Aegyptus Et Nubia Christiana. the Włodzimierz
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Cleopatra and kandake Adam Łukaszewicz Department of Papyrology, Institute of Archaeology University of Warsaw [email protected] Keywords Ptolemaic Egypt, Roman history, Cleopatra VII, Meroitic Kingdom, women rulers in antiquity Abstract The author discusses the circumstances of Cleopatra VII taking power as the sole ruler of Egypt in 49/48 BC. The queen was forced out of Alexandria by her brother and co-regent Ptolemy XIII. When she reappeared in Egypt, it was from Palestine. The author considers the possibility that she traveled from Alexandria through the Thebaid, the Meroitic Kingdom and Arabia to Palestine, where she expected to obtain financial support necessary for recruiting mercenaries. She need not have modeled her political activity on that of the Meroitic kandake, but personal contacts between the two queens are plausible. The author suggests that a woman’s head represented on the cover of a box containing a mirror, found at Faras in Nubia, may be a portrait of Cleopatra. During the reign of Cleopatra VII (51–30 BC) Alexandria was certainly the biggest commercial center of the Mediterranean. Most luxury goods from abroad reached Alexandria via harbors of the Red Sea where they arrived either from India or from the Arab peninsula, or from the East of Africa, including the mysterious land of Punt of the ancient Egyptians and the region of Adulis and Axum which was so important in the history of Ethiopia (Bowersock 2013). At the beginning of the reign of the last Ptolemaic queen, the international situation was extremely complex. The victory of the Parthians over the Roman Aegyptus et Nubia Christiana 691 MISceLLANEA Adam Łukaszewicz army at the end of the reign of Ptolemy XII brought temporary relief to the weakened Alexandrian dynasty. Direct Roman exploitation of Egypt was delayed. Ptolemy XIII, the brother and co-regent of Cleopatra VII, was not yet able to elaborate a policy of his own. Next to him stood an ominous trio of tutors: the eunuch Potheinos, the army commander Achillas and Theodotos of Chios, the educator of the young king. These Alexandrian worthies took part in a vehement conflict between Ptolemy and Cleopatra, who reigned together since March of 51 BC. According to Hölbl, Cleopatra initially succeeded in expelling her brother from joint rule for a period of about 18 months (Hölbl 2001: 231). A stele in the Louvre of the 2nd of July 51 BC (year 1) (I. Fay. 205 = I. Louvre 21; Bianchi 1988: Cat. 78) can perhaps be interpreted in favour of such a hypothesis, although the dedicatory text for Queen Cleopatra, the goddess loving her father, does not mean that year 1 refers to her sole reign and not to the joint kingship. In the autumn of 50 BC (year 3) the king is named first and the queen is mentioned after him (BGU VIII 1730 [see BL III] = C. Ord. Ptol. 73). The priority of the king shows, in Hölbl’s opinion, that the party of the young Ptolemy prevailed again. Two demotic documents of March 49 BC mentioned the joint reign of “king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, the gods loving their father” (P. Cair. Dem. 30616a, b). Dramatic events must have occurred in the royal palace shortly after that. Year 3 of the joint reign of Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra VII began on the 5th of September of 50 BC and ended on the 3rd of September 49 BC. During that year a new dating system was introduced. The new dating formula consisting of year 1 (of a new era) equal to year 3 (of a former era) is known from three papyri.1 Hölbl assumed that Ptolemy XIII introduced dating formulas based on the count of years of his own reign (Hölbl 2001: 231). However, one of these documents mentions “queen Cleopatra and …” (SB VI 9065.1). Although the petition directed to the “queen and …” and mentioning the year 1 = 3 apparently refers to the past, it seems also possible that the dating formula of 50/49 BC was a consequence of Cleopatra’s move, maybe even of an attempted coup d’état. Year 1 could be the first year of the reign of Cleopatra, also called year 3 of the joint reign. This otherwise unknown action of Cleopatra was undoubtedly a failure, and an open war between the royal siblings followed. In any case, the party of the young Ptolemy succeeded in expulsing the queen from Alexandria. This took place probably not earlier than in the summer of 49 BC. Cleopatra did not reappear until 48 BC. 1 SB VI 9065.2; VIII 9764.6–7; BGU VIII 1839.5. Nota bene, the editor of BGU 1839.5 suggested “year 1 also called [30]” and referred it to the last year of Ptolemy XII being the first year of his successors. “Year 1 also called [3]” is more convincing. 