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00:08Ancient Egypt has been a lost world for around 2,000 years, forgotten by everyone.
00:15Buried in the sand, reliques from the civilization on the River Nile are constantly emerging.
00:22Archaeologists are steadily discovering the truth behind Egypt and the pharaohs,
00:26uncovering more about this incredible history every day.
00:34Thanks to the most recent scientific technologies, physics, genetics, and even computer-generated imaging,
00:42some of the enigmas of the past are finally at our fingertips.
00:49Among the many great mysteries in Ancient Egypt, there is a fascinating mystery involving Queen Cleopatra,
00:55who is described as being powerful, seductive, and manipulative.
00:59She also had an influence on Rome by captivating the dignitaries of that time.
01:03Why did she have so much power? What were her weapons of seduction?
01:07Cleopatra was not a particularly beautiful woman.
01:10Nevertheless, she had a pretty incredible charm.
01:12We said that Cleopatra's charm was her culture.
01:16Although Cleopatra's name is synonymous with the fate of Egypt,
01:19the circumstances around her death and the location of her final resting place remain a mystery.
01:24Was she assassinated? Did she commit suicide?
01:27How did her life come to an end?
01:29Poisoning was very popular in antiquity.
01:31Or maybe it was because of a snake bite.
01:33To find out more, we need to uncover her remains and analyze them.
01:37I believe Taposiris Magna is the final resting place of Queen Cleopatra.
01:41With the modern techniques that we have, there would be a possibility to go look for traces of employment on
01:48the rest of Cleopatra.
01:50Throughout Egypt and Europe, there are teams of experts on the hunt for traces of Cleopatra.
01:55They're trying to uncover the mysterious circumstances around her death and the enigma of her lost tomb.
02:00Antonio Fischetti is a doctor of physics and he is a scientist who will carry out research in Europe.
02:06And Claudine Le Tourneur-Disson, an Egyptologist who is passionate about Egyptian queens.
02:11And Gilles Arputian, the author of various scientific works and who was at new technologies,
02:16will travel through Egypt in search of any trace of Cleopatra.
02:31Cleopatra is undoubtedly the most famous queen in Egyptian history, but she's also the most mysterious.
02:37We know very little about her true appearance.
02:39Her remains have not been found and there are few clues that could lead to her tomb being uncovered.
02:44There are some writings which provide details of her life, but they have been written by Romans, her sworn enemies.
02:50So they're not objective writings.
02:52We know that she had Greek origins, that she lived between 69 and 30 BC, and that she suffered a
02:58violent death.
03:00We know that she seduced, among others, Julius Caesar, and then his right-hand man, Mark Anthony,
03:07and that it was a third Roman man, Octavius, the future Emperor Augustus, who played a part in her death.
03:15Our experts are searching for traces of this mysterious Cleopatra, scrutinizing details of her life,
03:22in order to understand how she exerted her power and to try to shed some light on her tragic fate.
03:29The first step is for Claudine and Gilles to fly to Cairo, the nerve center of Egyptology.
03:39In the Egyptian capital, there are research laboratories and institutions that are dedicated to archaeology.
03:48Our experts visit the library for the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in order to find more information on Cleopatra.
04:06They're hoping to consult volumes of an extraordinary work entitled The Description of Egypt,
04:12which was published in France in 1809 by French scholars following the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt.
04:19It contains extensive factual information regarding Greek reliques that were present throughout Egypt in Cleopatra's time.
04:26This is considered to be normal as Cleopatra was originally from Ptolemy dynasty.
04:31Greek kings had ruled over Egypt for three centuries.
04:35Although she comes from a pure Greek lineage, Cleopatra would integrate Egypt, learn its language, and embrace its culture.
04:43Since that, she gained power over the whole country.
04:53To retrace Cleopatra's steps by following the clues found in the library, Claudine and Gilles decide to visit the region
05:00of Aswan.
05:01Around 800 kilometers south of Cairo, the experts embark at the shores of Aswan to reach the island of Philae
05:07a few minutes by boat.
05:09This is where they will find the majestic temple of Philae.
05:12In antiquity, it was an incredible place of cultural, religious, and political intermingling.
05:19The Greeks left their mark on it.
05:23The Ptolemy dynasty, from which Cleopatra originates, reigned over all parts of the country,
05:29and symbolic representations can be found on many of the temples.
05:37On this pylone of the temple of Isis, we see Ptolemy, who is the father of Cleopatra, Ptolemy XII,
05:45which proves that the Ptolemy have extended their power to the south, extreme south of Egypt,
05:52and that they have continued to build temples like the pharaons who preceded them.
06:00So they were very, very invested in this country,
06:04and they have taken the customs, the beliefs that they have mixed with their own.
06:12Cleopatra was very powerful and strongly rooted by her ancestors throughout Egypt.
06:17It was in the town of Alexandria that she exercised her power.
06:21Our experts decided to go there to find out more about her reign,
06:25hoping to shed light on the circumstances of her tragic death.
06:35Cleopatra reigned over Egypt from her huge palace in Alexandria, the country's capital in antiquity,
06:41which was well known for its magnificence and cultural wealth.
06:45She opened the biggest library in the world at that time and the famous Alexandria lighthouse.
06:50The town was located in the north coast of the country by the Mediterranean Sea
06:54and took its name from its founder, the Greek Alexander the Great.
06:58During his conquest, this powerful king of Macedonia seized ancient Egypt
07:03and founded Alexandria, from which Cleopatra would reign 300 years later.
07:12Today, the magnificence of the ancient city cannot be seen.
07:16There is no trace of the lighthouse or the library or even Cleopatra's palace,
07:20which isn't much help to our experts for their research.
07:23How was the city, which was a symbol of power, practically wiped off the map?
07:34In the year 365 of our era, a violent earthquake caused the collapse of part of Alexandria,
07:40flooding the royal palace with water and even flooding the tomb of Alexander the Great.
