Image of Cleopatra in Latin Literature

Document Type : Original Article

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Abstract

Cleopatra was the last of the Ptolemaic kings who ruled Egypt since the death of Alexander the Great and was very ambitious to restore the glory of the Ptolemies by any means and at any price and used in this subtlety and intelligence and beauty and money and all the gift of nature.
Following the references to Cleopatra in Latin literature in the golden and silver ages, . It  has been found in the golden age Cicero, Vergilius, Horatius, Propertius and Ovidius. It is the silver age Seneca (larger and smaller), Lucanus, Statius, Martialis, Iuvenalis  and Fronto.
If  Vergilius, Horatius, Propertius, and Ovidius of the Golden Age poets described Cleopatra as the epitome of qualities, Cicero was the only one of the writers of the golden age who spoke of Cleopatra in an acceptable manner, but the picture was different in the book and poets of the golden age.
Seneca, the elder and the younger, spoke of Cleopatra and the two did not describe them as bad. On the contrary, and unlike what was spoken of Egypt, Seneca mentioned that Antonius was married to Octavia and Cleopatra and compared them to Cleopatra by the goddess Athens and that he should be held or held because they are the most Bellissimam This description is the only description that Seneca described as a Roman poet of a foreign Egyptian queen may be a sign of his admiration for her and her beautiful beauty or strong personality.
Statius did not speak of Cleopatra except in one reference to her death, as well as Fronto. Cleopatra mentioned in two of his letters that the two did not insult her and did not mention any ill.
Martialis talked about Cleopatra in Abigramatine of Abigramate in the fourth book and his talk about it completely free of insult or accusation, but a talk full of compassion and compassion. Martialis explained that the death of Cleopatra melted so much on the leaves of the plant and prevented growth and prosperity by freezing dew and described the tomb of Cleopatra in the royal tomb regali sepulchro Described her death by the noblest nobiliore.

Iuvenalis  spoke of Cleopatra in one reference to her in the second poem and described  her as the sad maesta in the ship of Actium. This description is a real description of Cleopatra, especially since she was then a defeated queen, this is not considered  rebuke.