by M. J. Trow
The combination of Greek and Egyptian scholars working for the Ptolemies meant that complex histories of both countries were compiled and stored, including decrees sent out in both languages by Ptolemy V, which resulted in the survival of the Rosetta Stone, that enabled scholars of later centuries to decipher ancient hieroglyphs. Priest-physicians carried out vivisection on humans – usually criminals from the royal prisons – discovering the function of arteries, the heart and brain centuries before scientists in the West. Under Ptolemy III, scholars worked out the circumference of the earth and even invented a calendar of 365¼ days.
As each Ptolemy and his wife died, a new shrine or temple was built, each more lavish than the last, enabling the Alexandrians to claim yet more divinity for their dead rulers. Arsinoe II who died at the age of forty-six in 270 was declared the counterpart of the ancient Egyptian gods Osiris, Ra, Ptah and above all Sobek, the crocodile-god. At Mendes, in rituals where Arsinoe was worshipped, one eyewitness was the historian Herodotus who calmly observed ‘a goat tupped a woman in full view of everyone – a most surprising event’.16 It is not clear whether he was referring to the act itself or to the presence of the audience!
The Ptolemies were polygamous and they took mistresses, too, although the Romans dismissed the minor wives as concubines by the time of Caesar’s invasion – again, such practice did not conform to Roman tradition. Ptolemy II died in 246, so grossly obese for the last years of his life that he had to be carried everywhere by litter and spent hours looking enviously out of his window at everybody else moving about.
Ptolemy III, who succeeded him, married his cousin Berenice, confirming the fact that Egypt extended as far west as today’s Tunisia. He also went to war with the Seleucids in Syria and reached as far as Babylon where Alexander had died over a century earlier. The couple were popular and successful, given the nickname Euergetes, the benefactors, and they produced six children. By the time of his death in 222, Ptolemy presided over a vast empire that looked unassailable. Then, family issues kicked in. In accordance with tradition, the widowed Berenice made her son Ptolemy IV co-regent. It may have given Ptolemy Philopator (Father-loving) ideas above his station or it may not have been enough for him because he had his mother and all but one of his siblings murdered. The one allowed to live was fourteen-year-old Arsinoe III whom Ptolemy later married.
Behind the scenes, the king’s mistress, Agathoclea, was the real power in the land, while Ptolemy pursued women and wine in equal measure. Any opponents to this vicious regime, such as the Spartan Cleomenes living in exile at Ptolemy’s court, were killed, the man’s flayed body exhibited to the mob as a warning.
Attempts by the Seleucids to take back parts of their empire grabbed by the earlier Ptolemies failed at the battle of Raphia in June 217 and Ptolemy Philopator probably read this as a sign from the gods. Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, had a massive mixed force of cavalry and infantry as well as 102 Indian elephants. Ptolemy used smaller African elephants but they refused to face their pachyderm opponents and ran.17 Antiochus chased after them with his cavalry while Ptolemy’s infantry held firm and won the day. He now called himself the new Dionysus and had himself tattooed with the god’s symbolic ivy leaves. He also, like all the Ptolemies, associated himself with Alexander and he was responsible for building the astonishing tomb (Soma) in Alexandria, which was another wonder of the world. It may have had a pyramid roof in the Egyptian style and the gold sarcophagus inside was a fitting tribute to the greatest general who had ever lived. The Ptolemies and their principal wives were laid to rest alongside him.
But honouring the dead was not enough to hold a bitterly unpopular regime together. There were few popular risings in Egypt and nothing to equate with the three generations of slave revolts in Roman territory that culminated with that of the gladiator Spartacus in the year of Cleopatra’s birth. From 207, however, the priests of Karnak had had enough of Ptolemy Philopator’s excesses and put forward their own home-grown pharaoh as a rival – Herwennefer of Thebes. At the height of the chaos that followed, Ptolemy died: whether through natural causes (he was almost certainly an alcoholic) or murder is unknown. There is no doubt about Arsinoe III, however – her courtiers killed her, and the couple’s six-year-old son became Ptolemy V.
