Cleopatra

Cleopatra

 

       

Cleopatra (epithet Netjeret-mer-it-es) was actually the last of seven Ptolomaic queens of the same name.

Cleopatra VII (ruled 51-30 BC) was illustrious, intelligent and politically astute, and was reputedly the only Ptolomaic ruler to have actually learnt the Egyptian language. Cleopatra VII first shared a co-regency with her father Ptolomy XII (ruled 80-51 BC). Pharaoh Ptolemy XII died in March 51 BC making the 18 year old Cleopatra and her 12 year old brother Ptolemy XIII joint monarchs. These first three years of their reign was difficult due to economic difficulties, famine, deficient floods of Nile and political conflicts. Relations between the sovereigns completely broke down and her brother Ptolomy XIII actually ousted her from power for a time in the year 48 BC. Cleopatra tried to raise a rebellion, but in the end had little choice but to flee.

Cleopatra's links with Rome were first forged through Pompey, who had been appointed as her guardian on the death of her father. Defeated by Caesar at Pharsalia in 48 BC, Pompey had fled to Egypt where he was subsequently assassinated under the orders of Cleopatra's brother Ptolomy XIII. Ptolemy is thought to have ordered the death as a way of pleasing Julius Caesar and becoming an ally of Rome, to which Egypt was in debt. This was a catastrophic miscalculation on Ptolemy's part. When Caesar arrived in Egypt two days later, Ptolemy presented him with Pompey's severed, pickled head. Caesar was enraged. This was probably due to the fact that, although political enemies, Pompey had been a Consul of Rome and was the widower of Caesar's only daughter Julia, who had died in childbirth with their son. Ptolemy XIII was drowned in the Nile and Caesar restored Cleopatra to the throne, this time with her second brother Ptolomy XIV as co-ruler.

Cleopatra and Julius Caesar

In 47 BC, Cleopatra had a son, Ptolomy Caesarion, whom she claimed to be fathered by Julius Caesar. Although Caesar refused to make the boy his heir, against Cleopatra's wishes, naming his grand-nephew Octavian instead. Cleopatra and Caesarion visited Caesar in Rome in 46 BC, but had returned to Egypt after his assassination. Upon her return, she then proceeded to have her own brother/husband "disposed" of, possibly poisoned, and then instated her son Caesarion as her new co-regent.

The death of Julius Caesar on the 15th March 44 BC was followed by civil war in the Roman Empire. His assassins, led by Brutus and Cassius, were defeated by Mark Anthony and Octavian, Caesar's adopted son and heir. In the settlement that followed, Mark Anthony took the Eastern section of the Roman Empire, and Octavian took the West.

Cleopatra and Mark Anthony

Various political manoeuvres then led Cleopatra to be summoned to a meeting with Mark Anthony at Tarsus. He spent the winter at Alexandria, after which Cleopatra bore him twins. On 25th December 40 BC she gave birth to a boy and a girl who were named Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene (II) respectively.

Four years later, in 37 BC, Antony visited Alexandria again while on route to make war with the Parthians. He renewed his relationship with Cleopatra, and from this point on Alexandria would be his home. He married Cleopatra according to the Egyptian rite (a letter quoted in Suetonius suggests this), although he was at the time married to Octavia Minor, the sister of Octavian. He and Cleopatra had another child, Ptolemy Philadelphus.

In 34 BC, under the "Donations of Alexandria", Mark Anthony divided various parts of the Eastern Roman Empire between Cleopatra and her children, legitimating his actions to the Senate by telling them that he was simply installing "client rulers" to these areas. Octavian, the brother of Mark Anthony's Roman wife had set his sights on the supreme power of the Roman Empire. Mark Anthony's behaviour with Cleopatra offered Octavian the perfect opportunity to initiate a propaganda campaign against his brother-in-law and Cleopatra, until finally in 32 BC, Rome declared war on her.

The might of Rome versus Cleopatra

In 33 BC Octavian managed to defeat Mark Anthony at the naval battle of Actium. For some unknown reason, Cleopatra's fleet had unexpectedly withdrawn from the battle. Octavian then pursued both Mark Anthony and Cleopatra into Egypt, but finally on 10th August 30 BC, realising that "all was in effect lost", and mistakenly thinking that Cleopatra was already dead, Mark Anthony committed suicide.