07:49Submarine archaeologists have searched the Mediterranean Sea around the city,
07:53and a number of architectural reliefs from antiquity have been found.
08:01Claudeine wants to know more about this flooded city.
08:03She decides to go out with an experienced diver and the manager for marine archaeological excavation in Egypt.
08:12According to the texts, we know very well that there was a tsunami that happened in 365 after Jesus Christ,
08:19which caused a sudden infection, and then a slow infection with the elevation of the sea level.
08:33In the past 20 years of work, we can say that the marine archaeology has been completed by the Alexandrie,
08:41so the part of the englouti with the terrestrial part where we have a lot of activity for two centuries.
08:57Can you tell us about where the Palais de Cléopâtre should be found?
09:01In the middle of this, we're going to dive into the Palais de Cléopâtre,
09:07exactly in the center of the port east of Alexandria.
09:12And the thing is very interesting for us, as hunters,
09:14there's an avion from the Second World War that fell on the Palais.
09:18In addition, it's very beautiful to have a mix of very ancient history
09:26and not very ancient history, the Second World War.
09:34We take the point of this plane, and from this plane, we visit the Palais.
09:40So it's the point of the repairs?
09:41We take a look.
09:42Here we go.
09:43Here we go.
09:43By this plane, we start to visit the city of Cléopâtre.
09:55Cléopâtre's palace is submerged underwater,
09:57beside the remains of one of the most famous monuments in antiquity,
10:01the Alexandria lighthouse, one of the seven marvels of the ancient world.
10:05It dominated the port, shining light on Egypt's entry port, the perfect symbol for the power of Ptolemy and Cleopâtre.
10:12The remains of the lighthouse are now submerged underwater.
10:15A meticulous excavation of these marine remains have been commissioned by the CLX teams.
10:21The study center in Alexandria and new methods of 3D mapping will allow them to establish a specific map using
10:27the architectural remains found on the site.
10:29Gilles is visiting the study center in Alexandria to meet one of the specialists in search of valuable clues about
10:36the environment in which Cleopâtre lived,
10:38and perhaps a clue that could explain her death?
10:41You work at the synthetic imaging industry.
10:44So you have virtualized the marine lands, and we can explore them.
10:48It's the idea of having a conformity copy of the site,
10:51by avoiding the weather conditions conditions that cause a lot of problems to see directly on the site.
10:57All in addition to a view of an ensemble, which is impossible to get in reality,
11:01because the visibility conditions are quite difficult.
11:03So here we have an ensemble vision of the site in one single view,
11:07which allows you to search for very precise details from this 3D model.
11:14So here we have covered about half of the site in three years, so six campaigns.
11:18It represents about 50,000 photos.
11:20So here we have a virtual instantaneity of ancient Alexandria.
11:25Despite a meticulous search of the sea bed,
11:28there are still no clues to fuel an investigation into the disappearance of Cleopatra.
11:32However, thanks to modern technologies used in archaeology,
11:36our experts are able to better understand ancient Alexandria
11:39and the influence that the city had on Cleopatra's fate.
11:43Cosmopolitan, boiling hot, a commercial hub in the Mediterranean Sea,
11:47and dubbed the world's trading post,
11:49the city of Alexandria was also sensual, infatuated with art and culture,
11:54projecting the image of its queen, Cleopatra.
11:57Claudine and Gilles continued to search for details of Cleopatra's life
12:01in order to better gauge her personality.
12:07One of the most rich and proud buildings in the city
12:10was undoubtedly the gigantic library commissioned by Ptolemy,
12:15the first successor of Alexander the Great.
12:17His romantic vision was to create a single place
12:20which contained all the books in the world.
12:21As an avid reader who was hungry for knowledge
12:24and able to speak several languages,
12:27Cleopatra spent hours reading works written on rules of papyrus.
12:36She was able to communicate with her own people,
12:39as well as those from other countries,
12:42which was rare for the time
12:43and certainly one of the reasons behind her power.
12:48Could this superiority and knowledge
12:50have generated hate or jealousy towards her?
12:53Was Cleopatra too enlightened?
12:55To find out, Claudine and Gilles are visiting the library in Alexandria,
13:00the new Egyptian cultural jewel
13:01that has revived the concept of the ancient library.
13:09Alexandria was a city that accepted everyone.
13:13There were students, researchers, scientists of the entire world
13:19who were in the library.
13:20It was an important door,
13:23it was the point between the Orient and the Occident.
13:28It was not only economic and cultural,
13:32but also religious.
13:40The Reine Cleopatra was interested in the culture and the bibliothèque
13:44and she tried to bring all the scientists around the world
13:48to stay in Alexandria.
13:50It was a tradition from her ancestors,
13:53from Ptolemy and Philadelphia.
14:04Every ship that was in Alexandria
14:07had to bring manuscripts to the library.
14:11We copied the manuscripts
14:13and we gave the ship the copies
14:16and we kept the original to the library.
14:19We bought books and manuscripts everywhere.
14:23We built the bibliothèque
14:25which was the most important thing.
14:28At the time,
14:36the young Cleopatra,
14:37before becoming a queen,
14:39she spent most of her time
14:40in the bibliothèque
14:41and she was very famous.
14:43She was known
14:43not only because she was a beautiful queen,
14:45but she was very cultivated.
14:47In fact,
14:48we said that the charm of Cleopatra
14:49was her culture.
14:53Pillaged during invasions,
14:55falling into disuse
14:57due to a lack of money
14:58or burning down in several fires.
15:00There are many different
15:01and controversial versions
15:02of how Alexandria's library was destroyed.
15:05What is certain
15:06is that a huge part of Ptolemy's history
15:08disappeared with it
15:10and most of the precious clues
15:11about Cleopatra's life.
15:13However,
15:14there is no doubt
15:16that her enlightenment contributed
15:17to her accumulation of power.
