CLEOPATRA IN JOSEPHUS: FROM HEROD’S RIVAL TO THE WISE RULER’S OPPOSITE
Jan Willem van Henten
Introduction
Cleopatra VII was the last Ptolemaic ruler, who for some time partly restored the huge Ptolemaic empire by using her unorthodox partner- ships with powerful Romans. Roman authors murdered her character after her and Antony’s demise at Actium in 31 bce. Cleopatra VII became world-famous as a most clever seductress through Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, which was strongly inspired by Plutarch’s biog- raphy of Antony. Elizabeth Taylor’s part of Cleopatra in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1963 movie Cleopatra made her even more famous in our own age. Josephus is one of the most negative ancient sources about Cleopatra. He goes beyond the usual contempt for Cleopatra’s sexual immorality, greed and perverted hunger for power, and portrays her in Against Apion as the ultimately wicked foreign ruler. Josephus’ Cleopatra passages show an increasing tendency to blacken the famous and intelligent queen; so much so that Michael Grant concludes in his biography of Cleopatra that Josephus ‘is savagely biased against the queen’.1 Why is a separate discussion of the Cleopatra passages in Josephus useful? First, Cleopatra’s dealings with Herod the Great, as reported by Josephus, show two client rulers in action, fighting for Roman support and benefactions in very different ways. Second, the various Cleopatra passages have been treated before as one coherent cluster,2 but this approach does not do justice to the changes of Cleopatra’s image in Josephus’ works. Third, although Josephus’ descriptions show many parallels with statements by non-Jewish authors, there are some issues in his works that are remarkable if not altogether unique, and deserve further discussion. This contribution, therefore, aims at giving a survey
1 M. Grant, Cleopatra, London 1972 (repr. London 2001), 240. 2 I. Becher, Das Bild der Kleopatra in der griechischen und lateinischen Literatur, Berlin 1966, 63-8. 116 jan willem van henten of all Cleopatra passages in an ongoing discussion, while highlighting the differences between Josephus’ works.3
1. Cleopatra in the Jewish War
Parallel passages that appear in the Antiquities and show only minor differences in comparison to the Jewish War will also be discussed in this section when relevant.4 Cleopatra is first mentioned in the Jewish War in connection with one of the unsuccessful Jewish delegations coming to Antony in order to protest against Herod and his brother Phasael, who took over the rule from Hyrcanus II (War 1.243//Antiquities 14.324). According to the Jewish War the location of Antony’s hearing of this delegation was Daphne near Antioch, upon the Orontes. The Antiquities passes over the location in silence, but briefly indicates its context by hinting at Antony and Cleopatra’s first meeting in Cili- cia, with the famous seduction scene on a golden barge in Tarsus in 41 bce.5 The important thing for us here is Josephus’ note in the margin that Antony ‘was already enslaved by his love for Cleopatra’ (’Antw,nion h;dh tw/| Kleopa,traj e;rwti dedoulwme,non) at this very early stage, whereas Roman authors suggest that Antony fell in love with Cleopatra at a much later date.6 Josephus’ not at all flattering state- ment about Antony, which anticipates Cleopatra’s attempts to make Antony act against Herod, is, in fact, only partly warranted by further events as told by Josephus. Antony was certainly extremely generous to Cleopatra, but there are clear cases where he did not give in to her when it did not match his or Rome’s interests (cf. below).7 Several Roman authors also suggest that Antony was Cleopatra’s slave.8 The
3 The relevant passages are: (1) Jewish War 1.243-4; 1.277-9; 1.359-61; 1.362-3; 1.365-7; 1.389-90; 1.396-7; 1.439-40; 7.300; (2) Antiquities 14.324; 14.374-6; 15.24, 28, 32, 45-6, 48, 62-3, 65, 75-9; 15.88-95; 15.96-103; 15.104-5; 15.106-7; 15.110; 15.115- 7; 15.131-2; 15.140; 15.191-2; 15.215, 217; 15.256-7; (3) Against Apion 2.56-61. 4 War 1.243//Antiquities 14.324; War 1.361//Antiquities 15.94-5; War 1.363 // Antiquities 15.104; War 1.365//Antiquities 15.110; War 1.367//Antiquities 15.115-7, 140; War 1.396-7//Antiquities 15.215, 217. 5 Plutarch, Ant. 26.1ff.; Strabo C 673f.; Appian, Bell. civ. 5.8; Cassius Dio 48.24.2. Many biographies of Cleopatra, more or less popular, have appeared, but the most balanced is still H. Volkmann, Kleopatra: Politik und Propaganda, Munich 1953. Cf. H. Schalit, König Herodes: Der Mann und Sein Werk, Berlin 20012, 69. 6 Livius, Periocha 130: 36 bce; Velleius Paterculus 2.82.3f.: 34 bce. 7 With Schalit, Herodes, 120.