enemy, since Herod apparently was able to defend himself well and Antonius did not want to do without his support - especially to maintain the calm in Judea. Instead, Antony is said to have ordered his royal mistress not to interfere in the internal affairs of his allies.

Death of Sextus Pompey

Map of the Roman Empire after the Treaty of Misenum and the donations from Alexandria
  • Octavian's sphere of influence
  • Antony's sphere of influence
  • Provinces of Lepidus
  • Sea kingdom of Sextus Pompey
  • Kingdom of Egypt (Cleopatra)
  • Vassal states
  • Parthian Empire
  • After his hard-won victory, Octavian deliberately let Sextus Pompey escape so that Antony could now be occupied with him. Cleopatra wanted to spare the fugitive republican - allegedly because he was the son of the great Pompey, who with her father Ptolemy XII. had cultivated a relationship of hospitality, perhaps also to win a capable admiral against Octavian. Sextus officially started negotiations with Antonius about an alliance, but also secretly conducted such negotiations with the Parthians and then began military operations in order to be able to establish himself in northwestern Asia Minor. But he was quickly defeated and on the orders of Marcus Titius - who probably acted on the instructions of Antonius - in the summer of 35 BC. Executed.

    Donations from Alexandria

    Since Antony sought to restore his reputation as a general, but in view of his tensions with Octavian, he shied away from a new war against the mighty Parthians, he waged a war against the mighty Parthians in 34 BC. A campaign against the much weaker Armenian king, whom he had blamed for the unsuccessful Parthian war. The triumvir quickly succeeded in capturing Artavasdes and seizing the Armenian treasures.

    Antonius then formed an alliance with a former ally of the Phraates, Artavasdes von Medien (not to be confused with the Armenian king of the same name) in order to have his back against the Parthians in the upcoming fight against Octavian.

    In the autumn of 34 BC The Armenian king and his family had to take part in shackles in the triumphal procession of Antony - which is more likely to be described as a Dionysian procession according to Hellenistic custom - in Alexandria. When the procession came to the Egyptian queen seated on a golden throne in the midst of numerous spectators, Artavasdes refused, however, to pay homage to her through proseynesis . Nevertheless, his life was spared for the time being.

    A little later, an even more impressive event was held in the huge Alexandria gymnasium. Cleopatra, who appeared as the incarnation of Isis, and Antony, who appeared as the Roman emperor, were dressed in Egyptian robes and sat on golden thrones from which they could overlook the crowd. Their three young children and Caesarion were also positioned on thrones a little below them. According to the ancient sources, Cleopatra and Caesarion were confirmed as direct rulers of Egypt, Cyprus and probably also Cyrenaica (which, according to Cassius Dio, was supposedly subordinate to Cleopatra Selene) in these "donations from Alexandria" . The Egyptian queen also received the title of Queen of Kings , Caesarion the corresponding title of King of Kings . The Triumvir also affirmed that Caesarion was the biological son of Caesar. Then Alexander Helios was crowned as king of Armenia , Media and (still to be conquered) Parthia and Ptolemy Philadelphos as king of Phenicia , Syria west of the Euphrates and Cilicia. Cleopatra was at the height of her power.

    It is undisputed that the status quo of the administration and thus the direct domain of Cleopatra was preserved despite the "donations from Alexandria", since the client kings and Roman governors were left in their positions. When it comes to the credibility of the authors who report on the awards, opinions in modern research differ widely. While the majority follow the ancient sources and Joachim Brambach even believes that the realization of these "donations" would have meant the end of the Eastern Roman Empire, Christoph Schäfer assumes a reproduction of Octavian propaganda, which distorted the ceremony in a way that was hostile to Antony. Since there are no epigraphic or coinage evidence of the participation of Cleopatra's children in government in the Ptolemaic outer possessions or even on Roman territory, Schäfer does not believe that the areas mentioned were transferred to them at that time, with the exception of Armenia, which after Artavasdes' disempowerment actually belonged to Alexander Helios could have been awarded. Octavian turned it into a "squandering" of Roman provinces and the whole of the Near East on Cleopatra's underage children and also deliberately misinterpreted Antony's victorious entry into Alexandria as a triumphal procession - which traditionally should have been held in Rome - to the disadvantage of the Romans Opponent to edit.

    If Antony really confirmed that Caesarion was the biological son of Caesar in order to meet Octavian, who was only an adopted son of the dictator, this would have been a pure attack on Octavian.

    Günther Hölbl explains that the title of King of Kings is linked to the tradition of the ancient pharaohs and Achaemenids and that Cleopatra and her children’s rule over the recently awarded territories was expressed; in addition, the god Osiris, who was the epitome of kingship, had the same name in the religious field. Christoph Schäfer assumes that the title of Alexander Helios as the Armenian king was given for propaganda purposes against the Parthian king, who also called himself King of Kings . That is why Cleopatra, who was higher in rank, had to be called at least Queen of Kings .

    On the obverse of some of Antony's traveling mint in Asia Minor in 32 BC. His head and the inscribed reference to his victory over Armenia (Antoni Armenia devicta) appear on a silver denare , while on the reverse the Egyptian queen with a diadem is portrayed as Cleopatrae reginae regum filiorum regum (“Cleopatra, Queen of the kings and hers royal sons ”), a clear allusion to the territorial awards of 34 BC. From this coin legend it emerges that Cleopatra held a higher rank than her children. She was the first non-Roman woman to have the honor of being depicted on Roman coins with her name mentioned.

    As a triumvir, Antony continued to occupy the highest position in the east of the Roman Empire and in the allied client states, and despite her upgraded position, Cleopatra also continued to depend on him.

    Possible marriage to Antonius, Alexandria's cultural life

    Whether Antony married the Egyptian queen then or at another point in time is as controversial in research as the question of whether such a marital union took place at all. There are only a few vague and contradicting statements by ancient authors. According to Hellenistic tradition, Antony would have entered into a second marriage that was not recognized by Roman law, as he did not divorce Octavia until 32 BC. Took place.

    Since her increase in power, Cleopatra publicly embodied her role as the incarnation of the goddess Isis and therefore referred to herself as the New Isis . Her coin images also bear attributes of this goddess. Before the decisive battle at Actium , Octavian is said to have castigated the identification of Antony with Osiris-Dionysus and Cleopatra with Isis-Selene in an address, and statues of the ruling couple were also decorated with features of these gods.