15:20If our experts want to clear up
15:22the mystery of Cleopatra's death,
15:24they must turn to those
15:25who had feared her power,
15:27the Romans,
15:28her political enemies,
15:29who watched her every move.
15:33It was the philosopher
15:34and biographer Plutarch
15:36who recounted elements
15:38of Cleopatra's life
15:39who ruled 2,000 years ago.
15:41However,
15:42Plutarch was born 76 years
15:44after Cleopatra's death
15:45and he was Roman,
15:46so he was a sworn enemy
15:47of the famous queen.
15:50To find out more about
15:51Cleopatra's personality,
15:53to better understand
15:54this woman,
15:54queen,
15:55conqueror,
15:56Claudine and Gilles
15:57call upon a specialist
15:58of the Roman period.
16:00The sources we have on Cleopatra
16:01are essentially Roman.
16:03These historians
16:04have presented Cleopatra
16:06through the principle
16:07of the winner.
16:08They wanted to show
16:09a very dangerous woman
16:10because she is a woman
16:11who does politics,
16:12something that the Romans
16:13don't really appreciate.
16:14And above all,
16:15it is a foreigner
16:16who leads the seductions
16:17of the absolute power
16:18to Rome,
16:19which is something
16:19that the Romans
16:20absolutely love.
16:21For our experts,
16:23Cleopatra's profile
16:24was coming together.
16:25She was a woman of power.
16:27That's how she was perceived
16:28in her time.
16:30In 48 BC,
16:31a man would overturn
16:32the course of her fate.
16:34Julius Caesar came to Egypt
16:37from Rome
16:37to take control
16:38of the country.
16:39Although Egypt was
16:40in the hands of young pharaoh
16:42Ptolemy 13,
16:43Cleopatra's brother,
16:44he was removed
16:45from the throne.
16:46Cleopatra had been
16:47chased by his brother
16:49and she was
16:50kidnapped to meet
16:51Jules Caesar
16:51by offering him
16:52a gift,
16:53a beautiful piece
16:54in which, in reality,
16:55she is surrounded.
16:56So, we bring the piece
16:57to Jules Caesar,
16:58we roll it in front of him
17:00and he leaves
17:00a beautiful young woman
17:02of twenty years.
17:03You can imagine
17:03Jules Caesar
17:04immediately
17:05under the charm
17:06of this young woman
17:07very bravely.
17:08They're going to spend
17:09the night together
17:10and beyond her charm,
17:12he certainly admire
17:13her political qualities,
17:16her intelligence.
17:17From there,
17:18there will be a long
17:19story of love
17:19where each other
17:20respond to their ambitions
17:22and encourage each other
17:23to go to the end
17:24of what they want.
17:26These two lovers
17:27embarked on a voyage
17:28on the Nile.
17:29As Cleopatra wanted
17:30the couple
17:31to be cheered
17:31by the Egyptian people,
17:33her desire to be admired
17:34by her subjects
17:35was obvious.
17:36However,
17:38how were the pharaohs
17:39perceived by the Egyptian people?
17:40Were they appreciated?
17:42Love this popular imagery
17:43would lead you to believe?
18:13The Egyptians
18:17to their sovereigns.
18:19Like their predecessors,
18:21the illustrated pharaohs
18:22Akhenaton
18:23and Tutankhamun,
18:24Cleopatra was at the mercy
18:26of the people's criticism.
18:27She knew it.
18:28She had to find a way
18:29to seduce her subjects.
18:35Clodine and Gilles
18:36and Gilles
18:36travel down the Nile
18:37to the north of Luxor,
18:38to Dendera,
18:39following the journey
18:40that Cleopatra and Caesar
18:41took on their great voyage.
18:49They've come here
18:50to find clues
18:51about the couple's
18:52triumphant visit
18:53from the Reliques
18:54at the Temple of Nader,
18:55the goddess of love and beauty.
19:01Cleopatra made a difficult vow
19:03to her in order
19:04to bless their union.
19:09Soon, the hopes
19:10of the abbot and Cleopatra
19:11would be fulfilled.
19:12She gave Caesar a son,
19:14Caesarion,
19:15and they thought
19:15that this would secure
19:16her dynasty
19:17under Roman protection
19:18this time.
19:24What a extraordinary place,
19:26admirably preserved.
19:28At the time of Cleopatra,
19:29at the time of the extinction
19:30of the Ptolémée,
19:31at the time of Cleopatra,
19:31at the time of the extinction
19:31did they still build
19:31such an edifice?
19:32Yes,
19:33because this temple
19:34is actually
19:35an epoch ptolémaic.
19:37It was built
19:38by the father of Cleopatra,
19:40Ptolémée XII.
20:11The temple of Dendera
20:13Here,
20:13one of the rare representations
20:15of Cleopatra
20:16exist here.
20:19Césarion, the son with Jules César,
20:24which is prepared for his succession on the land of Egypt.
20:27We have a representation of Cléopâtre,
20:29identified by the déesse Hathor.
20:31She wears all the emblems.
20:33She has the crown with the Rheus,
20:36the corns that are tied to the solar disk.
20:39She wears the collar Menath.
20:41In her hands, she holds the cistre and the Vasili-Bassion.
20:45She is behind her son,
20:46who already wears the High and the Vasili-Bass, Egypt,
20:50which is in the correction,
20:52since he is already a pharaon of Egypt.
20:56This is what this representation means.
20:59They are both in front of the déesse Hathor,
21:02to whom they are doing the offering.
21:05The satypical couple and their children
21:07seem to be basking in happiness and power.
21:10However, Cléopâtre would soon thrust herself
21:12into the harsh reality of politics
21:14when she arrived in Rome on Caesar's arm.
21:18La relation entre Jules César et Cléopâtre
21:21est extrêmement mal vue à Rome.
21:23Tout simplement parce que,
21:24Jules César est marié,
21:25mais ça, ce n'est pas très important.
