12 August: Cleopatra

Cleopatra died on this date in 30 BC. Here are some things you may not know about her.

1. Her full name was Cleopatra VII Philopator. The name Cleopatra combines to Greek words – kleos (glory) and pater (father).
2. She was born in Egypt, but her family were Greek, even though they were the rulers of Egypt for around 300 years. In that time, none of them bothered to embrace Egyptian culture or even learn the language – hence documents, such as the Rosetta Stone, were written in Egyptian and Greek for their benefit. Cleopatra was the first of them to learn the Egyptian language. It seems she had a gift for learning languages – she could speak Ethiopian, Trogodyte, Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Median, Parthian, and Latin.
3. For much of her reign, she didn't rule alone. From the age of 14 she ruled jointly with her father. When he died when Cleopatra was 18, she was forced to rule jointly with her 10 year old brother, and was even forced to marry him. However, she ignored the rules and had his name removed from everything and coins were made with her face alone on them. This ended up with a civil war during which Cleopatra teamed up with Julius Caesar and her brother drowned in the Nile. There was another, brother, though, and now she had to marry him despite being Caesar's lover. After Caesar died, she had this brother killed so her son by Caesar would inherit her throne. She had her sister killed, too, when she thought Arsinoë was plotting to seize the throne. Cleopatra had Arsinoë executed on the steps of a temple in Rome, causing a scandal in the city.
4. According to legend, in order to get a meeting with Caesar, Cleopatra had herself smuggled into his chamber rolled up in a carpet, or possibly a roll of bedding. He became her ally and also her lover. She was 21 at the time and he was 52.
5. Cleopatra's beauty was said to be legendary, although historians of the time suggested she wasn't that good looking at all. It was, according to Plutarch, her intelligence and charm which made her irresistible. She also knew how to make the best of herself. She used a wide range of cosmetic products made from minerals and plants, malachite, pyrite, lead sulfide, red ochre and henna. According to legend, she bathed daily in asses milk, requiring milk from 700 Donkeys every day.
6. She not only used cosmetics but was an expert in them. She even wrote a book about them. It was called Cosmetics but the title doesn't do it justice. It was more than an instruction manual on how to make yourself look beautiful. It went into great detail on how cosmetics could be used as remedies for conditions and diseases which might affect someone's looks, so it was more like a medical text. She also owned a perfume factory.
7. Her marriages to her brothers produced no children but her affairs with Caesar and Mark Antony produced four. Caesar's son was called Caesarion, which means “little Caesar.” He briefly inherited her kingdom, but Roman emperor Augustus had him killed when he was still a teenager. Mark Antony fathered twins, Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios, and Ptolemy Philadelphus. Mark Antony's wife took them in and treated them well. Cleopatra Selene married Juba, a minor king, who ruled Mauretania. She had a son called Ptolemy – Cleopatra’s only known grandchild. However, Caligula had him killed so that Cleopatra would have no descendants left to take back Egypt.
8. Everyone knows the story of Cleopatra committing suicide by getting an asp to bite her in the breast. We can't be absolutely sure that was true. It's also possible she wore a hair comb laced with poison which may or may not have been Snake venom, and rather that making a snake bite her, she stabbed herself with the comb. Another theory says Augustus had her poisoned.
9. The month of August was named in celebration of Cleopatra's defeat and death. After Augustus (born Gaius Octavius) defeated her forces and conquered her kingdom, he could name a month of the year after himself. He was expected to choose September, his birth month, but instead he chose the eighth month, the one in which Cleopatra died.
10. The 1963 film about her, starring Elizabeth Taylor, is probably the most expensive film ever made. With an initial budget of $2 million, by the time various problems with the production had been ironed out, it ended up costing $44 million. Adjust that for inflation and it still costs more in today's money than other, modern expensive films. Luckily, it was a hit.

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