ï~~Reviews
265
Syria, whose title Cleopatra would take. There follow sections on Ptolemaic
iconography (including a summary of the status quaestionis concerning the
triple uraeus, which A. links solely to Cleopatra herself: p. 71), Cleopatra as
ruler, her advisors, documentary evidence for Cleopatra's Egypt, the queen as
male pharaoh, her Egyptian titles, her role as priestess in the Egyptian temples,
her portrayal in Egyptian-style statues and in temple reliefs, her portrayal as
Hellenistic queen in portrait statues and on the coinage, and her acceptance
of her son Ptolemy XV (Caesarion) into a co-regency in 37/6 BCE and statues
of the young king, both hellenising and Egyptian. This is a good chapter, well
illustrated and densely packed with information.
Ch. 5, "Cleopatra's Capital and Court," takes us on a brief tour of Alexandria and beyond. Apart from its fame as a centre of learning, Alexandria was
notorious for its luxury, its decadence, and its urban violence. In the early years
of Cleopatra's co-regency with her brother Ptolemy XIII, the city had been extensively damaged by the fires set by Caesar's troops in the course of the street
fighting described in the Alexandrian War, but later years would see a surge of
building activity both public - Cleopatra's construction of her great Isis temple
with its colossal busts of the queen as Isis and Caesarion as Harpocrates (pls.
4.17 and 4.18) and the initial work on the immense Caesareum - and private,
as the city expanded ever further eastwards.
In Ch. 6, "Cleopatra as a Goddess," A. describes the growth of the Ptolemaic dynastic cult, which saw both kings and queens deified and given a place
as synnaoi theoi alongside other principal gods as well as being granted temples
of their own. This leads A. into a discussion of Cleopatra's divine titles, and
statues of the queen primarily as Isis and as a universal goddess. In fact, Cleopatra's personal cult as a divine being rivalled that of Isis herself, being attested
still in the late fourth century CE (p. 132).
Chs. 7, "Cleopatra, Mark Antony, and the East," and 8, "Death of a Queen,
Rebirth of a Goddess," give a mainly historical account of Cleopatra's relationship with Antony from their initial meeting at Tarsus through to their defeat at
Actium, Antony's attempted suicide and death from his self-inflicted wounds,
and Cleopatra's own successful suicide. Whether this was by snake bite or
poison remains unclear in our sources and A. sensibly leaves the matter open,
although opining that the story that Cleopatra had a hollow hair comb filled
with poison seems the most probable (p. 174). The sections in chapter 7 include an excursus of questionable relevance on Antony's other women (section
7.3), a straightforward account of the Donations of 34 BCE (section 7.5) and
a short section on the coinage of Cleopatra and the joint overseas coinage of
Cleopatra and Antony. There is little analysis given here, and it is also notable
that, compared to the wealth of illustration in the earlier chapters, there are
0
