- 12 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
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.
19:51At the time
19:57the King of the Garden
19:57delimatives
19:58and the folk
20:08of Cleopatra,
20:11about 90 000 buildings
20:12of Dendera,
20:14special representations
20:15of Cleopatra
20:16who subsist.
20:18She has a son Césarion,
20:20the son she had with Jules César,
20:23and she prepares her succession
20:25on the land of Egypt.
20:27Here we have a representation
20:28of Cléopâtre,
20:29identified by the déesse Hathor.
20:31She wears all the emblems.
20:33She has on her head
20:34the crown with the Rheus,
20:37the corns which insert the solar disk.
20:39She wears the collier Menath.
20:41In her hands,
20:42she holds the cistre
20:44and the vasalibation.
20:45She is behind her son,
20:46who already wears the crown
20:48of Ebas Egypt,
20:50which is in the correction
20:52since he is already a pharaon
20:55of Egypt.
20:56That's what this representation
20:59tells us.
20:59They are both in front of
21:01the déesse Hathor
21:02to whom they are offering
21:04offrandes.
21:05The satypical couple
21:06and their children
21:07seem to be basking
21:08in happiness and power.
21:10However,
21:11Cléopâtre would soon
21:12thrust herself
21:12into the harsh reality
21:13of politics
21:14when she arrived
21:15in Rome
21:15on Caesar's arm.
21:18The relationship
21:19between Jules César
21:20and Cléopâtre
21:21is extremely
21:21well viewed
21:22at Rome.
21:23Because
21:24Jules César is married,
21:25but it's not important
21:26to have the maîtresses.
21:28But
21:28with Cléopâtre,
21:31there is this
21:31seduction of the tyranny
21:33oriental
21:34which the Romans
21:34are very afraid.
21:35Everyone knows
21:36that Jules César
21:37is extremely ambitious
21:38and who tends
21:39towards the personal power.
21:41It's very few
21:42appreciated.
21:43However,
21:43we know
21:43that Cléopâtre
21:44will push him
21:45on this way
21:46of absolute power
21:46and that's why
21:48the Romans fear
21:48and that's why
21:49they hate Cléopâtre.
21:51In the march of year 44 BC,
21:54Caesar was assassinated
21:55in Rome
21:56by conspiring senators.
21:57His death
21:58was blamed on
21:58Cleopâtre,
21:59who had to flee Rome,
22:01returning to Egypt,
22:02leaving Rome
22:03on the verge of a civil war.
22:05A share of the territories
22:07under Roman rule
22:08were ruled
22:09by Caesar's two successors,
22:11his adoptive son
22:12Octavius,
22:13the future emperor
22:14Augustus,
22:14who took the west,
22:15and Marc Anthony,
22:17Caesar's former advisor,
22:18who took the east,
22:19including Egypt.
22:23Deciding to make him an ally,
22:25Cleopâtre did everything
22:26she could to seduce him,
22:27even accompanying him
22:28on his voyage
22:29on the Mediterranean.
22:31She left on their voyage
22:32on a beautiful boat
22:33with a golden bough
22:34and silver oars
22:35and she was draped
22:36in a delicate fabric.
22:38Marc Anthony immediately
22:39fell in love
22:40with the charm
22:40of Queen Cleopâtre,
22:41who had once again succeeded
22:43in marrying through
22:44her expert seduction
22:45of the magical charms.
22:46Our experts
22:47now 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
22:58as she is presented
22:59in the movies?
23:00Or is all of that
23:01simply a myth?
23:03La meilleure image
23:04que l'on ait d'elle,
23:05c'est probablement
23:06les statues.
23:07On voit une femme fine,
23:09au modelé délicat,
23:10mais qui reste globalement
23:13assez banale,
23:14exactement comme
23:15la décrivaient les romains,
23:16finalement,
23:16avec un nez un petit peu
23:18trop long,
23:18un petit peu trop aquilin.