692 Aegyptus et Nubia Christiana Cleopatra and kandake The events in Egypt were undoubtedly connected with the situation in Rome. Since early 49 BC, the civil war between Caesar and Pompey introduced into Egypt’s unstable foreign policy an unavoidable choice between the conflicting parties in Rome. This was probably the main reason of a controversy between Cleopatra and the body of tutors. In the autumn of 49 BC Pompey’s Roman Senate in exile at Thessalonike recognized the legitimacy of Ptolemy XIII as the sole ruler of Egypt. Like his father before him, he was proclaimed amicus et socius populi Romani. Pompey became formally the tutor of the young king of Egypt. No mention was made of Cleopatra. The decision of Pompey’s senate meant that Cleopatra was left with no choice. She could only look for help from Julius Caesar, Pompey’s enemy (Chauveau 2002: 18). What happened then to the young queen of Egypt? Malalas, a late author who passed on some reliable information, mentions Cleopatra’s escape from Alexandria to the Thebaid (Malalas IX 279; see Hölbl 1994: 207). When she reappeared on the political scene in 48 BC, she was coming back to Egypt from Palestine. As a matter of fact Cleopatra had no other choice. To enrol a mercenary army, she had to reach the Near East. But what itinerary could she take to get to Palestine? The shortest route via the Delta and Pelusium, Rhinocolura (today’s El-Arish) and Gaza was most probably closed. The harbors enabling a direct crossing of the Red Sea (Leukos Limen, Myos Hormos and Berenike) were probably under the control of Ptolemy’s government. Passage to the Thebaid, while not entirely safe, at least opened the way to the south, which was beyond the reach of the Alexandrian government. Travel from Egypt to Syria via the Meroitic kingdom has been hypothesized by some researchers. Egypt’s southern neighbor, Nubia, was not terra incognita. Cleopatra seems to have had many reasons to choose the route upstream. From the Egyptian point of view, the dwellers of the oros situated south of Egypt, the Blemmyes and the Nubae, were wild and dangerous tribes. In his praise of Rome, the mid-2nd century AD rhetor Aelius Aristides qualified the “peoples who live along the Red Sea” as “unfortunate”.2 However, the Meroitic kingdom on the Nubian Nile was by no means a negligible place. The sojourn of Cleopatra in Nubia is entirely hypothetical, but very probable. The road from Kush to Arabia was not very difficult. There is extensive information about contacts between these regions in later periods. The 2 Aristid., Or. 26.70. See Bowersock 2013: 54, who interprets the Greek term kakodaimonia as “wickedness”. Aegyptus et Nubia Christiana 693 MISceLLANEA Adam Łukaszewicz Ptolemaic inscription on the throne of Adulis provides evidence of contacts in the early Ptolemaic period, albeit chiefly for hunting elephants (see Bowersock 2013: 36). We know from Strabo that Cleopatra’s younger sister Arsinoe was with her on the Palestinian outskirts of Egypt (Strab., Geographia 17.1.11[C 796]; Green 1997: 730, note 135). This may imply the presence of the same company already on the earlier stage of the journey. Finances were Cleopatra’s main problem in exile. She needed money for the military operation of a prospective comeback to Egypt. In Syria, she certainly received support from the city of Askalon. We have from that period coins of Askalon with the image of Cleopatra (Walker and Higgs 2001: Cat. No. 219). She could have done what her father did in exile, promising to repay her allies and creditors after gaining a victory. The ancient world knew many bankers willing to finance influential customers who could guarantee prospective payment. Also, financial support from the Nubian rulers during Cleopatra’s sojourn in their country was not unthinkable. Whatever the case, it seems that by late 49 BC or rather early 48 BC Cleopatra VII was already in Palestine or on her way there. The events that followed are much clearer than Cleopatra’s enigmatic itinerary. As we know, Cleopatra overcame and with the help of Julius Caesar succeeded in her struggle for the throne of Egypt. The romantic version of Cleopatra’s encounter with the Roman warlord may perhaps be true as far as the strange way of smuggling the queen into the palace occupied by the Romans is concerned (Plut., Vit. Caes. 49.2). However, Caesar may not have been quite that surprised. The two had corresponded before the famous meeting in Alexandria (Cass. Dio XLII 34.3– 6). Cleopatra and Caesar may even have met already during young Cleopatra’s uncertain stay in Rome with her father a few years earlier. From the time of Caesar’s victoria Alexandrina of 47 BC, Cleopatra was the sole ruler of Egypt.