- 9 minutes ago
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:02Cleopatra, Egypt's greatest queen, had incurred the wrath of Octavian, the Roman emperor-to-be.
00:10It was a year before she died, and one of the largest naval battles that the ancient world had ever
00:16seen was about to break out.
00:18The beginning of the Roman Empire took place here on this exact spot.
00:23The battle would bring about the fall of Egypt, and drive Cleopatra and her lover, Mark Anthony, to take their
00:30own lives.
00:31And he died in her arms, perhaps the last pledge of love, who knows?
00:36This is when we lost all trace of the most mysterious of Egyptian queens.
00:41For centuries, archaeologists have been searching for her tomb.
00:47This has been an ongoing quest since the beginning of archaeology.
00:51Cleopatra's death changed the face of Egypt and of the world by closing the page on dynasties of pharaohs which
00:57had lasted three millennia.
00:59The story of Cleopatra is the greatest feminine myth in history.
01:04Between legend and historical reality, what was behind Cleopatra's reign?
01:10Whether her tomb is at the bottom of the sea or in the desert, its location could be the key
01:15which will enable the remaining secrets of her incredible life to be revealed.
01:21Decade after decade, archaeologists have been getting closer and closer to their goal, and to the answers to the mystery
01:28of Cleopatra.
01:30To find Cleopatra's tomb, not only would it be a great discovery that would probably go down in history as
01:36one of the most amazing finds, but it would answer so many questions.
01:41Cleopatra was often described as both voluptuous and authoritarian, but she was certainly a brilliant politician.
01:49Her strategy was to eliminate one by one all those who got in her way.
01:53Cleopatra's ultimate asset was her brain.
01:56But why did she die so young?
02:00In a previous episode, we showed how Cleopatra made an ally of the Roman general Mark Anthony to bolster her
02:07own position.
02:09Thanks to the latest scientific discoveries, we have tools that enable us to relive the impassioned love affair between Cleopatra
02:17and Mark Anthony,
02:18which led to her death, sealing ancient Egypt's fate once and for all.
02:51Cleopatra made an ally of the Roman general Mark Anthony to bolster her own position.
03:02In the early hours of the morning, in the Bay of Alexandria, just a short distance from the modern Egyptian
03:08city,
03:13archaeologist Alicia Johnson is about to dive in search of traces of Cleopatra.
03:21Six meters below the surface, it just looks like a pile of stones.
03:29In actual fact, the team of archaeological divers have come upon the remains of the Ptolemaic dynasty, Cleopatra's ancestors.
03:40It's impressive to see that the construction under her dynasty is still visible in the harbor.
03:49It's amazing.
03:51This unique piece of evidence of ancient Egypt's last queen has come to light 2,000 years after her death.
04:00Could these remains be those of Cleopatra's palace or her tomb?
04:05Could the queen have been buried here?
04:10To try to answer these questions, we have to go back in time.
04:17In the first century BCE, Cleopatra reigned over all Egypt with the support of Rome.
04:27She was a queen of extraordinary intelligence and understood from the outset that making allies of the Roman generals would
04:35help her establish her power.
04:38Cleopatra's relationship with Rome was extremely complex because she had to be subservient in order to retain a certain amount
04:45of freedom.
04:46This called for an acute sense of strategy and diplomacy.
04:52After the death of her lover Julius Caesar, she made an ally in Alexandria of another Roman, General Mark Antony.
05:00Cleopatra and Antony's relationship seems to have been based on two forms of alliance.
05:06One is political, to have Rome and Egypt protect each other's interests.
05:10But of course, there's also this romantic alliance between them.
05:13They called themselves the Inimitable Lovers, which means that they had a love that was so great and so amazing
05:20it couldn't possibly be copied.
05:22As a couple, they were extremely close.
05:25Power depended on these two individuals, the Sovereign and the General.
05:31The lovers were ambitious.
05:33They shared a taste for luxury and the high life, but they also wanted to build a new empire together.
05:42When Julius Caesar died in 44 BCE, the Roman Republic was quickly divided into three territories, with two men sharing
05:50the power.
05:51Mark Antony, Cleopatra's lover and ally, governed the East, while Octavian was in charge of the West.
05:59It was he who brought about Cleopatra's downfall.
06:05The two men were very competitive.
06:08And since they both wanted power, it was clear that ultimately one of the two would have to go.
06:22Octavian and Mark Antony hated each other and were effectively engaged in the battle to become the last true heir
06:30to Julius Caesar.
06:32Ultimately, what was at stake was the control of the whole Roman Empire.
06:36Octavian was an ambitious man and wanted to govern alone.
06:40He was born in 63 BCE and was the nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar.
06:46Later, he became Emperor Augustus.
06:49He was very good in politics, very good in propaganda.
06:54He knew how to use the politicians.
06:57He knew how to attack the enemy.
07:01He was someone who was inherently intelligent and who understood power games.
07:05One of Octavian's traits was that he never acted instinctively or irrationally, and that he took his time making decisions.
07:14And it's clear that this tactical sense, this political strategy served him very well.
07:22Octavius fully intended to rid himself of his sworn enemy, Cleopatra's lover.
07:27Octavian wanted to be alone the master of all.
07:30Especially since he feared that a new dynasty in Egypt was being created, and he contested the succession of the
07:37pretender to the throne, Caesarian, the son Cleopatra had had with Julius Caesar.
07:43This child was the link between Egypt and Rome.
07:47Cleopatra loved and cherished her son.
07:50But beyond that, in her eyes, he was a genuine treasure, a diplomatic object.