    Little is known about Cleopatra's political advisor in her later reign and about the cultural life at her court. A Seleukos was a kind of financial administrator, her confidante Alexas from Laodikeia is said to have exerted significant influence on Antonius in favor of his mistress and her personal physician Olympos later wrote a report on Cleopatra's suicide. According to a statement by Octavian, a Potheinos and a Mardion are said to have held influential positions. Numerous aristocratic Romans must also have lived at the court of the Egyptian queen at least for a time and, in view of their influence on Antony, sought their friendship. This is documented at least for Quintus Dellius and Lucius Munatius Plancus . A philosopher named Philostratus was one of her courtiers and she is said to have been very interested in philosophy herself. Another philosopher (and historian), Nikolaos of Damascus , was appointed to educate Cleopatra's children. In addition to Olympos, other doctors worked at the famous Alexandrian medical school. The Egyptian queen hired the Athenian sculptor Gaius Avianus Euander as a consultant in the field of the visual arts. Apparently, Alexandria Cleopatra continued to be an important cultural center.

    Cleopatra in the Sibylline Oracle

    Some researchers refer to allusions of the so-called Sibylline Oracle (Oracula Sibyllina) to a powerful, salvific woman - sometimes referred to as a widow - to Cleopatra. The incompletely preserved 14 oracle books are a collection of Christian revised, but pagan based Jewish prophetic literature with prophecies about the end of the world and the expected Messiah . Perhaps this reflected one in the Greek East in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Circulating subversive underground literature that promised the end of Roman rule brought about by a Redeemer and a renaissance of the Hellenistic empires. According to some oracles, a mighty queen at the time of the triumvirate would break Rome's power and bring justice to earth. Perhaps it expresses the hopes of the people of the Orient, who felt themselves oppressed by Rome, linked to Cleopatra's increase in power through the "donations of Alexandria".

    Decline of the Ptolemaic Empire

    Propaganda battle and preparation for the final war

    From 33 BC The preparations for the final battle between the two remaining triumvirs for sole rule in the Roman Empire began with a propaganda battle. Octavian accused Antonius of "squandering" Roman provinces and recognizing Caesarion as the son of Caesar, but increasingly did not focus on his triumvirate "colleague" but on his lover Cleopatra and appealed to the patriotic Roman feelings of his subjects. Rumors circulated in Rome of the decadent life in Alexandria; Cleopatra is said to have won a bet against Antonius for a particularly expensive meal by dissolving her extremely large pearl in hot vinegar , which she then sipped. Antony was much less efficient with his counter-propaganda in Rome.

    Antony turned from Armenia at the end of 33 BC. To Ephesus , where he spent the winter with Cleopatra. His general Publius Canidius Crassus brought 16 legions there, and most of the fleet was also stationed here. The Queen mainly financed the planned war and contributed 200 ships to the provisions of the army. Octavian's propaganda claimed that she behaved haughty towards the Romans and hindered armaments with festivals.

    After attacks by the new consuls, the Antonius supporters Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Gaius Sosius (beginning of 32 BC), Octavian intimidated his opponents with a show of force to the point that both consuls and a third of the senators fled to Antonius in Ephesus. But her attempt to send Cleopatra home to deprive Octavian of his propaganda basis failed. At the next station of Antony, Samos , many allied princes came with troops, but the Ptolemaic achieved that Herod should not take part in the war, but instead fight the Nabataeans (April 32 BC). Arriving in Athens , Antony, under Cleopatra's influence, sent his wife Octavia the letter of divorce, but this damaged his reputation among his Roman followers (May 32 BC).

    When Lucius Munatius Plancus and Marcus Titius in the middle of 32 BC Chr. Overflowed to Octavian, they revealed to him the location of Antony's will. Octavian illegally obtained the document from the Vestals and aroused great displeasure against Antonius in Rome, in particular by pointing out his (perhaps falsified) order that, should Antonius' death occur in Rome, his body should be transferred to Cleopatra in Alexandria for burial be.

    This clever maneuver and Antony's divorce from Octavia had turned the mood in Italy very much against the triumvirs. Now Octavian achieved through the assertion that Antony had succumbed to Cleopatra, who was striving for rule in Italy itself, that war was declared on the Ptolemaic woman. Octavian gave the impression that it was not about a new civil war, but about combating an external threat to Italy.

    War in Greece until the Battle of Actium

    Antonius pursued a defensive strategy and positioned himself at the end of 32 BC. His main army on the west coast of Greece with the Gulf of Ambrakia at Actium as the main naval base. Stronger defense forces remained in Cyrene, Egypt and Syria. But Octavian's brilliant Admiral Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa succeeded in conquering Methone and Kerkyra surprisingly early and with his maneuvers to enable Octavian to land with most of the army a little north of Actium (beginning of 31 BC). There Antony's fleet was locked in and his army cut off from provisioning at sea, and soon also from overland routes across the Peloponnese . A month-long blockade war followed, which resulted in numerous deaths among Antonius' troops as a result of hunger and diseases caused by the unhealthy swampy climate. As a result, numerous (including high-ranking) Romans and vassal princes deserted. Several unsuccessful attempts to break out worsened the mood in Antonius' camp.

    Against Canidius' advice to withdraw overland to Macedonia , Cleopatra prevailed in the council of war with the plan to break up Agrippa's blockade with the entire fleet and sail back to Egypt. Canidius was to withdraw with his army overland to the east. But the now overflowing Quintus Dellius revealed his opponent's war plan to Octavian. On September 2, 31 BC Chr. Started the sea battle ( Battle of Actium ) with an advance of Antony's capital ships, but on the high seas by Octavian much more numerous small Liburni swarmed and made many driving unfit. In the afternoon, Cleopatra's 60 speed sailors who were not involved in the fight pushed through a gap and sailed away, whereupon Antonius followed and boarded Cleopatra's flagship. Most of his ships could not break loose and had to surrender or were sunk. But the breakthrough was achieved with at least a third of the fleet and the war chest. The opinion of the ancient authors that Cleopatra fled treacherously is rejected by modern research; rather, the queen had carried out her part in the war plan.

    The last year of Antony and Cleopatra

    After his arrival in North Africa, Antony wanted to take over four legions stationed in Cyrene , but was turned away by the renegade governor Lucius Pinarius Scarpus . Cleopatra meanwhile sailed to Alexandria and had many noble Egyptians suspected of the rebellion executed, whose fortune she confiscated to finance the further war. She allegedly had her fleet dragged to the Suez Canal to escape to India, but the Nabataeans burned their ships. Antony came to Egypt depressed and had to find out that all the client princes, including Herod, had changed fronts and Canidius' strong army had soon surrendered. Cleopatra is said to have tried various poisons on criminals and discovered the cobra bite as the most painless way of death. In order to secure the succession, she had Caesarion declared of age.

    Mid 30 BC BC Octavian advanced through Asia Minor and Syria to Egypt. Several petitions from the Losing Party could not persuade him to give in. His general Gaius Cornelius Gallus conquered the western border fortress Paraitonion , Octavian himself the eastern border post Pelusion very quickly, perhaps through the betrayal of the commander Seleucus . In the decisive battle led by Antonius in front of Alexandria, the Egyptian fleet and cavalry surrendered without a fight, then also the capital (August 1, 30 BC). When Cleopatra ordered the former triumvir to return, he received the false news of her suicide and threw himself on his sword, but did not die immediately. When he found out that she was still alive and was waiting in her mausoleum , he asked to be brought to her, because the tomb building was locked, he was hoisted through a window with ropes and died in the arms of his lover. It is controversial in research whether Cleopatra intentionally drove her lover to death in order to come to an understanding with Octavian.

