A news update here suggests that archeologists may have found the final resting place of doomed lovers Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Cleopatra, generally assumed to be a beautiful and clever ruler, was the last Pharoah of Ancient Egypt; though her love affair with and marriage to Mark Antony was the stuff of legend, she was first married to her own brothers (Ptolemy VIII and Ptolemy VIX) and was the mistress of Julius Caesar, who was more than thirty years her elder. With Caesar she conceived a son, Caesarion. She also bore three children to her husband, Mark Antony. Caesarion was later executed by the ruler Octavian, but the three children she bore to Mark Antony survived their parents' deaths and were protected, ironically perhaps, by Antony's former wife.
Today's publicity agents could only dream of keeping their clients in the public consciousness for as long as Cleopatra has fascinated the world--and all without representation. :) Of course, Cleopatra had historians on her side, and her legend was recorded by writers like Pascal and Plutarch. It is generally thought that because she was able to charm and manipulate men and to stay alive amidst much violence and chaos, that she was beautiful. Today a general picture of Cleopatra has emerged--based more on Elizabeth Taylor's performance in Cleopatra than on any sense of reality.
Her affair with Mark Antony was immortalized by Shakespeare in his play, Antony and Cleopatra. His character Enobarbus, convinced that Antony's love for her is dangerous, describes her this way:
"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety. Other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies."
Now Zahi Hawass, an archeologist who dresses like Indiana Jones, is trying to lure the world to his latest site by drawing on the continuing fascination with Cleopatra. The AP's Paul Schemm hints that perhaps people shouldn't yet get their hopes up. Says Schemm in the linked article, "Hawass' claim is the latest spectacular announcement by the archaeologist, who continues to capitalize on the world's fascination with ancient Egypt. He regularly unveils discoveries that are often met with skepticism and bemusement by Egyptologists abroad."
Still, the most interesting thing about this story is that it is a story at all, and that after 2000 years a woman's bones are potentially as compelling as her living self. What is the lure of Cleopatra, of Antony, of history?
Why do we cling to the mysteries that can never be solved to our satisfaction? Is it because they cannot be solved that we love them?
Your thoughts?
Cleopatra photo link here.