07:55A child who was to become the future pharaoh, king of Egypt, but could also claim his rightful place in
08:02the Roman Republic, since he was the only biological son of Julius Caesar and was recognized as such.
08:09Octavian, it was in his best interest, not only to get rid of Cleopatra, but to get rid of Cleopatra's
08:16child, the true son of Julius Caesar, the only person that might be able to take away Octavian's claim to
08:26the Roman emperorship, something he wanted more than anything.
08:32To eliminate Mark Anthony without provoking a public uprising, Octavian was clever and instead attacked Cleopatra to get to his
08:41hated rival.
08:43Officially, it was a war declared against Egypt alone, and against Cleopatra.
08:50Propaganda saw to it that the war was presented as a conflict between Rome and a hostile foreign power, in
08:59other words, a conflict between the West and the East.
09:04Once propaganda in Rome had been orchestrated to denigrate the Egyptian queen, Octavian had no trouble justifying his war on
09:12the sorceress of Alexandria.
09:16Octavian was smart, and he didn't want a fratricidal war. There had been so many. Instead, he declared war on
09:23Cleopatra.
09:26In the end, it wasn't in Egypt itself that Cleopatra's life changed, and with it the fate of her country,
09:33but off the coast of Greece.
09:38When they found out that Octavian's troops were preparing to attack Egypt, Cleopatra and Mark Anthony mobilized their armies and
09:45sailed out towards Italy.
09:47In the winter of 32 BCE, they stationed themselves in Greece.
09:55When Octavian heard about the movement of troops, he set out with his fleet for the Peloponnese Peninsula, ready to
10:02do battle.
10:06The two enemies faced up to each other, and the Romans slowly but surely managed to surround Mark Anthony's troops
10:15at the entrance to the Ambracian Gulf, just off the promontory of Actium.
10:23This strategic decision was taken by Admiral Agrippa, a childhood friend of Octavian, and a Roman soldier who had distinguished
10:31himself in many naval battles.
10:34Agrippa was a grand Roman figure of the time.
10:37He embodied responsibility, loyalty, fortitude, and rigor.
10:43He was Octavian's faithful right-hand man.
10:46Where Octavian was a diplomatic strategist, Agrippa was the soldier on the ground.
10:54Professor Zahos is a leading expert in the Battle of Actium.
10:59He has been carrying out digs for more than 20 years in the area where Octavian's troops set up their
11:05headquarters in 31 BCE.
11:08When he came here, this site, early summer of 31, he established a huge camp with 100,000 soldiers, infantry,
11:19and cavalry.
11:20And in this exact spot, he raised his tent.
11:24For more than three months, Octavian's troops camped out on this promontory, which Professor Zahos is walking around this morning.
11:33It's hard to imagine the bustling life that was going on here in the summer of 31 BCE.
11:40Octavian hadn't chosen this promontory by chance.
11:43He had meticulously studied the terrain.
11:47He could control the movements of the enemy since he was staying on a high land.
11:54And also on the back, the hills, they go further north, so it was difficult to attack his camp.
12:05Octavian's army dominated the region from this hill.
12:10Down in the plain, Mark Anthony's camp was vulnerable to attack.
12:15He had to fend off several attempts to suffocate his army.
12:22Agrippa attacked and occupied several of the stations of Antony, cutting him of the supplies from Egypt.
12:31In addition to the problem of lack of supplies, Mark Anthony's troops fell victim to malaria.
12:37But above all, even before the battle, Mark Anthony was betrayed by some of his allies, the Anatolian princes, who
12:45went over to Octavian's side.
12:48Cleopatra's presence on the battlefield also felt wrong to many of the soldiers.
12:54Some of Mark Anthony's close allies didn't understand Cleopatra's influence on Mark Anthony's military decisions.
13:03Having a woman take part and give orders in a Roman military campaign was seen as something particularly strange.
13:13Yet the Egyptian queen had a decisive role in the battle.
13:18The treasure, that is the gold, which was to pay the army, was kept on the ship.
13:23Thanks to her huge wealth, the queen was able to finance the war and pay the Roman soldiers.
13:33Mark Anthony and Cleopatra would have preferred fighting on land.
13:38But Octavian prevented this.
13:41While a portion of Mark Anthony's troops were sick, Octavian took advantage of this superiority and moved the battle to
13:48the sea.
13:49It was a blistering encounter.
13:53Professor Zachos takes us on a boat to the actual zone where the Battle of Acton took place.
14:02We are approaching the open sea where the famous sea battle took place.
14:08We can imagine where we are staying now with this little boat, one of the boats of Antony.
14:14It was stayed or passed by a few hours before the battle.
14:19Because we are in the middle of the narrows of the straits towards the open sea.
14:26Mark Anthony and Cleopatra's ships, which had sailed from Egypt to the Embracian Gulf, were caught in a vice by
14:33the ships of Octavian and Agrippa.
14:36At a certain crucial moment, Octavian seems to have begun to gain the upper hand.
14:44And word of that began to spread around Mark Anthony's troops.
14:49His ships had come to form a kind of blockade.
14:53Cleopatra and Mark Anthony found themselves trapped.
14:57Heat, malaria and thirst forced the soldiers to try to break through Octavian's blockade and engage battle.
15:06Mark Anthony's idea, which was not a bad one at the time, was to break the blockade with his fleet
15:12and to call on his ground troops to deploy elsewhere in Greece.
15:18This was in order to form a new meeting point further on, where they could resume the battle.
15:27On September 2nd, the weather conditions were favourable for action.
15:34Around 12 o'clock, Mark Anthony's troops went on the attack.
15:38A breeze comes from the Gulf, helping the boats, using the sails, to move towards the open sea.