    The mystery of Cleopatra's death

    The Berlin bust in profile

    Cleopatra's last bargaining chip was therefore her treasures, which had been moved to the mausoleum earlier. She threatened to burn herself with these if she attempted arrest. Octavian wanted to pay his soldiers with this money and allegedly show the queen in triumph in Rome. His envoy Gaius Proculeius was therefore supposed to catch Cleopatra alive, negotiated at first without result at the locked grave door, but came back with Gaius Cornelius Gallus and - while Gallus was having new conversations with Cleopatra - got with two servants over a ladder through the window through which Antonius entered Mausoleum had been drawn. So Proculeius was able to take the queen prisoner. From then on she was guarded by Octavian's freedman Epaphroditus . But Caesarion and his teacher Rhodon had already sent them into the distance and thus saved them for the time being.

    Plutarch's account of Cleopatra's twelve days' imprisonment in Rome is essentially based on the description of her personal physician, Olympos, and should therefore be relatively reliable. In addition, only Cassius Dio has received a detailed report on this subject.

    Cleopatra was allowed to organize a splendid funeral for Antony and was then guarded very carefully in the palace. She was a broken woman, wounded her chest by beating out of mourning for Antonius and tried to starve to death, presumably because she absolutely wanted to avoid being displayed in the triumphal procession of the victor. But Octavian discovered their intentions and stopped them by threatening their children.

    At Cleopatra's request, Octavian came to talk to her in the royal palace; it was their only meeting. Plutarch and Cassius Dio portray the conversation in completely different ways. According to Plutarch, Cleopatra was sickly and nervously at the end and received the future emperor with untidy hair and in his undergarment. Since her attempt at justification did not reach Octavian, she complained and, when she presented a list of her treasures, got into an argument with her administrator Seleukos, because he described the list as incomplete. With this scene she tried to pretend Octavian still wanted to live and was attached to material goods. When he parted, he promised her a splendid life. In contrast to this relatively objective narrative by Plutarch, the very unbelievable report by Cassius Dios describes that Cleopatra tried to win Octavian, like Caesar and Antonius earlier, to her side with her seductive arts, but he is said to have resisted her because of his virtue.

    After talking to Octavian, Cleopatra knew that even if she would humiliate herself to take part in the triumphal procession, there was no chance for her children to rule. Soon she learned secretly from the young nobleman Cornelius Dolabella (perhaps the consul of 10 AD or his father ) that Octavian intended to take her and her children away from Alexandria in three days, apparently to take them to Rome to triumph. Cleopatra did not want to share the former fate of her sister Arsinoë and asked the conqueror of Egypt to visit the tomb of Antony one last time. Octavian agreed to this request. Plutarch delivers in a tragic style the alleged wording of the last prayer of the deeply grieving Cleopatra for her deceased lover.

    Cleopatra probably died on August 10, 30 BC. BC (according to the Roman calendar of that time, so probably on August 12th of our current calendar) under unexplained circumstances. Octavian was present in Alexandria at this time and had every opportunity to influence the reports on the details of the circumstances, just as he had been busy propaganda against them in Rome. The reports of the ancient chroniclers were based, at least indirectly, on his autobiography, which naturally only contained his view of the events.

    Bust of Cleopatra VII, mid-1st century BC BC, Museo Gregoriano Profano, Vatican Museums (inv. 179); Cleopatra with a melon hairstyle and a Hellenistic royal diadem, from the villa of the Quintilians

    According to Plutarch and Cassius Dio, the Egyptian queen is said to have successfully faked her alleged will to live to the Roman ruler and thus achieved a less strict guard that enabled her to commit suicide. She took a bath and afterwards ate a delicious meal. Meanwhile, a farmer brought a basket, showed the guards that it was only figs , and was allowed to carry it inside. After dinner, Cleopatra sent an urgent letter to Octavian, locked herself in with her trusted maids, Iras and Charmion , and committed suicide with them. When Octavian read in her letter that she wanted to bury her next to Antonius, he knew and quickly sent messengers who, however, found Cleopatra already dead in royal robes lying on a golden bed while her two maids lay dying. Even snake charmers called Psylli , who were supposed to suck out the poison, could no longer wake her up.

    The ancient authors emphasize the uncertainty of Cleopatra's death. According to Plutarch, she could have been bitten by a poisonous snake hidden under the leaves in the farmer's fig basket, but it was no longer found in her death room. Alternatively, she could have brought about her death with a poisonous hair clip. Cassius Dio mentions the theories that she received a venomous snake hidden in a water jug ​​or bouquet of flowers, or stabbed her arm with a poisoned hairpin. Two tiny punctures were discovered on her arm. In addition to the snake venom variant, Strabo mentions a poisoned ointment as a possible cause of death. Finally, the famous ancient doctor, Galen , suggests that the Queen instilled viper venom into a self-inflicted wound.

    Augustus showed during his triumphal procession in Rome in 29 BC A picture of Cleopatra, which she represented with two snakes. With this he officially recognized the prevailing version in antiquity - death by the bite of a snake (aspis) . The term aspis refers to the Egyptian uraeus snake . It had a symbolic character as a sign of pharaonic rule: it threatened the king's enemies and at the same time placed the ruler under the protection of the sun god Re , to whom it was a sacred animal. Accordingly, the Egyptian royal crown bore the image of a double ureus. According to Egyptian ideas, the bite of such a snake would not have served to achieve immortality - because the Ptolemies were already considered gods during their lifetime - but would have been a worthy death for Cleopatra.

    Against a snake bite, however, speaks that no such reptile was found in Cleopatra's room, that it is difficult to have three people bite by a snake, and that a cobra bite is by no means painless and can only lead to death after hours or days. It seems most likely that Cleopatra ingested or injected poison, but that her closest confidants, including probably her doctor Olympos, distributed the snakebite version at her request, because religious Egyptians viewed this as the most dignified and legendary death of her queen. Modern theories about Cleopatra's death include the suspicion that she was secretly murdered on Octavian's orders. The Roman ruler would undoubtedly have been able to do this, since he also had Caesarion executed. The reason for a murder could have been that Octavian did not wish to perform Cleopatra in triumphal procession, as the ancient authors claim. The Egyptian queen was physically and psychologically broken and in this state, like Arsinoe once, could have aroused the pity of the Roman masses. This would also have shaken the credibility of Octavian's propaganda, which Cleopatra had portrayed as the greatest threat to Rome. An execution of the Egyptian queen after the triumphal procession would also have damaged Octavian's reputation, but a living Cleopatra would have been dangerous to him as an implacable opponent, by threatening to publish her letters from Caesar or as an incentive for revolts against Roman rule. The assumption of a secret elimination of Cleopatra by Octavian, however, is considered in research to be much less likely than the theory that the future princeps, although wishing her death before his triumphal procession, did not reach him by murder, but by revealing her suicidal intentions through apparently negligent guarding (e B. the passage of the farmer with the fig basket) and deliberately favored the message conveyed by Cornelius Dolabella and only pretended to publicly pretend to want to lead her in a triumphal procession, and then became annoyed about the success of the suicide.