23:19Aside from the descriptions
23:21of Cleopatra
23:22that the roman writers
23:23have left us,
23:24is it now possible
23:25to reconstruct her face
23:26using her remains
23:27and advances in genetics?
23:32Now, we're off to Paris,
23:34to place du Trocadéro.
23:38Antonio is visiting
23:39the Museum of Man and Nature
23:40to get an opinion
23:41from a paleogeneticist
23:43on the possibility
23:44of facial reconstruction.
23:46Could science put a face
23:47to this famous name
23:48in antiquity?
23:50Dans l'hypothèse
23:51où l'on trouve
23:52une momie
23:53qui pourrait être
23:54celle de Cléopâtre,
23:56est-ce qu'il existe
23:56des moyens scientifiques
23:59de reconstituer
24:00le visage
24:02d'une momie?
24:04Avec l'ADN,
24:05on peut essayer
24:06de s'intéresser
24:06à ces questions-là
24:07puisque, effectivement,
24:09l'ADN,
24:09le génome,
24:10c'est un petit peu
24:10comme un livre de cuisine
24:11à partir duquel
24:12l'organisme arrive
24:14à reconstituer
24:14un être vivant complet.
24:16Donc, la forme du crâne,
24:17la forme des arrêts,
24:19du nez, des yeux
24:19est codé quelque part
24:21dans l'ADN.
24:22Ce qu'on arrive à faire
24:23pour l'instant avec l'ADN,
24:24c'est d'étudier des facteurs
24:25comme la couleur des yeux,
24:26la couleur des cheveux
24:28ou la couleur de la peau,
24:29en particulier s'il s'agit
24:30de gens qui sont
24:31métis, africains, européens.
24:32Ça, à partir de l'ADN,
24:33on arrive à avoir
24:34ce genre d'informations
24:35à l'intérieur.
24:42Si on avait l'ADN
24:43de Cléopâtre,
24:44est-ce qu'on pourrait savoir
24:47si effectivement
24:48son nez avait la forme
24:50qu'on lui attribue
24:51dans la mythologie ?
24:54A priori, oui.
24:55Si on arrive à retrouver
24:57quelles sont
24:57les variations génétiques
24:58qui induisent ça.
24:59Mais si on a l'ADN
25:00de Cléopâtre,
25:01a priori,
25:01on aura aussi son squelette.
25:02Donc, ça sera quand même
25:03beaucoup plus facile
25:04d'aller voir directement
25:04sur la forme de son crâne
25:06quelle était la forme
25:07du nez de Cléopâtre.
25:08En tout cas,
25:15elle a plu à Jules César
25:23et à Marc-Antoine.
25:24C'est sans doute
25:25parce que ces deux hommes
25:26se sont retrouvés
25:26pour la première fois
25:28en face d'eux,
25:29une femme puissante,
25:31un véritable animal politique
25:32qui faisait écho
25:33à ce qu'ils étaient eux-mêmes.
25:35Et c'était une femme également
25:37qui était reine.
25:38À Rome, la royauté
25:39est quelque chose d'interdit,
25:40d'extrêmement mal vu.
25:42Et quelque part,
25:43c'est quelque chose
25:43que Jules César
25:44et Marc-Antoine
25:45ont envié à cette femme,
25:46cette capacité
25:47à être une reine.
26:03La guerre s'estime
26:04a été une des déchets
26:05à la mort.
26:06L'Octavien
26:06a été une des déchets
26:06à l'Octeum.
26:09Aux-cipesc
26:10d'un des déchets
26:11à l'Octeum,
26:12la guerre s'estime
26:12à la mort.
26:13L'Octavien
26:14a été déchets
26:14auxquels
26:14des déchets
26:15d'un des déchets
26:19pour Marc-Antoine
26:20et Cléopâtre.
26:21Les lovers
26:21étaient humiliés.
26:22C'était la fin
26:23d'un des déchets.
26:24Marc-Antoine
26:25retreated à l'Alexandria,
26:26à Cléopâtre,
26:27et l'endit
26:28de sa vie,
26:28à la mort,
26:29à la mort.