15:47They brought out around 200 ships, from the Ambracian Gulf, as well as Cleopatra's ships, which were in the rear,
15:55and divided them all into three groups.
15:59To the north, the fleet led by Mark Anthony himself.
16:03To the south, ships commanded by General Caius Sosius.
16:09And in the middle, a few of Cleopatra's ships.
16:12Mark Anthony was up against Agrippa, and Caius against Octavian.
16:20They started moving slowly, but the line of Octavian moved also backwards, being afraid that they were trying to make
16:32a ship around their line.
16:35In all, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra had 500 ships at their disposal, whereas Octavian had only around 400.
16:44Although the adopted son of Julius Caesar didn't have numbers on his side, the Egyptian ships were heavier and less
16:51agile than his ships.
16:54So they used their big, elaborate, fancy boats.
16:58And the Romans were very practical, were people of war.
17:01So they used smaller, more maneuverable, and faster boats.
17:06Octavian's fleet was easier to maneuver, and the Roman triumvirate had a distinct advantage.
17:12A fierce sea battle began.
17:15These ships were reinforced by towers, and by boarding devices, which enabled the sea battle.
17:22And this was a characteristic of the Battle of Actium, to use land battle tactics.
17:29The battle was short-lived.
17:32Almost the entire Egypto-Roman fleet was destroyed in several hours by Octavian's galleys.
17:41Having suffered a huge amount of losses, Cleopatra's fleet managed to break away by the end of the day, and
17:48sail out into the open sea.
17:51A breach occurred in the center, into which Cleopatra's 60 vessels sailed, including the ship with the war treasure, and
17:59the blockade was broken.
18:01Seeing his queen escape, and seeing the disaster all around, Mark Antony mobilized his troops to follow suit.
18:08Forty of Mark Antony's ships managed to escape, which made a total of a hundred in all.
18:14Having broken the blockade, the strategy of Cleopatra and Mark Antony was to command their ground troops to gather in
18:21Macedonia,
18:21in order to create a new meeting point further away, and resume battle from there.
18:27But once again, Mark Antony was betrayed.
18:32A week after the Battle of Actium, the ground troops surrendered, without a fight, to Octavian and Agrippa.
18:39At that point, the end was in store for Mark Antony and Cleopatra.
18:47They'd lost the majority of their fleet, and their allies had defected.
18:51It was a disaster for the two lovers.
18:54The defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra decided to return by ship to Alexandria.
19:03Back in Egypt, Mark Antony withdrew alone to a small palace that he had built in the royal quarters.
19:13Mark Antony went through what we would call today a depression.
19:17He stayed in his quarters away from Cleopatra, brooding constantly.
19:21He was lost.
19:26Realizing that from then on, the Romans saw him purely as an Egyptian.
19:30He was even declared public enemy number one, proof that Rome no longer wanted him.
19:36His story as a politician and a soldier ended there.
19:40And then eventually, he let Cleopatra convince him to return to the palace.
19:45They were aware that their days were numbered.
19:49They'd been betrayed by nearly everyone, and so they decided to party for the remaining months of their existence.
19:56The lovers wanted to make the most of their last moments together, seeking pleasure at all costs.
20:01They founded the club of those who choose to die together, and they did exactly as they pleased.
20:08They organized parties, orgies, and there was plenty of wine drunk.
20:14Cleopatra wanted to soften Mark Antony a little bit and organized a birthday party.
20:20It was a sumptuous celebration, which brought the couple closer together again.
20:24It was almost like a little honeymoon.
20:27But the honeymoon would be cut short.
20:30Octavian had always planned to get rid of the barrier to his ascension in Rome, the Mark Antony-Cleopatra couple.
20:45Octavian waited for the end of winter, during which he had to deal with several uprisings and establish his power
20:51over a large part of the territory.
20:54When spring arrived, Octavian went after Mark Antony and Cleopatra in Alexandria.
21:00A year after the Battle of Actium, provoked by Octavian, Mark Antony resumed battle on the seas off the Alexandria
21:08coast.
21:09Mark Antony was initially briefly successful in one or two brief battles against Octavian's forces.
21:18Octavian's forces, but Octavian's ships eventually routed Mark Antony's off the coast of Alexandria.
21:25And at that point, it really became impossible for Mark Antony to respond.
21:32After a short while, Mark Antony realized that his Roman troops had defected and joined Octavian's forces.
21:39It was the clearest signal yet that the end was nigh.
21:44He was too weak to resist and took refuge behind the palace walls in Alexandria.
21:49But Octavian hadn't said his last word.
21:52He hunted down the two lovers right into the palace and took possession of the city of Alexandria.
21:59Octavian entered the Egyptian megalopolis on August 1st of the year 30 BCE.
22:05Octavian had taken control of the royal palace and based himself there.
22:08That may have been the reason why Cleopatra decided that she would spend her time in her mausoleum.
22:14Perhaps it was a spot that she could more easily defend.
22:18She barricaded herself inside a burial chamber with her treasure.
22:23In her mausoleum, which was still unfinished, she gathered a huge amount of silver, gold and jewelry,
22:28a vast treasure chest of the crown's wealth.
22:32She shot herself in with lumps of peat, a highly flammable material.
22:38This meant that if things went badly, she was planning to set fire to her mausoleum
22:42and destroy all the riches that it contained, lest they fall into the hands of Octavian.
22:49Cleopatra knew that Octavian wanted her treasure.
22:52She did everything she could to protect it.
22:54She was determined to die with it, if there was no other choice.
23:04According to ancient writings, Cleopatra's mausoleum was situated in Cape Lockeus,
23:10in the Bay of Alexandria, slightly north of her sumptuous palace.
