Cleopatra the Great (50 page)

101 ‘linen bag of the kind used to carry carpets'. Canfora 1990, p.66.

101 ‘bed-linen sack'. Walker and Higgs, (eds.,) 2001, p.24.

102 Himation in Llewellyn-Jones 2003, p.77.

102 ‘coverlets and bedclothes were considered as clothing by the Romans'. Croom 2000, p.30.

102 ‘wrap their heads in their himatia such that the garment seems to cover the whole face like a little mask; the eyes alone peep out; all the other parts of the face are covered by the mantles'. Herakleides, in Gait 1931, pp.382-3; origins of face veiling in Vogelsang-Eastwood 1996; dedication of ‘face veil', Anth.Pal. 6.207 in Llewellyn-Jones 2003, p.218.

102 ‘by law, only my eyes should see you'. Sebesta 1997, p.535; Plutarch states veil imposed by husbands hiding wives from other men, Moralia 232.C, in Gait 1931, p.373.

102 Bronze figurine MMA.1972.118.95 (the ‘Baker Dancer') in Thompson 1950 and Gait 1931.

102 ‘fluid and like a whirlwind', Thompson 1950, p.380; imagery of veiling and sea in Homer,
Odyssey
5.351-3, Rieu trans., p. 97,
Iliad
24.93-96 in Rieu trans., p.439; Isis emerging from sea in mantle in Apuleius XI, Graves trans. 1950, p.270.

103 ‘I am that which is, which hath been, and which shall be, and none have ever lifted the veil that hides my Divinity from mortal eyes'. Plutarch,
De hide et Osiride
, see Witt 1971, p.67.

103 Unveiling gesture ‘anakalypteria' signified surrender of virginity in Sebesta 1997, p.535; ‘unveiling oneself in public, or in front of a man to whom you were not related, is not part of the image or daily habit of a modest woman . . . the gesture of unveiling is alien to the Greek concept of femininity'. Llewellyn-Jones 2003, p.110.

104 ‘white breasts were revealed by the fabric of Sidon'. Lucan,
Civil War
10.141, in Duff trans., p.601.

104 ‘could see her whole body in it, and his desire grew even greater than it had been before'. P.Cairo 30646, trans., Tait in Rowlandson (ed.) 1998, p.365.

104 ‘her beauty was not in and for itself incomparable'. Plutarch,
Antony
27, in Goudchaux 2001(b), p.210; see also Dryden trans., p.757.

104 ‘the power of her beauty', Plutarch,
Antony
, Dryden trans., p.775.

104 ‘she was a woman of surpassing beauty, and at that time, when she was in the prime of her youth, she was most striking. Being brilliant to look upon and to listen to, with the power to subjugate every one, even a love-sated man already past his prime, she thought that it would be in keeping with her role to meet Caesar, and she reposed in her beauty all her claims to the throne'. Cassius Dio, 42.34, Cary trans., p.169.

000 For doubts on identity, ‘Elizabeth Taylor must be the most genuine existing portrait of Cleopatra' claims Johansen 2003 p.75; ‘a web of the most highly educated guesswork has been woven to secure the image of Cleopatra'. Hamer 1993, p.3.

104 Rarity of inscribed statues in Bianchi 1980, p.19; images sufficiently distinct that ‘we feel that we would recognize them on the colonnaded streets of Alexandria'. Thompson 1973, p.78.

105 ‘she is beautiful'. Davidson 1997, pl.8.

105 ‘pretty neither by the standards of [her] own day nor by those of ours'. Hughes-Hallett 1990, p.17.

105 ‘whilst it does not flatter her it bears a close relationship to the portraits of Alexander the Great'. Southern 2001, p.121, commenting on Berlin Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz Antikenmuseum no.1976.10.

105 ‘suggests her great physical beauty'. Bowman 1986, p.25.

105 ‘is infinitely more beautiful than the unflattering coin portrait, and it does convey an image of the great queen's personality'. Maehler 1983, p.8; ‘these [coin] images are often cited to show that Cleopatra was not as beautiful as the myths surrounding her would suggest, but such judgements are invariably made on the basis of the taste of modern scholars, rather than any contemporary evidence, and miss the point of numismatic portraiture', states Wilfong 1997, pp.37-8; coins suggesting ‘witchlike face' far more graceful when cleaned and given ‘acid peel', states Goudchaux 2001(b), p.211.

105 ‘even the famously attractive Kleopatra VII of Egypt is shown with a flabby neck that suggests a goitre'. Prag and Neave 1997, p.78.

105 ‘in drag'. Hamer 1996, p.84

105 ‘a cruel, hook-nosed hag'. Girling 2001, p.33.

105 ‘attractive . . . radiant'. Goudchaux 2001(b), p.211.

