Cultural depictions of Cleopatra VII

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Cleopatra VII's life has fascinated scores of writers and artists through the centuries. While she was a powerful political figure in her own right, it is likely that much of her appeal lay in her legend as a great seductress who was able to ally herself with two of the most powerful men (Julius Caesar and Mark Antony) of her time.

Contents

[edit] Literature: Drama

Among the more famous works on her:

[edit] Literature: Other

[edit] Films

Poster for the 1917 film
Poster for the 1917 film
Theda Bara in the 1917 film
Theda Bara in the 1917 film
Poster for the 1934 film
Poster for the 1934 film
Elizabeth Taylor as the title character in 1963's Cleopatra
Elizabeth Taylor as the title character in 1963's Cleopatra

The earliest Cleopatra-related motion picture was the two-minute short, Cléopâtre. Directed by Georges Méliès in 1899, the fanciful short is about a raid on Cleopatra's tomb, resulting in her resurrection.

The earliest drama film about the queen was Antony and Cleopatra (1908) with Florence Lawrence as Cleopatra. The earliest film with Cleopatra as the main subject was Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, starring Helen Gardner (1912).

Other films and TV movies inspired by the Queen of the Nile include:

Cleopatra (1917) 
Based on Émile Moreau's play Cléopatre, Sardou's play Cléopatre, and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Starred Theda Bara (Cleopatra), Fritz Leiber (Caesar), Thurston Hall (Antony); directed by J. Gordon Edwards.
Cleopatra (1934) 
Oscar-winning Cecil B. DeMille epic. Starred Claudette Colbert (Cleopatra), Warren William (Caesar), Henry Wilcoxon (Antony).
Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) 
Oscar-nominated version of George Bernard Shaw's play of the same name. Starred Vivien Leigh (Cleopatra), Claude Rains (Caesar), Stewart Granger, Flora Robson; Leigh also played Cleopatra opposite then-husband's Laurence Olivier's Caesar in a later London stage version.
Serpent of the Nile (1953) 
Starred Rhonda Fleming (Cleopatra), Raymond Burr (Mark Antony), Michael Fox (Octavian).
Cléo de 5 à 7 (1961) 
French New Wave Feminist film by Agnes Varda about a contemporary beautiful Parisian, symbolizing Cleopatra, in the last 2 hours of her death.
Cleopatra (1963) 
Oscar-winning blockbuster most (in)famously remembered for the off-screen affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and the at-the-time massive $44 million cost—today just under $270 million—making it the second most expensive film ever made (after War and Peace (1968)). Starred Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra), Rex Harrison (Caesar), Richard Burton (Antony).
Totò e Cleopatra (1963) 
An Italian comedy movie about Cleopatra and Mark Antony, who was played by the Italian actor Totò.
Carry On Cleo (1964) 
A parody of the American 1963 film, with Amanda Barrie as Cleopatra, Sid James as Mark Antony, and Kenneth Williams as Caesar.
Kureopatora (Cleopatra: Queen of Sex) (1970) 
A Japanese animated film by Osamu Tezuka. When released in the United States, the film was promoted as being X-rated in an attempt to cash in on the success of Fritz the Cat. In actuality, Cleopatra had not been submitted to the MPAA, and it is considered to be highly unlikely that it would have received an X rating if it had been submitted. The English subtitled version is said to be lost, but a clip from the dubbed version is available on YouTube.
The Notorious Cleopatra (1970) 
A grossly inaccurate sexploitation film by Harry Novak. In this version Cleopatra is stabbed to death in her tub by Mark Antony.
Antony & Cleopatra (1974) 
Television production performed by London's Royal Shakespeare Company, shown in the US in 1975 to great critical acclaim. Starred Janet Suzman (Cleopatra), Richard Johnson (Antony), and Patrick Stewart (Enobarbus).
Miss Cleopatra (1990) 
A Pakistani movie in Punjabi starring the Babra Sharif.
Cleopatra (1999) 
Based on the book Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George. Starred Leonor Varela (Cleopatra), Timothy Dalton (Caesar), Billy Zane (Antony).
Mission Cleopatra (2000) 
French film based on the comic book Astérix et Cléopatre by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. Starred Monica Bellucci (Cleopatra), Alain Chabat (Caesar), Christian Clavier, Gerard Depardieu.