21:27Un homme peut avoir des maîtresses.
21:28Mais surtout, avec Cléopâtre,
21:31il y a cette séduction de la tyrannie à l'orientale
21:34dont les Romains ont très peur.
21:35Tout le monde sait, à Rome,
21:36que Jules César est un homme extrêmement ambitieux
21:38et qui tend vers le pouvoir personnel.
21:41C'est très peu apprécié.
21:43Or, on sait que Cléopâtre va le pousser
21:45sur cette voie du pouvoir absolu
21:47et c'est cela que les Romains craignent
21:49et c'est pour cela qu'ils détestent Cléopâtre.
21:50En Marche de 44 B.C.,
21:54César was assassinated in Rome
21:56by conspiring senators.
21:57César was blamed on Cleopâtre,
21:59who had to flee Rome,
22:01returning to Egypt,
22:02leaving Rome on the verge of a civil war.
22:05A share of the territories under Roman rule
22:08were ruled by César's two successors,
22:11his adoptive son Octavius,
22:13the future emperor Augustus,
22:14who took the West,
22:15and Mark Anthony,
22:17César's former advisor,
22:18who took the East, including Egypt.
22:23Deciding to make him an ally,
22:25Cleopâtre did everything she could
22:26to seduce him,
22:27even accompanying him
22:28on his voyage on the Mediterranean.
22:31She left on their voyage
22:32on a beautiful boat
22:33with a golden bough
22:34and silver ores,
22:35and she was draped
22:36in a delicate fabric.
22:38Merrick Anthony immediately fell in love
22:40with the charm of Queen Cleopâtre,
22:41who had once again succeeded in marrying
22:43through her expert seduction
22:45and political charms.
22:46Our experts now have a clear vision
22:48of the woman that she was,
22:50a seductress,
22:51a woman in power,
22:52a conqueror.
22:53Cleopâtre was a powerful force.
22:55But what did she look like?
22:57Was she as beautiful as she is presented
22:59in the movies?
23:00Or is all of that simply a myth?
23:03The best image that we have of her
23:05is probably the statues,
23:07where we see a fine woman,
23:09in a delicate manner,
23:10but which is generally quite plain,
23:14exactly as the Romans describe it,
23:16with a nose a little too long,
23:18a little too aquiline.
23:19Aside from the descriptions of Cleopatra
23:22that the Roman writers have left us,
23:24is it now possible to reconstruct her face
23:26using her remains and advances in genetics?
23:32Now, we're off to Paris,
23:34to place du Trocadéro.
23:38Antonio is visiting the Museum of Man and Nature
23:40to get an opinion from a paleogeneticist
23:43on the possibility of facial reconstruction.
23:46Could science put a face to this famous name in antiquity?
23:50In the hypothesis where we find a momie,
23:53which could be the Cléopâtre,
23:56is there any scientific ways
23:58to reconstruct the face of a momie?
24:04With the DNA,
24:05we can try to focus on these questions,
24:07because the DNA,
24:09the genome,
24:10it's a bit like a cuisine
24:11from which the organism
24:13can reconstruct a complete being
24:16so the form of the crâne,
24:17the form of the nose,
24:19the nose,
24:19the nose,
24:19the nose,
24:20and the DNA.
24:22What we do now with the DNA,
24:24is to study the factors
24:25such as the color of the eyes,
24:26the color of the hair,
24:27or the color of the skin,
24:29especially if it's a mythic,
24:31African, European.
24:32From the DNA,
24:33we can see this kind of information inside.
24:42If we had the DNA of Cléopâtre,
24:44could we know
24:48if his nose was the form
24:50we attribute it to the mythology?
24:54A priori,
24:55yes,
24:55if we can find
24:56the genetic variations
24:58that induce this.
24:59But if we have the DNA of Cléopâtre,
25:01a priori,
25:01we also have the skull,
25:02so it would be easier
25:03to go directly
25:04to the form of his crâne
25:06what was the form
25:07of the DNA of Cléopâtre.
25:08As her remains have not been discovered,
25:10we have to reply on Roman writings,
25:12which present her as rather ordinary.
25:14However,
25:15if she didn't have an alluring
25:16physical appearance,
25:18how was she able
25:19to seduce the most powerful men in Rome?
25:21Why she liked Jules César
25:23and Marc-Antoine?
25:24It's because
25:25these two men
25:26were found
25:26for the first time
25:28in front of them
25:28a powerful woman,
25:31a real political animal
25:32that would echo
25:33to what they were themselves.
25:35And it was also a woman
25:36who was a queen.
25:38In Rome,
25:39royalty is something
25:39that's forbidden,
25:40extremely badly seen.
25:42And somehow,
25:43it's something
25:43that Jules César
25:44and Marc-Antoine
25:45wanted this woman,
25:46this ability
25:47to be a queen.
25:48The alliance
25:50between Marc-Anthony
25:51and Cleopatra
25:52enraged Rome.
25:53Octavius
25:54was threatened
25:54by Marc-Anthony's
25:55rising power
25:56with the queen of Egypt
25:57by his side.
25:58He decided
25:59to distribute the message
26:00that Marc-Anthony
26:01had become more Egyptian
26:02than Roman.
26:03The battle
26:04between Caesar's
26:05two successors
26:06took place mostly
26:07in Actium,
26:08in the west of Greece.
26:09Despite a significant
26:11inferiority
26:11in resources
26:12in men,
26:13Octavius won
26:14one of the biggest
26:15naval battles
26:16in history
26:16after a furious struggle.
26:18This was a defeat
26:19for Marc-Anthony
26:20and Cleopatra.
26:21The lovers were humiliated.
26:22It was the beginning
26:23of the end.
26:24Marc-Anthony retreated
26:26to Alexandria,
26:26to Cleopatra
26:27and ended his life
26:28as was tradition
26:29for defeated leaders.
