Dive into the untold story of Cleopatra, beyond the seductress myth. Explore the life of an extraordinary queen who was a polyglot, strategic ruler, and far more complex than historical narratives suggest. Uncover the truth behind one of history's most misunderstood female leaders.
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00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:06You know her name, but do you know her real story?
00:09Today we're exploring how one of the most famous women of all time, Cleopatra, has been
00:14misrepresented.
00:24She was the bodacious beauty who brought the ancient world to its knees.
00:28A scintillating seductress.
00:30A siren who lured mighty men to their doom, brought empires to the edge of destruction,
00:35and toppled dynasties with her hedonistic hubris.
00:43That's the Cleopatra the world knows, the image that has made her an icon.
00:48There might be no royal woman in all of history more famous.
00:51What more could a queen ask for?
00:53Well, in life, Cleopatra was not exactly the sort of lady to let other people write her
00:58story.
01:07A royal birth is hardly an inauspicious start in life, but no one could have predicted Cleopatra's
01:12eventual fame or infamy.
01:14She was a member of the House of Ptolemy, a dynasty of Egyptian rulers descended from
01:18the Macedonian Greek general of the same name.
01:30It was the longest dynasty in Egypt's history, but the family was more notable for their
01:35similarities to Game of Thrones characters.
01:49Yeah that's not the only reason.
01:55There we go.
01:56Her mother is not confirmed, but was likely either the cousin or sister of her father,
02:02Ptolemy XII Auletes, a pharaoh more interested in playing his flute than in ruling his kingdom.
02:07Inbreeding was not uncommon in the ancient world, but it always proved to be a bad idea
02:12in the end.
02:13The legacy of family feuds and mental instability had weakened the Ptolemaic rulers over time,
02:18and continued during Auletes' reign.
02:31But amid the chaos, Cleopatra quietly made use of the advantages her environment offered
02:36her.
02:48The port city of Alexandria, capital of Ptolemaic Egypt, was not only a major trade center,
02:53but the greatest center of Hellenistic learning in the world.
02:57With its vaunted Museum and the Library of Alexandria, Cleopatra grew up not only surrounded
03:02by the brightest minds of the era, but with access to the widest array of information
03:07available at the time.
03:20She was privately tutored by the philosopher Philostratus in her youth, and proved to be
03:24especially gifted with languages.
03:27Aside from her native Greek, she would be the only Ptolemaic ruler to actually speak,
03:31read, and write Egyptian.
03:33She had a similar fluency in Latin, and also spoke and understood numerous other languages,
03:39including Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic, just to name a few.
03:47The full extent of her education is undocumented, but it's safe to say you don't become a polyglot
03:52to that extent if you're a disinterested pupil or incurious about the world around
03:57you.
03:58Those tendencies would serve her well in the years to come.
04:07For years, Rome had happily exploited the resource-rich and geographically advantageous
04:12kingdom of Egypt.
04:14Financial loans and other favors served to keep Egyptian rulers in line with Roman interests,
04:18and Auletes was no exception.
04:28The pharaoh's debts passed a financial burden onto his people, making him extremely unpopular.
04:34When he was ousted by his eldest daughter, Berenice, he was forced to flee.
04:46Cleopatra was by his side when he arrived in Italy.
04:49Again, there isn't much to go on regarding Cleopatra's life at this point.
04:53No one was paying much attention to the 11-year-old daughter of a crownless king.
04:57But once again, Cleopatra would find herself in position to get a rarefied education.
05:02Magnus or Pompey the Great is Rome's premier general.
05:08He has conducted many successful military campaigns, and he is emerging as one of the
05:12most powerful men in the ancient world.
05:18Auletes promises Pompey the equivalent to about $3.5 billion today.
05:24And in return, Pompey promises 10,000 Roman mercenaries to help Auletes take back his
05:29kingdom.