    In his concluding remark on Cleopatra, Cassius Dio provides, as it were, her epitaph:

    "She won over the two greatest Romans of her time, and because of the third she committed suicide."

    - Cassius Dio, Roman History 51, 15, 4

    Further development of Egypt and the Ptolemies

    A Roman head of either Cleopatra or her daughter Cleopatra Selene II, Queen of Mauritania, from the late 1st century BC, in the Archaeological Museum of Cherchell, Algeria

    Octavian had Cleopatra, who died at the age of 39, as she wished, buried next to Antonius in her recently completed mausoleum, where Iras and Charmion also found their final resting place. In April 2009, the influential but controversial Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass claimed to have discovered the tomb near Alexandria. Accordingly, the corpses could have been hidden in the temple of Taposiris Magna , where several finds referring to Cleopatra were made in 2008. In return for a payment of allegedly 2,000 talents by her follower Archibios , Octavian left Cleopatra's statues intact. She is also said to have left behind great treasures. Octavian lured her son Caesarion back and left him in 30 BC. Execute. As Caesar's biological son, future opposition members might have used him as a tool against the future emperor. Antony and Cleopatra had already exploited his ancestry for propaganda purposes and Octavian tried to prevent a possible repetition of this situation with Caesarion's execution. The same fate befell Antyllus, the eldest son of Antonius. Cleopatra's children with Antonius were brought to Rome and raised by Antonius' former wife Octavia, Octavian's sister, along with their own children. Cleopatra Selene was born by Octavian in 20 BC. King Juba II of Mauritania given as his wife; the further fate of her two brothers is unknown.

    The 300-year Ptolemaic rule came to an end and Octavian entered Egypt as a personal Roman province and appointed the knight Gaius Cornelius Gallus , who was devoted to him, prefect, because, like Caesar, he did not want to entrust this still rich country to a high-ranking senator.

    Appearance and pictorial representations

    Cleopatra on an "Alexandrian" type copper coin from Alexandria
    Cleopatra together with Antonius on a silver coin "Syriac-Roman" type from Antioch on the Orontes (?)

    Ancient authors are vague about Cleopatra's appearance. According to Cassius Dio, she was so beautiful that she could pull the worst misogynist into her nets. However, Cleopatra's beguiling beauty is a late motif that appears for the first time in Lukan's Pharsalia . At first it was more widespread that she was seducing men with the help of aphrodisiac drugs or sorcery , such as Flavius ​​Josephus depicts. Plutarch tries to find a more realistic explanation and states that her beauty was not incomparable, rather she made a great impression on men through educated, attractive conversation and fine behavior.

    In Egyptian representations, such as temple reliefs, Cleopatra is traditionally depicted schematically without individual features. Therefore only portraits of the Hellenistic style provide indications of their appearance. Coins in particular come into consideration for this. There are two different types of portraits, which at times were issued in parallel, which are called "Alexandrian" and "Syrian-Roman" coins according to the place where they were minted.

    During Cleopatra's entire reign (51 to 30 BC) the “Alexandrian” type was coined, not only in Alexandria, but also, for example, in Ascalon or Damascus. The queen is pictured young, around 20 years old. Cleopatra is shown in profile with a broad royal diadem in her hair. She wears a melon hairstyle with a large topknot and ear locks and has large eyes, a full mouth above a low round chin. The nose, which ends in a slightly overhanging point, stands out from the smooth forehead with a sharp bend. The physiognomic details take as recognizable symbols the portraits of her father Ptolemaios XII. in the succession of which it presents itself. On the emissions of the years 38 and 37 BC BC from Askalon the features of Cleopatra are drawn sharper and emaciated.

    The "Syrian-Roman" type was not used until 37 BC. Emitted. On a coin of this style, Antony is depicted on the obverse and Cleopatra with the nickname Thea Neotera ("Younger Goddess") on the reverse . In this type of portrait, the profile of the Ptolemaic woman extends to the base of the breast. The melon hairstyle with a diadem and a slightly smaller topknot is retained; Likewise, the large eyes and the distinctive chin stand out again. The large, curved nose appears here as a hooked nose. Cleopatra's facial features are more severe and masculine, and her portrait is aligned with that of Antony. Despite an idealization of the portrait, both types of coins give a rough idea of ​​Cleopatra's real appearance.

    In addition, Cleopatra has so far been assigned three marble heads with some probability, based on the coin portraits:

    • in the Vatican Museums a life-size marble bust, late Republican, found in 1786 in the Villa Quintilii , on the Via Appia near Rome;
    • in the Altes Museum in Berlin a smaller than life-size marble bust with traces of gold, possibly belonging to a relief, late Republican, probably found in Ariccia near Rome, only known in 1976;
    • in the possession of the French art collector Guy Weill Goudchaux a marble bust, made between 34 and 30 BC Chr., Only became known to the professional world in 2005.

    In the Berlin and Vatican busts, both of which are similar to the Alexandrian coin type, the queen wears a headband, the symbol of Ptolemaic pharaohs. Both portraits show her with a full face, large eyes, a thick lower lip and a pointed chin. Her melon hairstyle has a topknot and ringlets are visible at the base of the forehead. While the Berlin head has a long nose, it is broken off on the Vatican bust.

    In the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg there is an Egyptian-style basalt statue that has recently been attributed to Cleopatra. The work is stylized and the only Greek element has a cornucopia held by the ruler.

    The archaeologist Bernard Andreae has suggested that the statue of a naked goddess, the " Venus of the Esquiline ", found on the Esquiline in Rome in 1874 , also be an image of Cleopatra.

    effect

    Assessment in ancient sources

    As with many ancient people, there are no longer any primary sources, such as letters from Cleopatra, which would allow a first-hand clarification of their personality. With the exception of the brief mentions in the Alexandrian War , all of the ancient sources that have survived have an extremely negative attitude towards Cleopatra - not least as a result of Octavian's propaganda. The most important information about the life of Cleopatra contain Plutarch's biographies on Antony and Caesar as well as books 42–51 of the Roman history of the imperial historian Cassius Dio . Plutarch puts his life of Antonius in a "parallel" to that of Demetrios I Poliorketes and regards these two generals as negative moral examples, while in most of the other parallel biographies of a Roman and a Greek he depicts men who appear to him ethically more exemplary. His vividly written work about Antonius, in which he also uses personal sources such as reports from his grandfather and great-grandfather as well as the report of her personal physician Olympos for Cleopatra's death, contains many anecdotes that are often reliable and portrays Cleopatra as a great seductress. Cassius Dio, whose account of the late republic probably ultimately goes back to the Roman historian Titus Livius , like Plutarch, often lacks historical accuracy. Like Antonius' biographer, Cassius Dio is a moralist, drawing a sentimental melodrama of Cleopatra's last months, and believing tradition that it betrayed Antonius. The information provided by the war historian Appian ( civil wars , books 2–5, reaching up to 35 BC), who also seems to have used sources critical of Augustus such as Gaius Asinius Pollio , is particularly important for military details . He attributes Antony's fall to Cleopatra's greater intelligence and intrigue. In his biographies of Caesar and Augustus, the Roman biographer Suetonius provides further information about Cleopatra's relations with these two rulers and gives propaganda from both parties about her last year.

