Cleopatra commands more fascination than almost any other woman in history. You likely picture her with a cobra and heavy eyeliner. However, she was a Macedonian Greek intellectual who spoke nine languages. She lived closer to the iPhone than to the Pyramids. Furthermore, she commanded naval fleets and wrote medical textbooks. Let’s explore the life of the Queen of the Nile.
Cleopatra
Cleopatra actually lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the construction of the Great Pyramids. The Egyptians built the pyramids at Giza roughly 2,500 years before her birth. Consequently, she viewed those ancient monuments as distant history, just as we do today.
She was not ethnically Egyptian, but rather Macedonian Greek. She descended directly from Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander the Great’s generals. Therefore, she belonged to a European dynasty that ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries.
Cleopatra spoke at least nine different languages fluently. While her family members refused to learn the native tongue of their subjects, she became the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language. Thus, she could communicate directly with diplomats from Ethiopia, Troglodyte, and Hebrew lands without an interpreter.
She dissolved a massive pearl in a cup of vinegar to win a bet against Mark Antony. She wagered that she could spend ten million sestertii on a single meal. After dropping the priceless jewel into the acidic liquid, she drank the resulting cocktail to prove her immense wealth.
Historical coins depict her with a hooked nose and a protruding chin. Roman propaganda likely exaggerated her beauty to make her seem like a seductive sorceress. In reality, ancient historians claimed her intelligence and charm seduced men, rather than her physical looks.
She formed a drinking club with Mark Antony called the “Inimitable Livers.” The members held nightly feasts and engaged in wild pranks across the city of Alexandria. They famously wandered the streets in disguise to listen to the gossip of the common people.
Cleopatra famously smuggled herself into Julius Caesar’s palace inside a laundry sack. Although movies often show her unrolling from a Persian carpet, historical texts suggest she used a simple bed sack. This clever infiltration allowed her to bypass her brother’s guards and charm the Roman general immediately.
She married two of her own adolescent brothers to preserve the royal bloodline. The Ptolemaic laws required siblings to rule together as married couple. However, she eventually eliminated both brothers to establish herself as the sole ruler of Egypt.
The Queen authored a medical book on cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. She wrote extensively about remedies for hair loss and dandruff. Consequently, her knowledge of chemistry helped her create the poisons she eventually used to end her life.
Archaeologists have never found her tomb. Historians believe her priests buried her alongside Mark Antony in a hidden location near Alexandria. Despite centuries of searching, the desert sands continue to hide her final resting place.
She led her own fleet of warships into the Battle of Actium. She commanded sixty Egyptian ships alongside Antony’s Roman forces against Octavian. Unfortunately, she miscalculated the tide of the battle and fled early, which caused the rest of the fleet to lose hope.
Cleopatra likely died from a toxic ointment rather than an asp bite. While the legend says she let a cobra bite her breast, a snake bite would have been slow and painful. Most modern scholars believe she carried a hollow hair comb filled with a potent poison mixture.
She considered herself the living incarnation of the goddess Isis. She dressed in sacred robes and used religious pageantry to solidify her power over the people. This divine status made her untouchable in the eyes of her Egyptian subjects.
Her son, Caesarion, was the only biological child of Julius Caesar. She hoped he would one day unite Rome and Egypt into a single empire. Tragically, Caesar’s adopted heir, Octavian, hunted the boy down and executed him to eliminate the rival claim.
The black kohl eyeliner she wore served a medical purpose. The lead-based makeup boosted the production of nitric oxide in the skin, which helped fight off eye infections. Thus, her dramatic style also protected her vision from the bacteria in the Nile floodwaters.