Cleopatra followed suit a few days later, preferring death to the humiliation of a Roman triumph. Caesarion, Cleopatra's son by Caesar,  was proclaimed pharaoh by Egyptians, but Octavian had him captured and executed. On 30th August 30 BC, he proclaimed himself "Pharaoh of Egypt". After a culture that had spanned thousands of years, Egypt was conquered and inaugurated as a province into the Eastern Roman Empire.

Cleopatra's legendary notoriety - how did she become so famous?

As Queen of a wealthy nation, Cleopatra was a ruler at a pivotal time in ancient history. During her reign, she promoted herself relentlessly, making public displays of her power, her image as pharaoh and goddess, and her links with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. In addition, she personally led significant rituals and was identified with Isis, the most important Egyptian goddess of the day. In doing so, Cleopatra inspired great affection and loyalty among her people.

After she died, Cleopatra's Roman enemy Octavian spread tales about her, unintentionally spinning her story into a legend. Even before her death, Cleopatra's story had taken on mythic proportions. Since then, each passing era has put its own imprint on her legend. The legend grew through the writings of Plutarch, Chaucer, and Shakespeare, and through the many film versions of her story.

  Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety; other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies;…
Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra

A strong and capable ruler

When she came to power at just 18 years of age, Cleopatra was highly educated, spoke several languages and was mature beyond her years. Her abilities were evident early on as she helped Egypt survive a severe drought and launched lucrative economic reforms. Yet her position was precarious. Her father had left the country in civil turmoil, and Cleopatra faced the constant threat of assassination by siblings who also wanted to rule. In addition, the Roman Empire was emerging on Egypt's doorstep and were attracted to Egypt's vast wealth and agricultural resources.

Cleopatra's famous alliances with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were as political as they were personal. Through them, Cleopatra shrewdly secured her throne and preserved Egypt's status as an independent nation for more than 20 years, despite the increasing power of Rome.

Egyptian-style statues and images of Cleopatra generally depict her wearing the unusual triple uraeus.

source : http://pharaohs.atspace.com

Akhenaten

 

       

Amenhotep IV (throne name Nefer-kheperue-re) becomes Akhenaten, the famous "heretic" pharaoh.

Akhenaten (1352-1336 BC) was son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiy. During his reign both the art and religion in Egypt were marked by rapid change. When he initially succeeded the throne he was known as Amenhotep IV, but changed his name to Akhenaten in his fifth regnal year, and began to build a new capital called Akhetaten ("horizon of the sun"), in Middle Egypt. This phase, encompassing Akhenaten's and Smenkhkara's reign and the beginning of Tutankhamun's, is now referred to as the Armarna Period, and the site of the city of Akhetaten is now known as el-Amarna.

Late-Amarna style sculpture of Akhenaten, probably from the workshop of Thutmose	Akenaten and his family, shown adoring the Aten sun-disc.	Bust of Akhenaten, Cairo Museum

Akhenaten was a philosopher and a thinker, much more so than his forebears. His father Amenhotep III had recognised the growing power of the priesthood of Amun and had sought to curb it - Akhenaten however took matters a lot further by introducing the new "monothesitic" cult of worship to the sun-disc Aten. This was not a new idea, as a minor aspect of the sun god Ra-Horakty, the Aten had been somewhat venerated in the Old Kingdom. A large scarab belonging to Tuthmosis IV (Akhenaten's grandfather) has a text that mentions the Aten.

The major religious innovation of this reign was the worship of the sun disc Aten to the exclusion of the rest of the Egyptian gods, even Amun. Art took on a new distinctive style - the reliefs and stelae in the tombs and temples of Akenaten's reign show Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti and the royal princesses worshipping and making offerings to the Aten, which was displayed as a sun-disc with radiating arms and hands stretched downwards (see pictures above). The names of other deities were removed from temple walls in an attempt to reinforce the idea of the Aten as a single supreme deity.

The Aten is portrayed as a sun disc whose protective rays stretch down into hands holding the ankh, the symbol for life. Everywhere the royal family appeared they were shown to be under the protective rays of the Aten. The king, usually accompanied by Nefertiti and a number of their daughters, dominate the reliefs on walls of the tombs of the nobles at el-Amarna. This Aten symbol is prevalent in all of the distinctive art of the Amarna period, and is also depicted upon some of the treasures of the later pharaoh, Tutankhamun.

