1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, Brainstuff. Lauren 2 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: Vogelbaum here for being one of the most famous women 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: in history. The real Cleopatra, who lived from the years 4 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: sixty nine to thirty BCE, is shrouded in mystery. She 5 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: ruled Egypt for twenty two of those years, commanded riches 6 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: unrivaled in the ancient world, and bore children to two 7 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: of the most powerful men in Rome. Yet the stories 8 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 1: of her passed down over the centuries. Cleopatra as the cunning, 9 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: wanton s doctress were mostly propaganda written by her enemies before. 10 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:46,880 Speaker 1: The article of this episode is based on How Stuff Works. 11 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: Spoke with Prudence Jones, a history professor at Montclair State 12 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: University and author of Cleopatra a source Book. So today 13 00:00:55,400 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: let's do some mythbusting. First off, Cleopatra was not Egyptian. 14 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,680 Speaker 1: She was the last in a long line of Macedonian 15 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: Greek kings and queens who ruled Egypt starting with the 16 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 1: conquest of Alexander the Great in three thirty two BCE. 17 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: After Alexander's death, his general Ptolemy the First was installed 18 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: as the King of Egypt, which he ruled as a 19 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: Greek from the Hellenistic capital of Alexandria. Cleopatra, born over 20 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: two hundred fifty years later, was a daughter of Ptolemy 21 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: the seventh. The identity of Cleopatra's mother is unknown, though 22 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: it's thought to have been Cleopatra the Fifth, who was 23 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: Ptolemy the seventh wife and also his sister or half sister, 24 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: as was common among Egyptian royalty at the time. Although 25 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: Cleopatra was not ethnically Egyptian, she made explicit overtures to 26 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: Egyptian religion and culture, such as identifying herself with the 27 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: goddess Isith. She was also the first queen in the 28 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: centuries long dynasty to bother to learn how to speak Egyptian. 29 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: Jones said, the rest weren't very motivated. Indeed, Cleopatra wowed 30 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 1: with brains and charm, not just beauty. The Roman enemies 31 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: of Egypt sought to denigrate Cleopatra by painting her as 32 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: a harleck queen who bewitched great men like Julius Caesar 33 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: and Mark Antony with her physical beauty alone. But even 34 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: the Roman historian Plutarch, writing a century after Cleopatra's death, 35 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: reported that there was much more to Cleopatra than her looks, 36 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: he said, to converse with her, had an irresistible charm, 37 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 1: and her presence, combined with the persuasiveness of her discourse, 38 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 1: and the character which was somehow diffused about her behavior 39 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,360 Speaker 1: towards others, had something stimulating about it. There was a 40 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: sweetness also in the tones of her voice and her tongue. 41 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: Like an instrument of many strings. She could readily turn 42 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: to whatever language she pleased, so that she very seldom 43 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 1: had need an interpreter. In addition to speaking Greek and Egyptian, 44 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: Cleopatra was fluent in at least six other languages. A 45 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: highly educated woman, she published two known texts, one on 46 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:16,359 Speaker 1: the care of the body and the other on weights 47 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:21,360 Speaker 1: and measures for medicine and trade. Compared with the military 48 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:24,640 Speaker 1: mind of Antony, who was Jones said, not known for 49 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,760 Speaker 1: being the sharpest tack in the box, Cleopatra was famous 50 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 1: for her intellect. Along those lines, her love affair with 51 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: Caesar was a strategic alliance. Cleopatra was not the lascivious 52 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: fury described by some Roman poets, ruled only by her 53 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: promiscuous passions. She had only two romantic partners in her 54 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: short thirty nine year life, and both relationships were political 55 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: as well as personal. According to Jones, when Cleopatra took 56 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: the Egyptian throne at eighteen, she inherited a kingdom in 57 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: the line. Rome was the ascendant power in the Mediterranean, 58 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: and Egypt's independence was under threat, and to make matters worse, 59 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: her younger brother and co ruler and husband It's complicated, 60 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: was trying to push her out. When Julius Caesar came 61 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: to Egypt in pursuit of his rival Pompey, Cleopatra saw 62 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: opportunity to win a powerful Roman ally. Accuding to Plutarch's 63 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: famous account, a middle aged Caesar first laid eyes on 64 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: Cleopatra when she smuggled himself into his quarters and tumbled 65 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: out of a carpet or, more likely a basket of laundry. 66 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: The young Cleopatra won Caesar's affections, took back the throne, 67 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: and sealed the alliance with the birth of a son, 68 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: whom she not so subtly named Cesarean, meaning Little Caesar. 69 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: She now had family ties to Rome. Cleopatra's later relationship 70 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: with Mark Antony, who was second in command to Caesar, 71 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: was immortalized by Shakespeare in the play Antony and Cleopatra 72 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:05,719 Speaker 1: as one of the most legendary and tragic love affairs 73 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:10,359 Speaker 1: in history, but it too, primarily served a political purpose. 74 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,599 Speaker 1: Egypt may have enjoyed great wealth and resources, but after 75 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: Caesar's assassination, Cleopatra knew that her kingdom was still at 76 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: the whim of Rome, the reigning superpower. Jones explained. Cleopatra 77 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,799 Speaker 1: was well aware then in order for Egypt to remain 78 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:33,840 Speaker 1: independent at all, it needed a powerful protector. Caesar's death 79 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 1: had left a power vacuum in Rome, and two prominent men, 80 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: Octavian being Caesar's chosen heir and nephew, and Antony, the 81 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: ambitious politician in general, were fighting a civil war to 82 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: fill it. Octavian had the financial backing of the Senate, 83 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 1: but Antony desperately needed money to pay his troops. Once again, 84 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: Cleopatra saw an inn she was the richest woman in 85 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: the world. In exchange for her her financial support, Antony 86 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: became Egypt's ally and defender against Roman encroachment, and he 87 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:12,680 Speaker 1: and Cleopatra, who eventually married, had three more heirs. This 88 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: brings us to one last myth, though, the double suicide 89 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:21,479 Speaker 1: of Antony and Cleopatra, as recorded by Plutarch, provided a 90 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: suitably tragic ending to Shakespeare's play, but although it was 91 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: based on true events, it probably didn't go down exactly 92 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: as Shakespeare wrote it. In the play, Anthony, A, falsely 93 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:38,559 Speaker 1: believing Cleopatra to be dead after a failed sea battle 94 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,360 Speaker 1: against Octavian A, falls on his own sword and eventually 95 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 1: dies in her arms from the wound. Cleopatra, not willing 96 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:48,479 Speaker 1: to be paraded in the streets of Rome as a 97 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:52,919 Speaker 1: prisoner of war, has a poisonous snake smuggled into her corners. 98 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,000 Speaker 1: In the final scene of the play, she hugs the 99 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:00,919 Speaker 1: snake to her breast. Plutarch's version is a bit different, 100 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: but even he admitted that there were various accounts of 101 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:08,159 Speaker 1: Cleopatra's death and that quote the truth of the matter 102 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: no one knows, for it was also said that she 103 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: carried about poison in a hollow comb and kept the 104 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: comb hidden in her hair. Modern scholars say that poison 105 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: would have been a much simpler and faster way to go, 106 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: but that Cleopatra likely included the more dramatic snake story 107 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: in her suicide note. After Cleopatra's death, Egypt became a 108 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: province of the Roman Empire, and the rest, as they say, 109 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: is history. Today's episode is based on the article five 110 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,920 Speaker 1: things Everyone gets wrong about Cleopatra on how Stuffworks dot Com, 111 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:50,240 Speaker 1: written by Dave Ruse. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio 112 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced 113 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio, 114 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 115 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.