There could not have been better timing for this case, indeed the Egyptologists who celebrated the centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tombnow have some news about Cleopatra. According to what was communicated it would appear that they have a promising new archaeological discovery that appears to have been made in Egypt, in fact the excavations would have discovered a tunnel under the Taposiris Magna templewest of the ancient city of Alexandria, which they say could lead to the tomb of Queen Cleopatra.
Proof that this is indeed the case remains to be seen, but such a finding would be a major discovery, with the potential to rewrite what we know about Egypt’s most famous queen, not least because according to the ancient Greek writer Plutarch – who wrote a biography of Cleopatra’s husband, the Roman general Mark Antony, and is responsible for the longest and most detailed account of the last days of Cleopatra’s reign- both Antony and Cleopatra were buried inside Cleopatra’s mausoleum.
According to Plutarch, the day Augustus and his Roman forces invaded Egypt and captured Alexandria, Antony fell on his sword, died in Cleopatra’s arms and was then buried in the mausoleum, then two weeks later, Cleopatra went to the mausoleum to making offerings and pouring libations, and took her own life in an as yet unknown manner (a popular misconception is that she was bitten by an asp), and then she too was buried in the mausoleum.
In the days that followed, Antony’s son Marcus Antonius Antillos and Cleopatra’s son Ptolemy XV Caesar (also known as Caesarion, “Little Caesar”) were both murdered by Roman forces, and the two youths may also have been buried there, so if Cleopatra’s mausoleum hadn’t already disappeared under the waves of the Mediterranean along with much of the Hellenistic city of Alexandria, and were one day found again, it would be an almost unprecedented archaeological discovery.
Because the discovery of Cleopatra’s mausoleum could turn history upside down
While the tombs of many famous historical rulers still stand – an example being the mausoleum of Augustus, Antony’s and Cleopatra’s mortal enemy, found in Rome – their contents were often looted and lost centuries ago, but a notable exception is the tomb of Philip II of Macedonfather of Alexander the Great, discovery in Vergina in the late 70s. The tomb was found intact and this has enabled decades of scientific investigation of its contents, advancing our knowledge of members of the Macedonian royal family and their court, and the same could be true of Cleopatra’s tomb if it were discovered and found intact.
The amount of new information that Egyptologists, classicists, ancient historians and archaeologists could glean from its contents would be immense. For the most part, our knowledge of the queen of Egypt and her reign comes from ancient Greek and Roman literary sources, written after her death and inherently hostile to the Egyptian queen, we don’t have much evidence revealing the Egyptian perspective on Cleopatra, but what we have, such as honorific reliefs on the temples she built and votives dedicated by her subjects, give us a very different view of her.
To date, no other Ptolemaic ruler’s tomb has been foundand were all reportedly located in the Palace District of Alexandria and are believed to have been under the sea with the rest of that part of the city.
The architecture and material content of the tomb alone would keep historians occupied for decades and provide unprecedented amounts of information about Ptolemaic royal cult and the blending of Macedonian and Egyptian culture, but if Cleopatra’s remains were also there, they could tell us a lot. more, including the cause of his death, his physical appearance, and even answering the thorny question of his race.
But should we hope to find Cleopatra’s remains and analyze them? From Tutankhamun to the ordinary Ancient Egyptians whose mummies have been excavated over the centuries, there has been a long history of mismanagement and abuse, while the days of mummies being discarded as a form of entertainment at Victorian dinner parties are thankfully gone. those working in heritage are increasingly raising concerns about the appropriate treatment of our ancestors.
While the discovery of Cleopatra’s tomb would be priceless to Egyptologists and other scholars, is it fair to deny the queen the opportunity for peace and privacy in death that she did not receive in life?
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