26:30il y avait des déchets
26:30de l'Octavien
26:30et le déchets
26:33à la mort.
26:35il y a une déchets
26:37de la mort.
26:42à la mort,
26:43Cléopâtre
26:44et Gilles
26:45ont appris
26:46à la mort
26:48à la mort.
26:49C'est une déchets
26:50de la mort.
26:50Ils doivent
26:51refiner leur recherche
26:52afin d'explorer
26:53les circonstances
26:54de la mort.
26:55C'est déchets
26:56qui s'arrayent
26:57à la mort.
26:58C'est une déchets
26:59C'est un beau
27:00d'un des déchets
27:01qui a t'abrient
27:01de la mort.
27:02C'est un beau
27:02d'un des déchets
27:03d'une mort ?
27:05C'est un beau
27:11de la mort.
27:19C'est un beau
27:21d'une des déchets
27:28de la mort.
27:31The city has a number of underground orchids that date back to antiquity.
27:39These tombs sport designs which alternate between Greek and Egyptian styles.
27:45A recurring motive is associated with death, the snake, which is present in representations
27:50of the dead, and which is present on their tombs.
27:53Could there finally be a clue to help them clarify the circumstances surrounding Cleopatra's
27:58death?
28:03La mort de Cléopâtre est essentiellement connue par l'historien antique Plutarque.
28:07Il donne beaucoup de détails, il s'approche même d'une manière un peu romancée de raconter
28:12cette mort, et il nous raconte que Cléopâtre a fait venir dans son tombeau un panier de
28:16figues dans lequel on avait fait cacher des serpents.
28:19Elle avait pour ambition de se faire mordre par ces serpents et de mourir de cette manière.
28:24Symboliquement, c'est assez crédible dans la mesure où la piqûre de l'Uraeus, le
28:28serpent divin égyptien, donnait une forme d'immortalité dans l'au-delà.
28:33Donc il y a une part très mythologique dans la mort de Cléopâtre, très symbolique, qui
28:38est peut-être éloignée de la réalité, mais qui marche très bien sur le plan du storytelling
28:43de l'époque.
28:46Nos experts veulent savoir plus sur ce potentiel suicide de Snakebite, qui a été récouté
28:51par Plutarch et qui a inspiré un nombre de peintures.
28:54Mais, d'un point de vue scientifique, est-ce que c'est réaliste ?
29:02To find out, Claudine and Gilles call Antonio, who is in New York.
29:12He is going to meet with a herpetologist who specializes in reptiles at the CNRS laboratory.
29:21If Cléopâtre chose to commit suicide by snakebite, what snake would she have chosen ? How
29:26would she provoke it to bite her ?
29:28Dans l'hypothèse où Cléopâtre est fait venir un panier de fruits avec un serpent
29:35à l'intérieur, à votre avis, quel était le serpent le plus plausible ?
29:39Un gros cobra est beaucoup plus logique vis-à-vis des relations qu'avaient les égyptiens
29:44avec le cobra.
29:44Mais, même un serpent de 3 mètres peut être niché dans un panier de figues ?
29:50C'est assez facile à faire parce que les serpents sont très souples.
29:52Je vais vous montrer un exemple.
29:55Voilà, un serpent africain, bon c'est pas un cobra, c'est un petit piton, adulte,
30:02mais c'est une petite espèce de piton, c'est le piton royal et les serpents c'est
30:06facile à plier.
30:07Ils ont des animaux très souples.
30:08Est-ce qu'il peut mordre sur commande ou est-ce qu'il faut le provoquer ?
30:13Les cobras ont tendance à tenir tête, à lever leur capuchon et si on les cherche vraiment,
30:18ils peuvent finir par mordre évidemment.
30:20Mais quelle est l'hypothèse la plus plausible ? Que le cobra agresse la personne qui vient
30:26soulever les figues ou qu'il s'en aille, qu'il fuit ?
30:30Bon, imaginons que Cléopâtre ait vraiment voulu se faire mordre.
30:33Donc elle peut tendre son bras vers le serpent et le provoquer.