The real power in the land was Agathoclea, but her mother, Oenanthe, had been Ptolemy III’s mistress in her day and a bloody coup between followers of these two (neither of whom had any right to rule) ended with Agathoclea and other family members being dragged to the Gymnasion and torn apart by the mob. The Greek historian Polybius wrote ‘some bit them, some stabbed them, others cut out their eyes ... For a terrible savagery accompanies the angry passions of the people who live in Egypt.’18 It would be interesting to find out exactly what nationality this mob was; after all, only one-fifth of Alexandria was actually Egyptian.
Under attack again from the Seleucids, who probably got wind of the disaster at the court of Ptolemy, the boy king moved south, to the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis. The rebellion against him was put down, the ringleaders clubbed to death with stone maces at the coronation of the new king, who gave himself the title Ptolemy V Epiphanes, the Revealed. It was the decrees written now, to reveal a new birth of harmony between Greek and Egyptian gods, that are written on the Rosetta Stone.
The Seleucid king Antiochus settled for a marriage alliance rather than the more risky invasion, and at seventeen, Ptolemy was married to Antiochus’ ten-year-old daughter Cleopatra who became the first of that name in the family. This girl, known as the Syrian, was the only example of ‘foreign’ blood to enter the Ptolemy family throughout their 300-year reign, making a nonsense of those today who claim that Cleopatra VII (‘our’ Cleopatra) was black.
With invasion averted and internal revolt put down (Herwennefer was captured but pardoned for the sake of harmony), all should have been well. Ptolemy V lost popularity, however, increasing taxation for foreign wars. He was murdered by his generals in 180. He was the first Ptolemy to be mummified in accordance with pharaonic tradition.
Cleopatra now named her six-year-old son Ptolemy VI Philomater (Mother-loving) as co-regent and went on to become one of the most popular queens of Egypt. Her death at twenty-eight was of natural causes and it is grim testimony to the Ptolemies’ way of doing things that we have to remark on this. Ptolemy Philomater, now about ten, was married to his older sister Cleopatra II and war was resumed with the Seleucids. Their king, Antiochus IV, took Thebes and declared himself co-regent with Ptolemy and Cleopatra.
On 30 July 168 Rome made the first incursion into Graeco-Egyptian affairs. Rome was fighting the third war against Macedonia at the time and needed peace in Egypt to ensure there would be no support from that quarter, perhaps in a nostalgic memory of Alexander. A delegation under Caius Popillius Laenas took a note from the senate to Antiochus demanding that he pull out of Egypt. In accordance with diplomatic tradition – and common sense – Antiochus asked for time to think about it. Laenas drew his sword and scratched a circle in the sand around the invader-king, telling him he couldn’t leave it until he had given the Romans an answer. Antiochus backed down. This gung-ho action seems the stuff of fiction, but it did wonders for Rome’s military reputation and we have to admire Laenas for his sangfroid; his tiny delegation must have been outnumbered hundreds to one. What it meant for the future was that Rome would never be far away.
To make life even more confusing for historians today, there was now a three-way rule among the Ptolemies, similar to, but much cosier than, the triumvirates the Romans would establish in Cleopatra VII’s time. Ptolemy Philomater continued to rule with his elder sister but a younger brother, also called Ptolemy, joined them as Ptolemy VIII. This three-way split was almost bound to fail and did, Ptolemy VI running to Rome for help to get ‘his’ kingdom back after being deposed by the other two. The upshot was that Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II continued to rule in Egypt while Ptolemy VIII governed Cyrenia.
So far, so complicated,
but it gets worse. Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II effectively ignored Ptolemy VIII who had gone so far in crawling to Rome that he left all he owned to the city of the seven hills in his will. The royal couple produced Ptolemy VII as their heir and when his father was killed in a fall from his horse, the boy was made co-regent with Cleopatra II.
Re-enter Ptolemy VIII, known as Physcon (the Fat-bellied). All the Ptolemies were obese, but Physcon must have been extremely large to merit the Alexandrian nickname. He revelled in the image as a sign of wealth and opulence and invaded Egypt to claim what he saw as his rightful heritage. In a scene straight out of a horror movie, Ptolemy VII was murdered at the wedding feast of Physcon and Cleopatra II, the boy literally dying in his mother’s arms. A ‘night of the long knives’ followed, in which any potential opposition to Physcon was removed by assassination or exile. The Alexandrians might have ridiculed Physcon behind his huge back and the Romans laughed at him when they saw him waddle to meet a delegation in 139, but officially he called himself Euergetes, the Benefactor. Most of the benefaction went to Egypt as, during his reign, Physcon promoted native Egyptians into court positions and officially recognized the power of the priests of Thebes and Memphis. One of his sons was called Ptolemy Memphites to underline the Egyptian-ness of the line. Cleopatra was happy to continue this tradition.