23:14Through many different ancient sources, we can tell that Cleopatra's palace
23:18is behind me right here in the harbor.
23:21However, due to seismic activity, large earthquakes and tidal waves, it's been sunk beneath the harbor.
23:28However, in the 1950s, a local diver was able to find it,
23:32and he was one of the first people to start mapping this beautiful area.
23:37We've been able to obtain a more accurate map of what the royal quarters were like
23:41under the reign of the Ptolemies.
23:44Today, the zone is completely submerged.
23:48So, the land went down six, and the water raised up two.
23:52So, this actually makes eight meters.
23:54So, over the past 2,000 years,
23:57every archaeological remain that was in the eastern harbor now
24:01was on the surface.
24:08We're on board an expedition with a team of underwater archaeologists.
24:16We've been given special permission to dive in search of the remains of Cleopatra's dynasty.
24:24The team of divers board the boat in the port of Alexandria.
24:29They're hoping to comb the areas where vestiges of the palace might be.
24:38The archaeologists decide to drop anchor 400 meters from the Corniche
24:43to have a look at the first remains.
24:462,000 years ago, people were still walking here.
24:49So, over the course of two millennia,
24:51you've had earthquakes, erosion, and heightened sea levels.
24:55So, that's why the site is now submerged,
24:58but it's still very accessible because it's only six meters underwater.
25:19But the huge amount of accumulated sediment clouds the water and makes exploration difficult.
25:29Below the surface, there's a first surprise.
25:32It's not a trace of the ancient war,
25:34but the carcass of a Second World War plane
25:38that crashed into the Bay of Alexandria.
25:45Visibility is very poor at this time of year.
25:48No more than two to five meters.
25:52Sediment is stirred up by the divers.
25:56And then, all of a sudden, the pedestal of a column.
26:00The remains are hidden under 2,000 years of deposits.
26:04Among the debris, among the debris,
26:08Alicia touches the traces left by the queen.
26:10There are most certainly one or two pillars
26:12that have broken up into multiple different parts.
26:16And they are quite impressive.
26:18And you can see how they fell over.
26:20And they've been strewn about the area.
26:22And due to weather and environmental conditions,
26:25they've moved around over the years,
26:27but they're still real close to one another.
26:30The divers have been able to find traces
26:32of what would seem to be the foundations of a Ptolemaic building.
26:36Various earthquakes have caused cracks
26:38in the edifices of this period of ancient Egypt.
26:41We measured one section, and that was 90 centimeters.
26:47And that was quite large.
26:49And other sections were about 40 centimeters across.
26:52But I did notice, I took a specific measurement
26:55of both the radius on both sides
26:59to check if it was a perfect circle.
27:01And it was.
27:02It was 40 on each side.
27:04Which means going back 2,000 years ago,
27:07people could make pretty precise measurements
27:10to be able to create a perfect circle.
27:13It's beautiful.
27:14Yeah, quite impressive.
27:18One more testimony to the fate of Cleopatra's monuments.
27:24What could these columns correspond to?
27:27It's difficult for the team
27:28to draw any conclusions at this stage.
27:31We saw in the last dive
27:32a lot of columns and parts of pillars
27:35could be parts of this building.
27:39I mean, the palace or whatever, which part.
27:41And also distributed everywhere
27:44a lot of this kind of archaeological objects.
27:47The team of divers think they've identified fragments
27:50from what could be Cleopatra's mausoleum.
27:53But the conditions of preservations are such
27:55that at this point, they can only make hypotheses.
28:04What would Cleopatra's tomb look like?
28:09A whole set of clues, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle,
28:13need to be assembled to try to draw up
28:16what could have been the last resting place
28:18of Egypt's greatest queen.
28:20Whereas the pharaohs of the ancient empire
28:22built gigantic pyramids during their lifetimes,
28:25such as those on the plateau of Giza
28:27from 1500 BCE onwards,
28:30the kings and queens had sumptuous mausoleums
28:33built to prepare them for the afterlife.
28:37Cleopatra took her identity from the ancient Egyptians,
28:40and we know that they have a strong focus
28:42on the importance of the afterlife
28:44in preparing for it.
28:45So there's no doubt that Cleopatra
28:47was definitely making herself an amazing place
28:50to be buried and to be remembered.
28:53The land of the pharaohs was filled with lavish constructions
28:57which magnified life after death.
29:01Cleopatra would have seen them
29:02as she traveled across higher and lower Egypt.
29:06She knew that in the mind of Egyptians at the time,
29:09the last resting place should be the most important one,
29:12the most lavish.
29:14It would be the one which would bear witness
29:16to her power on earth.
29:17So when she had her mausoleum built,
29:19even if we don't know today what it looked like,
29:22it would obviously have been something extremely lavish,
29:25like a pearl on the crown of the city
29:26at the edge of Cape Lockeus,
29:28almost like something that could symbolically
29:30reach up to the stars
29:31in parallel to the Alexandria lighthouse nearby.
29:34We don't really know much about the mausoleum,
29:37but if it's anything like her previous constructions,
29:40it would have been of quite some proportion
29:43and would have been extremely lavishly decorated.
29:46Egypt's last queen was undoubtedly influenced
29:49by the country's gigantic architecture,
29:51the result of 3,000 years of history.
29:55Cleopatra also had an eye for architecture.
29:58She would bring in some of the most amazing Greek, Roman,
30:01and Egyptian architects to work on many different monuments.
30:05When she had her mausoleum built,
30:07Cleopatra, who was known for her taste for luxury,
30:10was inspired by other mortuary temples,
30:13in particular those in the Valley of the Kings.
