70 Fun Facts About Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII belonged to which Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt?

She was the last active Hellenistic pharaoh; after her death Egypt became a Roman province.

The founder of Cleopatra's dynasty, Ptolemy I Soter, had been a general and companion of which conqueror?

Through her father she was also descended from Seleucus I Nicator, founder of the Seleucid Empire.

What was Cleopatra's first language?

Her Roman contemporaries would have preferred to speak with her in it rather than in Latin.

Cleopatra is the only ruler of her dynasty known to have learned which language?

Plutarch implies she also spoke Ethiopian, Hebrew or Aramaic, Arabic, Syriac, Median and Parthian.

What does the Greek name Cleopatra mean?

Her adopted title Thea Philopatora means goddess who loves her father.

Which pharaoh was Cleopatra's father?

Nicknamed Auletes, the flute-player, he bankrupted himself bribing Roman statesmen to keep Egypt independent.

Who was Cleopatra's childhood tutor, from whom she learned oration and philosophy?

She presumably also studied at the Musaeum, home of the Library of Alexandria.

On taking the throne, how much did Cleopatra owe the Roman Republic in inherited debts?

The debt came from her father's borrowing from the Roman banker Rabirius Postumus.

In her first recorded act as queen, Cleopatra sailed to Hermonthis to install what?

The Buchis bull was worshipped as an intermediary for the god Montu.

Pompey fled to Egypt in 48 BC after losing which battle to Caesar?

Egypt seemed a safe refuge because Pompey had been a political ally of Cleopatra's father.

What did Ptolemy XIII send to Caesar after having Pompey murdered near Pelousion?

Caesar expressed grief and outrage rather than the gratitude Ptolemy had expected.

According to Plutarch, Cleopatra was smuggled into the palace to meet Caesar hidden inside what?

Cassius Dio tells a different story: she simply arrived dressed attractively and charmed him with her wit.

How did Cleopatra's brother Ptolemy XIII die in 47 BC?

He had been trying to flee after Caesar's reinforcements broke the siege of the palace.

Which sister of Cleopatra was paraded in Caesar's triumph and later exiled to Ephesus?

Years later Cleopatra persuaded Antony to have her executed at the Temple of Artemis there.

What was the name of the huge Ptolemaic pleasure barge on which Cleopatra later hosted Antony at Tarsos?

Built by Ptolemy IV, it was 90 metres long with dining rooms, shrines and promenades on two decks.

What was the popular name of Cleopatra's son with Julius Caesar?

Caesar stayed publicly silent about his parentage, but Cleopatra declared it in repeated official statements.

Which member of Cleopatra's court helped Caesar with the calculations for the Julian calendar?

The new calendar took effect on 1 January 45 BC.

Caesar placed a golden statue of Cleopatra in the temple of which goddess in his new Forum?

It was the first time a living person's statue stood beside a deity's in a Roman temple, and it survived at least until the 3rd century AD.

The senator Cicero, who visited Cleopatra during her stay in Italy, reportedly found her what?

He later mocked her at the Lupercalia by asking where Caesar's offered diadem had come from.

Where was Cleopatra when Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 BC?

She lingered about a month, vainly hoping her son would be recognised as Caesar's heir before his will named Octavian.

How did Cleopatra's brother and co-ruler Ptolemy XIV allegedly die in 44 BC?

His death let her elevate her own son as co-ruler.

To meet Antony at Tarsos in 41 BC, Cleopatra sailed up which river?

She hosted him and his officers for two nights of banquets aboard her barge.

When she met Antony at Tarsos, Cleopatra was dressed as which goddess?

Some of her coins also depict her as Venus-Aphrodite.

What were the twins born to the queen and Antony in 40 BC named?

Sun and Moon signalled a new era, and a hope that Antony would repeat Alexander's conquest of the East.

Which Roman woman, Octavian's sister, did Antony marry in 40 BC as a rival to Cleopatra?

The marriage sealed the pact of Brundisium after the death of Antony's previous wife Fulvia.

Which future king arrived at Cleopatra's court as a refugee in December 40 BC before going on to Rome?

She offered him a military post; he declined and was instead named king of Judea by the triumvirs.

Antony granted Cleopatra the land around which city in Palestine, which she then leased back to Herod?

She also gained nearly all of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Cyrene and part of the Nabataean coast.

What was the name of Cleopatra's youngest child, born in 36 BC?

At the age of two he was declared king of Syria and Cilicia.

Roughly how many men did Antony lose in his disastrous 36 BC Parthian campaign?

It was more than Crassus had lost at Carrhae, the very defeat Antony had hoped to avenge.

In his 34 BC victory parade in Alexandria, Antony rode into the city dressed as which god?

Rome saw the mock triumph, staged for an Egyptian queen on a golden throne, as a perversion of sacred rites.

At the Donations of Alexandria, what title did Cleopatra take for herself?

Her eldest son was proclaimed King of Kings at the same ceremony.

At the Donations ceremony, Cleopatra appeared dressed as which goddess?

Antony and Cleopatra may have been married during the same event.

At the Donations, which territories were bestowed on the daughter Cleopatra Selene?

Her twin brother was declared king of Armenia, Media and Parthia, most of which Rome did not hold.

According to Pliny the Elder, what did Cleopatra dissolve in vinegar to win a dinner-party bet?

The gem was said to be worth tens of millions of sesterces.

A 33 BC papyrus may carry Cleopatra's handwriting: one Greek word usually translated as what?

Ptolemaic rulers countersigned documents to prevent forgery; this one was later used to wrap a mummy.

