Extracting Truth From the Myth of Cleopatra’s Distorted Representation by Roman Historians: With Special Emphasis on Postmodernism

Abstract

Postmodernism encourages us to look for the historical facts and explore the happenings of the past. Cleopatra is one historical figure for whom we cannot convince ourselves to believe in everything we read in historical accounts of ancient historians or her portrayal in all genres of art. There is a need to investigate and look for evidence in the ancient world where Cleopatra, Caesar, Antony, and Octavian lived and left traces of the truth in the past hidden in several myths and the adaptation of their story. One of the most spectacular biographers, Roller (2010), opines that the biography of Cleopatra remained the center of attention for the people during the last two millennia. This Queen of Egypt remains one of the most famous figures in world history. A variety of scholars, for numerous reasons, have a particular interest in Cleopatra and her life. The scholar continues to explain that historians dealing with art forms, students/readers of renaissance plays, filmographies, and musicologists remained attracted to Cleopatra as the representative of cultural history rather than the representative of the historical being from the Hellenistic period. The restating of the characteristics of Cleopatra’s personage does not concern the Queen as herself, besides signifying the supremacy of her position and reputation. Unfortunately, all of this was blemished and distorted by the Roman historian under the influence of Octavian, who declared himself King Augustus after gaining the throne. Moreover, Cleopatra’s romantic life is more of a myth than reality, with many added concoctions to present her as an unworthy, complicated, sentimental, comical, and seductive manipulator. This paper aims to extract the truth from the myth and present the facts about the diseased queen of Egypt.