In search of Cleopatra
Most of the few documented representations of Cleopatra are found on coins. (CBS)
Forbes Magazine is out with its list of the world's most powerful women. Lady Gaga made the list. So did First Lady Michelle Obama, and Melinda Gates. But none of them - Rita Braver now tells us - holds a candle to that force of nature we call Cleopatra:
She has been celebrated in film, immortalized in paintings and sculpture. And more than 2,000 years after she lived, Queen Cleopatra VII, who ruled the sprawling kingdom of Egypt for 22 years, is still a mesmerizing force.
"I just think it's hard to name another woman in history who is this commanding, and for that matter this enduring," said author Stacy Schiff.
So enduring that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Schiff's recent biography of Cleopatra became a bestseller.
Seems we can't get enough of a Queen who had liaisons and children with two Roman legends - Julius Caesar and his loyal general Mark Antony - and was the wealthiest person of her time.
Shiff said her riches equaled that of all the hedge fund managers of yesteryear, rolled into one.
You might be surprised to learn that Cleopatra didn't come from a long line of Egyptians. She was descended from the Greek General Ptolemy, who served under Alexander the Great.
It was a dynasty in which sisters wed brothers - royal incest.
"Cleopatra's parents were probably siblings," Schiff said. "She has one set of grandparents. In Cleopatra's case, the younger brother was ten. It's very doubtful that the marriage was consummated. And he is eliminated in the civil war that the two of them go on to fight."
She was actually losing that war against her brother when - as the 1963 movie starring Elizabeth Taylor shows - she had herself smuggled in to meet the great Roman leader Julius Caesar, who had come to Egypt to settle the conflict.
"Was Caesar smitten immediately, do you think?" Braver asked.
"We don't know if he's smitten," Schiff said. "We know that within a couple of weeks she is pregnant with his child. And we know that within a couple of months he has reinstalled her on the throne of her own country."
"She has been for years painted as a kind of wanton seductress. Is that fair?" asked Braver.
"You could also say a very clever political strategist," Schiff replied.
And though Cleopatra has been portrayed by great beauties - from Taylor to Vivien Leigh to Claudette Colbert - the REAL queen did not get by on looks:
"We have that from Plutarch, who says outright, 'There were many who could compare with her in terms of her physical attributes, but it was her personality, it was the charm of her presence that was irresistible,'" Schiff said.
Most of the few documented representations of Cleopatra are found on coins.
Franck Goddio pointed out her likeness: "You see the nose, a very strong nose and hard profile."
"She looks a little like George Washington," mused Braver.
Goddio is an underwater archeologist who in 1996 discovered remains of Cleopatra's Alexandria, the magnificent city that was the capital of Egypt in her time:
"We started to dive, we started to excavate...and it was fabulous, fabulous - everything was there and waiting for us," he said.
While much of ancient Alexandria was simply built over in the course of 2,000 years, natural disaster - earthquakes and tidal waves - toppled part of the city into the sea (ironically, preserving important artifacts underwater)।
Some have been rescued, restored, and are on display in a traveling exhibit now at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
"Feels like we are walking absolutely in her footsteps," Braver says of the exhibit.
Cleopatra would have stood before these statues to greet her subjects.
The excavation has turned up pieces that show the sophistication and craft of ancient Alexandrian artists - a statue of Cleopatra's Father, portrayed as a sphinx ... a huge bust of Ceaserion, her son with Julius Caesar.
It was after Caesar's assassination that Cleopatra and his general Mark Antony began the romance that inspired one of our greatest theatrical tragedies: "Antony and Cleopatra."
"How hot was their attraction?" Braver asked.
"We know that for a better part of 11 years, they are together on and off," Schiff said. "He's married twice, I should say during his time, to other women. They have three children together. They have a very jolly time together."
Jolly, until Octavian - Julius Ceasar's nephew - launches a successful war against Mark Antony and his lover Cleopatra, and claims Egypt for himself.
Anthony eventually commits suicide and dies in Cleopatra's arms.
Within a few days, realizing that she was a vanquished queen, Cleopatra kills herself ... but perhaps not as dramatically as legend has it:
"There are many, many paintings of Cleopatra putting the asp to her breast," said Braver. "Is this not true?"
"Well, you know, it's a really great subject for paintings!" Schiff said. "First of all, you've got the naked breast."
"You don't buy the asp?"
"I'm not buying the snake," Schiff laughs.
But if there is disagreement about her death, there is no question about her impact: She was one of the most powerful women in history.
"If you think about it, you get Catherine the Great, who wasn't born royal; you get Queen Victoria, but she rules with a government; you get Queen Elizabeth, but her empire is smaller," said Schiff. "There's almost no one who both commands this kind of influence and who plays in an all-boys league."
In fact, frequently OUTSMARTS the boys।
