Cleopatra the Great (53 page)

179 ‘he was born in regnal year 6, day 15 of Epiphi, in the 8th hour of the day under the majesty of the Sovereign, Lady of the Two Lands, Cleopatra. The child's appearance was like that of the son of Ptah and there was jubilation over him by the people of Memphis. He was called Pedubastis and all rejoiced over him'. After Reymond 1981, pp.165-77; Lichtheim 1980, pp.59-65; Brooklyn 1988, No.122, p.230; Walker and Higgs (eds.,) 2001, p.187.

179 ‘the sea of the Greeks'. Lichtheim 1980, p.88.

180 ‘extraordinarily well proportioned.) Wonderful also was the adornment of the vessel besides; for it had figures at stern and bow not less than 18 feet high, and every available space was elaborately covered with encaustic painting; the entire surface where the oars projected, down to the keel, had a pattern of ivy leaves and Bacchic wands . . . by a crowd to the accompaniment of shouts and trumpets'. Athenaeus,
Deipnosophists
V.204, in Gulick trans., p.423, see also Goddio and Bernard 2004, p.162.

180 ‘Navigium Isidis' in James and O'Brien 2006, p.247, Witt 1971, pp.16584; Isis' temples in Caputo 1998, p.247, Puteoli's Isis temple in Ward-Perkins and Claridge 1976, pp.15-16.

181 Suggestion she visited temple ‘to thank the divinity linked to Isis for having given her Caesar's son' in Goudchaux 2001, p.133; recent interpretation of mosaic in Walker and Higgs (eds) 2001, p.333, with detail of Cleopatra (?) with parasol in drawings at Windsor Royal Library (Pf.Z.19214) in Walker and Higgs (eds) 2001, p.335.

182 ‘decreed that from sunrise until dusk, no transport, cart wagon or chariot of any form would be allowed within the precincts of Rome ... no exceptions to this order'. Hagen 1967, p.274.

182 ‘high titles and rich presents'. Suetonius,
Caesar
52, Graves trans., p.32.

182 ‘worth 60,000 gold pieces'. Suetonius,
Caesar
50, in Graves trans., p.31.

182 Suggestion that pearls could be those Mithridates seized is supported by reference to them coming to her ‘through the hands of the Kings of the East'. Pliny
Natural History
IX.121-122, Loeb trans., p.243.

182 ‘do not think they have a real villa unless it rings with many resounding Greek names'. Varro, in Farrar 1998, p.22; ridicule by Cicero,
De Leg.ll.2
in Walker and Higgs (eds) p.288; water features in Ward-Perkins and Claridge 1976, nos 81-8; gardens in Farrar 1998; excavations of gardens in Pinto-Guillame 2002.

183 Egyptian-themed wall scenes in Kleiner 2005 pp.172-4, Walker and Higgs (eds.,) pp.286-7, Ward-Perkins and Claridge 1976, p.69, Matyszak 2003, p.156.

184 ‘he carried tessellated and mosaic pavements with him on his campaigns'. Suetonius,
Caesar
46, in Graves trans., p.29.

184 ‘tossae Britannicae'. Bowman 2003, p.67, describing ‘some kind of rug' which is ‘referred to in a famous third-century inscription from Thorigny as tossae Britannicae'.

184 Priests' wooden headrests in Witt 1971, pp.94-5.

184 ‘a keen collector of gems, carvings, statues and Old Masters'. Suetonius,
Caesar
47, Graves trans., p.30.

185 ‘crammed with gold and silver vessels from Delos and Corinth, an “automatic cooker' which he had bought at an auction, embossed silver, coverlets, pictures, statues and marbles'. Cicero, in Earl 1968, p.99.

185 ‘used the official residence on the Sacred Way'. Suetonius, Caesar 46, Graves trans., p.29.

185 ‘villae marittimae'. Ward-Perkins and Claridge 1976, p.16.

185 ‘more imposing than any known palace or villa of contemporary Hellenistic kings'. Trevelyan 1976, p.19; Alexander mosaic in Grant 1976, pp.175-6, 185.

185 Isis' images in Ward-Perkins and Claridge 1976, No.186, p.57; Isis' Italian temples in Witt 1971, figs 22-3, 25-7; ‘House of Mysteries' in Ward-Perkins and Claridge 1976, No.204; Piso's villa in Trevelyan 1976, p.45 and Grant 1976, p.137; Laurentum villa in Weigall 1928, pp.241-3.

186 ‘Cleopatra's Baths'. El-Daly 2005, p.137; Aphrodite bathing on crocodile in Roven et al. 1988, p.123.

186 ‘people regard baths fit only for moths if they haven't been arranged so that they receive the sun all day long through the widest of windows, if men cannot bath and get a tan at the same time and if they cannot look out from their bath tubs over stretches of land and sea'. Seneca,
Epist.86
, 4-13 in Hoss 2005, p.20.

186 ‘surrounded by glass windows overlooking the sea'. WeigaU 1928, pp.241-3.

186 ‘masses of water that fall crashing down from level to level'. Seneca
Epist.86
, 4-13 in Hoss 2005, p.20.

