The Many Faces of Cleopatra

245 Pages·2011·13.36 MB·English

The Many Faces of Cleopatra
Prom Propaganda to :Myth
By
NAOMI SUSAN HARDMAN
SEPTEMBER 2003
PIETERMARITZBURG
Submitted in partial fulfilment ofthe
requirements ofthe degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
(CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION)
in the
SCHOOL OF LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION
UNIVERSITY OF NATAL, PIETERMARITZBURG
DECLARATION
Iherebycertifythat,unlessspecificallyindicatedtothecontrary,thisdissertationistheresultofmyown
original work, which has not already been accepted in substance for any degree, and is not being
submitted in candidature for any other degree.
Signed: _
Naomi Susan Hardman
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would liketo thank the following persons who made this study possible:
Mr Michael Lambert
Thankyouforyourcommittedandenthusiasticsupervisionofthisdissertation- foryourspeedyreturn
ofdraftcopies, attentionto detail, andyourtirelesseffortsto makethis dissertationbetter. Thankyou,
also, for all yourassistancethroughoutmypost-graduateyearsofstudy,andforleadingusthroughthe
fundamental stages in the exciting adventure oflearning Greek!
Professor PeterTennant
Thank you for reading through this dissertation in its final stages, and for your helpful suggestions.
Thank you for yourencouragement and participation in my university studies.
Professor David Pike
Thankyouforyourconfidencein,andsupportof,me,duringtheyearsIhavespentinClassics,thebest
department on campus!
Dr Catherine Woeber
Thank you for so generously reading through the third chapter ofthis dissertation, and for the most
insightful suggestions you offered towards refining it.
My husband, Paul Hardman
Thank you for believing so intensely in me, for your example ofdiligence, and for all your support,
prayer and understanding while Ihave been studying.
My parents, Howard and Helen Gee
Thankyou,MomandDad,foryourunconditionalsupportofmeduringthepasttwenty-threeyears,and
for being so interested in my studies.
The Lord Jesus Christ
You are a mighty God - always my inspiration and hope. Thank you for Your faithfulness to me.
11
ABSTRACT
Fewwomenofantiquityhave gripped thepublicimaginationas Cleopatrahas. For centuries, shehas
inspired playwrights, poets, artists and film-makers, with the result that she and Antony are arguably
history's most famous lovers. However, I have not yet encountered a study which discusses, in one
work, the multiple constructions of Cleopatra across the range of genres in which she has been
represented. Certainly, many books and articles are devoted to revealing how Cleopatra has been
constructed in one or other specific genre, but it seems as though no attempts have been made to
portray, injuxtapositionto one another, the manyfaces ofCleopatra.
Thisdissertationseekstodojustthat. AlthoughIcouldnotpossiblyincludeadiscussionofeverygenre
in which Cleopatra has been constructed, Ihave chosen six areas for study: ancient Greek biography
(using Plutarch's Life ofAntony); the poetry ofthe Augustanpoets: Vergil (theAeneid), Horace (Ode
1.37)and Propertius(Elegies 3.11); Shakespeareantragedy(AntonyandCleopatra); art(numismatics
and ancientsculpture); film (JosephMankiewicz'sCleopatra), and, briefly,Africanisthistoriography.
Ihave chosenthese areas because eachoffers such diverse constructions ofCleopatrathat one begins
toappreciatehowhistoriography,propagandaandrepresentationhavecontributedtotheshapingofthe
Cleopatramyth, colouredbythe ideologyoftheage inwhichshehas beeninterpreted afresh. Current
AfricanistappropriationsofCleopatrasuggestthathistoriographyisneverneutral: raceandgenderoften
intersectto create 'historical' identities.
111
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 11
ABSTRACT 111
TABLE OF CONTENTS IV
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER ONE 3
1.1. Introductionto Plutarch 3
1.2. The Choice ofGenre- Biography 5
1.3. Ancient Views on Character 7
1.4. Plutarch's Audience and the Nature ofhis Sources 11
1.5. Antony as constructed byPlutarch 23
1.6. Cleopatra as constructed byPlutarch 35
CHAPTER TWO 46
2.1. Introduction to the Roman Sources 46
2.2. Vergil 48
2.3. Horace 66
2.4. Propertius 81
CHAPTER THREE 92
3.1. Introduction to William Shakespeare'sAntonyandCleopatra 92
3.2. Shakespeare's Use ofthe Roman Sources 96
IV
3.3. Shakespeare's Use ofPiutarch 108
CHAPTER FOUR 165
4.1. Introductionto Cleopatrain Numismatics and Sculpture 165
4.2. Cleopatra'sNational Image 172
4.3. Cleopatra's International Image 185
CHAPTER FIVE 193
5.1. Introductionto Cleopatra (1963) 193
5.2. Joseph Mankiewicz's Cleopatra (1963) 198
5.3. Mankiewicz's construction ofCleopatra 201
CONCLUSION 211
BIBLIOGRAPHY 222
v
INTRODUCTION
In this dissertation, I shall explore how Queen Cleopatra VII ofEgypt has been constructed in a
range ofgenres spanning ancient biography, nationalist poetry, Renaissance tragedy, art, coinage,
film and Africanist historiography.
