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Kleopatra VII we współczesnej kulturze popularnej: przekaz źródeł czy stereotyp postrzegania Egiptu?

100%

Kulpa K.

Studia Europaea Gnesnensia

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2010

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issue 1-2

163-181

PL

For more than two thousand years Cleopatra has been an inspiration of artists. At the turn of the 20th and 21st century she became one of the icons of our (European) perception of Egypt. She is certainly better known than the builders of pyramids or Ramesses the Great, and she is remembered better than the names of ancient rulers. One may even venture to claim that although little is known, she is a familiar, not to say clichéd figure. One needs to consider what hides behind the representations of Cleopatra we encounter everyday in various aspects of popular culture-advertising, products of daily use, television. In my opinion, we only perceive the picture contrived by Octavian and the writers devoted to him-a femme fatale of the antiquity, an ambitious and ruthless temptress. Horace, Propertius, Florus and Pliny conveyed in their works an image of Cleopatra which met Octavian Augustus’ expectations: of a woman defeated in the eyes of the victor. A cursory read of their works in the 18th century, in the wake of renewed interest in antiquity following the discovery of Pompeii and Herculanum, led to uncritical repetition of Cleopatra’s depiction-first, in the historiography, and then in popular culture. Stereotypes concerning Egypt developed, reinforced by the descriptions of travelers. In the light of the latter, the country appears a quintessence of the Orient, with all its riches and delights. The figure of the last queen of ancient Egypt suited such notion perfectly. The most interesting issue is that today, when through archeological and historical research Cleopatra’s life became known in greater detail, the popular culture, advertising and cinematography in particular, keeps on perpetuating the stereotypical representation of this extraordinary woman. I incline towards the views of M. Krajewski, who claims that popular culture has become a lens sifting reality, and in striving to become an integral element of reality, it selects whatever is helpful (discarding the rest). The answer to the question of whether the image of Cleopatra originates from sources or stems from our stereotypes of Egypt, is, I think, a complex one. It was precisely the superficial reading of sources rediscovered, as it were, in the 18th century, that brought forth the stereotypes, whose reverberations in popular culture of the 20th and the 21st century created a specific picture of the last Egyptian queen. The “present–day” picture of Cleopatra is in a way a remote echo of Augustian propaganda, whose charm still holds sway over us. I wished to demonstrate this dependence by showing various aspects of popular culture, from press to cosmetics. Popular culture adopted those features of Cleopatra that help sell merchandise-youth, amorous intrigue, alleged beauty and murder. We cannot escape the influence she exerts on us and our lives, yet what lies beneath the facade of a pretty face with a ureus-adorned temples deserves consideration. In the case of Cleopatra VII it is a fascinating history of life and death of one of the most influential women of her times.

2

How the attributes of Cleopatra VII changed over time

100%

Kostuch L.

Społeczeństwo i Edukacja. Międzynarodowe Studia Humanistyczne

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2016

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issue 3(22)

112-122

EN

The legend of Cleopatra VII in Western culture is a frequently researched topic. However, little thought is devoted to the Queen’s attributes which, as centuries passed, underwent frequent metamorphoses. In art and literature, the attributes and motifs associated with Cleopatra are mainly the crocodile, the pearl, the snake and the cat (the panther, the lion and the sphinx). These royal symbols seem to have lived their own “lives” and form an interesting linear pattern. Furthermore, their history is full of paradox. The crocodile, although probably attributed to Cleopatra by the Romans, never became Cleopatra’s perennial symbol. The famous cobra, initially huge and multiplied, was reduced over time to the size of a bracelet and was eventually replaced by the cat. The latter, undeniably an ancient animal, became Cleopatra’s symbol only in the nineteenth century. Moreover, most probably, the snake was not linked to Cleopatra because of the erotic association, neither was the cat assigned to her because she was a voluptuous witch. Modern representations of Cleopatra with African animals are not necessarily a misunderstanding.

3

Mark Antony and the date of the Inimitables. A remark on an edited text

88%

Łukaszewicz A.

The Journal of Juristic Papyrology

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2020

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issue 50

223-232

EN

A Greek inscription on stone found in Alexandria in the nine- teenth century and exhibited in the Alexandrian Greco-Roman Museum contains an unusual dedicatory text in honour of Mark Antony. The text was edited several times. It contains useful information which agrees with the passage of Plutarch on the lifestyle of Antony and Cleopatra, and their entourage. In this paper the author suggests the date 34–30 bc for the activity of the ‘Inimitables’ and adds a further commentary on the history of Antony and Cleopatra.

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Cleopatra – a Queen, a Lover, a Mother: Transformations of the Image

51%

Wiśniewska L.

ARGUMENT: Biannual Philosophical Journal

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2012

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vol. 2

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issue 1

151-169

EN

Kleopatra – królowa, kochanka, matka – transformacja wizerunku. Transformations are not only conditioned by facts encompassing narrower or wider panoramas: from concentrating on death and one (political) role (the ode of Horace), through recalling Cleopatra’s mature life and love (the drama of Shakespeare), to creating an image embracing the heroine’s whole life with its numerous roles, but as a mother and a daughter in the first place, because even her lovers resemble a father and a child (the fictional biography of Karen Essex). Above all, they appear to be more connected with different attitudes towards universal references lying within human cognitive abilities. Horace’s didactic opposition of contradictory patterns leads to the victory of one of them — and it is a linear pattern, as an equivalent of modern myth, which is accepted by the author himself. In Shakespeare, it takes a form of tragedy resulting from the fragmentary character of each pattern, one of which introduces change (archaic myth) and the other constancy (modern myth), and from a painful attempt to combine them. In Essex, the vision of the world in which archaic myth, strongly represented by a child, triumphs is utopian. Irrespective of the differences, all the works realize the essential role played by images developed by heroes, and especially by authors, in human cognition

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1 Kostuch L.

1 Kulpa K.

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1 Łukaszewicz A.

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Kleopatra VII we współczesnej kulturze popularnej: przekaz źródeł czy stereotyp postrzegania Egiptu?

How the attributes of Cleopatra VII changed over time

Mark Antony and the date of the Inimitables. A remark on an edited text

Cleopatra – a Queen, a Lover, a Mother: Transformations of the Image