    Caesar reports in his notes (end of the third volume of the civil wars ) in detail about his military activities against the Egyptian army, but remains completely silent about his relationship with the queen. The same applies to the continuation handed down under Caesar's name, but not from him (Alexandrian War) . In contemporary sources, only specific details about Cleopatra's stay in Rome are otherwise preserved in some of Cicero's letters . Asinius Pollio's extensive work has been lost, as has the detailed description of Livy in their over the first century BC. Chr. Reporting parts; of these there are only very short summaries with a recognizable anti-Cleopatra tendency. Even from the extensive works of the educator of Cleopatra's children, Nikolaos of Damascus , who later became a confidante of Herod and Augustus, only few excerpts have survived, but many of his statements about the tense relationship between the Egyptian queen and Herod were found in the Jewish antiquities of Flavius Josephus used. This Jewish historian portrays Cleopatra extremely unfavorably.

    The Roman patriotic Augustan poets Virgil , Horace and Properz glorified Octavian's victory in the battle of Actium in poetic representations, through which they saw the alleged threat to their homeland by the Egyptian queen averted. The poetically impressive works of these poets are, however, historically misleading. In the tenth book of his epic Pharsalia, Lucan , a contemporary of Nero, provides information about Caesar's relationship with Cleopatra in Alexandria. He was very hostile to the couple.

    Numerous coins give clues to Cleopatra's appearance and political goals. A few papyri highlight the domestic political situation at the beginning of her government. Finally, inscriptions and depictions in Egyptian shrines provide further material for a biography of the Egyptian queen.

    reception

    After Cleopatra as ruler, together with her children and her partner Marcus Antonius , had developed a comprehensive lordly self-representation in her sphere of influence, after her defeat the memory of her split into a positive and a negative strand: a negative dominated the Latin literature of the Roman Empire Representation that is largely influenced by the propaganda of Augustus . In Egypt, however, Cleopatra was worshiped for a long time.

    Cleopatra appears in numerous Arabic sources from the Middle Ages, where she emerges as a builder, scholar and doctor. Fairytale love stories also grew up around her person. All in all, her image has a positive connotation, which is in contrast to the European reception of Cleopatra in the Middle Ages. This did not begin again in Europe until the 14th century, when an increased interest in Cleopatra, which has not waned to this day, awoke in the course of the rediscovery of antiquity.

    The literary reception of Cleopatra began around 1360 with Giovanni Boccaccio's De claris mulieribus and reached its climax in 1606/07 in the Plutarch-based drama Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare . Pierre Corneille ( La Mort de Pompée , 1643), Daniel Casper von Lohenstein ( Cleopatra , 1661), John Dryden ( All for love , 1678), George Bernard Shaw ( Caesar and Cleopatra , 1899) and Thornton provided other important works on this subject Wilder ( Ides of March , 1948). The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia (1757) by the English writer Sarah Fielding fictionalized a double biography: Cleopatra and Octavia speak from the grave to the reader, whereby the contrast between “femme fatale” and submissive wife was of interest as early as the 18th century.

    Around 80 operas that have been written since the 17th century, as well as cantatas, operettas and stage plays deal with the subject of Cleopatra, such as Georg Friedrich Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1723/24).

    Important painters such as Giovanni Battista Tiepolo also took up the subject of the Egyptian queen. A frequent motif is Cleopatra's suicide, where she is depicted very early (since the 15th century) scantily clad with snakes biting her bare breasts. Her meeting with Antony in Tarsus and her banquet with the dissolution of pearls were often painted, but Cleopatra's liaison with Caesar was less common.

    Cleopatra in Research

    Based on the ancient sources influenced by Augustan propaganda, a predominantly very negative and one-sided assessment of Cleopatra prevailed in research in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1864, in his biography of Cleopatra , Adolf Stahr was the first to try to give the Egyptian queen a fairer and more positive view. At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, Johannes Kromayer referred to the distorted presentation of ancient historians about Cleopatra's allegedly treacherous escape after the battle of Actium. The biography of the Ptolemaic woman, written by Hans Volkmann in 1953, was a groundbreaking study . Michael Grant assumed in his description of Cleopatra that Octavian owed the success at Actium only to Agrippa's general art and that in the event of a victory by Antonius there would be an equal partnership between Greeks and Romans would have come while Augustus was strengthening Roman imperialism. In contrast to the tendency of ancient authors, some newer scholars tried to present very Cleopatra-friendly biographies, according to Manfred Clauss , who wanted to write “a book in favor of Cleopatra”. Christoph Schäfer, who tried to explain that the political actions of the Ptolemaic woman were essentially based on rational considerations and less on irrational feelings, followed the same tendency.

    Source editions

    • Appian : Roman History. Volume 2: Civil Wars. Translated by Otto Veh , 1988. Text (English)
    • Cassius Dio : Roman History . Translated by Otto Veh, Artemis, Zurich 1985, ( English translation )
    • Suetonius : Emperor biographies from Gaius Iulius Caesar to Domitian. Numerous issues, for example in: All preserved works. Essen 2004 (German translation)

    literature

    General representations

    archeology

    • Laura Foreman (Ed.): Cleopatra's Sunken Palace - Searching for a Legend . Frederking & Thaler, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-89405-412-3 .

    Biographies

    Special representations

    Cleopatra's descent

    • Werner Huss : The origin of Cleopatra Philopator . In: Aegyptus. No. 70, 1990, pp. 191-203.

    First years of Cleopatra's reign

    • Heinz Heinen : Rome and Egypt from 51 to 47 BC Investigations into the reign of the 7th Cleopatra and the 13th Ptolemy . Tübingen 1966 (dissertation).

    Caesar's fatherhood of Caesarion

    • Heinz Heinen: Caesar and Kaisarion . In: Historia. Volume 18, 1969, pp. 181-203.

    Cleopatra's temple in Hermonthis

    • Daniela Rutica: Cleopatra's Forgotten Temple. The birth house of Cleopatra VII in Hermonthis. A reconstruction of the decoration (= Göttinger Miscellen. Occasional Studies Volume 1). Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Seminar for Egyptology and Coptic Studies, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-9817438-0-7 .