30:19We've come to Upper Egypt, to the Luxor region,
30:22to look for clues that would enable us
30:23to find out what Cleopatra's last resting place
30:26might have looked like.
30:29One of the most impressive mortuary temples
30:31is that of another queen, Hatshepsut.
30:35It's located in Deir el-Bare.
30:38There are three terraces, a huge access ramp,
30:41and six porticos decorated with bas-relief.
30:45Cleopatra was well acquainted with the history of this queen,
30:48who embodied the power of female pharaohs
30:501,500 years before her.
30:53Other richly decorated tombs,
30:55like this one in the Valley of the Kings,
30:57probably influenced Cleopatra
30:59and the building of her own mausoleum.
31:02The reason for going so far back
31:04into the history of ancient Egypt
31:06is that the mortuary temples of the pharaohs
31:08of the Ptolemaic dynasty have never been found.
31:14Despite the absence of any visible architecture evidence
31:17of the Ptolemies,
31:18it's not difficult to imagine
31:20that Cleopatra's mausoleum was grandiose,
31:23hidden, hiding within it,
31:25extraordinary treasure.
31:26It would be even more impressive
31:29than King Tutankhamen.
31:31However, King Tutankhamen's tomb
31:33had the enamorous myth
31:35of people being killed and poisoned
31:36when they found it in the curse of King Tut.
31:39Is Cleopatra cursed?
31:41Maybe.
31:42Maybe we can find out.
31:46Curse or not,
31:47today, Egyptologists are in agreement
31:50that Cleopatra's mausoleum
31:52is likely to be buried
31:53under many layers of sediment
31:55submerged deep in the Bay of Alexandria.
31:59Over 2,000 years ago,
32:01Cleopatra had a majestic fortress built
32:04worthy of her reign,
32:05and it was in this stronghold
32:07that she lived out her final days.
32:14Knowing that the end was in sight,
32:16the two lovers,
32:18Mark Anthony and Cleopatra,
32:19lived out their last moments
32:21in the height of luxury in Alexandria.
32:23But each in turn,
32:25and unbeknownst to the other,
32:27they tried to save their lives
32:29by playing a final trump card.
32:31The last year of Cleopatra
32:32and Mark Anthony's life
32:33was one of stress, confusion,
32:35plotting,
32:36and desperate attempts
32:38to relieve their situation.
32:40Their relationship couldn't have been
32:42very straightforward,
32:43because ultimately,
32:44they had two different agendas.
32:47For Mark Anthony,
32:48he knew it would be very difficult
32:50to save his skin.
32:52In actual fact,
32:53he had negotiated in secret
32:55with Octavian.
32:58But despite Mark Anthony's attempts,
33:01Octavian remained unmoved
33:03and ignored his rival's requests.
33:06As for Cleopatra,
33:08she had her own plan.
33:10Cleopatra was a constant planner.
33:12She's a pragmatic person
33:14who knew she had to do something
33:15to save Egypt.
33:16So she even tried
33:17to make an alliance with Octavian.
33:20She undertook secret negotiations
33:22with Octavian.
33:23Her strategy is essentially survival.
33:26She's got to basically
33:27send word to Octavian
33:29to say that she's going
33:31to abdicate the throne.
33:32She would lose her crown,
33:34but she was trying
33:35to save her life
33:36and that of her children.
33:38The best that could happen to her
33:39would have been
33:40to stay as head of her country,
33:41which would become
33:42a vassal state to Rome.
33:44This is why she called
33:45on Octavian's help,
33:46while sending him jewels
33:48and apparently other attributes
33:50of Egyptian power.
33:52Mark Anthony
33:53was in his own palace,
33:55while Cleopatra
33:56was locked inside her mausoleum
33:58from where she conspired.
33:59She locked herself up there
34:01with two of her maids,
34:02Iris and Charmian,
34:03and that this is the place
34:05from which she was, you know,
34:06sending emissaries to Octavian.
34:09The last queen of Egypt
34:10played her final card,
34:12that of seduction.
34:15So Octavian came to visit her.
34:17It was extremely hot
34:18in the middle of August.
34:20Cleopatra was half naked.
34:22When Octavian entered the room,
34:25she threw herself at his feet.
34:27She possibly tried
34:28to seduce him,
34:30but it didn't work at all.
34:31He told her,
34:32get up, woman,
34:33and go back to your bed.
34:35She couldn't seduce Octavian.
34:36He wasn't the ladies' man.
34:38There was no way
34:38she could get him into her bed.
34:40But Octavian was determined
34:42not to let the queen
34:43commit suicide.
34:44He intended to keep her alive.
34:46He had a plan in mind.
34:48He thinks to himself,
34:50I'm going to take Cleopatra back
34:51to Rome.
34:52I'm going to put her
34:53in my triumphal procession.
34:55I'm going to show everyone
34:56that, you know,
34:58I've won Egypt.
35:00With all the anti-Cleopatra propaganda
35:03that was unleashed,
35:04the whore,
35:05the femme fatale,
35:06the witch,
35:07it's easy to imagine
35:08the kudos that Octavian
35:10would have received
35:11if he'd returned to Rome
35:12triumphantly
35:13with this depraved woman in tow,
35:15vilified in the public's eyes.
35:17Octavian was a ruthless man.
35:19He was like
35:20a cold-blooded snake.
35:24If there was one thing
35:26that was totally unacceptable
35:27to Cleopatra,
35:28it was being taken to Rome,
35:30captured and exhibited
35:31as a trophy for Octavian.
35:33She would rather
35:35take her own life
35:36than suffer the ignominy
35:39of being publicly
35:41paraded around.