[edit] Television

Cleopatra (Lyndsey Marshal) and the snake from HBO's Rome
Cleopatra (Lyndsey Marshal) and the snake from HBO's Rome
  • (1983): The Cleopatras, a BBC drama series featuring the ruling dynasty of Cleopatras. Cleopatra VII was played by Michelle Newell.
  • (1993–1995) in Legends of the Hidden Temple, one of the artifacts was the Snake Bracelet of Cleopatra.
  • (1998): Histeria! frequently featured Cleopatra, usually portrayed by a tanned World's Oldest Woman or, if she were being portrayed as attractive, Pepper Mills.
  • (1998, 2000): Xena: Warrior Princess. Cleopatra was featured in two episodes of the syndicated cult show. In the Season 3 episode King of Assassins, Cleopatra (played by Gina Torres) was saved from assassination by Xena. The Season 5 episode Antony & Cleopatra completely reinvented the famous love story, in typical Xena fashion. After Cleopatra (played by Jo Davidson) was murdered by a snakebite, Xena posed as the Queen of Egypt and won Antony's love. She fell in love with him as well, but turned against him when he revealed his plans to become a ruthless dictator, and eventually had to kill him.
  • (2002–2003): Clone High, Cleopatra was featured on Clone High as one of the main characters. In the show, Cleopatra is portrayed as beautiful and popular.
  • (2005/2007): A version of Cleopatra appears in the HBO/BBC series Rome, portrayed by Lyndsey Marshal. She is introduced (along with brother Ptolemy XIII) in the Season 1 episode Caesarion, which begins with Pompey's assassination and ends with the birth of Caesarion. Cleopatra also appears in four episodes in Season 2, in which she makes an enemy of Atia of the Julii (Polly Walker) and later allies with Mark Antony (James Purefoy). The series finale features Antony and Cleopatra's deaths, and Octavia taking in the twins (Ptolemy Philadelphus is not acknowledged in the series). Rome also invents a subplot in which Caesarion is eventually revealed to actually be Cleopatra's son with lowly Roman soldier Titus Pullo, who saves the boy from execution by telling Octavian that he murdered Caesarion.
  • Lebanese actor and singer Carole Samaha takes the role of Cleopatra in a TV series " women in history " aired on the " Lebanese broadcasting corporation "

[edit] Opera

  • Kleopatra by Slovenian composer Danilo Švara

[edit] Ballet

  • One More Gaudy Night (1961) by American choreographer Martha Graham

[edit] Ancient art—triumph painting, sculpture

The most famous painting of Cleopatra is one that almost certainly no longer exists now. Because the queen died in Egypt well before Augustus' triumph could be put on in Rome, in which she would have walked in chains, Augustus commissioned a large painting of her, which was carried in his triumphal procession, and which may have represented her being poisoned by an asp. The sources for the story are Plut. Ant. 86 and App. Civ. II.102, although the latter may well refer to a statue, and Cass. Dio LI.21.3 reports that the "image" was of gold, and thus not a painting at all. A painting purported to be this work was engraved in the early 19th century: it was said to be in a private collection near Sorrento. Since then, this painting is said to have formed part of a collection in Cortona, but there no longer appears to be any trace of it; its quiet disappearance is almost certainly due to its being a fake. For comprehensive details on the entire question, see the external links at the end of this article.

[edit] Paintings, Renaissance onwards

Cleopatra and her death have inspired hundreds of paintings from the Renaissance to our own time, none of them of any historical value of course, and most misleadingly depict her as a young woman at the time of her death; the subject appealing in particular to French academic painters.

[edit] The suicide

The Death of Cleopatra, Guido Cagnacci, 1658
The Death of Cleopatra, Guido Cagnacci, 1658
  • Suicide of Cleopatra. Oil on canvas. 46×36¾″ (116.8×93.3cm) painted by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, also called Guercino. Painted in 1621 and which hangs in the collection in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California. It shows Cleopatra and in her hand a snake that she prepares to use in her suicide.
  • Cleopatra, painted by Artemesia Gentileschi,1621-22, of the artist's Genovese period. Pictures the queen in the act of committing suicide. Oil on Canvas. Hangs in the Amedeo Morandorri, Milan.
  • Cleopatra, painted by Artemesia Gentileschi, ca. 1630. Oil on Canvas. Collection of Fondazione Cavallini-Sgarbi, Ferrara.
  • The Death of Cleopatra, painted by Jean André Rixens, painted in 1874 and that hangs in the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse, France.
  • The Death of Cleopatra, painted by Guido Cagnacci, painted in 1658. Oil on canvas. Hanging in the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum.

[edit] Other

  • The Banquet of Cleopatra (1743–5). Oil on Canvas, 248.2 x 357.8cm. Painted by Giambattista Tiepolo (1696–1770), which hangs in the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, depicting the banquet in which Cleopatra dissolves her pearl earring in a glass of vinegar.
  • Cleopatra and Caesar (Cléopâtre et César) (1866). Oil on canvas. Painted by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904). The original painting has been lost, and only copies remain. The work depicts Cleopatra standing before a seated Caesar, painted in the Orientalist style.
  • Omnium a CD and stage performance made for Teatro ZinZanni with Lyrics and Music by Martha Davis of The Motels and Teatro ZinZanni's Maestro Norm Durkee. It is part musical and sung narrative based on the life and romances of Cleopatra with Caesar and Mark Antony.