    Cleopatra's reliefs in Dendera

    • John D. Ray: Cleopatra in the temples of Upper Egypt . In: Cleopatra Reassessed. British Museum Occasional Paper. edited by Susan Walker and Sally-Ann Ashton, London 2003, pp. 9-11.

    Cleopatra reception with ancient authors

    Cleopatra portraits on coins

    • Guy Weill Goudchaux: Was Cleopatra Beautiful? The Conflicting Answers of Numismatics . In: Susan Walker, Peter Higgs (eds.): Cleopatra of Egypt. From History to Myth . British Museum, London 2001, ISBN 0-7141-1938-5 , pp. 210-214.

    Cleopatra reception in art / cultural history

    For fictional works see under Cleopatra Reception / Literature

    Web links

    Commons : Cleopatra VII.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
    Wiktionary: Cleopatra  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

    Remarks

    1. The bird's head is to be replaced by the similar looking hieroglyphic symbol H20, which cannot currently be represented with the hieroglyphs used in Wikipedia.
    2. ^ Translations for all titles through the Egyptology portal .
    3. a b After counting the Ptolemaic kings and queens according to Werner Huss: Egypt in Hellenistic times 332–30 BC. Chr. Munich 2001 Cleopatra VII. As Cleopatra VIII. And her brother Ptolemaios XIII. as Ptolemy XII. guided.
    4. Thomas Schneider: Lexicon of the Pharaohs. Düsseldorf 2002, p. 147.
    5. ^ Hermann A. Schlögl : The old Egypt. History and culture from the early days to Cleopatra. Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54988-8 , p. 367.
    6. Plutarch , Antonius 86, 8.
    7. a b W. Huss: The origin of Cleopatra Philopator. In: Aegyptus. Volume 70, 1990, pp. 191-203 .; M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, pp. 15-16.
    8. Strabon , Geographie 17, 1, 11, p. 796.
    9. ^ Joachim Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, p. 46.
    10. Plutarch, Antonius 27, 4-5.
    11. ^ " Inscriptiones Graecae " 3, 1309; M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, p. 19; Michael Grant : Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, p. 31.
    12. Strabo 17, 1, 11, p. 796; Cassius Dio 39, 58, 3; Porphyrios, FGrH 260, F 2, 14.
    13. ^ A b J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, p. 58.
    14. Plutarch, Antonius 3, 4-7; Appian, Civil Wars 5, 8.
    15. Cicero , Pro Rabirio Postumo 22; 28-32; 39-40 and other
    16. ^ Wilhelm Dittenberger , Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae 741 , dated May 31, 52 BC. Chr.
    17. Werner Huss: Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332–30 BC Chr. Munich 2001, p. 697 presupposes the death of Ptolemy XII. End of June 51 BC Chr.
    18. ^ R. Mond, OH Myers (Ed.): The Bucheum. Volume 2, 1934, pp. 11-13, No. 13.
    19. ^ J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, p. 60; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, p. 72.
    20. C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 31-35.
    21. C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, p. 36; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 72-73.
    22. Valerius Maximus 4, 1, 15; Caesar, Civil War 3, 110; C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 41-43; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 74-75 and 81.
    23. ^ Wilhelm Schubart, Diedrich Schäfer (Ed.): Egyptian documents from the State Museums in Berlin. Greek documents. Volume VIII: Late Ptolemaic papyri from the official offices of the Herakleopolis. State Museums, Berlin 1933, 1730 (BGU VIII 1730) ( digitized version ).
    24. ^ M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 75-77; G. Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire . Darmstadt 1994, pp. 205-206.
    25. Plutarch, Antonius 25, 4; Pompey 62, 3; Lucan , Pharsalia 2, 631-649; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, p. 78; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 40-41.
    26. ^ Caesar, Civil War 3, 103, 2; Malalas 9, 6; Lucan, Pharsalia 5, 58-64; 9, 1068ff .; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 79-80; G. Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire . Darmstadt 1994, pp. 206-207.
    27. ^ Appian , Civil War 2, 84; Strabo, Geography 17, 1, 11, p. 796; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 80-81.
    28. ^ Caesar , Civil War 3, 103-104; Plutarch, Pompey 77-80; Appian, Civil Wars 2, 84-85; Cassius Dio, Roman History 42, 3–5; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 62-64; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, p. 44; 48-53.
    29. ^ Caesar, Civil War 3, 106-108; Cassius Dio, Roman History 42, 7–8; Plutarch, Caesar 48; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 90-92; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 53-57.
    30. Plutarch, Caesar 49, 1-3; Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 42, 34, 3. 5–6; Lucan, Pharsalia 10, 53-57; C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 57-59.
    31. Lucan , Pharsalia 10, 60-103; C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 59-61.
    32. Cassius Dio , Römische Geschichte 42, 35–36; Lucan, Pharsalia 10, 107ff .; 10, 332-433; Caesar, Civil War 3, 108, 2; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, 1996, pp. 80-83; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 61-63.
    33. Caesar, Civil War 3, 109–112; Alexandrian War 1–32; Cassius Dio, Roman History 42, 37–43; Plutarch, Caesar 49. Fundamental to the Alexandrian War: Heinz Heinen , Rome and Egypt from 51 to 47 BC Chr. , 1966, pp. 92-142.
    34. Alexandrian War 33; Cassius Dio, Roman History 42, 44; 43, 19; Suetonius, Caesar 35, 1; 76, 3; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 113-117; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 80-82.
    35. Suetonius, Caesar 52, 1; Appian, Civil Wars 2, 90, 378-379; M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, pp. 31–32 and C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 82-84 against M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 117-119 et al
    36. Discussion of whether Caesar was Caesarion's father and Cleopatra's political intentions with their emphasis on Caesar's fatherhood: J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 95-100; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 87-95.
    37. Cicero, ad Atticum 15, 15, 2; Cassius Dio, Roman History 43, 27, 3.
    38. ↑ In detail, especially the letter ad Atticum 15, 15, 2.
    39. ^ J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 119-120; Werner Huss: Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332–30 BC Chr. Munich 2001, p. 724; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 96-98.
    40. Appian, Civil Wars 2, 102, 424; Cassius Dio, Roman History 51, 22, 3; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 127-128; C. Shepherd, Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 99-100.
    41. Suetonius, Caesar 52, 1.
    42. Cicero, ad Atticum 14, 8, 1; 14, 20, 2; u. ö.
    43. For example Helmut Halfmann , Marcus Antonius , 2011, ISBN 978-3-89678-696-8 , p. 57; different for example C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, p. 97.
    44. Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 43, 27, 3; Suetonius, Caesar 52, 1; Werner Huss: Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332–30 BC Chr. Munich 2001, p. 725.
    45. Pliny, Natural History 18, 211f .; Suetonius, Caesar 44, 2f .; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 123-124; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 129-131.
    46. ^ M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 128-129; 133-134; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 99-104.
    47. Cicero, ad Atticum 14, 8, 1.
    48. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 14, 1629.
    49. See for example M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 140-141.
    50. Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 15, 89; Against Apion 2, 58; also Porphyrios, FGrH 260, F 2, 16-17.