30:38S'il refuse, elle peut toujours l'attraper et franchement se faire mordre.
30:41Et là, ce sera 100% garanti.
31:04D'après la légende, le serpent aurait tué Cléopâtre et ses deux servantes.
31:10Est-ce possible qu'un serpent puisse mordre trois personnes de suite ?
31:15Bien sûr.
31:16Bien sûr, c'est facile.
31:18Il suffit de provoquer trois fois le serpent et trois fois il pourra mordre et trois fois
31:20il pourra éjecter du venin s'il est venimeux.
31:22Mais c'est peut-être quand même une fable parce que connaissant les cobras, pour se
31:27faire mordre trois fois successivement, bon, il faut quand même un peu en vouloir.
31:31Parce que le cobra, il va peut-être essayer de se dégager de cette situation et essayer
31:35de s'enfuir.
31:35Mais il y a la possibilité que Cléopâtre ou une de ses servantes les saisit et se soit
31:40fait mordre l'une après l'autre.
31:42Ça, ce serait le plus réaliste dans l'hypothèse d'un suicide.
31:46Quelles seraient les conséquences ? Est-ce que Cléopâtre serait morte rapidement ?
31:52En combien de temps ?
31:53Généralement, ça prend plutôt des heures, voire des jours, même avec un serpent aussi
31:58dangereux qu'un gros cobra.
32:00Ce qui laisse d'ailleurs le temps de se faire soigner lorsque ça arrive à des gens
32:04comme nous qui les manipulons.
32:06Toutefois, si la morsure a lieu dans une veine, la mort peut survenir dans la demi-heure
32:12ou l'heure.
32:13Mais ça, il faut viser.
32:14Alors, est-ce que Cléopâtre a visé une injection intraveineuse ? Peut-être.
32:19Mais on est dans la spéculation, une fois de plus.
32:21La théorie de que Cléopâtre a mort par des « snakebites » pourrait être plausible,
32:25mais il semble assez compliqué dans la pratique.
32:27Cléopâtre.
32:28Our three experts want to examine another theory that has been developed by historians.
32:33Poisoning, which was very trendy in antiquity.
32:38Cléopâtre could have dipped a hairpin in poison before pricking herself with it.
32:43So what poison would she have chosen for her death ? What were the herbs and concoctions
32:48used at that time ?
32:53Antonio heads to Châtenay-Malabry, near Paris, to explore this new suicide by poisoning
32:58hypothesis.
33:01He's visiting the pharmacy department to meet with an expert in pharmacology and the chemistry
33:06of natural substances.
33:07Alors, je voudrais savoir si Cléopâtre a pu être empoisonné.
33:12Est-ce que vous allez pouvoir nous aider à répondre ?
33:13Ah bah écoutez, on va essayer.
33:14Alors, mais déjà, est-ce que vous connaissez les poisons qui existaient à l'époque de Cléopâtre ?
33:19Alors, on en a une connaissance qui est relativement bonne.
33:22Alors, il y a déjà une liste assez impressionnante de plantes toxiques qui étaient connues en
33:26Egypte antique, comme la Belladone, la Juschiam, la Noivomique et puis évidemment la ciguë,
33:33de l'opium et de l'aconite, par exemple.
33:36Mais comment se présentaient ces poisons ? Est-ce qu'ils étaient faciles à trouver ?
33:40Alors, ils étaient probablement, en fait, très faciles à préparer.
33:43Il suffisait de faire de simples petites extractions.
33:46Alors, peut-être qu'ils utilisaient de l'eau, des huiles, éventuellement de l'alcool,
33:50pour faire macérer des plantes.
33:53Il suffisait ensuite, probablement, simplement de les filtrer
33:57pour pouvoir obtenir un poison plus ou moins concentré.
34:09Alors, on a parlé d'un mélange d'opium, de ciguë et d'aconite
34:13qui aurait été administré à l'aide d'une piqûre d'aiguille à cheveux.