Inchapterone,IshallinvestigatehowtheancientGreekbiographer,Plutarch,characterizedAntony
and Cleopatra in his Life ofAntony, written in the early second century A.D. I shall discuss why
Plutarchchose, forhisLifeofAntony,the genreofbiography,andhowthisworkwasinfluencedby
ancientviewsoncharacter. IshallalsoinvestigatehowPlutarch'ssourcesshapedhisrepresentations
ofAntonyand Cleopatra.
The secondchapterofthisdissertationexamineshowCleopatrais portrayedinthe Latinpoetryof
the Augustanpoets, Vergil, Horace and Propertius. Startingwith Vergil's epic poem, theAeneid,
IshallevaluatehowVergil'sCleopatrahasbeenallegoricallylinkedtoanotherAfricanqueen,Dido,
andwhetherthiszeugmaiscredible. IshallthendiscusshowCleopatraandEgyptarecharacterized
by Vergil in the shield ofAeneas, in the eighth book ofthe Aeneid. I shall conclude my study of
Vergilbydiscussingthe contributionofhispoemtoRomansociety,beforefocussing onthepoetry
of Horace and Propertius. Having explained the personal contexts in which both Horace and
Propertius composed their poetry during the Principate of Augustus, I shall first explore how
CleopatraisdemonizedinHorace's Ode 1.37, commonlyknown asthe'Cleopatra Ode,' andthen
how she is constructed by Propertius inElegies 3.11.
I shall devote the most substantial part of this dissertation to the exploration of William
Shakespeare'sconstructionofCleopatrainhisfinetragedy,AntonyandCleopatra,inchapterthree.
Since Shakespeare used, for this play, SirThomasNorth's mediated translationofPiutarch's Life
ofAntony, in chapter three, I will use North's Life ofMarcus Antonius, as opposed to a modem
translation ofthe original Greek. I shall then summarize howthe Augustanpoetryofchaptertwo
influenced Shakespeare in his constructions ofCleopatra and Antony, and Egypt and Rome, in
Antony and Cleopatra. I then intend to reveal to what extent the Renaissance playwright was
similarly inspired by Plutarch in his portrayal ofthe famous lovers.
1
In chapter four I shall deviate from the literary sources and concentrate on how Cleopatra is
portrayed (andherpoliticalandsocial ideologyconveyed) invisual representationsoncoinsandin
sculpturefromthefirstcenturyB.C. IshalldescribehowCleopatrahadherownimageandidentity
manipulated for both national and international consumption. In2001, the BritishMuseumPress
publishedacomprehensivecatalogueofcoins, statues,andnumerousotherartefactstoaccompany
atouring exhibition celebratingthe life ofCleopatra. In this chapterofmy dissertation, all visual
representations are reproduced from this catalogue.
The final chapter ofthis dissertation discusses how Cleopatra is constructed in twentieth-century
film. AlthoughIwillbrieflyexaminehowthePtolemaicqueenisportrayedinarangeof'Cleopatra
films' of both American and Italian production, my case-study for this chapter is Joseph
Mankiewicz'sCleopatra,starringasitsheroineElizabethTaylor. InthischapterIshalldiscusshow
Taylor's off-screen behaviour influenced modern interpretations ofCleopatra, as well as how the
mythofCleopatra's sexualityglamorously shaped the receptionofTaylor's adulterous affairwith
her co-star, Richard Burton.
In my conclusion I shall also briefly examine how scholars engaged in Afrocentric studies have
responded to these historical and artistic interpretations of Cleopatra. Although this is a
comparatively new field of scholarship and debate, its challenges to accepted conventions and
versionsofhistoryofferexcitingresearchopportunitiesfor SouthAfricanscholarstoday. Myhope
isthatthisdissertationmightencouragesucha scholarto explorefurtherthe legacyofCleopatrain
a local context.
