she was, in the words of the famous literary critic Harold Bloom, the world’s first celebrity. she is known everywhere and there is no place on earth that her name has not been heard of. she has been the muse of poets, writers and artists and inspired such literary works of epic scale, as well as movies and plays. present day actors clamour to play her, both in film and on stage.
legends of her beauty and sex appeal had been praised in songs, exalted in poems, proclaimed in prose, and handed down through the ages. some accounts purport that she was not the beauty that the world thinks she was, and yet “she possessed the ability to roil passions in two powerful roman men” - julius caesar and mark anthony. she was charming and her allure captivated those that had encountered her, she was smart and clever when she ruled egypt, and she had a tone in her voice and in her demeanor that made people to pay attention and believed.
yet, apart from a few ancient coins with her unflattering likeness, it was said that there was never a statue that had been found that might allude to cleopatra. the mausoleum where she and mark anthony had died and been buried could not be found and scholars were never certain where that mausoleum would have been.
note: as a student I had been very interested in ancient history, especially that of egypt and in particular the enigma of the whereabouts of cleopatra’s remains.
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i’m honoured to have been invited by the madhatters group as a guest poster this week for their myths and legends theme. i hope i didn’t disappoint. thank you, madhatters!
