Opinion: My Beef With Cleopatra

Whenever I'm asked who my favorite historical figure is, I often try to deflect the question: I have a lot of them, and they seem to jockey back and forth in position constantly while new ones are always being added to the list. But when asked who my least favorite is, my answer is always the same: Cleopatra VII Philopator. Yes, THAT Cleopatra.

That said, I an now and forever will be in love with
Elizabeth Taylor

My issue isn't that I necessarily dislike her personally (obviously I never met her). When it comes to studying historical figures, I think it's important to do so objectively and with as little bias as possible. It doesn't matter how "bad" or "good" that person may have been; my job as a historian is to rationally analyze the person and their actions, look at why they did what they did,  what effects those actions had, and what outside forces where working on, with, or against that person.

Where I have a problem with Cleopatra is the near constant need to make her into a role model. History is FULL of people, all flawed, who make excellent role-models, but she isn't one in my mind. In part, I think a lot of the glamorization of her comes from the romanticized caricature of her in popular culture; Shakespeare and Elizabeth Taylor's depiction of her are particularly prominent. But that's the issue: these aren't objective looks at a historical figure, they're dramatized depictions created for entertainment and not education.

Don't even get me started on this garbage

Cleopatra did have certain admirable qualities. She was the first of her dynasty to actually learn the Egyptian language, to better know her people. This is important; for around 300 years her family, the Macedonian Ptolemaic Dynasty, had ruled Egypt and all of them spoke only Greek. While government continued to operate in this language, and it was probably the one she spoke on a daily basis, she did put in the effort. She had some level of political skill, and was able to secure the throne for herself alone without having to share it. She seems to have cared about her people and her kingdom, and was willing to go to extremes to protect them.

At the end of the day though, she simply wasn't a very good ruler. If I were to ask you, what did Cleopatra actually accomplish, what would you say? Seducing two different Roman Generals? Securing the throne for herself? In the end, all she really accomplished was to grossly overplay her hand and underestimate her opponents. She was the last of her dynasty; at the end of her reign her kingdom became simply a province of a foreign Empire.She underestimated the Romans and believed that her personal charms would be a strong enough weapon in a political (and ultimately military) struggle against them. She was grossly over-matched; it's the equivalent of being offered a prize for being Mike Tyson in any contest of YOUR choosing, and picking boxing because you've been hitting the gym lately. She was able to win Marc Antony over to her side, but her influence constantly eroded his position within the Roman Republic. She had been a solid player in her own realm, but the complexities and subtleties of Roman politics completely overwhelmed her and make her efforts seem, frankly, a bit naive. Once the actual war came, things got even worse. At the Battle of Actium she panicked and fled; Antony believing she was in danger followed, and the loss of their commanders resulted in the fleet's destruction.  She pretty clearly wasn't very popular by the end of her reign; this became obvious when  her army simply deserted to Octavian in August of 30 BCE. Ultimately, she died with her kingdom in possession of her enemies, and committed suicide while a prisoner of the Romans.

What do you mean this isn't what you aspire to?!

However, I don't like having a post that's all negative. Because she is often depicted as a female role model from history, I thought I'd briefly discuss a few historical women who I do think are worthy of the distinction. This list is, of course, not even remotely comprehensive, but I do have a bit of a space limitation here. I should also point out that all of these women had flaws; they were people, and none of us are perfect. If you have your own personal historical heroine, let me know!


Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians

Here's a tip: If the statue of a person shows them
holding a sword, they were probably awesome.

Æthelflæd was an Anglo-Saxon, the daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex. She was married to the ruler of the Kingdom of Mercia during the viking invasions of England, and became in essence co ruler of that realm. While her husband was alive they seem to have worked together; he was functionally answerable to Alfred (though technically he was an independent ruler) and her good relationship with her father seems to have made her an excellent intermediary. Where she really started to shine though was after her husband's death; usually, a new ruler would have been selected at a council, but Æthelflæd was popular and Mercia granted more power to women than the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. She was proclaimed leader of the Mercians, and led her realm to her death. This was extremely unusual; she's the only known female ruler of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. She established burghs (forts) throughout her kingdom after seeing how successful they had been when her father had done the same, and contributed to Mercia being the most stable realm in Britain in the viking period. She was also a war-leader; she was probably present in the field with her army on different occassions, and her strategic command saw off several enemies of Mercia, including viking armies and Welsh raiders. She died a popular queen, and her daughter succeeded her. However, Wessex soon annexed Mercia, and we are told that the deposition of their queen angered the Mercians. To understand why Æthelflæd was so amazing, you have to understand the Anglo-Saxons; they were an EXTREMELY patriarchal society. Women were of a lower social rank at every level of society, to the point that most Anglo-Saxon realms didn't even allow the wives of the king to call themselves queen. Æthelflæd isn't well-known outside of some parts of modern England, but she should be!