05:30While her father lobbied politicians and financiers, the young princess would have had a front-row
05:34seat to the workings of the most powerful political machine in the classical world.
05:38And she took notes.
05:40On the other hand, my sense of Cleopatra is that she's constantly thinking, constantly
05:45coming up with ideas to ensure her survival.
05:47With Pompey's help, Auletes returned to Egypt for a short, dysfunctional second reign before
05:52passing away.
05:54His will left the crown to be jointly shared between Cleopatra, who was then around 18,
05:59and the older of her two little brothers, who was no more than 10.
06:02Majesty, should we remind your sister what happens to queens who try to upstage their
06:07male consorts?
06:09As a student of our history, she should know.
06:12The same fate as advisors who mistake the king's power for their own.
06:19Civil war ensued when he attempted to force her out, aligning with their sister Arsinoe
06:23against her.
06:24Let's just say it didn't go how either of them hoped.
06:27How funny you look in father's chair.
06:30I never wanted to harm you.
06:33Of course you did not.
06:37In case you're keeping track, this means that three out of Cleopatra's four known siblings
06:41had been part of an inter-family power grab.
06:43Small wonder that her last surviving brother only shared a brief co-regency with her before
06:47he died under mysterious circumstances.
06:51He ate something that didn't agree with him.
06:53I believe it was poison.
06:55Ho ho ho ho, you bad girl.
07:00Cleopatra's ruthless streak is frequently included in her portrayals, and not incorrectly
07:04either.
07:05Driving the snake pit of the Ptolemaic royal family to emerge as sole ruler of Egypt?
07:10Nobody could do that without a willingness to get their hands dirty.
07:13You know, everyone around you seems to have met with quite a grisly end.
07:18Harsh.
07:19While depictions of Cleopatra as just one more poisonous serpent abound, less commonly
07:23explored is what happened when she rolled up her sleeves and got down to the business
07:27of ruling.
07:28Her reign was one noted for its relative stability.
07:31In fact, hers was the first royal tenure in 50 years with no rural revolts against
07:36the monarchy.
07:37Unlike her father, Cleopatra was an involved ruler, apparently deeply invested in her subjects.
07:42She stabilized the economy, managed the vast bureaucracy, and curbed corruption by priests
07:47and officials.
07:49When drought hit, she opened the granaries to the public and passed a tax amnesty.
07:54While balancing Egypt's delicate diplomatic relationships, she successfully kept her realm
07:58independent of Rome when it had been on the brink of annexation only a handful of years
08:03prior.
08:04But some out there are already thinking we've skipped a major character in the story.
08:07What's a powerful woman if she can't be reduced to her personal life, right?
08:11Do you dislike the notion?
08:14My wishes are immaterial.
08:16All right, we can't exactly boil this down to personal life alone.
08:20The personal is often political, after all.
08:22And that's doubly true if you're a political player.
08:25I'm going to Alexandria.
08:27Majesty, please.
08:28Send an emissary.
08:31I am my best ambassador.
08:33For as capable and astute as she was, Cleopatra needed allies to accomplish bigger goals,
08:39and that was especially true when she was at her lowest.
08:41This is where practically all screen adaptations of Cleopatra's story begin.
08:46All hail Cleopatra, kindred of Horus and Ra, beloved of the moon and sun, daughter to Isis,
08:52and of upper and lower Egypt, queen.
08:55While embroiled in the civil war against her siblings, she took it upon herself to
08:59approach Julius Caesar, the Roman general and political heavyweight.
09:03Famously, she snuck into his quarters rolled up in a rug, only to emerge and charm him
09:08to her side.
09:09I'm afraid that's impossible.
09:10We have the doors under heavy guard.
09:12There are doors and doors.
09:15Oh, yes, of course.
09:17Despite modern perceptions of her as the ultimate smoke show, Cleopatra was probably not a great
09:22But she was reputed to be witty and charismatic, with a keen tactical mind.