34:19Il faudrait imaginer une aiguille qui aurait été enduite de quelques gouttes de poison
34:24et qui aurait suffi à tuer Cléopâtre.
34:27Bon, ça n'a pas beaucoup de sens d'un point de vue pharmacologique.
34:31On a entendu parler d'une éventuelle pommade dont elle se serait enduite.
34:36Est-ce que ça vous paraît plausible ?
34:38Là aussi, l'hypothèse est un petit peu farfelue.
34:41Il aurait fallu des quantités impressionnantes de pommade
34:45avec un effet plus que douteux pour entraîner la mort de Cléopâtre.
34:52On a trouvé, apparemment, Cléopâtre dans une certaine quiétude.
34:55Est-ce que c'est compatible ou pas avec un empoisonnement ?
34:58Souvent, quand une personne s'empoisonne, un des phénomènes naturels immédiats,
35:05c'est le vomissement pour évacuer le toxique.
35:10Là aussi, c'est un petit peu, oui, peu compatible avec la quiétude de la mort de Cléopâtre.
35:16Alors, si on trouvait aujourd'hui des restes du corps de Cléopâtre,
35:22est-ce qu'on aurait des moyens de détecter un empoisonnement ?
35:25Ben oui, avec les techniques modernes que l'on a,
35:28il y aurait, évidemment, possibilité d'aller rechercher des traces d'empoisonnement
35:32sur les restes de Cléopâtre.
35:35Du point de vue scientifique, du point de vue du chimiste que vous êtes,
35:39est-ce qu'un éventuel assassinat ou suicide par empoisonnement est plausible ?
35:44Ah oui, c'est tout à fait envisageable par les poisons qui étaient à disposition
35:49et qui, visiblement, étaient largement utilisés à cette époque.
35:54Cléopâtre pourrait avoir commis du suicide en utilisant des poisons.
35:57D'un point de vue scientifique et historique,
35:59mais il y a un détail qui concerne les experts.
36:02Il y a des rumbes significatives qui résultent de la poisonnement.
36:05On peut avoir des doutes sur l'usage du poison concernant la mort de Cléopâtre.
36:09Cette reine était très soucieuse de son apparence
36:12et elle voulait se présenter morte dans les meilleures conditions possibles,
36:16belle, sereine, avec tous les atours du pouvoir qu'elle possédait.
36:20Donc l'usage des poisons allait un peu en contradiction avec ce souhait
36:24puisqu'elle aurait pu mourir dans des douleurs assez violentes
36:28qui lui auraient donné une apparence assez peu respectable.
36:31Ça pouvait être un point pour elle à ne pas négliger dans le choix de sa mort.
36:38L'investigation a trouvé deux théories plausible.
36:42Suicide par des poisons ou par des poisons.
36:44À ce moment-là,
36:46seulement l'analysation de Cléopâtre va révéler la vérité.
36:49Si l'archéologiste a finalement trouvé sa mère,
36:52l'Egypte a certainement appelé un spécialiste paléogénétique
36:55pour découvrir la cause de sa mort.
37:03L'archéologiste à l'Egypte
37:03Antonio veut obtenir une opinion d'un expert.
37:06Pour le faire, il va à Bolzano, en Italie,
37:09pour rencontrer avec l'alber Zink.
37:12L'archéologiste à l'alber Zink.
37:15L'archéologiste à l'Egypte,
37:17l'archéologiste à l'Egypte,
37:18l'archéologiste sur les mummies
37:19qui date depuis plusieurs mille ans.
37:21L'archéologiste à l'Egypte
37:26pour les mummies étudiants.
37:27Nous étions étudiant les humains des humains
37:30de différents parts du monde.
37:32Et nous essayons de comprendre l'âge,
37:34le sexe des mummies,
37:35et en particulier,
37:36les conditions de vie,
37:37et les problèmes de santé,
37:39et les problèmes de santé.
37:42Les humains sont des humains
37:43des humains d'un des humains.