26:30Defeated
26:31and worried about
26:32the future of her dynasty,
26:34Cleopatra had to choose
26:35between a humiliating
26:36submission to Octavius
26:37or death.
26:41In Alexandria,
26:43in Cleopatra's land,
26:44Claudine and Gilles
26:45have now gathered
26:46enough information
26:46to get a clear picture
26:48of her personality
26:48at the time
26:49when her fate shifted.
26:50They need to refine
26:51their search in order
26:52to explore the specific
26:53circumstances
26:54of Cleopatra's death,
26:56which will close
26:57the chapter
26:57on the tragedy
26:58of these Roman lovers.
26:59Could this powerful queen
27:01who threatened Rome
27:02have been assassinated
27:03after the defeat
27:04of her lover,
27:04Marc-Anthony?
27:05Or was the thought
27:07of submitting to Octavia
27:08so painful for her
27:09that she chose
27:09to take her own life?
27:12Murder or suicide?
27:19Gilles is off to explore
27:21the tombs hidden
27:22underneath the city.
27:23Could these graves
27:24help them better understand
27:25the ancient burial rituals
27:27and aid their research?
27:31The city has a number
27:32of underground orchids
27:33that date back
27:34to antiquity.
27:39These tombs sport designs
27:41which alternate
27:42between Greek and Egyptian styles.
27:45A recurring motive
27:46is associated with death,
27:48the snake,
27:49which is present
27:49in representations of the dead,
27:51and which is present
27:52on their tombs.
27:53Could there finally be a clue
27:55to help them clarify
27:56the circumstances
27:56surrounding Cleopatra's death?
28:03La mort de Cléopâtre
28:04est essentiellement connue
28:05par l'historien antique Plutarque.
28:07Il donne beaucoup de détails,
28:09il s'approche même
28:10d'une manière un peu romancée
28:11de raconter cette mort
28:12et il nous raconte
28:13que Cléopâtre a fait venir
28:15dans son tombeau
28:16un panier de figues
28:17dans lequel on avait fait cacher
28:18des serpents.
28:19Elle avait pour ambition
28:20de se faire mordre
28:21par ces serpents
28:22et de mourir de cette manière.
28:24Symboliquement,
28:25c'est assez crédible
28:26dans la mesure où
28:27la piqûre de Luraeus,
28:28le serpent divin égyptien,
28:31donnait une forme
28:32d'immortalité dans l'au-delà.
28:33Donc il y a une part
28:34très mythologique
28:35dans la mort de Cléopâtre,
28:37très symbolique,
28:38qui est peut-être éloignée
28:39de la réalité,
28:40mais qui marche très bien
28:41sur le plan
28:42du storytelling de l'époque.
28:46Our experts
28:47want to know
28:47more about this
28:48potential suicide
28:49by snakebite,
28:50which was recounted
28:51by Plutarch
28:52and which has inspired
28:53a number of paintings.
28:55However,
28:55from a scientific point of view,
28:57is this realistic?
29:02To find out,
29:04Claudine and Gilles
29:04call Antonio,
29:05who is in New York.
29:11He is going to meet
29:13with a herpetologist
29:14who specializes in reptiles
29:16at the CNRS laboratory.
29:20If Cléopâtre chose
29:22to commit suicide
29:23by snakebite,
29:24what snake
29:25would she have chosen?
29:26How would she provoke
29:27it to bite her?
29:28In the hypothesis
29:29where Cléopâtre
29:32comes a bag of fruit
29:34with a serpent inside,
29:36what would you think
29:37was the most plausible serpent?
29:39A big cobra
29:40much more logical
29:42in terms of the relations
29:43that the Egyptians
29:44had with the cobra.
29:45Even a serpent
29:46of 3 meters
29:47could be niched
29:48in a bag of figs?
29:50It's quite easy
29:50because the serpents
29:51are very subtle.
29:52I'll show you an example.
29:55Here,
29:56a serpent african
29:57is not a cobra.
29:59It's a little python
30:01adult.
30:02It's a little python.
30:03It's a python python.
30:04It's the python royal
30:04and with the serpents
30:05it's easy
30:06to plie.
30:07They have very subtle animals.
30:08Is it possible
30:08to bite?
30:11Is it possible
30:12Is it possible to bite?
30:13Is it possible to bite?
30:14They tend to take their head
30:15to lift their capuchons
30:17and if we really search them
30:18they can end up with.
30:19Of course.
30:20But what is the most plausible
30:22hypothesis
30:22that the cobra
30:24agresse
30:24the person
30:25who came to raise the figs
30:27or
30:27who
30:27who
30:29fuit?
30:30Well,
30:30imagine that
30:31Cleopatra
30:31wanted to kill himself.
30:33So,
30:33she can bend her arm
30:35towards the serpent
30:37and provoke her.
30:38If she refuses,
30:39she can always catch her
30:39and really kill himself.
30:41And there,
30:41it will be 100% guaranteed.
30:44It's not a nice way to die,
30:46but it's very efficient.
30:49Cleopatra could have chosen
30:50this method in order to commit suicide.
30:54However,
30:56would Snake Venom be enough
30:57to kill Cleopatra
30:58and her two servants,
30:59as Plutarch tells us?
31:06The serpent would kill Cleopatra
31:09and his two servants.
31:10Is it possible
31:11that the serpent would kill
31:12that the serpent would kill
31:13three people?
31:15Of course.
31:16Of course.
31:17It's easy.
31:17It's possible to provoke
31:18three times the serpent
31:19and three times he would kill
31:20and three times he would kill
31:21and three times he would kill
31:21and he would kill him.
31:22But it's maybe a fable
31:24because,
31:24knowing the cobra,
31:26to kill him
31:28three times
31:29successive,
31:30it would be a little
31:31to have to do it.
31:32Because the cobra
31:33will try to get
31:34out of this situation
31:34and try to escape.