35:43She would have been
35:43very aware
35:44that this is exactly
35:45what had happened
35:46to her own sister,
35:47Arsinaway,
35:47when she was defeated
35:49by Julius Caesar
35:50and Cleopatra herself.
35:52Although he wanted
35:53to capture Cleopatra alive,
35:55on the other hand,
35:56he needed to get rid
35:57of Mark Antony.
35:58He knew he couldn't parade
36:00a captured Roman general
36:01in the streets of Rome.
36:02The population
36:03wouldn't accept it.
36:09Mark Antony
36:10was in his palace
36:11in Alexandria
36:12when a messenger
36:13arrived from Cleopatra
36:14with some news
36:16that would change
36:17the course of history.
36:19She spread a rumor
36:20that she'd committed suicide
36:22in the hope of luring
36:23Mark Antony
36:23into her mausoleum.
36:25This was probably
36:26so that they could
36:27take their own lives together.
36:28But there were some details
36:30that she was unaware of.
36:32Mark Antony
36:32was an impulsive man.
36:34When he found out
36:34that Cleopatra
36:35had committed suicide,
36:36he became very angry,
36:39immensely disappointed,
36:41depressed,
36:41and melancholic.
36:44He believed that his beloved wife
36:45had betrayed him.
36:49Mark Antony
36:50felt he was cornered
36:51and that he had
36:52no other choice
36:53than to take his own life.
36:56Remember that
36:57in the mind of Romans,
36:58suicide was a noble act,
37:00a way of regaining
37:01their honor.
37:03So Mark Antony
37:04asked several
37:05of his aide-de-camp
37:06to help him
37:07take his own life.
37:09But they all said to him
37:10that they didn't feel capable.
37:14So he committed suicide
37:16all alone,
37:17using one of his swords,
37:18plunging into his body.
37:20He was severely wounded,
37:21but didn't manage
37:22to kill himself.
37:29Mark Antony fell to the ground,
37:31but had failed
37:32to take his own life.
37:36On hearing the news,
37:38Cleopatra had his body
37:39recovered and brought to her.
37:43Since she had sealed up
37:45the entrance
37:45to the mausoleum
37:46in which she was
37:47locked away
37:47with her treasure,
37:49she had his body
37:50hoisted up
37:50through a window.
37:53The lover's last moments
37:55were widely recounted
37:56by classical authors,
37:57influenced by Octavian's propaganda.
38:02In the library
38:03of the French Senate,
38:05Jean-Guillaume Ouellet-Pelletier
38:06found an extract
38:07from the Greek writer Plutarch's
38:09The Life of Antony,
38:11written in the 1st century CE.
38:14Cleopatra let down
38:15cords and ropes,
38:17and when the slaves below
38:18had fastened Antonius to them,
38:20she drew him up
38:21with the aid of the two women.
38:23He was stained with blood,
38:24and struggling with death,
38:26he was hauled up towards her.
38:29Cleopatra,
38:29with difficulty,
38:30holding with her hands
38:31and straining the muscles
38:33of her face,
38:35pulled up the rope,
38:36while those who were below
38:37encouraged her
38:38and shared in her agony.
38:42When she had thus got him in
38:43and laid him down,
38:44she rent her garments over him,
38:46lamenting him.
38:52The imagination runs riot naturally.
38:56We can imagine all sorts of things.
38:58A last love scene
38:59with promises and recriminations.
39:01Everything is possible.
39:03What's certain
39:04is that they shared the agony
39:05of their final moments of existence
39:07and of the end of their dreams.
39:10Cleopatra forced him to drink wine
39:11to soften his pain.
39:14Mark Antony then let out
39:16his last breath.
39:17And he died in her arms,
39:19perhaps with the last pledge of love.
39:21Who knows?
39:22Upon hearing of Mark Antony's suicide,
39:25Octavian sent soldiers
39:26to have Cleopatra
39:27put under surveillance.
39:30In desperation,
39:31the queen found herself
39:33trapped in her mausoleum,
39:34and her only option
39:36at this point
39:37was to take her own life.
39:43Roman historians recount
39:45several versions of her suicide.
39:47By comparing all the different sources,
39:50we're able to cross-check them
39:51and see where the common ground is,
39:53and also what is likely to have happened.
39:55The work of a historian
39:56in this type of situation
39:58is similar to that of a detective
39:59on a criminal case.
40:01According to one version,
40:02she poisoned herself.
40:06So where did this poison come from?
40:08There are several hypotheses.
40:10One of them is that
40:11she brought poison with her
40:12among the treasure
40:13that she filled her mausoleum with,
40:15which seems absurd.
40:17Some accounts say
40:18that she could have hidden poison
40:19and hollowed out hairpins.
40:22There's another hypothesis
40:23which historians put forward.
40:27Cleopatra had a snake brought to her
40:29at a given signal
40:30according to a prearranged plan.
40:32A peasant turned up
40:34with a basket of figs
40:36at the bottom of which
40:37a snake was hidden.
40:40The Roman guards asked the peasant
40:42what he had in the basket.
40:45The peasant, as naturally as possible,
40:47told them that there were figs
40:48for the queen
40:48and offered one to them.
40:51And so the guards let the peasant in.
40:59Then there's the whole legend
41:00of Cleopatra
41:01along with her two servants
41:03in the mausoleum,
41:04taking the snake
41:05and playing with it
41:07until the animal bit her in the breast
41:09and killed her.
41:15Her two maidservants,
41:17Iris and Charmion,
41:18who were in the room with her,
41:19were also bitten by the snake.
41:32Is it possible that Cleopatra
41:34was bitten by a snake?
41:36Is it a credible hypothesis?