105 ‘contact of her presence, if you lived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person, joining with the charm of her conversation, and the character that attended all she said or did, was something bewitching'. Plutarch,
Antony
27, Dryden trans., p.757.

105 ‘a most delicious voice'. Plutarch,
Antony
27, Foster trans., in Saylor 2004, p.352, compared with high pitch described by Aristotle in
Physiognomies
807a, in Llewellyn-Jones 2003, p.267.

105 ‘silence is the ornament of women'. Sophocles,
Ajax
293, in Llewellyn-Jones 2003, p.268.

106 ‘she had the facility of atuning her tongue, like an instrument with many strings, to whatever language she wish(ed.) There were few foreigners she had to deal with through an interpreter, and most she herself gave her replies without an intermediary — to the Ethiopians, Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabs, Syrians, Medes and Parthians. It is said she knew languages of many other peoples too, although the preceding kings had not tried to master even the Egyptian tongue, and some had indeed ceased to speak Macedonian'. Plutarch,
Antony
27, in Rowlandson, (ed.) 1998, p.40.

106 ‘narcisstic personality seems consistently to be the best description for her', — Orland et al. 1990, p. 174.

106 ‘muffled his head with a cloak and secretly put to sea in a small boat, alone and incognito'. Suetonius
Julius Caesar
58, Graves trans., p.35.

107 ‘his dress, it seems, was unusual: he had added wrist-length sleeves with fringes to his purple-striped senatorial tunic, and the belt which he wore over it was never tightly fastened — hence Sulla's warning to the aristocratic party “Beware of that boy with the loose clothes”. Suetonius,
Caesar
45.3, in Graves trans., p.29.

107 ‘Do you know of any man who, even if he has concentrated on the art of oratory to the exclusion of all else, can speak better than Caesar? Or anyone who makes so many witty remarks? Or whose vocabulary is so varied and yet so exact?”. Cicero in Suetonius,
Caesar
55, Graves trans., p.33.

108 ‘On the Ocean' by Pytheas in Cunliffe 2002; for Ptolemaic ship reaching Britain see Levi 1980, p.187.

108 ‘because he knew that in almost all the Gallic campaigns the Gauls had received reinforcements from the Britons. Even if there was no time for a campaign that season, he thought it would be of great advantage to him merely to visit the island, to see what its inhabitants were like, and to make himself acquainted with the lie of the land, the harbours and the landing-places'. Caesar,
Conquest of Gaul
V.I, Handford trans., p.119.

108 ‘gives them a more terrifying appearance in battle'. Caesar,
Conquest of Gaul
V.2, Handford trans., p.136.

109 ‘embalm in cedar-oil and carefully preserve in a chest, and these they exhibit to strangers'. Diodorus V.29, in Oldfather trans., p.175.

109 ‘astonishing masses of cliff. Cicero, in Weigall 1926, p.26.

109 ‘he weighed with his own hand to judge their value'. Suetonius, Caesar 47, Graves trans., p.30.

110 ‘sky-blue Britons'. Martial
Epigrams
Xl.liii in Carr 2005, appendix, and Ottaway 2004, p.59.

110 ‘azure beauty'. Propertius,
Elegies
II.18b in Carr 2005, appendix.

110 ‘so high were the prices he paid on slaves of good character and attainments that he became ashamed of his extravagance and would not allow the sums to be entered in his accounts'. Suetonius,
Caesar
47, in Graves trans., p.30.

110 ‘always led his army, more often on foot than in the saddle'. Suetonius,
Caesar
57, Graves trans., p.35.

110 ‘keep a close eye on me!' Suetonius,
Caesar
65, Graves trans., p.37.

110 ‘my men fight just as well when they are stinking of perfume'. Suetonius
Caesar
67, Graves trans., p.37.

110 ‘he used to comb the thin strands of his hair forward from his poll ... a disfigurement which his enemies harped upon, much to his exasperation'. Suetonius,
Caesar
45, Graves trans., p.29.

110 ‘tall, fair and well built with a rather broad face and keen dark brown eyes'. Suetonius,
Caesar
45, Graves trans., p.29.

111 ‘discovered his disposition which was very susceptible, to such an extent that he had his intrigues with ever so many other women — with all, doubtless, who chanced to come his way'. Cassius Dio 42.34.2, Cary trans., p.167.

111 ‘his affairs with women are commonly described as numerous and extravagant: among those of noble birth who he is said to have seduced were Servius Sulpicius' wife Postumia; Aulus Gabinius's wife Lollia; Marcus Crassus' wife Tertulla; and even Gnaeus Pompeius's wife Mucia'. Suetonius,
Caesar
50, Graves trans., p.31.

111 ‘Caesar's wife must be above suspicion'. Plutarch,
Caesar
9, Dryden trans., p.581.