37:44En order de obtenir des humains
37:46d'un des humains,
37:47nous devons avoir une sample de la mémoire
37:50si possible,
37:51et en particulier,
37:52pour éviter la mémoire de la mémoire
37:55de la mémoire,
37:56car les mummies sont souvent
37:58en contact avec des humains
38:00qui touchent les humains.
38:01Nous devons avoir des humains
38:03de la mémoire d'une des humains
38:04et de l'un des humains.
38:08Si nous pouvons trouver la mémoire,
38:10c'est possible de déterminer
38:12la cause de la mort.
38:16Si la mémoire de Cleopatra
38:17est très bien préservée,
38:19et surtout,
38:20si nous avons toujours
38:21la peau de l'un des humains,
38:23nous pouvons aussi
38:24trouver des evidence
38:25de la peau d'un des humains
38:26car il y a des humains
38:29des humains
38:30et nous pouvons aussi
38:33essayer d'analyser
38:34l'un des huiles
38:36de la mémoire
38:37qui en tout cas
38:39dépend de la mémoire
38:40des humains
38:41ou la façon d'un des humains
38:42qui se trouve
38:42pour se déclare
38:43à cause de son
38:46d'un des humains
38:47déclare de l'un des huiles
38:48d'un des humains
38:51dans la mémoire.aux
38:54technologies pourraient
38:55donner les
38:56humains des humains
38:56à la mémoire
38:56de l'un des
38:57humains des humains
39:01year old mummy. However, for now, we have no tomb and no mummy.
39:12Our experts know that they can't settle on the method that Cleopatra used to commit suicide
39:17as they haven't found her body on her tomb.
39:27In roaming the underground archaids of Alexandria in search of mortuary symbols, Claudine and
39:32Gilles noticed that there were many tombs adorned with Greek-inspired decor. Could Cleopatra
39:40have been buried in one of these burial grounds?
39:50Well, here we are in a necropole in the city of Alexandria. There are only
39:55traces, unfortunately, as it has been degraded by the earth, it has been burned by the
40:00rain and by men. We are going to see a tomb that is almost preserved.
40:15Here, we are in this tomb that was the tomb of a great character. And here, it was the
40:22banquet room where there was a family reunion with friends in homage to the inhabitants.
40:32The decker confirms that these tombs were reserved for the sarcophagi of Greek descendants.
40:37Could Cleopatra be buried here?
40:43If she was buried as a queen of Egypt, she could have a tomb of this tomb. But as a
40:51queen of Egypt, if she was buried as a queen of Egypt, she had a tomb of a lot more
40:56luxurious,
40:57maybe a lot more large, more decorated, a lot more rich. But she could also, due to her
41:03death, be buried quickly, be buried in a tomb that was barely prepared.
41:10This is a plausible hypothesis. However, even today, archaeologists haven't found enough
41:17evidence to confirm this. After all, why would they limit their search for Cleopatra's tomb
41:22to the underground orchids of Alexandria? For ten years, an archaeologist from the Dominican
41:29Republic has been convinced of another theory. In her opinion, Cleopatra's body had been
41:34moved outside of the city. Her research focuses on the Taposiris Magna's site, around 45 km
41:41west of Alexandria.
41:52I believe Taposiris Magna is the final resting place of Queen Cleopatra, because this temple
41:59was the most sacred temple during the time of the Ptolemies, and it was dedicated to worship
42:06Isis. And as you know, Cleopatra was the human representation of goddess Isis. Also, you
42:12know, it was the end of Egypt as an empire, so Cleopatra could not rely on anybody to be
42:19buried in the royal quarters.
42:25She was seeking for a peaceful afterlife, together with Mark Anthony. And there's no other place,
42:34monuments, temples, palace, that could reunite so many conditions as Taposiris Magna.
42:53Since the beginning of our search, until now, we have on earth more than 700 objects. Those objects are statues,
43:04basalt statues of pharaohs, headless. We have uncovered two statues of Isis, also headless.
43:11We had human size. We have uncovered a bust in white marble, could be Queen Cleopatra. We have uncovered a
43:23bust of Alexander the Great.