Tomyris, Queen of the Massagetae

Call me a cynic, but I get the feeling
that this Medieval depiction isn't a
historically accurate representation
of an ancient Indo-Iranian
warrior...

If you read my last post on the leaders in the upcoming Civilization VI video game, you are now probably somewhat familiar with Tomyris. Tomyris was the leader of the Massagetae, a group of Scythians living in modern Central Asia. All of our sources on her come from Ancient Greek historians, but these guys usually focused on other men and Tomyris is somewhat unique in being portrayed as not only a strong female ruler, but also as a strong "barbarian" (non-Greek) leader in general.  As the story went, Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire, invaded her lands. Initially he was successful because of a trick. His army pretended to retreat, and left behind large quantities of wine. The Massagetae were unused to alcohol, and quickly became drunk upon encountering the sweet liquid. The Persians then turned and killed many of the Massagetae. The son of Tomyris was captured, and committed suicide in captivity. Tomyris challenged the Persians to battle, and this time won. In the fight Cyrus was either killed or captured, and Tomyris ordered his body decapitated. She filled a skin with human blood taken from the field, and had Cyrus' head sewn into it. Supposedly, she remarked that "I promised you that I would quench your thirst for blood, and so I have." Tomyris became something of the archetype for the powerful, barbarian warrior queen, and her legacy continues on to this day. She is frequently depicted in art, and her name is common for girls in Central Asia and Turkey. 

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor pictured here above the Rolling
Stones. 

Eleanor might be my favorite lady on this list; I've always thought if I had a daughter I'd like to name her for Eleanor. I like her so much, I found it impossible to keep my biography of her brief, and it kept growing out of control. So I'll just give you some of the highlights. From 1137 she was Duchess of Aquitaine and personally controlled one of the largest, wealthiest regions of Western Europe. She personally took the cross, and accompanied her husband (the king of France) during the Second Crusade. After divorcing the King of France, she quickly became Queen of England by marrying Henry II. She was influential while queen, and even helped her son Henry the Young King in his revolt against his father, for which she was imprisoned. When released by her son Richard I "The Lionheart," her power grew even more; she served as Regent of England when he was out of the country, including during the Third Crusade. When he was captured in Austria, she personally negotiated the terms of his release and managed to gather the funds for his ransom from a country which was already basically bankrupt. During her son John's reign she seems to have been a moderating influence, and things really didn't start to go badly downhill for him until after her death. Throughout this whole period she was also responsible for negotiating marriages between the royal family and foreign dynasties; this might sound a bit domestic, but in an era when national politics was all conducted at the personal level between nobles in meant that she was partially responsible for choosing England's political and military allies. Her courts were centers of art and entertainment, and her court in Aquitaine in particular became a center for Troubadours.  At her death she'd led an amazing life; she had been queen of two great realms, duchess in her own right to a third, a crusader, a diplomat, regent of England, and had been mother to 3 Kings, 2 Queens, a duke, a duchess, two countesses, and a count.  

Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia

And because I know you're dying to know: the horse
story is a myth spread by opponents of Catherine
after her death. It came about when servants reported
her love for fine horses and the amount of time she
spent at the royal stables. It has no basis in reality ya
weirdos! 

Catherine is one of the few female leaders in world history with "the Great" title; at the time of writing Wikipedia lists only Catherine and Tamar of Georgia as females with the title. There are a lot of myths built up around Catherine, and in a lot of ways she was similar to Cleopatra. She was considered beautiful, and was known both in her own time and today for her lovers and perceived feminine charms. Under her Russia expanded to a massive extent, and achieved military victories against several powers of the day, including Poland and the Ottoman Empire. Russia had a golden age during her rule, and became powerful and wealthy. Until the Bolshevik Revolution Russian czars attempted to emulate the success of Catherine's reign, but none succeeded. Catherine was a fine diplomat and was excellent at picking ministers and subordinates, many of whom (such as Grigory Potemkin) became famous, stellar military and political leaders in their own right. She had Alaska and parts of Central and Eastern Asia colonized and brought Russia onto the world stage in a way that it hadn't really been before her. She founded towns and cities and reformed the administration of both the state and the military. Her patronage of the arts became semi-legendary, and her love of the Enlightenment brought new scientific and artistic ideas to her country. She founded the first state institution of higher learning for girls in Europe, and the Russian nobility gained freedoms they had never before enjoyed. Her reign wasn't perfect; her policies ultimately further entrenched serfdom in Russia and increased the state's reliance on it. The lower classes were continued to be repressed, and many of Catherine's policies only benefited the nobility. This led to intermittent rebellions which began in her reign and ended with the rise of the Soviet Union. Despite this, she's often considered one of the most successful leaders in Russian history. She was so interesting, there's even a wiki article that talks about legends and myths revolving around her!