09:27She knows that Caesar is depleted because of the civil wars that he's fought.
09:33Cleopatra's going to offer him the money and the goods and the riches of Egypt, and she
09:38will be somebody that he can depend on.
09:40Caesar was quickly persuaded to back her.
09:43Not only did he use his resources to help restore her throne, but the pair began a physical
09:47relationship, which produced a son.
09:50This is my darling Caesarion.
09:55Does he not look exactly like his noble father?
09:59Was it love?
10:00We'll never know.
10:01It was, however, a good strategic move.
10:03Won't you at least wear your laurel wreath so I can be reminded it's the divine Caesar
10:09that honors me so?
10:11With a man like Caesar on her side, Cleopatra could rely on an amount of protection.
10:16And as the mother of his son, she was guaranteed a degree of influence over him that she would
10:20have been hard-pressed to gain in regular diplomatic dealings.
10:23Our son will only fulfill his destiny if Egypt remains free and independent from Rome.
10:28Now that is in my power.
10:31The trouble was, it's impossible to foresee every circumstance.
10:35The strategic advantages of her relationship with Caesar were all swept away when he was
10:39assassinated in the Roman Senate.
10:41Romans!
10:42Romans!
10:43Countrymen, lend me your ears!
10:47I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him!
10:50The principles behind her alliance with Caesar being sound, Cleopatra attempted to replicate
10:55the situation with another prominent Roman general.
10:58Is anyone here seen Mark Antony?
11:05Mark Antony was powerful and popular.
11:08Over the course of their roughly ten-year relationship, he gave her three children and
11:12lent his military might to her political acumen.
11:14I go from hence thy soldier-servant, making peace or war as thou affect.
11:25With his help, Cleopatra moved to expand her territory and was able to work from a place
11:29of greater security.
11:30Unfortunately, Antony was too confident in his own position, or maybe just not as good
11:35a politician as he thought.
11:37His efforts on Cleopatra's behalf handed ammunition to his rival and brother-in-law, Caesar's
11:42nephew, Octavian.
11:44I am asked if he has gone mad, if he is bewitched.
11:47I have no explanation.
11:50We may weep for him, but then we must do our duty, for he is no longer a Roman but an Egyptian.
11:58And what is left for us to do but fight him?
12:01Fight him and destroy him!
12:06After publicly accusing Antony of enriching a foreign queen at the expense of the Roman
12:10Republic, Octavian led a naval campaign against the pair, which culminated in a decisive
12:16defeat at the Battle of Actium.
12:18Antony and Cleopatra returned to Egypt in defeat.
12:21They resisted a while longer, but Cleopatra at least saw the writing on the wall.
12:25After Actium, Cleopatra becomes immensely resourceful.
12:28She begins to cast about for all possible means of escape, for every possible way to
12:33insulate her kingdom from Octavian's approach.
12:36She was making plans to protect Caesarian's position as her heir when Antony's forces
12:41made their final surrender.
12:43Antony took his own life upon hearing the news.
12:46Cleopatra lived long enough to meet Octavian when he occupied her palace.
12:49Would you grant me one favor?
12:51Of course.
12:52Come with me to Rome.
12:54Let the Roman people see and rejoice that Egypt and Caesar are reconciled.
12:59I would like that very much.
13:02Perhaps next summer when our mourning for Antony is done.
13:05Yes.
13:07Or perhaps sooner.
13:09She was defeated, but she was adamant that she would not be a trophy.
13:13Rather than be paraded through Rome in humiliation, Cleopatra allegedly allowed an asp to bite
13:18her, bringing an end to a dramatic and consequential 39 years on Earth.
13:22How strangely awake I feel.
13:27As if living had been just a long dream.
13:32Someone else's dream.
13:35Now finished at last.
13:39The rug.
13:40The lovers.
13:41The snake.
13:42That's what her life was boiled down to in collective memory.