In 32 BC, on whom did Rome formally declare war?

The legal pretext was that she was giving military support to a private citizen whose triumviral powers had expired.

From whom did Octavian illegally seize Antony's will to use in the propaganda war?

The will asked that Antony be buried beside Cleopatra in Egypt, which Octavian used to devastating effect.

Of the roughly 800 warships Antony gathered at Ephesus in 32 BC, how many did Cleopatra provide?

Her insistence on joining the campaign prompted prominent Romans such as Ahenobarbus to defect.

In which year was the Battle of Actium fought?

It took place on 2 September at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf in western Greece.

Who commanded Octavian's fleet at Actium?

Cleopatra commanded 60 ships at the rear of her own fleet, apparently sidelined by Antony's officers.

What was the name of Cleopatra's flagship at Actium?

She commanded 60 ships from it, positioned at the rear of the fleet.

When Antony fled Actium and boarded Cleopatra's ship, how was it recognisable?

He reportedly avoided her for the whole three-day voyage until her ladies-in-waiting urged him to speak.

After Actium, Antony named his hermit's cottage on Pharos the Timoneion after which misanthropic philosopher?

He had nearly killed himself on learning that his governor of Cyrene had defected with four legions.

Which ruler burned Cleopatra's Red Sea fleet, foiling her plan to flee to a foreign refuge?

He was taking revenge for a war with Herod that Cleopatra had largely instigated.

According to Livy, what did Cleopatra tell Octavian bluntly when they met?

It is one of the rare recordings of her exact words.

How did Antony die in August 30 BC?

He had received a false message that Cleopatra was already dead, and was carried dying to her tomb.

By popular tradition, Cleopatra died from the bite of what?

No snake was found with her body, only tiny puncture wounds on her arm; Dio said she used a needle.

How old was Cleopatra when she died on 12 August 30 BC?

She was buried in royal fashion beside Antony in her own tomb, on Octavian's orders.

Which two servants are said to have died alongside Cleopatra?

Octavian was reportedly angered by the outcome but still gave her a royal burial.

What happened to Cleopatra's eldest son after Octavian took Egypt?

The philosopher Arius Didymus advised Octavian that there was room for only one Caesar in the world.

Cleopatra's daughter married Juba II and ruled which North African kingdom?

They rebuilt the old Carthaginian city of Iol as their capital, Caesarea, and their son Ptolemy was the last known Ptolemaic monarch.

Per Plutarch, her friend Archibius paid the emperor how many talents to spare Cleopatra's statues?

Antony's statues were torn down; hers were left standing.

Cleopatra was the first foreign queen to have her image appear on what?

She was also the only Ptolemaic queen to issue coins on her own behalf.

On her coins Cleopatra wears her hair braided back into a bun in a style known by what name?

Roman women copied it after her visit in 46-44 BC, until Augustan austerity made it unfashionable.

Which 14th-century English poet included Cleopatra in The Legend of Good Women?

He portrayed Antony as her shining knight of courtly love, partly in reaction to Boccaccio's hostile Latin works.

In what year was Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra first performed?

It was largely based on Plutarch and offered a salacious contrast to England's own recently deceased Virgin Queen.

Which composer's 1724 opera Giulio Cesare in Egitto dramatised the affair of Caesar and Cleopatra?

Domenico Cimarosa wrote a Cleopatra opera on a similar subject in 1789.

Which pioneering French filmmaker made the first film to depict Cleopatra, in 1899?

Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb was a silent horror short.

Who played Cleopatra in the 1963 Hollywood epic?

Women's magazines of the early 1960s ran features on how to achieve her Egyptian look.

Which silent-film vamp played Cleopatra in 1917?

Her vampire queen mixed Orientalist painting tropes with dangerous female sexuality.

The Cleopatra milk-bath myth grew from Claudette Colbert also playing which Roman empress?

Colbert's 1934 Cleopatra doubled as a glamour model for Egyptian-themed department-store goods.

Despite her reputation as a seductress, how many sexual partners is Cleopatra known to have had?

Plutarch said her charm lay more in personality and wit than in physical beauty.

An inscription at which sanctuary records Cleopatra being made regent to her father on 31 May 52 BC?

Its outer walls also carry reliefs of Cleopatra and her adult son making offerings to the gods.

How old was Cleopatra during the 55 BC Roman expedition when Antony later claimed to have fallen in love with her?

He was a young cavalry officer under Gabinius, and won respect for giving her sister's husband a proper burial.

Which composer's opera Antony and Cleopatra opened the new Metropolitan Opera House in 1966?

By the end of the 20th century Cleopatra had inspired 43 films, 200 plays and novels, 45 operas and five ballets.

Which Roman cameo-glass object in the British Museum may show Cleopatra drawing Antony toward her?

In that reading a serpent rises between her legs while Anton, the family's mythical ancestor, watches his descendant led to his doom.

Which Russian writer's unfinished story The Egyptian Nights revived a lurid Cleopatra tale?

He popularised the 4th-century historian Aurelius Victor's claim that she sold herself to men who paid with their lives.

How did Cleopatra respond to famine caused by drought at the start of her reign?

One study blames volcanic eruptions for the poor climate; her state also imposed price controls and fixed exchange rates.

Which precious metal was absent from Cleopatra's coinage, unlike some earlier Ptolemies?

Financial pressures led her to debase the silver and bronze coins she did issue.

In 42 BC, whose forces did Antony defeat at Philippi, driving them to suicide?

Cleopatra had sailed her own fleet to help Octavian and Antony, but storms wrecked her ships and she arrived too late.