    51. ^ J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, 1996, pp. 152-157; Werner Huss: Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332–30 BC Chr. Munich 2001, p. 727.
    52. ^ M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, pp. 45-46; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 142-144; G. Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire . Darmstadt 1994, pp. 249-252; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, p. 110.
    53. Seneca , Naturales Quaestiones 4a, 2, 16; Appian, Civil Wars 4, 61, and 108; Galen 19, 63 ed. Kühn; Josephus, Against Apion 2:60 ; Wilhelm Dittenberger , Orientis Graeci inscriptiones selectae 194 ; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 157-159; Manfred Clauss : Cleopatra. Munich 2000, pp. 41-44; Günther Hölbl : History of the Ptolemaic Empire . Darmstadt 1994, p. 215; Christoph Schäfer : Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 108-110.
    54. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 4, 61; Cassius Dio, Roman History 47, 30, 4; 47, 31, 5.
    55. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 4, 74; 4.82; 5, 8
    56. ^ J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 175-179; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 115-119.
    57. ^ A b Edward Allen Sydenham : The Coinage of the Roman Republic. London 1952, No. 1210; Michael Crawford : Roman Republican Coinage . Cambridge 1974, No. 543/2.
    58. Plutarch, Antonius 25: 2-27, 2; Cassius Dio, Roman History 48, 24, 2; Appian, Civil Wars 5, 1, 1-2; 5, 8, 32-33; M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, pp. 47-54; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 154-171; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 120-131.
    59. Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 15, 89; Appian, Civil Wars 5, 9; Cassius Dio, Roman History 48, 24, 2.
    60. Plutarch, Antonius 28-29; Appian, Civil Wars 5, 10, 42-12, 45; Cassius Dio, Roman History 48, 24, 3; 48, 24, 6-7; 48, 27, 1-2; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 197-203; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 185–187 relocates the anecdotes told by Plutarch to a later time when Antonius and Cleopatra lived together.
    61. Plutarch, Antonius 36, 5; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 32, 4.
    62. ^ Plutarch, Antonius 33, 2-5
    63. Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 14, 376; Jewish War 1, 279.
    64. ^ J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 203-228; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 178-186; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 140-147.
    65. Appian, Civil Wars 5, 93, 387-95, 399; Cassius Dio, Roman History 48, 54; Plutarch, Antonius 35
    66. ^ Duane W. Roller: The World of Juba II and Cleopatra Selene. New York 2003, pp. 141f.
    67. Plutarch, Antonius 36, 1-2; 36, 5; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 32, 4; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 230-232; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 149-150.
    68. Plutarch, Antonius 36, 3-4; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 32; Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 15, 92. 94–96. 106-107; Strabo, Geography 14, 5, 3.
    69. Cf. for example Plutarch, Antonius 36, 4; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 32, 4-5.
    70. C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 151-161; see M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 188-200.
    71. Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 15, 96-103; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 222-225. - The meeting of Herod and Cleopatra usually takes place in the year 36 BC. Dated, but would also be 34 BC. Possible because Josephus apparently throws together Antony's Parthian and Armenian campaigns.
    72. ^ Antony's Parthian War: Plutarch, Antonius 37-51; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 24-31; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 242-251; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 204-211; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 162-165.
    73. Plutarch, Antonius 53; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 33, 3f .; on this M. Clauss: Cleopatra (= Beck's knowledge series. 9). Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-39009-9 , pp. 61-63; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 166-168.
    74. Jump up ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 15, 24. 32. 45–48. 62-63. 76; on this Walter Otto : Herodes [14] . In: Pauly's real encyclopedia of classical antiquity . Supplementary volume II (1913), col. 1–158, here col. 36-40; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 169-173.
    75. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 5: 133-144; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 17, 5-18, 6; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 268-273; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 173-174.
    76. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 39; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 273-274; Werner Huss: Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332–30 BC Chr. Munich 2001, pp. 738-739; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 175-176.
    77. Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 49, 40, 2; 49, 44, 2; Plutarch, Antonius 53, 12.
    78. ^ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 49, 40, 3f .; Velleius 2, 82, 4; Plutarch, Antonius 50, 6f., On this M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 226-227; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 177-178.
    79. Plutarch, Antonius 54, 6-9; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 41, 1-3; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 227-233; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 178-182.
    80. ^ J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 276-278 in contrast to C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 178-181.
    81. ^ M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, p. 69; doubtful C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, p. 182.
    82. G. Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire . Darmstadt 1994, p. 267f .; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, p. 181.
    83. ^ M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 236-238, C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, p. 182.
    84. Seneca , suasoriae 1, 6; Plutarch, comparison of Demetrios and Antonius 1, 5 and 4, 2; Suetonius, Augustus 69, 2; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 235–236 (no marriage); G. Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire . Darmstadt 1994, p. 220 (dating of the marriage to the year 34 BC); Werner Huss: Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332–30 BC Chr. Munich 2001, p. 734 (marriage 36 BC).
    85. Plutarch, Antonius 54, 9.
    86. ^ Cassius Dio , Römische Geschichte 50, 3, 5; 50, 25, 3f.
    87. Plutarch, Antonius 60, 1; 72, 3; 83, 5.
    88. see Velleius 2, 83, 1f .; Pliny, Natural History 9, 119–121.
    89. Plutarch, Antonius 80, 3; Flavius ​​Philostratos , Lives of the Sophists 1, 4–5.
    90. Scholien zu Horace, Satires 1, 91; Pliny, Natural History 36, 32.
    91. On important men and cultivating culture at the court of Cleopatra see M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 252-254.
    92. The identification of the “mighty woman” of the oracles with Cleopatra is not without controversy, however M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 240–245 and C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 192-194; on the other hand, article Sibylline oracles in: RE II A, Col. 2131 (apocalyptic woman of the end times).
    93. Plutarch, Antonius 55; Cassius Dio, Roman History 50, 1; Suetonius, Augustus 69; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 258-262; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 188-189.
    94. Pliny, Natural History 9, 119–121; M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, p. 66; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, p. 186.