13:44She words me that I should not be noble to myself.
13:49Not the education.
13:50Not the fight for the throne.
13:52Not the successful reign or the deft political maneuvering.
13:56Everyone knows her name, yet few know anything about her.
13:59Specialist subject.
14:00How about everything?
14:01Your questions on the subject of everything begin now.
14:06The saying goes that well-behaved women rarely make history.
14:09True as it may be, though, the frustrating fact is that unusual, unruly, and ungovernable
14:14women are often buried by the male-dominated societies that outlive them.
14:18For better, and often for worse, history is written by the winners.
14:22You have a rotten soul.
14:29His foe, Octavian, would go down in history as Caesar Augustus, the first emperor of Rome.
14:34He painted the Egyptian queen as the evil foreign temptress, luring men into a web of
14:39ambition and lust.
14:40There is only one bed that is safe for me.
14:48Yours.
14:49I don't think that would be prudent.
14:56Caesar is not known for his prudence.
14:59By his account, she was ambitious and arrogant, but ultimately not clever enough to wield
15:03power effectively.
15:05Contemporary historians and poets ran with this spin.
15:08Then in the first century CE, the Greek scholar Plutarch would use these sources for his written
15:13account of Cleopatra's life, and the image was cemented in Western canon.
15:17It would be centuries before anyone would start to seriously question this version of
15:21the narrative.
15:22It's nice to be remembered for being beautiful, but I was much more than just a pretty face.
15:27Even in the diminished state Augustus and Plutarch left her, it would be hard to argue
15:31we aren't still obsessed with her.
15:34Cleopatra has dominated both high art and pop culture for over 2,000 years.
15:38Today I'd be a favorite of the paparazzo.
15:43No pictures, no pictures.
15:44It's almost as if we collectively sense there's more to her.
15:47So it's baffling that film and television only want to reproduce the same tired edit.
15:52That's me?
15:53Oh, I look horrible.
15:54Delete that.
15:55Oh, delete that.
15:57Cleopatra's always framed in relation to Caesar and Antony.
16:00The only difference is whether she's a silly girl swept away by love, or a vamp who merged
16:05ambition with passion, and burned her whole world down as a result.
16:09But we are often meant to understand Cleopatra as too spoiled and emotional to go the distance
16:14as a ruler.
16:15Learn to be a queen.
16:16I am a queen.
16:17No, you are not.
16:18Not yet.
16:19You must learn to think like a queen, strategically.
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16:41More sympathetic renderings of her still lean into the cliches.
16:45Shakespeare wrote her as one of the most compelling women in his canon, but still made her love
16:49affair into the axis of her narrative.
17:03Clone High's Cleo is smart and a natural leader, but vain and manipulative.
17:08HBO's Rome was willing to give us the cunning politician, but wiped out any goodwill by
17:12also making her a hedonistic, self-obsessed person with substance use disorder.
17:26She must be pretty dangerous.
17:27It's what her contemporaries tell us anyway.
17:30By working so hard to smear her name, they only show that this woman who ruled capably
17:34in her own right got under their skin and took up rent-free residence in their minds.
17:39I keep my crown.
17:42I remain Queen of Egypt.
17:44You are Egypt.
17:45How could I replace you?
17:47The fact that we have yet to do her justice on screen says that there's still something
17:51transgressive about her.
17:52So we're supposed to remember her defeats, but not her triumphs.
17:56The ruin of her lovers, and not the prosperity of her country.
17:59Her defiant death, but not her extraordinary life.
18:03Because if we didn't, we'd see that the woman at the root of the long shadow she casts is
18:07someone who totally deserves to live on in history.
18:10But the way she did in life?
18:12On her terms, and not anyone else's.
18:20Which other famous figures have gotten the Cleopatra treatment in pop culture?
18:24Let us know who you feel has been royally misrepresented in the comments.
18:28Do you agree with our picks?
18:34Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
18:37And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.