2
CHAPTER ONE
1.1. Introduction to Plutarch
The mostimportantextant source (GreekorRoman) for Cleopatrawhichwe possess is Plutarch's
Life ofAntony. Described by one modem scholar as 'an unforgettable masterpiece of Greek
literature,'! Plutarch'sLife ofAntony(inthe greatercontextofhisParallelLives)holds, according
to C. P. Jones (1971:81), as dominant a place today in the study ofancient biography as it did in
antiquity.Although,asthetitlesuggests,thisisaworkwhosemainsubjectisMarkAntony,itisalso
the most extensive and eloquent source for the study ofCleopatraVII, Queen ofEgypt.
Born about seventy-five years after Actium,2 Plutarch lived in a period in which the Greek and
Roman worlds were politically more unified: well-born men from the Greek-speaking East were
increasingly entering the Roman imperial services, and Plutarch was one such man. Although
Plutarch was by nationality Greek, he was also a Roman citizen and could claim to have
acquaintances in high positions in the Roman Imperial government. His Parallel Lives were
dedicated to one such figure, Q. Sosius Senecio, twice consul ofRome.3 Although Sosius clearly
wieldedmuchinfluenceinRomanpolitics,itisunlikelyPlutarchsoughtto influencehim(orothers
in the imperial service), since not only is Plutarch's tone (when he refers to Sosius) not that ofa
flatterer,butflatterywouldnotaccordwithone'sgeneralimpressionofhim.4 Instead,itislikelythat
Sosius was singled outfor dedication byPlutarch forthe reason described byWardman(1974:38
39): 'the sincerityofthe dedication to Sosius need not be doubted and we may suppose, whatever
his origin, that his knowledge of Greek was considerable....Sosius is, rather, the reader who
exemplifiesbyhislifeandachievementthekindofactivitytowhichtheLivesexhortus. Hehasbeen
mellowedbyphilosophy,withanactivepoliticallifeofwhichanyGreekorRomanmightbeproud.
He isthereforetypical ofthefulfilment ratherthanthe hope.' Sosius,then,epitomisedforPlutarch
the morality which Plutarch soughtto encourage in his audience.
Brenk(1992:159).
J
2 ApproximatelyA.D. 45.
3 Wardman(1974:37-38). Sosius Seneciowas also acloseadviseroftheemperorTrajan.
ibid,38.
4
3
Thus Plutarch, although fiercely loyal to his Hellenic past and present,5 was interested not only in
Greek, butalsoRomanhistory, andasPelling(1988:5)offers, 'itistemptingtothinkofPlutarchas
activelyinvolved inaunified Greco-Romanworld, aGreek writingabout Rome fromthe insidein
awaywhichwouldhavebeenimpossible [onehundredandfifty] yearsbefore.' However,although
Plutarch was interested in Roman antiquity, he knew Latin literature no better than his Roman
counterparts knew Greek; and although he did read the Latin sources for his Lives, he had never
perfected the acquisition ofthe language.6 Thus despite his dedication to Senecio, Plutarchhad a
Greekaudience inmindwhen he wrote hisLives.7 His choiceto pairtogethera Greekand Roman
hero for his Lives, then, was not simplyto encourage a Greco-Roman sharing ofideas and moral
truths, butmorepointedlytoencouragehisGreekreaders 'to liveupto theirconnexionwithGreek
heroesofthepast, byexcellinginthatactivitywhichhecommemorates....TheGreekreadershipof
theLives,ideally,wouldincludethosewhoseaptitudeforpoliticswouldbecalledintoactionbythe
paradigms ofvirtuedescribedbyPlutarch, ...[for] Plutarchandhisreadersknowthatwhile fortune
does play a part in human affairs, the significantpart is to be ascribed to the virtue and failings of
ThusforthiscompilationPlutarchchoseashisgenrebiography: itsuitedbothhispurposesandhis
audience best. For unlike Appian or Dio Cassius, Plutarch was not interested in analysing the
machinationsofpoliticsintheRomanEmpire,choosingrathertocentrehiscreativeenergiesonthe
studyofindividualmoralvirtueandvice,andbiographyclearlysuitedthispurposebetter.9 Plutarch
thereforeconstructshisLivesforanaudiencewhoagreesthattherightaimofpoliticallifeisvirtue,
not the achievement ofan exalted name.
5 Plutarchwas not onlyactively involved inthe civicandpubliclifeofhishometown,Chaeronea, butalso
heldthesacred priesthoodatDelphi(Pelling 1988:2;RussellI993:ix).
6 Pelling(1988:6).
7 ibid., 8.
s Wardman(1974:41-43).
9 Plut.A/ex. 1.1-2;Pelling(I988:9). Inthis dissertation,allabbreviationsofancientsourcesaretakenfrom
QeD3(1996).
4