31:35But there is the possibility
31:36that Cleopatra
31:37or one of his servants
31:38will be seized
31:39and be able to kill him
31:40one after the other.
31:42That would be the most realistic
31:44in the hypothesis
31:44of a suicide.
31:46What would be the consequences?
31:49Is it that Cleopatra
31:50would be dead
31:51quickly?
31:52In how long?
31:53Generally,
31:54it takes more hours
31:55even more days
31:57even with a serpent
31:58even dangerous
31:58as a big cobra.
32:00This is what makes
32:01the time to take care
32:02when it comes to people
32:04like us
32:05who manipulate them.
32:05However,
32:06if the morsure
32:07has a place in a vein,
32:09the death may come
32:10in the half or the hour.
32:12But it is necessary
32:13to be able to do it
32:14so that Cleopatra
32:15has aimed at
32:17an intravenous injection?
32:18Maybe.
32:19We are in the speculation
32:20once more.
32:21The theory that Cleopatra
32:23died by snake bites
32:24could be plausible,
32:25but it seems quite complicated
32:27in practice.
32:28Our three experts
32:29want to examine
32:30another theory
32:31that has been developed
32:32by historians,
32:33poisoning,
32:34which was very trendy
32:35in antiquity.
32:38Cleopatra
32:38could have dipped
32:39a hairpin in poison
32:40before pricking
32:41herself with it.
32:43So,
32:43what poison
32:44would she have chosen
32:45for her death?
32:46What were the herbs
32:47and concoctions
32:48used at that time?
32:53Antonio heads
32:54to Châtenay-Malabry,
32:55near Paris,
32:56to explore this new suicide
32:58by poisoning hypothesis.
33:01He is visiting
33:02the pharmacy department
33:03to meet with an expert
33:04in pharmacology
33:05and the chemistry
33:06of natural substances.
33:07So,
33:08I would like to know
33:09if Cleopatra
33:10could have been
33:11poisoned.
33:12Can you help us
33:12to answer?
33:13We are going to try.
33:14Do you know
33:16the poison
33:17that existed
33:18at the time of Cleopatra?
33:19We have a good knowledge
33:21that is.
33:22There is already
33:23an impressive list
33:24of toxic plants
33:25that were known
33:26in ancient Egypt
33:27such as the belladone,
33:29the jusciam,
33:30the noix vomic,
33:30and of course
33:31the cigu,
33:32the opium
33:33and the aconite,
33:35for example.
33:35But how did these poison
33:37were they easy
33:38to find?
33:39Well,
33:40they were probably
33:41very easy
33:42to prepare.
33:43They were able
33:44to do simple
33:45small extractions.
33:46Maybe they were using
33:48water,
33:48oil,
33:49maybe alcohol
33:50to make
33:51macerate
33:52the plant.
33:53They were able
33:56to filter them
33:57to be able
33:58to obtain
33:59a poison
34:00more or less
34:01concentrated.
34:09we talked about
34:10a mix
34:11of the opium
34:12and the cigu
34:12and the aconite
34:13which would have been
34:14administered
34:15using a
34:17picure
34:17of aeguies
34:18to cheveux.
34:19It would be
34:19to imagine
34:20an aeguies
34:21that would have been
34:21made of poison
34:24and that would have
34:25enough to kill
34:26Cléopatra.
34:27Well,
34:28it doesn't have a sense
34:29from a point of view
34:30pharmacological.
34:31We've heard
34:32talk about
34:32an eventual
34:33pommade
34:34which would have been
34:36induced.
34:36Is it possible?
34:38There,
34:39the hypothesis
34:39is a bit
34:40farfelue.
34:41It would have
34:42an impressive
34:43amount of
34:44pommade
34:45with an effect
34:46more than
34:48doubt
34:48to cause
34:50the death
34:51of Cléopatra.
34:52We apparently found
34:53Cléopatra
34:54in a certain
34:55quiétude.
34:55Is it compatible
34:56or not
34:57with a poison?
34:58Often,
34:59when a person
35:00s'empoisonne,
35:01one of the
35:02natural phenomena
35:04is the
35:05vomit
35:06to evacuate
35:08the toxic.
35:10It is also
35:11a bit
35:11a bit
35:12compatible
35:12with the
35:13death
35:14of Cléopatra.
35:16If we found
35:18the rest
35:20of the
35:21body
35:21of Cléopatra,
35:22would we have
35:22to detect
35:23a poison?
35:25Yes,
35:26with the modern techniques
35:27that we have,
35:28there would be
35:29the possibility
35:30of searching
35:31traces of
35:32poison
35:32on the rest
35:34of Cléopatra.
35:36From the scientific perspective,
35:37from the chemist
35:38that you are,
35:39is it possible
35:40an eventual
35:41assassination
35:41or suicide
35:42by poison
35:43is possible?
35:44Yes,
35:45it is possible
35:46by the poison
35:47which were
35:48available
35:49and which were
35:50largely used
35:52at this time.
35:54Cléopatra
35:54could have
35:55committed suicide
35:56by using poison
35:57from a scientific
35:58and historical point
35:59of view,
35:59but there's one detail
36:00that concerns experts.
36:02There are significant
36:03wounds which result
36:03from poisoning.
36:05We may have
36:06doubts about the poison
36:07about the death
36:08of Cléopatra.
36:09She was very
36:10curious
36:11of her appearance
36:12and wanted to be
36:13dead in the best
36:15possible conditions
36:15as well,
36:17sereine,
36:17with all
36:18the power
36:19she had.
36:20So,
36:21the poison
36:22was a little
36:22contradiction
36:23since she could
36:25mourir
36:26in a violent pain
36:28which would give
36:29an appearance
36:30somewhat respectable.
36:31It could be a point
36:33for her to not
36:34neglect the choice
36:36of her death.
36:38The investigation
36:39has found two
36:40plausible theories,
36:41suicide by snake bites
36:43or by poisoning.
