In the late Ptolemaic period dynastic troubles were no longer an internal affair and Kleopatra became a major player in world politics (Chauveau 2000, 2002; Schaefer 2006; Ashton 2008). Her liaisons with the world’s leading politicians are considered the equivalent of dynastic marriages, her dowry being Egypt (Pomeroy 1990: 25). She gave the Romans clear signals of her ambitions when she built a Caesareum in Alexandria and called her eldest son Ptolemy Caesar Philopator (the Father-loving), thus presenting her son by Caesar to the world, though Caesar’s paternity was doubted even in antiquity (Pomeroy 1990: 25-6; Heinen 2009: 154-75). The Alexandrians teasingly called him Caesarion, ‘‘Little Caesar’’ (Schuller 2006: 131).
Figure 9.2 Kleopatra VII and Caesarion making offerings to Hathor at Dendera. Courtesy Martina Minas.
Together with the triumvir Antony, who controlled the eastern part of the Roman Empire, she dreamt of creating a Hellenistic kingdom in the East. They made their dream public in the gymnasium of Alexandria (Plutarch Ant. 54) and took the necessary steps by emptying the Egyptian treasury. This explosive alliance was expressed on coins showing both her image and that of Antony, and, at a final stage, in their common burial. The dynastic cult was given a strong boost when Kleopatra reactivated themes from the time of Ptolemy II, though she sometimes exaggerated, as shown by the divine names of her twins by Antony, Helios (‘‘Sun’’) and Selene (‘‘Moon’’). Antony made Kleopatra ‘‘Queen of Kings’’ and her son Caesarion ‘‘King of Kings.’’ For Antony these titles were part of the propaganda war against the Parthians, but, when he made his children titular heads of Roman provinces and regions not yet conquered, Octavian interfered promptly and attacked the couple in western Greece where the last great naval battle in antiquity at Actium was won by Octavian. Kleopatra and Antony fled to Egypt, and Kleopatra even entered the Alexandrian harbor accompanied by victory songs. She filled the empty treasury and bargained secretly with Octavian to ensure the succession of her son Caesarion (Dio Cassius 51.6), but one year after Actium Egypt was defeated, and Octavian’s reign in the country began when he entered Alexandria on 1 or 3 August 30 BC. Kleopatra, the New Isis, had failed. Her suicide by cobra’s poison, if such was the method, could have been symbolic, the cobra being an ancient symbol of Pharaonic power, but recent research rather points to use of a cocktail of deadly poisons, including the hemlock that killed Socrates (Mebs & Schaeffer 2008).
Octavian refused to pay homage to the deceased Ptolemaic kings, but he did show respect to Alexander, wishing to see ‘‘a king, not corpses’’ (Suetonius 2.18). He brought the Ptolemaic dynasty to a swift and efficient end, executing Caesarion (‘‘a plurality of Caesars is not a good thing,’ ’ Areios in Plutarch Ant. 81), but he spared her children by Antony and had her daughter Kleopatra Selene betrothed to the king of Mauretania.
World History
