Cleopatra - Legend vs. Fact

How much do you think you know about Handel's historic heroine?

Legend:
Cleopatra was the only pharaohess to ever rule Egypt.
Fact:
There were actually seven pharaohs named Cleopatra. The most famous was the seventh.

Legend:
Cleopatra created her iconic eye make up.
Fact:
Cleopatra’s and ancient Egyptians’ heavily painted eyelids were not just to attract admirers but to protect against eye infections as well. Everyone, man or woman, wore green eye paint and black kohl. The eye makeup was believed to have a magical role in ancient Egyptian culture. Bacterial eye infections would have been common along the Nile, and the chemicals used in the eye makeup are known to stimulate the immune system.

Legend:
Cleopatra was Egyptian.
Fact:
Cleopatra’s family, which had been ruling Egypt for generations, were actually Greek. Cleopatra was the first to learn the Egyptian language.

Legend:
Cleopatra ruled alone.
Fact:
Cleopatra married and ruled Egypt alongside her brother, Ptolemy XIII, who was eight years younger than her. But the two quickly became enemies and Cleopatra, at 21 years old, found herself in the Sinai desert, trying to raise an army to regain control. She received some help from a very powerful source. To take back control of Egypt, Cleopatra joined forces with the Roman ruler Julius Caesar and in the process, bore him a son. With Caesar's troops, she managed to reclaim her throne from her younger brother and ruled once more, alongside her other brother, Ptolemy XIV, who she also later married.

Legend:
Cleopatra used her beauty and seduction to maintain power.
Fact:
The "temptress" image was created by the Romans who wrote their own version of history after Cleopatra's death. This was perpetuated over the years by the likes of Shakespeare, centuries of painters, and Hollywood. In reality she was a highly skilled and intelligent diplomat, speaking at least nine languages, including Latin, so had no problem conversing with Romans – or anybody else, for that matter. At the height of her power, Cleopatra's empire stretched across the Mediterranean, from modern-day Libya in the West, through Egypt to Syria in the East — the largest amount of territory any woman has ever ruled.

Legend:
She died from allowing an asp to bite her.
Fact:
It is believed that Cleopatra and Marc Antony took their own lives in 30 B.C., after Octavia’s forces pursued them to Alexandria. While Antony is said to have stabbed himself in the stomach to death, we do not know for sure what happened to Cleopatra. After her death, Cleopatra was buried with her husband, Mark Anthony. But no one knows the location of the tomb, and their remains have never been found.