Theodora, Empress of Byzantium

I'm a little jealous of all that bling...

Maybe you like Cleopatra because you find the idea of a woman using her sexuality and charm to gain power in a male-dominated warm interesting. If that's the case, you'll be interested to know that there was another famous ancient woman known for this, but who was actually a successful ruler. In fact, she was SO successful, that she is now considered a saint! Theodora was born at the lowest rung of society; her father was a bear trainer and after his death she was forced to become an actress and prostitute. She eventually came to the attention of Justinian, the heir to the Byzantine Empire, who was so in love with her that he convinced his father to repeal a law preventing actresses from marrying into the royal family (until the modern period Actors and Actresses were considered the lowest dregs of humanity, and were socially no better than beggars and thieves). As empress Theodora was unsurpassed. In January of 532 the infamous Nika riots exploded across Constantinople, threatening to destroy the capital. Rioters proclaimed a new emperor, and the royal family and their followers were in real danger. Justinian and his advisers prepared to flee, but Theodora made a speech which shamed all of them, convincing them to stay. She knew that had they fled, their power would be gone, but if they stayed and survived they would be able to eventually re-assume control, which is exactly what happened. Justinian and many of his advisers considered her the hero of the riots, and this was true. In the aftermath of the riots the city was rebuilt bigger and better before. Theodora took an active role in government, appointing her own advisers, personally supervising imperial officials, and grooming people to take positions of power ranging from generals to simple bureaucrats. She was also, unusually for the time, active in religion. I won't get into details, but to oversimplify things there were two groups of Christians in the empire, Chalcedonians and Monophysites. Her husband and the empire at large were officially Chalcedonians, and the Monophysites were persecuted. However, Theodora herself was a Monophysite, and she was able to constantly outmaneuver both church leaders and her husband to increase the influence and standing of her religious brethren.  Her work to increase understanding between the two groups was remembered; when her husband was made a saint by the Orthodox church she received the same honor. They are both commemorated by a feast on November 14th of each year.

Hatshepsut, Pharaoh of Egypt

Lots of depictions of Hatshepsut remain, but this
one looks the most like an alien, and I think that's
pretty cool. 

Cleopatra's legacy is even less impressive when you look at another female Pharaoh, Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut is the second female pharaoh we know existed for sure; there may have been others but the records are too unreliable to be sure. Exact details of her reign are somewhat spotty (she did reign nearly 3,500 years ago) and we are even positive of the exact length of her reign, but nearly everyone agrees that she was an extremely successful monarch. She established trade networks with a number of partners, most famously the rich kingdom of Punt. We aren't sure of that kingdom's exact location, but I'm partial to the theory that it was somewhere in or near modern Somalia. Even more notable, she was an extremely prolific builder, even by ancient Egyptian standards. Her buildings rate amongst the most famous in Egypt, second only to the Great Pyramids constructed a thousand years before her reign. The Karnak temple complex was built during her reign, as were numerous other temples throughout Egypt. Her mortuary temple near the valley of the Kings is one of the most famous in the world, and it's clear that under her rule Egypt was wealthy and prosperous (it could fund these projects, after all). She was a master of propaganda, and made it clear that she was a ruler in her own right. Thanks in part to this, we know more about her reign than many of the other Pharaoh's an indirect achievement but one none the less. 

Hatshepsut's mortuary temple has served as an inspiration for architects for decades
and has appeared in media frequently. Check out any documentary on Egypt made by the History Channel and you'll spot it at least once!

This is a short list, and I could add to it near-infinitely. I've only included queens: you could add pirates, warriors, scientists, and artists to this list, but I think just looking at leaders makes the comparisons and contrasts with Cleopatra much easier. I haven't even included obvious choices, like Elizabeth I or Victoria. We are spoiled for choice when it comes to finding historical female role models, and it makes the constant emphasis on Cleopatra all the more frustrating.