EXHIBITION – THE CLEOPATRA MYSTERY

The exhibition presented by the Parisian Arab World Institute until January 11, 2026, titled “The Cleopatra Mystery”, aims to separate historical reality from the legend surrounding Cleopatra.

Although no ancient biography of the woman regarded as the last queen of Egypt has survived, Cleopatra’s fame has continued to grow over the centuries, ultimately becoming a central figure in our collective imagination.

Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator is born in 69 BCE in Alexandria, then the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt. She belongs to the Lagid dynasty, founded by the Macedonian general Ptolemy, son of Lagos – a dynasty that ruled Egypt from 323 to 30 BCE, whose sovereigns bore the titles of king and pharaoh.

Upon the death of her father in 51 BCE, Cleopatra ascends to the throne alongside her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII, whom she was forced to marry according to dynastic tradition. However, tensions quickly arise between the two co-rulers, and Cleopatra is expelled from power in 48 BCE.

She returns with the support of Julius Caesar, who arrived in Alexandria during his campaign in Egypt. Impressed by her intelligence and charisma, Caesar gives her military backing. Together, they defeat the supporters of Ptolemy XIII, who dies during the conflict.

Cleopatra regains the throne, this time with another brother, Ptolemy XIV, whom she also marries. She soon has a son with Caesar, Ptolemy XV, known as Caesarion, and visits Caesar in Rome in 46 BCE – a move that shocks many Romans. After Caesar’s assassination in 44 BCE, she returns to Alexandria.

Soon after, she has her brother Ptolemy XIV assassinated and installs her son Caesarion as co-ruler. In the years that follow, Cleopatra allies herself with Mark Antony, one of Rome’s triumvirs and the rival of Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus). She becomes his lover and has three children with him.

The couple forms a strong political and romantic alliance. Mark Antony grants her several territories, which provoks the anger of Rome. In 31 BCE, Octavian’s forces defeat those of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium.

The following year, Octavian enters Egypt. Mark Antony committs suicide, followed shortly by Cleopatra, who ends her life in 30 BCE to avoid capture and humiliation in Rome. She is 39 years old.

With her death, Egypt loses its independence and becomes a province of the Roman Empire. Her son Caesarion is captured and executed on Octavian’s orders, while her three children with Mark Antony are taken to Rome and raised by Octavia, Mark Antony’s wife.

Cleopatra is considered the last queen of Egypt not because she is the last woman to rule, but because she is the last independent sovereign of the Egyptian kingdom before its definitive annexation by Rome. She is renowned in her time for her education (she speaks several languages, including Egyptian – rare among the Ptolemies), her political acumen, diplomatic skill, and ability to preserve her kingdom’s autonomy in the face of Roman expansion.

Under her leadership, Egypt and its capital, Alexandria, become a cultural and economic epicenter of the Hellenistic world – a hub of scholarship, trade, and innovation. Her reformist policies bring wealth to the country, which experiences peace during her twenty-year reign.

However, a darker legend soon emerges, shaped by Roman writers aligned with Augustan propaganda, such as Plutarch, Suetonius, and Appian. Cleopatra is portrayed as a fatal monstrum, a figure of lust and corruption.

She is cast as Rome’s malevolent enemy and the evil influence behind Mark Antony’s downfall.

She made Antony an enemy of his homeland through the corruption of her seductive charms.”

Flavius Josephus

This negative legend, fueled by Augustan propaganda, is soon echoed by poets like Horace, Propertius, and Lucan, and by Roman historians like Livy and Cassius Dio. As a seductive and politically astute woman, Cleopatra is seen as a threat to Roman masculinity and virtus. A foreigner of Greek origin with “Oriental” customs, she is portrayed as a symbol of debauchery – the opposite of Roman pudicitia (chastity).

In Roman moral discourse, Cleopatra will forever remain “Caesar’s whore”. Though a queen in her own land, she is viewed as a spectacular Roman conquest, and the idea that a slave woman bears Caesar’s child is intolerable. Pliny even dubbed her regina meretrix – “the prostitute queen”.

These biased sources deeply influence later historiography, and Cleopatra’s suicide only adds to the mystique. Plutarch gives a dramatic account of her death that will leave a lasting impression: with her two most loyal servants, Iras and Charmion, Cleopatra supposedly ends her life by having a basket of figs delivered, concealing venomous snakes.

The exact circumstances of her death remain unknown. Some historians believe the bite of an Amun-Ra cobra symbolizes her attachment to Egyptian tradition, granting divine immortality. Others dismiss the snake theory as implausible, arguing that Octavian may have ordered her execution. Another theory suggests she uses a toxic ointment – poisons at the time often combine opium and hemlock, possibly concealed in a hairpin or the crown’s decoration in the shape of a cobra, giving rise to the enduring myth of the serpent in the fruit basket.

Her death has been represented countless times, always with the same iconography: the basket, the snakes, the tragic pose.

The myth soon overtakes historical reality. Illuminated manuscripts, paintings, sculptures, novels, plays, and operas rapidly spread the image of a legendary Cleopatra. Sarah Bernhardt portrays her on stage in Victorien Sardou’s “Cléopâtre”, Elizabeth Taylor embodied her in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1963 epic film.

In modern times, her figure is reclaimed by African-American communities as a powerful African head of state, and by feminist movements who view her as a woman who made her voice and will heard in a male-dominated world.