As soon as was expedient, Physcon removed Cleopatra II and married her daughter, Cleopatra III, who now became, in men’s minds, the living Isis. Cleopatra II’s popularity, however, forced Physcon into another three-way government, the two Cleopatras being officially referred to as ‘the wife’ and ‘the sister’ to avoid confusion. Cleopatra III became the mother of Ptolemies IX and X and of the three Cleopatras Tryphaena, IV and Selene.
Again the threesome collapsed, Cleopatra II forcing Physcon out in a palace coup, and this led to open warfare backed by her Jewish troops. In 132, Physcon wobbled his way to safety in Cyprus where he had Cleopatra’s son Memphites murdered. The boy’s mutilated remains were sent back to his mother in a jar. Once again, Physcon invaded, burning his enemies alive in the courtyard of the Gymnasion, but internal revolts would not let him resume rule by himself and the unlikely threesome was back in place.
A psychiatrist would have a field day with the Ptolemies and would not be remotely surprised by the actions of Cleopatra II’s eldest daughter Thea. She now ruled in Syria, having been married to three Seleucid kings who all pre deceased her, and tried to kill her own son first by firing an arrow at him and then by poisoning his wine. In a scene that Shakespeare may have stolen for Hamlet, the boy, Antiochus VIII Grypus (the Hook-nosed) forced his mother to quaff the goblet instead.
Against all the odds, Physcon died in his bed in June 116, leaving Cyrenia to his eldest son, Ptolemy Apion. Egypt and Cyprus went to Cleopatra III and her choice of son – Ptolemy IX – who would rule with her. So once again two Cleopatras ruled together, joined by Ptolemy IX Soter Lathyrus (Chickpea the Saviour), who wore his hair long like Alexander.
On the death of Cleopatra II, Cleopatra III became the Female Horus and when the historian Pansanius wrote that ‘we know of none of the kings so hated by his mother’ he was talking about the relationship between her and Chickpea. Her eldest daughter Cleopatra Tryphaena was married off to Grypus and the next, Cleopatra IV, married Antiochus IX. Since Grypus and Antiochus were half-brothers locked in a deadly war with each other, it followed that the sisters became bitter enemies too. The upshot here was that Tryphaena had Cleopatra IV murdered in the temple of Apollo, her hands hacked off as she clung, screaming, to the god’s statue.
In Egypt, yet another three-way government resulted – Cleopatra III, her hated son Chickpea and the remaining daughter/sister Cleopatra Syrene. Using Chickpea’s absence from Alexandria as an excuse, Cleopatra III claimed that he had tried to kill her (which would hardly be surprising) and replaced him with her youngest son, Ptolemy X, who took the nom du roi of Alexander and even borrowed the conqueror’s helmet from the Soma to emphasize the point, complete with elephant skin and ram’s horns. Cleopatra III became the most despised of the queens of that name. She gave herself five personal cults and sent hit men after Chickpea, who had fled for his life to Cyprus. The Alexandrians called her Cocce, the scarlet one, a euphemism for vagina.
The war between mother and son ended with the death of Cleopatra III, perhaps murdered by her ‘loyal’ son Ptolemy Alexander, who by now was far too fat to embody his namesake in any meaningful sense. Alexandrians called him, with contempt, Cocce’s child, but the Egyptians loved him after he let his sister marry into the Memphis priesthood. Ptolemy Alexander himself married his niece Berenice III who (no doubt to confuse us still further) took the honoured name of Cleopatra. The legend ran in Egypt that stonemasons left cartouches on their work blank because of the rapid turnover of rulers.
Rome was now at the gates of Egypt, extending their power with Ptolemy Appion’s blessing over Cyrenia in 96. Ptolemy Alexander was overthrown by his army and fled to his sister Selene for safety. With a mercenary army of Syrians he invaded Egypt and committed the ultimate sacrilege by melting down Alexander the Great’s gold sarcophagus and replacing it with glass. The gold was used to pay his unreliable troops. His death in a naval battle with the Alexandrians saw the return of Chickpea.