187 ‘oeno'. Dioscorides in Manniche 1999, p.131; soap in P.Enteux 82, in Rowlandson (ed.) 1998, pp.172-4; brechu discussed by Dioscorides in Manniche 1999, p.132.

187 ‘not without its use to a wrinkled body'. Martial,
Epigrams
XIV.60, 1871 trans., p.612; lomentum in d'Ambrosio 2001, p.8 and Pliny,
Natural History
XXII.156, trans., p.405.

187 ‘the glutinous matter wherewith the Halcyon cements its nest' as ‘certain cure for spots and pimples' in Ovid,
Art of Beauty
76-78, Lewis May trans., p.115; see also
Metro News
2007. 187 ‘creta fullonica'. D'Ambrosio 2001, p.8; ‘nitrum' in Martial,
Epigrams
VI.93 in Jackson 1988, p.50.

187 ‘freshens her complexion with asses' milk'. Juvenal,
Satires
VI.469-70, Green trans., p.145; milk for wrinkles in Pliny,
Natural History

XXVIII.183, trans., p.125; emulsion in Manniche 1999, p.135.

187 ‘ancient form of chemical peel, the cosmetic procedure used to straighten out wrinkles or even out pigmentation'.
Chemistry World
2006, p.22.

188 ‘his head carefully trimmed and shaved'. Suetonius
Caesar
45, in Graves trans., p.29.

188 ‘see that your legs are not rough with bristles'. Ovid,
Art of Love
III. 193-9, Lewis May trans., p.91.

188 ‘medicines for hair loss are recorded in her own words, more or less as follows. ‘Against hair loss: make a paste of realgar [arsenic monosulphide] and blend it into oak gum, apply it to a cloth and place it where you have already cleaned as thoroughly as possible with natron [salts]”, adding that ‘I myself have added foam to natron to the above recipe, and it worked nicely'. Galen,
De compositione medicamentorum secundum locos
XII.403-404 in Rowlandson (ed.) 1998, p.41.

188 ‘she put her wig on back-to-front in her confusion'. Ovid,
Art of Love III
, 243-6, after d'Ambrosio 2001, p.18; Egyptian and Roman wigs in Fletcher 2005; German hair in Ovid,
Amores
1.14, Lewis May trans., p.31, Indian hair in Parker 2002, pp.41-2.

188 ‘on no account let your lover find you with a lot of ‘aids to beauty' boxes about you. The art that adorns you should be unsuspected ... So let your servants tell us you are still asleep, if we arrive before your toilet's finish(ed.) You will appear all the more lovely when you've put on the finishing touch. Why should I know what it is that makes your skin so white? Keep your door shut, and don't let me see the work before it's finish (ed.) There are a whole host of things we men should know nothing about!'. Ovid,
Art of Love
III.209-210, 225-229, Lewis May trans., p.91.

189 Antonius ‘rubbed her feet'. Plutarch, Antony, Dryden trans., p.769; Mendesian unguent used for feet and Cleopatra's 400-denarii hand cream in Manniche 1999, p.63; 400 denarii = lib perfume in Pliny
Natural History
XIII.20, trans., p.111.

189 ‘seductively brings on sleep, so that without getting drunk, the sorrows and tensions of daily anxieties are loosened and untied like tangled knots'. Plutarch,
Concerning Isis and Osiris
80 =
Moralia
383.d in Montserrat 1996, p.70.

189 ‘foreign essences' in Pliny
Natural History
XIII.24, trans., p.113; promotion of perfumes by Arsinoe II and Berenike II in Athenaeus,
Deipnosophists
XV.689.a in Griffin 1976, p.93.

189 ‘Aphrodite's Elixir', ‘Bloom of Youth' in Smith 1992, pp. 163-7.

190 ‘Rose breasted Lady'. Witt 1971, p.298, note 71; ‘the finest extract of roses in the world was made at Cyrene while the great Berenice was alive'. Athenaeus,
Deipnosophists
XV.689.a, see Griffin 1976, p.93; roses introduced to Egypt by Ptolemies in Carter 1940, p.252.

190 Egyptian rock crystal bottles in Rogers et al. 2001, pp.81-2; Cleopatra's agate vessels in Suetonius,
Augustus
71, Graves trans., p.90, see also Cleveland 1964.92 in Berman 1999, p.484; blue glass vessels in Ward-Perkins and Claridge 1976, nos. 231, 234.

190 ‘one cannot escape the conclusion that on some occasions, Roman soldiers were pleasantly sweet-smelling!'. Ottaway 2004, p.56, recalling Caesar's men ‘stinking of perfume'. Suetonius,
Caesar
67 in Graves trans., p.37.

190 Ostia toilets in Hodges 1974 fig.229, p.199; Isis' latrine image in Ward-Perkins and Claridge 1976, p.57; Amasis' goldpot in Herodotus, 11.172-4, de Selincourt trans., p.197; Ptolemaic chamber pot in Pliny, XXXIII.50, Loeb trans., p.41; Alexandria's drains in Empereur 1998, pp.125-43.