43:26Cleopatra had chosen to find peace with her last great love, Mark Anthony. It's both very romantic and credible. However,
43:35after more than 10 years of searching, Catherine Martinez still hasn't come face to face with Cleopatra.
43:48So there's another hypothesis. Could her tomb have been engulfed in the Bay of Alexandria when the earthquake hit in
43:55the year 365?
44:02To follow that line of inquiry, Antonio is heading to Zurich, Switzerland. He's meeting with a specialist in marine archaeology,
44:10Frank Gaudio, who has been diving in Egypt for a long time.
44:13In the year 2000, he discovered the city of Tannis Heraklion, engulfed in the Bay of Alexandria, which revealed many
44:21archaeological treasures.
44:24At an exhibition, displaying some of the reliques found at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, he reveals to us
44:30the last traces of Cleopatra, mourning her beloved Mark Anthony and at the mercy of her enemy, Octavius, who became
44:36Emperor Augustus.
44:41If we are interested not only interested in the life of Cleopatra, but also the death of Cleopatra, where could
44:46she end up and be buried?
44:52Cleopatra was made prisoner in the mausolean she built to be inhumed. This mausolean seems to be close to the
45:04great port.
45:04Cleopatra was probably lived in the last few days in this mausolean prison. And she was murdered in this mausolean.
45:13Where is this mausolean? We don't know if it is, but there is an indication that it would be close
45:18to Portus Magnus,
45:19the great port now engulfed in the village of Alexandria.
45:44Cleopatra's
45:52because they are very difficult to access.
45:55However, the salt water is corrosive.
46:00There are cells that are going to fall into fractures,
46:04in micro-fissures, statues that attack some elements.
46:10There will be some electrolytes between some metals.
46:13But luckily, our sites have been covered by sediment
46:19and the sediment protect them.
46:33We did a geophysic prospection with very sophisticated instruments
46:38for months.
46:40And systematically, we scanned all the west of Abidaboukir
46:47and we found out that there were 110 square kilometers of earth
46:52which had fallen under the sea.
47:07So, this would be historical traces of this famous Cléopâtre?
47:13At the death of Cléopâtre VII, probably, their 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 of Egypt.
47:28We found some indirect traces, I would say.
47:32Of course, on the sites where she lived, like on the island of Antirodus,
47:38on the temples where she prayed, like this little temple
47:41on the royal island of Antirodus,
47:44on the statue of her family.
47:46A colossal head of Ptolémée XV, her son, Césarion,
47:52which she had with Julius Caesar.
47:54A sphinx, a effigy of her father.
47:57So, maybe there is a more direct vestiges of Cléopâtre.
48:02Despite the numerous major archaeological discoveries,
48:05no trace has been found of Cléopâtre's tomb in 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 and her Egyptian culture,
48:19it's difficult to know what kind of tomb she was laid to rest in.
48:22Having found a lot of information, we can now, thanks to 3D mapping,
48:26imagine what Cléopâtre's ideal tomb would look like.
48:29A raised monument, made up of Greek columns, topped off with a pyramid?
48:34A royal burial ground?
48:37Then a subterranean corridor to a vast tomb to hold the Queen's Cirque of Phatges?
48:46But for now, Cléopâtre rests peacefully on all of her secrets.
48:58Archaeologists from around the world continue to search, never giving up hope of finding the answers to one of the
49:04biggest unsolved mysteries in history.
49:06We know that Cléopâtre played on her power of seduction to assume her power.
49:10That she committed suicide, either by snakebite or poisoning?
49:14These clues indicate that her tomb can be found in or around Alexandria.
49:19In her palace, underwater, in the city's underground orchids, or in a nearby temple.
49:26The mystery surrounding Cléopâtre'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.
49:39Cléopâtre's death and the love of a queen.
49:40In the city's
49:55The mystery surrounding the area is a village that they are named.
49:56The mystery surrounding the city of B.
49:56The mystery surrounding the city of B.
50:25Transcription by CastingWords
50:27CastingWords
Comments