36:44At this stage,
36:45only analysis
36:46of Cléopatra's remains
36:47would reveal the truth.
36:49If archaeologists
36:51finally found her mummy,
36:52Egypt would certainly
36:53call upon a paleogenetic
36:55specialist
36:56to discover the cause
36:57of her death.
37:03Antonio wants
37:04to get an opinion
37:05from an expert.
37:06To do this,
37:07he heads to Bolzano,
37:08in Italy,
37:09to meet with
37:10geneticist Albert Zink.
37:13As an expert
37:15in Egyptian mummy
37:16analysis,
37:16he has already
37:17carried out research
37:18on mummies
37:19that date back
37:20several thousand years.
37:25Here at the Institute
37:26for Mummy Studies,
37:27we are investigating
37:28human mummified remains
37:30from different parts
37:31of the world,
37:32and we try to figure out
37:33about the age,
37:34the sex of the mummies,
37:35and in particular,
37:36how were the living conditions
37:37and what disease
37:38and health problems
37:40they had.
37:44In order to obtain
37:45DNA from a mummy,
37:47we need to have
37:48a bone sample,
37:50if possible,
37:50and in particular
37:51from inside
37:53of the bone sample
37:54to avoid
37:54any surface contamination
37:56because mummies
37:57were often in contact
37:59with different people
38:00that touched the mummy.
38:01Therefore, we have to go
38:02inside,
38:04sample tape
38:04from inside of the bone
38:05sample.
38:08If we could find
38:09the mummy,
38:10it would be possible
38:11to determine
38:12Cleopatra's cause of death.
38:16If the mummy of Cleopatra
38:17is very well preserved,
38:19especially when we have
38:21still the skin preserved
38:22on the out face,
38:23we could also maybe
38:24find evidence
38:25for a snake bite
38:26because usually
38:28it leaves
38:28clear traces
38:29on the skin
38:30of a person.
38:31And moreover,
38:32we could also then
38:33try to analyze
38:34if we still find
38:35remnants of the poison
38:37that in the end
38:38killed her.
38:39It would depend
38:40on the kind of snake
38:41and kind of poison
38:42that was applied
38:43to her
38:44because it could then
38:46faster or slower
38:47degrade over time,
38:48but it could at least
38:50try to find the remnants
38:51of poison
38:52in the mummy.
38:54Current technologies
38:55would be able
38:55to shed light
38:56on one of the greatest
38:57mysteries in history
38:58by analyzing fragments
39:00of the 2,000-year-old mummy.
39:02However,
39:03for now,
39:04we have no tomb
39:05and no mummy.
39:12Our experts
39:13know that they can't
39:14settle on the method
39:15that Cleopatra used
39:16to commit suicide
39:17as they haven't found
39:18her body on her tomb.
39:27In roaming the underground
39:28orchids of Alexandria
39:30in search of mortuary
39:31symbols,
39:32Claudine and Gilles
39:32noticed that there were
39:33many tombs adorned
39:34with Greek-inspired decor.
39:39Could Cleopatra have been
39:41buried in one of these
39:42burial grounds?
39:50Here,
39:50we are in a
39:51necropole
39:52in the city
39:52of Alexandria.
39:54There are only
39:55traces,
39:56unfortunately,
39:57because it has been
39:57degraded by the
39:58lands,
39:59it has been
40:00abandoned by the
40:00flood,
40:01and by the people
40:02also.
40:03We are going to see
40:04a tomb
40:04which is almost
40:06preserved.
40:15Here,
40:16we are in the tomb
40:18that had to be
40:18the tomb of a
40:20big character.
40:21And here,
40:22it was the
40:23banquet room
40:24where a family reunion
40:26with friends
40:27in homage
40:28to the inhabitants.
40:32The decker
40:33confirms
40:33that these tombs
40:34were reserved
40:35for the sarcophagy
40:36of Greek-inspired
40:36descendants.
40:38Could Cleopatra
40:39be buried here?
40:43If she was
40:44really buried
40:47like a queen
40:48of Egypt,
40:49she could have
40:49a tomb
40:50like a queen.
40:51But as a queen
40:51of Egypt,
40:52if she was buried
40:52like a queen
40:53of Egypt,
40:54she had a
40:55much more luxurious,
40:57much bigger,
40:58much more decorated,
40:59much richer,
41:00but also,
41:02due to her death
41:03a little bit
41:04brutal,
41:05being buried
41:05quickly
41:06in a tomb
41:07barely prepared.
41:10This is a plausible
41:12hypothesis.
41:13However,
41:14even today,
41:15archaeologists
41:16haven't found enough
41:17evidence to confirm this.
41:18After all,
41:19why would they limit
41:20their search for
41:21Cleopatra's tomb
41:22to the underground
41:22orchids of Alexandria?
41:26For 10 years,
41:27an archaeologist
41:28from the
41:29Dominican Republic
41:29has been convinced
41:31of another theory.
41:32In her opinion,
41:33Cleopatra's body
41:34had been moved
41:35outside of the city.
41:36Her research focuses
41:37on the Taposeris
41:38Magmas site,
41:39around 45 kilometers
41:41west of Alexandria.
41:52I believe
41:53Taposeris Magna
41:54is the final
41:55resting place
41:56of Queen Cleopatra,
41:57because this temple
41:59was the most sacred temple
42:02during the time
42:03of the Ptolemies,
42:04and it was dedicated
42:05to worship Isis,
42:06and as you know,
42:07Cleopatra was the human
42:08representation
42:09of goddess Isis.
42:10also,
42:12it was the end
42:13of Egypt
42:14as an empire,
42:15so Cleopatra
42:16could not rely
42:17on anybody
42:18to be buried
42:19in the royal quarters.
42:25He was seeking
42:27for a peaceful
42:29afterlife
42:31together with
42:32Mark Anthony,
42:33and there's
42:33no other place,
42:35monument,
42:36temple,
42:37palace,
42:38that could
42:38reunite so many
42:40conditions
42:41as Taposeris Magna.
