Season 3 - The Egyptian War - Episode 5 - Part 10 - English Version

 

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The "Julius Caesar" Series 

Season 3 - The Egyptian War - 

Episode 5: Queen Cleopatra

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 This story is inspired by real events that took place 

in the struggle between Julius Caesar and Pompey, 

as well as Caesar's encounter with Cleopatra.

 

 

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PART 10 : The Coronation of CLEOPATRA

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Summary of the previous part: The young Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII, who had died, was placed on a throne in the Valley of the Ptolemies by the dog-headed priests of Anubis for the solar lustration ceremony. 

 

Once his body was anointed with oils, Ptolemy XIII was taken for embalming. Organs were removed from his body and placed in canopic jars. He was then placed in a tub to undergo a 70-day treatment to protect his body and continue the embalming process. 

 

Julius Caesar was invited by Cleopatra to discreetly observe these manipulations of Ptolemy XIII's body. 

She confided in him that she wished to speak with him after her final accession to the throne, to discuss future plans together. 

 

Four days passed, and the ceremony appointing Cleopatra as Pharaoh was about to begin.

 

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A bit of history: In 332 BC, Egypt, then under Persian rule, welcomed Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, as a liberator. The hero of Greek antiquity quickly resumed his journey through the Persian Empire. After the assassination of Alexander's posthumous son, one of his generals and most loyal companions inherited the kingdom of Egypt in 305 BC. Ptolemy I (305-282 BC) thus became the first ruler of the Lagid (named after his father Lagos) or Ptolemaic dynasty. 

His successors, who ruled Egypt for three centuries, were astute enough to adopt the customs of the country in order to blend in and gain acceptance: they married their brothers and sisters, appeased the gods, adopted traditional Egyptian attire for major ceremonies, built temples, and were crowned as Pharaohs. They thus appeared, if not as Egyptians, at least as… the most Egyptian of the Greeks. The Ptolemies established this Hellenistic culture, of which they were the heirs, notably through the founding of the Library of Alexandria at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. 

Cleopatra inherited this dual culture. Born around 69 BC, she was the daughter of Ptolemy XII, who reigned over Egypt for thirty years. She ascended the throne at the age of eighteen. As in the Ptolemaic dynasty, a woman could not rule alone, so she married her half-brother, Ptolemy XIII. In Alexandria, violence was constant: to gain the throne, people did not hesitate to commit petty crimes within the family. Cleopatra herself had one of her half-sisters killed, and her husband conveniently drowned after opposing her.