111 ‘Home we bring our bald whoremonger, Romans lock your wives away! All the bags of gold you lent him went his Gallic tarts to pay!'. Suetonius,
Caesar
51, Graves trans., p.31.

111 ‘Caesar was led by Nicomedes's attendants to the royal bedchamber, where he lay on a golden couch, dressed in a purple shift ... So this decendant of Venus lost his virginity in Bithynia'. Cicero in Suetonius,
Caesar
49, Graves trans., p.30.

111 ‘pansy Romulus'. Grant 1968, p.101.

112 ‘every woman's husband and every man's wife'. Suetonius,
Caesar
52, Graves trans., p.32.

112 ‘without Caesar's knowledge — the disgrace of Egypt, promiscuous to the harm of Rome'. Lucan
Civil War
10.58-60 in Maehler 2003, p.211.

112 ‘lecherous prostitute queen . . . worn among her own household slaves'. Propertius, III.ll, Shepherd 1985 in Maehler 2003, pp.209-10; also ‘a woman of insatiable sexual appetite'. Cassius Dio 51.15, Scott-Kilvert trans., p.76.

112 ‘became so debauched that she often sold herself as a prostitute; but she was so beautiful that many men bought a night with her at the price of their own death'. Aurelius Victor in Lovric 2001, p.52.

112 ‘the power of the courtesan — and she exploited it professionally'. Forster 1982, pp.25-6.

112 ‘willing to use her body to gain her political ends'. Watterson 1998, p.28, although ‘the image of Cleopatra . . . who pays with her body the price of the power she wants to keep ... is a reduced image and, in many points of view, completely falsified'. Bingen 2007, pp.53-4.

112 Although Cleopatra's descent from Alexander is currently doubted, Romans believed it (e.g. Curtius 9.8.22 in Chugg 2004, p.52; Propertius III.ll in Maehler 2003, p.210, 215).

112 ‘was particularly desirous of settling the disputes of the princes [sic] as a common friend and arbitrator'. Caesar,
Civil Wars
III. 109, Peskett trans., p.351; yet ‘his actions were obviously inspired by a genuine romantic attachment'. Holbl 2001, p.236.

114 ‘it is a good thing for me to sit down with Tanous so that she may be my wife'. Rowlandson (ed.) 1998, p.318, stating marriage was ‘brought about by 2 people living together', p.319.

114 ‘the surge of the breakers was ever to be heard in its airy halls'. Weigall 1928, p.122.

114 Ptolemies' palatial features in Athenaeus,
Deipnosophists
V.195-197, Gulick trans., pp.386-93.

114 ‘the rafters were hidden beneath a thick coating of gold. The walls shone with marble'. Lucan,
Civil War
10.112-115 in Duff trans., p.599; see also Empereur 2002, p.45-47; Burn 2004, p.105; paintings ‘graced the courts of. . . the Ptolemies of Egypt' in Ward-Perkins and Claridge 1976, p.69; cinnabar and gold leaf in Laing 1997, p.106, Edwards et al. 1999.

114 Hobnailed caliga footwear worn up to centurion rank and report of slipping in Josephus,
Bellum Judaicum
6.1.8, both in Goldman 2001, p.122.

115 ‘while stationed abroad, he always had dinner served in two separate rooms: one for his officers and Greek friends, the other for Roman citizens and the more important provincials'. Suetonius,
Caesar
48, Graves trans., p.30; Macedonian palace dining rooms divided ‘into grades of differing importance, for which there is clear evidence in 2nd century Ptolemaic Egypt'. Tomlinson 1970, p.314.

116 ‘her baleful beauty painted up beyond all measure: covered with the spoils of the Red Sea, she carried a fortune round her neck and in her hair, and was weighed down by her ornaments'. Lucan
Civil War
10.137-141, Duff trans., p.601.

116 ‘take the food with the tips of your fingers; and you must know eating is itself an art ... to eat a little less than you feel inclined to . . . don't drink more than your head will stand. Don't lose the use of your head and feet; and never see two things when only one is there'. Ovid,
Art of Love
III, Lewis May trans., p. 100.

116 ‘like an extraordinarily beautiful meadow'. Athenaeus,
Deipnosophists
V.196, Gulick trans., p.391.

116 ‘Rose-breasted Lady'. Witt 1971, p.298, note71.

116 ‘in honour of lady Isis'. Witt 1971, p.164.

116 ‘pleasant social intercourse and conviviality'. Witt 1971, p. 164.

116 ‘so fair haired that Caesar said he had never seen hair so red in the Rhine country'. Lucan
Civil War
10.129-131, in Duff trans., p.599.

116 ‘he once put his baker in irons for giving him a different sort of bread from that served to his guests'. Suetonius,
Caesar
48, Graves trans., p.30.