41:40There are several arguments
41:42in favor of the snake bite.
41:43The reptile had a particular symbolism
41:46in ancient Egypt.
41:49They reflect her royal power
41:52and her divine nature.
41:54On the other hand,
41:55they can also connect
41:56to the underworld,
41:57where snakes were important elements
41:59in ancient Egyptian beliefs
42:00in the afterlife.
42:01So snakes were a popular symbol
42:03of divine power,
42:05of eternity,
42:06and protection.
42:07All things that Cleopatra would want
42:09as she transitions
42:10into the afterlife.
42:12What's more,
42:14the snake was the symbol
42:15of Egyptian royalty.
42:16On the one hand,
42:17they reflect the divine
42:19and royal lineage
42:20that she comes from
42:21connected to ancient Egypt,
42:22where snakes,
42:23in particular cobras,
42:25sat on the crowns of kings
42:26and they protected them.
42:29Above and beyond
42:29the symbolic power
42:31of the reptile,
42:31there are several scientific aspects
42:34which lead us to believe
42:35that Cleopatra could well have chosen
42:37to end her life
42:38by a snake bite.
42:40To find out more,
42:42we went to meet
42:43a reptile specialist
42:44in his laboratory.
42:47In my opinion,
42:49Cleopatra was bitten by a snake.
42:51She carried out experiments
42:52with poisons and venoms
42:54on prisoners sentenced to death,
42:56and she knew perfectly well
42:57how death came about
42:59once someone had been poisoned.
43:01The scientist even believes
43:03that it was a particular species
43:05of snake that Cleopatra,
43:06knowingly chose.
43:10There are two main groups,
43:12vipers,
43:13which bring on
43:14a very painful,
43:15deforming process
43:16involving necrosis
43:18and leading to the possible
43:21loss of a limb
43:22and death within
43:24two or three days.
43:25Clearly, Cleopatra
43:27wouldn't have chosen
43:27this type of snake.
43:29But another type of snake exists,
43:32the cobra.
43:34There's the Egyptian cobra,
43:36which brings about
43:37a quick death
43:38in less than two hours,
43:39a gentle, painless death,
43:41which doesn't deform
43:42the body in any way.
43:43And so we can surmise
43:45that Cleopatra chose
43:46this type of snake,
43:47especially since
43:49legend had it that
43:50if one dies
43:51from cobra poisoning,
43:52one gains access to
43:54infinity.
43:55So how did Cleopatra come
43:57to her decision?
43:59How does one die
44:00from a cobra bite?
44:01What effects does a snake bite
44:03produce in the body?
44:06It brings about
44:07a flaccid paralysis,
44:09which is to say
44:10that the nerves,
44:11which stimulate
44:11chiefly the head,
44:13face,
44:14and breathing,
44:15are paralyzed.
44:19The venom prevents
44:21the transmission nerve impulses
44:23from the brain
44:24to the muscles.
44:25And so when these nerve impulses
44:27cannot be transmitted,
44:28the muscle no longer responds
44:30and respiratory paralysis
44:32causes death
44:33within minutes.
44:36According to the scientist,
44:38it's possible
44:38that the snake
44:39not only bid Cleopatra,
44:41but also her two servants.
44:45Not long after,
44:46on hearing the news
44:47of Cleopatra's suicide,
44:49Octavian rushed
44:50to the queen's mausoleum,
44:52but he was too late.
44:54Octavian was extremely
44:55disappointed
44:56when he finally managed
44:57to get the mausoleum open
44:58by using pickaxes
45:00and demotion tools.
45:01He found Cleopatra
45:03lying in her funeral chamber,
45:05dressed in her best
45:06regal finery,
45:07but well and truly dead.
45:10He was upset
45:11that he would not be able
45:12to bring her back triumphantly.
45:14This was a real disappointment
45:15because he needed this triumph
45:17to turn him
45:18into the most important man in Rome.
45:20He was the man
45:21supposed to make Egypt
45:22a Roman province,
45:23something that had been
45:24planned for 50 years.
45:26Well, he managed to do it,
45:27but without the centerpiece
45:28of his triumph, Cleopatra.
45:30Since Octavian
45:31could not parade
45:32a captive Cleopatra
45:34on his triumphant return
45:35to Rome,
45:35he had to come up
45:37with a subterfuge.
45:40From that moment on,
45:42the story gets confused.
45:44Historians lost track
45:45of the remains
45:46of Egypt's greatest queen.
45:49The following year,
45:51Octavian paraded triumphantly
45:53through the streets
45:53of Rome
45:54in celebration
45:54of his victory.
45:56He paraded an effigy,
45:58a beautiful statue
45:59of Cleopatra,
46:00down the streets
46:01to great fanfare.
46:02A statue of Cleopatra
46:04with a serpent
46:05entwined around her arm,
46:06the famous snake
46:07which symbolized
46:08her poisoning.
46:10This is how
46:11the romantic image
46:12of Cleopatra's death,
46:13bitten by a snake,
46:14was spread throughout
46:15the Roman Empire.
46:17And since Octavian
46:18had everything planned,
46:19he didn't just parade
46:20with the statue
46:21of the last queen of Egypt,
46:23but with her descendants, too.
46:25And he brought
46:26Mark Antony and Cleopatra's
46:27three children
46:28in chains
46:29in a procession
46:31to show his victory.
46:33Later on,
46:34the children were brought up
46:35by another woman,
46:36someone who Mark Antony
46:37had spurned
46:38in order to live his passion
46:40with Cleopatra,
46:41Octavia,
46:42the sister of Octavian.