Physical representations

Significantly, and for the only time in the history of Egyptian royal art, Akhenaten's family was depicted in a decidedly naturalistic manner, and they are clearly shown displaying affection for each other. Nefertiti also appears beside the king in actions usually reserved for a Pharaoh, suggesting that she attained unusual power for a queen. Artistic representations of Akhenaten give him a strikingly bizarre appearance, with slender limbs, a protruding belly and wide hips, giving rise to controversial theories such as that he may have actually been a woman masquerading as a man, or that he was a hermaphrodite or had some other intersex condition. The fact that Akhenaten had several children argues against these suggestions. It has also been suggested that he suffered from Marfan's syndrome.

Until Akhenaten's mummy is located and identified, proposals of actual physical abnormalities are likely to remain speculative. However, it must be kept in mind that there is no good evidence that we are necessarily dealing with a literal representation of Akhenaten's physical form, or that of his wife or children. As pharaoh, Akhenaten had complete control over how he, his family, and his government in general was represented in art. We can only assume that what we see as an odd physical abnormality was in fact the way that Akhenaten wanted to be artistically portrayed.

Family values

Akhenaten was married to Nefertiti at the very beginning of his reign, and the couple had six known daughters:

	Meritaten
	Meketaten
	Ankhesenpaaten, later Queen of Tutankhamun
	Neferneferuaten Tasherit
	Neferneferure
	Setepenre

Akhenaten's most famous wife was of course Nefertiti who was known as the "great royal wife" early in his reign. He also had additional consorts, including Kiya, a "lesser royal wife", Meritaten, who was recorded as his "great royal wife" late in his reign, and Ankhesenpaaten, his third daughter, who is thought to have borne a daughter to her own father. After Akhenaten's death, Ankhesenpaaten married Tutankhamun.

What happened after Akhenaten?

Following Akenaten's death, a peaceful but comprehensive political, religious and artistic reformation returned Egyptian life to the norms it had followed previously during his father's reign. Much of the art and building infrastructure that was created during Akhenaten's reign was defaced or destroyed in the period immediately following his death. Stone building blocks from his construction projects were later used as foundation stones for subsequent rulers temples and tombs.

The mysterious Smenkhkare

In year 14 of Akhenaten's reign, Nefertiti herself vanishes from the historical record, and there is no word of her after that date. Her disappearance coincides with the rise of co-ruler Smenkhkare to the throne. Smenkhkare is thought to have been married to her daughter Meritaten, and may have become Akhenaten's co-regent for a few years before Akhenaten's death. He certainly ruled Egypt for a brief period since he is attested in his Year 1 on a wine label from "the House of Smenkhkare".

However, Smenkhkare is also depicted in many of the same ways as Nefertiti was, and his regnal name, Nefernefruaten, is quite similar to that of Nefertiti. He is sometimes depicted as looking very feminine, and even his name was sometimes written with a feminine ending. This has led some scholars to believe that Smenkhkare was in fact another name for Nefertiti, and instead of falling from grace or dying, Nefertiti actually rose in power, taking the throne for herself after the death of her husband.

After a reign of around 18 years, Akhenaten was succeeded for a short time by Smenkhkara. Soon after, a rather youthful Tutankhaten succeeded the throne. He may have been a son of Akhenaten's, or a younger brother of Smenkhare, or even a younger son of Amenhotep III. Within a few years, Tutankhaten had abandoned the city at Tell el-Amarna in favour of the traditional administrative centre at Memphis, and in the second year of his reign he changed his name to Tutankhamun, effectively signalling the end of the supremacy of the Aten. Many reliefs from this period were later heavily damaged as a reaction against the so-called heresy of Akhenaten.  

What happened to their bodies?

One other mystery remains surrounding the Amarna period - the disappearance of the bodies of Akhenaten and his immediate family. The royal tomb to the east of el-Amarna appears to never have been completed and there is little evidence to suggest that anyone other than one of his daughters was ever buried there. In 1907 a young male member of the royal family was discovered by Theodore Davis in tomb 55 in the Valley of the Kings. This mummy had been reburied with a set of funerary equipment mainly belonging to Queen Tiy, and was initially identified as that of Akhenaten (a view still accepted by some Egyptologists) but is now considered to be that of Smenkhkara.

Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun, and Ay (Tutankhamun's successor) were excised from the official lists of Pharaohs, which instead reported that Amenhotep III was immediately succeeded by Horemheb. This is thought to be part of an attempt by Horemheb to delete all trace of Atenism and the pharaohs associated with it from the historical record. Akhenaten's name never appeared on any of the king lists compiled by later Pharaohs and it was not until the late 19th century that his identity was re-discovered and the surviving traces of his reign were unearthed by archaeologists.

source : http://pharaohs.atspace.com/