42:53Since the beginning
42:54of our search,
42:55until now,
42:57we have on Earth
42:58more than 700 objects.
43:01Those objects
43:02are statues,
43:04basalt statues
43:05of pharaohs,
43:06headless.
43:07We have uncovered
43:08two statues
43:09of Isis,
43:10also headless.
43:11We had
43:14human size.
43:16We have uncovered
43:17a bust
43:18in white marble,
43:20could be
43:20Queen Cleopatra.
43:21We have uncovered
43:22a bust
43:23of Alexander the Great.
43:26Cleopatra
43:26had chosen
43:27to find peace
43:28with her last great love,
43:29Mark Anthony.
43:30It's both very romantic
43:32and credible.
43:33However,
43:35after more than 10 years
43:36of searching,
43:37Catherine Martinez
43:38still hasn't come
43:39face to face
43:39with Cleopatra.
43:48So there's another hypothesis.
43:50Could her tomb
43:51have been engulfed
43:52in the Bay of Alexandria
43:53when the earthquake
43:54hit in the year 365?
44:02To follow that line of inquiry,
44:04Antonio is heading
44:05to Zurich,
44:06Switzerland.
44:06He's meeting
44:07with a specialist
44:08in marine archaeology,
44:10Frank Gaudio,
44:11who has been diving
44:12in Egypt for a long time.
44:13In the year 2000,
44:15he discovered the city
44:16of Tannis Heraklion
44:17engulfed in the Bay of Alexandria,
44:20which revealed
44:20many archaeological treasures.
44:24At an exhibition,
44:25displaying some
44:26of the reliques
44:27found at the bottom
44:27of the Mediterranean Sea,
44:29he reveals to us
44:30the last traces of Cleopatra,
44:32mourning her beloved
44:32Marc Anthony,
44:33and at the mercy
44:34of her enemy,
44:35Octavius,
44:36who became Emperor Augustus.
44:41If we are interested
44:42not only in the life
44:43of Cleopatra,
44:44but in his death,
44:45where could she end
44:47his day
44:48and be buried
44:50and buried?
44:52Cleopatra
44:53was made
44:54prisoner
44:54in the mausolée
44:57that she built
44:58to be inhumed.
45:00This mausolée
45:01would seem
45:02to be
45:03near the Grand Port.
45:05She lived
45:07in the last days
45:08in this mausolée
45:09and was murdered
45:11in this mausolée.
45:13Where is this mausolée?
45:14We don't know
45:14either,
45:15but there is an indication
45:17that it would be
45:18near the Portus Magnus
45:19of the Grand Port
45:20now engulfed
45:20of the village
45:21of Alexandre.
45:22the city
45:23of Amsterdam,
45:23of Turkey.
45:37But, the temple
45:38is under the blood
45:39of Spain
45:40the temple
45:40of the village
45:50of Vancouver Gods.
45:52because they are very difficult to access.
45:55In other words, the salt water is corrosive.
46:00There are cells that will be introduced in the fractures,
46:04in the micro-fissures of statues,
46:06which will attack some elements.
46:10There will be some electrolytes between some metals.
46:13But luckily,
46:16our sites have been covered by sediment,
46:19and the sediment protect them.
46:32We did a geophysic prospection with very sophisticated instruments
46:38for months.
46:40And systematically,
46:42we scanned all the west of Abidaboukir
46:47and we put in evidence that there were 110 km2 of earth
46:52which had fallen under the sea.
47:08So this would be historical traces of this famous Cléopâtre?
47:13At the death of Cléopâtre VII,
47:15probably these statues were destroyed
47:17and the inscriptions referring to the reine
47:20have been erased in large part.
47:22We have very few traces of this last reine
47:27and Egypt.
47:28We found some indirect traces,
47:31I would say.
47:32Of course,
47:33from the sites where she lived,
47:35like on the island of Antirodus,
47:38from the temples where she prayed,
47:40like this little temple on the island of Antirodus,
47:43from the island of Antirodus,
47:45from the statues of her family,
47:46a colossal head of Ptolemée XV,
47:50her son, Césarion,
47:52which she had with Julius César,
47:54a sphinx,
47:55a effigy of her father,
47:57you see?
47:57Or maybe there are some direct traces of Cléopâtre.
48:02Despite the numerous major archaeological discoveries,
48:05no trace has been found of Cléopâtre's tomb
48:07in her sunken palace.
48:11How do we know what type of tomb to look for?
48:14What does it look like?
48:15Between Cléopâtre's Greek origins
48:17and her Egyptian culture,
48:18it's difficult to know what kind of tomb she was laid to rest in.
48:22Having found a lot of information,
48:24we can now,
48:25thanks to 3D mapping,
48:26imagine what Cléopâtre's ideal tomb would look like.
48:30A raised monument?
48:31Made up of Greek columns?
48:33Topped off with a pyramid?
48:35A royal burial ground?
48:37Then a subterranean corridor
48:38to a vast tomb to hold the queen's sarcophagus?
48:46But for now,
48:48Cleopâtre rests peacefully on all of her secrets.
48:58Archaeologists from around the world continue to search,
49:00never giving up hope of finding the answers
49:03to one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in history.
49:06We know that Cleopâtre played on her power of seduction
49:09to assume her power.
49:10That she committed suicide either by snake bite or poisoning?
49:14These clues indicate that her tomb can be found in or around Alexandria.
49:19In her palace,
49:20underwater,
49:21in the city's underground orchids,
49:23or in a nearby temple.
49:26The mystery surrounding Cleopâtre's death and the location of her body remains a puzzle,
49:31and the last representative of the pharaohs will continue to fascinate the world.
49:41We'll see you next time.
49:43We'll see you next time.
49:47We'll see you next time.
50:05Bye.
50:10Bye.
50:26You
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