A quick glimpse into Cleopatra's portrayal in Antiquity and in the Modern World.

1. Haley Lynn Shoemaker
Ancient Near East
Exam 1
Visions of the Queen: Cleopatra Then and Now
Cleopatra VII as ruler, woman, public figure and sex symbol has fascinated the western
world since her spectacular and untimely death. She has been painted at various points in history
as the wanton harlot, the selfish child, the treacherous snake or the strong self-possessed feminist
ideal. In every depiction she is shown to be wealthy and power-hungry. She was wildly
unpopular in Rome, and Roman historians communicate this clearly in their writing. By contrast,
in American movies, Cleopatra is almost universally depicted as a protagonist. Even when she is
characterized as scheming, greedy and promiscuous, she is still cast in a favorable or a
sympathetic light. This paper deals in particular with five depictions of the infamous Cleopatra.
Three are from antiquity: Suetonius’ De Vita Caesarum, Divus Julius; Cassius Dio’s Roman
History; and Pliny the Elder’s Natural History. The remaining two portrayals examined here
come from American cinema: the 1945 production of George Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and
Cleopatra with Cleopatra being played by Vivien Leigh; and the 1963 film Cleopatra with
Elizabeth Taylor as the eponymous lead.
Suetonius preferred in his account of the lives of the Caesars to overlook Cleopatra’s
actions in favor of those of Julius Caesar, which is perhaps understandable given his thesis.
However, he did emphasize the hold which Cleopatra had over Julius Caesar, saying:
He would have gone through Egypt with her in her state-barge…
had not his soldiers refused to follow him. Finally he called her to
Rome and did not let her leave until he had ladened her with high

2. honors and rich gifts, and he allowed her to give his name to the
child which she bore.
Cassius Dio wrote in much greater detail in Roman History about Cleopatra. He chose to present
her as ruthless, cunning and deceitful. He pointed out her greed, saying “she proceeded to gather
vast wealth from their estates and from various other sources both profane and sacred, sparing
not even the most holy shrines.” He then recounted Cleopatra secretly offering her kingdom to
Augustus, and also Antony offering his own life to save her while she was threatening to burn all
her treasure if Augustus did not meet her demands. Pliny highlighted Cleopatra’s fabulous
wealth, decadence and avarice. He told of her owning the largest pearls in all of history and
throwing one into vinegar, where it dissolved, merely to impress Antony with her riches. Pliny
recalled these infamous pearls to celebrate Rome’s triumph over Cleopatra:“when that queen…
was captured, the second of this pair of pearls was cut into two pieces, so that half a helping of
the jewel might be in each of the ears of the Venus in the Pantheon at Rome.” This was
particularly significant as Cleopatra claimed to be a god, the daughter of Isis; by taking a token
of this “daughter” and putting it on a goddess of Rome, Pliny firmly established Roman
dominance.
Modern sources, particularly movies, have dealt with the subject of Cleopatra a little
differently than primary sources did. This is logical, as the movies were made to attract modern
viewers who idolize Cleopatra, not to please Roman emperors who saw her as an enemy of the
Empire. There were similarities, however: in Caesar and Cleopatra, Cleopatra was rendered as a
silly, selfish and short-sighted teenager who was constantly told to stand back and be quiet while
the grown-up men sorted out her kingdom. Julius Caesar favored her over her brother because
her brother was controlled by courtiers, whereas Julius Caesar believed, correctly, that he could
control Cleopatra. She was a spoiled though lovable child who slowly learned to think critically

3. by watching Julius Caesar, and as she learned she was teased by her handmaidens for being too
serious and solemn. The only other female character in the movie was Ftatateeta, Cleopatra’s
nurse and the person closest to her, and she was a cackling witch with mad eyes who committed
murder and was executed. Clearly, this movie was shot with an eye to making sure that the
female characters, including the queen, did not challenge the superiority and sovereignty of the
male characters. This was a fitting theme for 1945, when women had joined the workforce en
masse due to the outbreak of World War II, and were subsequently challenging societal norms in
a variety of other unsettling ways.
This version of Cleopatra’s character stands in stark contrast to the Cleopatra played by
Elizabeth Taylor in 1963. Taylor’s portrayal epitomized the Cleopatra of myth and legend, a
revelation in silks made up of two conflicting personalities: she is part sensual exotic
otherworldly seductress and part arrogant megalomaniacal power-hungry queen. This was a
Cleopatra for the ages, a Cleopatra larger-than-life. She was aloof and unapproachable, and she
endured the death of first Julius Caesar and then her son Caesarian. She was here shown as a
woman who stood on her own, perhaps reflecting the ways gender roles had changed from 1945
to 1963. However, while she was a powerful woman, that power was strictly limited to her
ability to sexually influence powerful men. She could not exercise power directly, only seduce
those who could.
Whether she was good or evil, innocent or corrupt, passive or aggressive, there can be no
question that the story of Cleopatra and her turbulent reign of Egypt has fascinated Western
civilization for centuries. She seems to have embodied every possible positive and negative
stereotype about women at some point. While various differences exist between her

4. representation in Roman sources and the way we picture her today, her story is still being told.
Obviously, she continues to be a powerful symbol in our world today.