    95. Plutarch, Antonius 55, 4-56, 2; 58.9-59.8; Cassius Dio, Roman History 50, 5; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 263, 267, 276; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 196–197 and pp. 208–209.
    96. Plutarch, Antonius 56, 3–57, 5; Cassius Dio, Roman History 50, 2, 4-7; 50, 3, 2; Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 15, 106–110; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 264-265, 270-272 and 275; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 197-203 and pp. 206-207.
    97. Plutarch, Antonius 58, 4-8; Cassius Dio, Roman History 50, 3, 1–5; Suetonius, Augustus 17, 1; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 283-287; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 209-213.
    98. Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 50, 4, 4–5; 50, 5, 4; 50, 6, 1; 50, 21, 1; 50, 26, 3-4; Plutarch, Antonius 60.1; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 260 and 277-279; G. Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire . Darmstadt 1994, pp. 221-222; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 213-214.
    99. Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 50, 11-14; Plutarch, Antonius 60-63; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 292-293, 295-299; M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, pp. 85-91; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 214-222.
    100. ^ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 50, 15; 50, 31-35; 51, 1, 4-5; Plutarch, Antonius 64-68; M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, pp. 91-98; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 222-230.
    101. ^ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 51, 5, 3–6; 51, 7, 1-6; 51, 11, 2; Plutarch, Antonius 69 and 71; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 312-315; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 230-235.
    102. Plutarch, Antonius 72-77; Cassius Dio, Roman History 51, 6, 4-6; 51, 8-10; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 317-324; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 235–242.
    103. Plutarch, Antonius 78-79; 81, 4; Cassius Dio, Roman History 51, 11; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 324-325; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, p. 242.
    104. Plutarch, Antonius 82, 2-5; Cassius Dio, Roman History 51, 11, 5; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 326-328.
    105. Plutarch, Antonius 83; Cassius Dio, Roman History 51, 11, 6–13, 3; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 328-329; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 243-244.
    106. Plutarch, Antonius 84; J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, pp. 331-332; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, p. 244.
    107. Plutarch, Antonius 85; Cassius Dio, Roman History 51, 13, 3-5; 51, 14, 3-4; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 311-312; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 244-246.
    108. Plutarch, Antonius 86, 1-5; Cassius Dio, Roman History 51, 14, 1-2; Strabo, Geography 17, 795; Galen 14, 237 ed. Kühn; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 312-313; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 244-246.
    109. Horace , Oden 1, 37, 26-28; Properz 3, 11, 53-54; Virgil , Aeneid 8, 697.
    110. ^ M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, pp. 102-103; G. Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire . Darmstadt 1994, pp. 225 and 269.
    111. Werner Huss: Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332–30 BC Chr. Munich 2001, p. 748; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 247-248.
    112. ^ So J. Brambach: Cleopatra. Munich 1996, p. 325; 329-333; M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 310-311; F. Stähelin, in: RE XI 1 (1921), col. 778-779.
    113. Quoted from M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, p. 373 note 35.
    114. ^ Duane W. Roller: The World of Juba II and Cleopatra Selene. New York 2003, p. 139.
    115. Archeology: Researchers believe in the discovery of Cleopatra's tomb . In: Spiegel Online , April 19, 2009; Chip Brown: Archaeologists on the trail of Cleopatra . In: Spiegel Online, July 10, 2011. See Alexander Stenzel: Temple on Egypt's Mediterranean coast. Cleopatra's tomb discovered? ( Memento from April 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: Tagesschau.de , April 20, 2009.
    116. See on this: Klaus Bringmann: Augustus . Primus, Darmstadt 2007, p. 102. Jochen Bleicken: Augustus. A biography . Alexander Fest, Berlin 2000, p. 292. Heinz Heinen: Cäsar and Kaisarion , Historia 18, 1969, pp. 181-203.
    117. Plutarch, Antonius 81, 1-82, 1; 86, 7-87, 2; Cassius Dio, Roman History 51, 15, 1. 4–6; 51, 17, 6; Suetonius, Augustus 17, 5.
    118. ^ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 51, 17, 1; Suetonius, Augustus 18, 2; 66, 1.
    119. Ioannis N. Svoronos : Τα νομίσματα του κράτους των Πτολεμαίων (Ta nomismata tou kratous ton Ptolemaion.) Volume 1. Sakellarios, Athens 1904, p. 311 No. 1872 ( digitized version ).
    120. ^ RPC I 4094.
    121. ^ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 42, 34, 4-5.
    122. Jan Willem van Henten: Cleopatra in Josephus: From Herod's Rival to the Wise Ruler's Opposite. In: Anthony Hilhorst, George H. van Kooten (eds.): The Wisdom of Egypt. Jewish, Early Christian, and Gnostic Essays (Festschrift Gerard P. Luttikhuizen). Brill, Leiden 2005, ISBN 978-90-04-14425-5 , pp. 115-134 (here: p. 128 and note 46).
    123. Plutarch, Antonius 27, 3-4.
    124. ^ Christiane Vorster : The Roman portraits of Cleopatra. In: Bonner Jahrbücher . Volume 213, 2013, pp. 52–74, here: p. 54.
    125. ^ Christiane Vorster: The Roman portraits of Cleopatra. In: Bonner Jahrbücher. Volume 213, 2013, pp. 52–74, here: p. 61.
    126. C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 254-257.
    127. Peter Higgs, Susan Walker: Cleopatra VII. At the Louvre. In: Sally-Ann Ashton, Susan Walker (Eds.): Cleopatra reassessed. (= British Museum Occasional Paper. No. 103, 2003, ISSN  0142-4815 ). British Museum, London 2003, pp. 71-74; Portrait head of Cleopatra VII. Berlin, collection of antiquities in the archaeological database Arachne .
    128. Portrait head of Cleopatra VII. Rome, Musei Vaticani, Museo Pio Clementino in the archaeological database Arachne .
    129. For both busts see Christiane Vorster: The Roman portraits of Cleopatra. In: Bonner Jahrbücher. Volume 213, 2013, pp. 52-74.
    130. Matthias Schulz: The face of the goddess . In: Der Spiegel . No. 42 , 2006, p. 257-259 ( online ). ; C. Shepherd: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 257-259.
    131. Hermitage 3936; S.-A. Ashton: Ptolemaic Royal Sculpture from Egypt. Oxford 2001, ISBN 1-84171-221-3 , pp. 42, 114, no.63.
    132. ^ M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 331-337.
    133. ^ M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 329-331.
    134. ^ M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 337-338.
    135. Simon Benne: Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra VII. Building power, ruling representation and political conception . Göttingen 2001.
    136. Marian Nebelin: Cleopatra's ancient history of reception. Division - scarcity - elimination of associations . In: Janina Göbel, Tanja Zech (Hrsg.): Export hit - cultural exchange, economic relations and transnational developments in the ancient world . Munich 2010, pp. 26–54.
    137. Ilse Becher: The image of Cleopatra in Greek and Latin literature . Berlin 1966.
    138. ^ M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, p. 120.
    139. ^ M. Grant: Cleopatra. A biography . Bergisch Gladbach 1998, pp. 322-328.
    140. ^ M. Clauss: Cleopatra. Munich 2000, p. 8.
    141. C. Schäfer: Cleopatra. Darmstadt 2006, pp. 252-253.
    predecessor government office successor
    Ptolemy XII Queen of Egypt
    51–30 BC Chr.
    Augustus