All Egyptian politics from now on took place under the shadow of Rome. Not content with stealing Ptolemy’s eagle emblem for their own and becoming a major buyer of Egyptian corn, the Republic now claimed that Ptolemy X Alexander had left Egypt to Rome in his will, as had Physcon before him. Rome had its own problems in the early first century BC and for now Chickpea ruled with Cleopatra-Berenice until his death in 81. Now Rome acted, sending Ptolemy XI Alexander II to rule alongside Berenice. The Alexandrians called him Pareisactus, the usurper, which seemed to say it all. Within eighteen days, the usurper had his stepmother-wife murdered and an appalled citizenry dragged him to the Gymnasion where the mob tore him to pieces. It was a grim action replay of Berenice II and Arsinoe III in 203.
Now the direct, legitimate line of Alexander came to an end. The Alexandrians ignored Rome’s bullying and elected their own Ptolemy as ruler. This was Ptolemy XII, the illegitimate son of Ptolemy IX, and he came to be known as Auletes, the Piper.19 He married his sister Cleopatra Tryphaena in January 79 and they became the ‘father-loving gods’ and the ‘brother-and-sister-loving gods’, which continued to please the traditionalist Egyptians. He also called himself the new Dionysus and played his pipe in the revels held in honour of the drunken god.
The couple’s first child, Berenice IV was born some time between 80 and 75 but after 69 we hear of only one daughter, ‘our’ Cleopatra, the last of the pharaohs.
5
CLEOPATRA THE WISE
ALEXANDRIA, 69
Bearing in mind how iconic Cleopatra has become over the centuries and how widely known, we have almost no knowledge of her birth or early life.
She was probably born in 69 BC, but it may have been 70. She was probably born in Alexandria, in the royal palaces there, but we cannot be sure. We have no clear idea who her mother was (which is where the current controversy over the black Cleopatra comes in – see Chapters 18 and 19), who attended her birth and what form the birth actually took.
The problem arises because of our lack of day-to-day knowledge of Ptolemy Auletes’ court. We know that Alexandria and the Ptolemies always lay slightly outside Egyptian culture and not part of it. There had been a sort of intermarriage of the gods’ pantheon and an elevation of the native priesthood that would reach its height under Cleopatra, but in important matters like the birth of a princess, which culture’s wisdom would be followed? It was probably Greek, but we cannot preclude the Egyptian.
In ancient Egypt20 signs of pregnancy included changes to skin pigmentation and eye colour. A pregnant woman would invariably have a cold back but a hot neck. Her urine could be used to detect the sex of the foetus by sprinkling it on wheat and barley grains. If the wheat germinated firs
t, the child would be female, if vice versa, a boy. All fertility was, of course, associated with the gods. Bes, the dwarf-god, was linked with childbirth, but so were Taweret and Hathor. We have met Hathor before. There were seven or nine versions of this goddess so that she has been likened to fairy godmothers. At Cleopatra’s birth house at Armant, they are shown as beautiful young women and they appeared at a child’s birth to foretell its future. Taweret is universally shown as a pregnant hippopotamus, with huge breasts and standing on her hind legs. She holds a roll of papyrus and is linked with suckling as well as vengeance.
Bes, although appearing at birth, was essentially a marriage-god. He is facially repellent, which is odd for a deity so concerned with female beauty. In bas-reliefs, where most figures, human and divine, are shown in profile, Bes is full face, grimacing at us. The image has been found carved on scent bottles, rouge boxes and mirror handles; it is likely that Cleopatra owned several of them. He gave protection against nightmares and brought sweet sleep. Phalluses made of clay from the Nile were placed in temples as gifts to all these gods.
Once Cleopatra’s mother, whoever she was, had conceived, if the pharaonic systems were followed, the gestation would take 271 days. During this time, prayers were said regularly and mixtures of honey and wine were taken to prevent miscarriage. Descriptions and depictions of actual childbirth are rare in Egypt. Midwives rather than doctors assisted and the mother-to-be usually squatted, sometimes on special ‘birthing bricks’, which are shown in the hieroglyph for birth itself. By the time of the Ptolemies, high-born women gave birth in special delivery rooms next to temples to get the utmost help from the gods. Cleopatra’s at Armant is a physical reminder of these, with the shrine of the war-god Montu next door.