46:43The three children
46:44of Mark Antony and Cleopatra
46:45were actually raised
46:47by Mark Antony's
46:48ex-wife, Octavia.
46:50They were brought up
46:51in her household
46:51and seemed to have had
46:53a fair amount
46:53of good treatment
46:54and education.
46:56Historians then lost track
46:57of the two sons
46:58once they'd grown up.
47:00Did they just live
47:02as simple citizens
47:03somewhere in the empire?
47:04Or did they die prematurely?
47:06We just don't know.
47:09What is certain
47:10is that Octavian
47:12wanted to grant
47:13a great future
47:14to Cleopatra's daughter,
47:15Selene.
47:17She became the wife
47:19of Juba,
47:20king of Mauritania.
47:22Octavian was less
47:23indulgent towards
47:24Caesarean,
47:25the son Cleopatra
47:26had had with Julius Caesar.
47:28The young pretender
47:29to the throne met
47:29an altogether different fate.
47:32Octavian immediately
47:33sent an armed squad
47:34to retrieve
47:34the adolescent Caesarean,
47:36now Ptolemy XV,
47:38and have him killed.
47:39His tragic end
47:41at the age of 17
47:42marked the end
47:43of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
47:45It was a great victory
47:47for Octavian,
47:48who in doing so
47:49gained control
47:50not only of Rome's granary,
47:51but of a very rich kingdom.
47:56But what did Octavian
47:57do with the body
47:58of Mark Antony,
47:59his rival?
48:00Where were the two
48:00lovers buried?
48:02Cleopatra and Mark Antony
48:04disappeared without a trace,
48:06except in Roman propaganda.
48:08Two centuries
48:09after the death
48:10of the queen,
48:11the classical author,
48:12Dio Cassius,
48:14wrote,
48:15He writes that
48:16Antony and Cleopatra
48:17were both embalmed
48:18in the same fashion
48:18and buried in the same tomb.
48:20In Greek,
48:21Ina Aoten Matatu
48:23Antonio Tafinae Kaelisse,
48:25Cleopatra was indeed
48:26buried alongside
48:27Mark Antony.
48:28Of all the sources
48:29to hand,
48:30the only ones
48:31who wrote about this story
48:32are the victors
48:33on Octavian's side.
48:35Octavian allowed
48:36Mark Antony
48:37to be buried in Egypt
48:38alongside his queen
48:39and not in Rome.
48:40It was also a way
48:42of saying to the Romans,
48:43you see,
48:44he was so disloyal to Rome
48:45that he wanted
48:45to be buried in Egypt.
48:47There is obviously
48:48this very seductive idea
48:50that they are united
48:51even in death,
48:52that there is something
48:53immortal about this.
48:56Knowing where the lovers
48:57were buried
48:57still remains a mystery,
48:59which only further
49:00feeds the myth.
49:03The power of Cleopatra
49:05continued even after
49:06her death.
49:08Thanks to Octavian's
49:09propaganda,
49:10which eventually
49:11worked against him.
49:14Her legend
49:15was really forged
49:16in Rome
49:16by men who hated
49:17her immensely.
49:18And it's because
49:19they hated her
49:20that they turned her
49:21into someone
49:22so fascinating.
49:24They exaggerated
49:25her character traits,
49:26they almost certainly
49:27made her more cunning,
49:28more charming,
49:29more seductive
49:30than she probably
49:31was in reality.
49:32It really was men
49:34full of hate
49:34who created
49:35this eternal myth.
49:37Cleopatra's immortalized
49:38in many different ways,
49:39whether it's the myths,
49:40the ancient texts,
49:41or if it's the buildings
49:43themselves.
49:43These are all ways
49:44that she wanted to leave
49:45her mark on history.
49:47And she succeeded.
49:48Even if we don't exactly
49:49have them right now,
49:51we still know about them.
49:52We're in search of them
49:53day to day.
49:55Despite her renown,
49:57the last queen of Egypt
49:58has remained a mystery.
50:01For centuries,
50:03archaeologists have pursued
50:04their dream of finding
50:06her tomb.
50:07For now,
50:08it remains hidden.
50:10But thanks to new techniques,
50:12it could one day
50:13be unearthed.
50:19In August of the year 30 BCE,
50:23despite Cleopatra's
50:24lifelong efforts
50:25to maintain
50:25her country's independence,
50:27the last dynasty
50:28of the pharaohs
50:29came to an end.
50:30Following the victory
50:32of the future emperor
50:33Augustus in Alexandria
50:34on August 1st,
50:3530 BCE,
50:36Egypt soon became
50:37a Roman province.
50:39Rome had been dreaming
50:40of it for years.
50:41Octavian made it come true.
50:42The fall of Egypt
50:44also marked the birth
50:45of the Roman Empire.
50:47Octavian,
50:48its first emperor,
50:49who was to be called
50:50Augustus Caesar,
50:51was the victor
50:52of one of the most
50:53important naval battles
50:54in history.
50:55If Cleopatra and Mark Antony
50:57had actually won
50:58the Battle of Actium,
50:59Mark Antony and Cleopatra
51:00would have been
51:01the kings and the queens
51:03of the entire
51:03Mediterranean region.
51:05The capital
51:06of the Roman world
51:07could be moved
51:08to Alexandria.
51:09The main language
51:10could be Greek.
51:12instead of Latin.
51:13So possibly
51:14we could have
51:15a different evolution
51:17of the ancient history.
51:19And the history
51:20which has effects
51:22even in our days,
51:24in our western civilization.
51:27And Europe
51:28undoubtedly
51:29would not be
51:30the Europe
51:30that we know today.
51:31the West
51:35The End不會
51:59andika
52:01trees
52:01and
52:01who