190 ‘bands of the behinds' in Hall 1986, p.55 and ‘rhakos', ‘a sort of tampon made of wool or linen', in Milanezi 2005, p.78.

191 ‘Unswept Hall' mosaic in Davidson 1998, p.xv; skeleton mosaic in Ward-Perkins and Claridge 1976, no.18; seafood mosaic in Ward-Perkins and Claridge 1976, no.253.

191 ‘a man for whom such a dinner sufficed had no need of gold' in Wilkins and Hill 2006, p.200.

193 ‘Puis Punica' and ‘lagana' tagliatelle enjoyed by Cicero, see Jarrat and Jarrat in Grant 1999, p.39, 65; for typical wealthy Roman menu see Jones 2006.

192 ‘the eel you consider the greatest divinity, and we the greatest dish'. Davidson 1997, p.8. 192 ‘pale skin, slender figures and large eyes'. Hyperides in Davidson 1997, p.9.

192 ‘opsomanes', ‘gunaikomanes'. Chrysippus in Davidson 1997, p.9.

192 ‘see the red fish playing between my fingers'. Cairo JE.25218/IFAO 1266 based on Manniche 1987, p.88.

192 Venus in Juvenal,
Satires
VI.300 in Green trans., p.138; ‘oysters from Kent and Essex became very popular in Rome, and perhaps in Alexandria too; and it may be that they were already known to the Inimitables'. Weigall, 1928 p.128.

192 ‘Numidian birds'.
Satyricon
, 55 in Parker 2002, p.58.

193 Cleopatra's figs in Plutarch,
Antony
85 in Rowlandson (ed.) 1998, pp.40-1; Egyptian fruit sent to Italy in Empereur 2002, p.35; Alexander's ice dessert in Fagan (ed.) 2004, p. 119.

193 ‘the Roman equivalent of the modern champagne'. Rackham 1916, p.223.

193 ‘perfumed singer and musical virtuoso'. Volkmann 1958, p.88.

194 ‘worse still is the well-read menace, who's hardly settled for dinner before she starts . . . , comparing, evaluating rival poets . . . she's so determined to prove herself eloquent, learned . . . Avoid a dinner partner with an argumentative style . . . choose someone rather who doesn't understand all she reads. I hate these authority-citers . . . who with antiquarian zeal quote poets I've never heard of. Juvenal,
Satires
VI.434-56, Green trans., p.144.

194 Her effect on Caesar ‘is not to be underestimated. Influenced by his relationship with her, he began to act more and more like a Hellenistic ruler'. Holbl 2001, p.239.

194 ‘the home of all tricks and deceits'. Cicero,
Pro. Rab. Post.
35 in Wyke 2002, p.211; Cicero's ‘problem' with women in Grant 1972, p.96.

195 ‘dirty little Greek'. Grant 1972, p.64; ‘queen' as term of contempt in Bingen 2007, p.45, also ‘Cleopatra is “Aegyptia”, “Egyptian”, for Romans who wanted to offend or stigmatise her', p.60.

195 ‘charming in conversation, yet her conduct was appropriate. She kept house, she made wool'. Pomeroy 1975 p.199; with ‘no place for a woman in the strictly patriarchal Roman system of power' (Bingen 2007, p.45), one ‘on display as head of state . . . was therefore in itself transgressive and untranslatable, except in terms of sexual availability' (Hamer 1993, p.20); as symbol of equality male clothing ‘could not be worn by mature women with aspiration to power'. Davies 2005, p.128. 195 ‘our ancestors established the rule that all woman, because of their weakness of intellect, should be under the power of [male] guardians'. Cicero,
Pro Murena
27 in Allason-Jones 1990, p.16.

195 ‘I hate the queen! And the man who vouches for her promises, Ammonius, knows I have good reason to do so; although the gifts she promised me were of a literary nature and not beneath my dignity — the sort I should not have minded proclaiming in public. Her man Sara too, beside being a rogue, I have found impertinent towards myself. Once, and only once, have I seen him in my house; and then, when I asked him politely what he wanted, he said he was looking for Atticus. And the queen's insolence, when she was living in Caesar's house in the gardens across the Tiber, I cannot recall without indignation. So no dealings with that lot!'. Cicero, in Grant 1972, p.96; ‘Sara' as shortening of Serapion see Grant 1972, p.261.

196 ‘loathsome man'. Cicero, Second Philipic, Graves trans., p.149.

196 ‘phaikasion'. MacLeod (ed.) 2002, p.52.

196 ‘and also by the fashion of his dress. For whenever he had to appear before large numbers, he wore his tunic girt low about the hips, a broadsword on his side, and over all a large coarse mantle'. Plutarch,
Antony
, Dryden trans., p.749.

196 ‘Antonius started up and left them in the middle of their cause, to follow at her side and attend her home'. Plutarch,
Antony
, in Dryden trans., p.769.

196 ‘push-cart'. Soranus',
Gynaecology
11
.45-54 in Allason-Jones 1990, p.38; Caesarion's resemblence to Caesar in Suetonius,
Caesar
52 in Graves trans., p.32.