Cleo: A Study of the Historical, Mythical, and Literary Representations (PDF)

December 21, 2024 9:34 AM cleo in ancient arabic sources - from 6th and 7th ce sources - natural heroine - they focused on her intelligence, shrewdness and generosity - fascinated with her personality, they present a very different cleo than who we know cleo in arabic sources again - she appear...

December 21, 2024 9:34 AM cleo in ancient arabic sources - from 6th and 7th ce sources - natural heroine - they focused on her intelligence, shrewdness and generosity - fascinated with her personality, they present a very different cleo than who we know cleo in arabic sources again - she appears in almost all medieval arab sources on ancient egypt - painted as a strong monarch - she made contributions to areas women didn't usually dominate cleo as a virtuous scholar - worked in alchemy, medicine and math - big focus on her scientific achievements, interesting because in the greek and roman there is no mention of this - facts are often distorted treatment of women in arab sources - rich tradition of biographies of individual women - women were thought to be suitable sources for biographies - they were very familiar with historical queens, sometimes appearing in the Qur'an cleo in arab names - there was confusion with her name between her greek and egyptian titles - original: cleopatra thea philopator sat geb - many different spellings arise from her long name writings by john of nikiou - christian bishop, 600 years after cleo died - he said she built a canal, palace and the lighthouse - inaccurate but becomes the basis for later arab writers - first arab writer ibn al wrote about her building projects, influenced by john - he and other writers wrote about her political skill and courage - from a 10th century historian she was a sage and philosopher, enjoyed the company of scholars, she wrote books about medicine, charms, cosmetics - from this guy al masudi she killed Octavian which is not true other references to her in historical arab - mentioned in a textbook as theosebia which is another name for isis - said to have written books on math, law and medicine - biography that mentions a female doctor or gyno named cleo - in the talmud there are references to her being involved in medical experiments to determine fetal developments the dialogue of cleopatra - 50 years after she died - features her conversing with fellow scholars and teaches them - thought to be about an earlier cleopatra the romance of cleopatra - date unknown - she is depicted as shrewd, cool headed and ambitious - has political ambitions - poisons her father to get throne - restores temple and religious health of alexandria - gabinus a foreign general comes to egypt and falls in love with the queen, wants to become king, sends classics Page 1 - gabinus a foreign general comes to egypt and falls in love with the queen, wants to become king, sends a maid to tell him that she would marry him but he had to build a city for her, and at night she would send people to undo the work done, when the city is finally done, instead of marrying him she steps on a serpent and dies Zenobia - she was associated with other queens, her name was not besmirched -zenobia of syria- the new cleo, conquers egypt - descendant of cleo? maybe due to kids but not likely - one of her centers mightve been at the baths of cleo cleo in western medieval literature - depoliticized, her and ant are portrayed as just lovers, their politics are stripped -geoffery chaucers legend of good women mentions cleo, she is the first chapter, called a martyr and queen of egypt - she is also depicted as a wife and not cheater, ant and cleos love is acceptable as a rage of passion while in wedlock, is sexualized but is okay because shes a faithful lover - only sexualized when it comes to ant and caes, still no political background with all of them, just living a faithful life - ant and cleo always portrayed in clothing of the time, here medieval clothing the renaissance 14th-17th century - to them, cleo was such an interesting figure because she outstands in many ways like kids out of wedlock, educated women giovanni boccaccio - wrote a book on famous women in 1361 - lists all the impactful women in antiquity - commissioned by a women, his patron - not many regular women were included, just outstanding ones - in the book she is not presented as a role model, rather one of the bad women in history and a example to others of how not to behave - a woman with a burning desire to rule, politically ambitious enough to kill her own brother and seduces men - "wh0re of the eastern kings, greedy for jewels" - said to have kept ant "a weak willed man" under her rule, and preyed on him - ant described as vile and stupid but mostly as generous but tricked by cleos ways, also alcoholic - alternate version of her death where she is forced to drink poison wine, probably what gio wanted for her cleo in english renaissance drama - mary sidneys play= antonius, 1592, they were a subject for drama long before shakespeare - samuel daniel- cleopatra 1594 play - shakespeare- 1606 ant and cleo - in these plays cleos motivation is love for ant, not political - only on shakespeare are they not married, female parts played by young men - in shakespeares, she doesnt have family ties (no kids), only a reference to motherhood in the death scene - bite to the breast/ breastfeeding more on Shakespeares cleo - depicted not as a politician but lover - in shakespeare she is a relatively responsible states woman, has vague duties and is sensible about her status, but still not complicated and focus on ant - in shake she also exploits her feminine charm for politics, negotiates with oct but doesnt put this above love - often compared to liz 1 due to her being a strong female queen at the time john drydens all for love or the world well lost - his best known play, a tragedy - his attempt to reinvigorate serious drama classics Page 2 - his attempt to reinvigorate serious drama - imitation/ homage to shake - focuses on the last hours of ant and cleo - cleo dies from arm bite - dressed in clothing from time is was produced - women in this time were allowed to perform - 1677 art of cleo in renaissance - death is most popular to paint, along with pearl earring story - why? because the subject matter is sophisticated, shows your intelligence and how well educated you are, but also because it is erotic - how we know its cleo- pearls, snakes, portrayed as white blonde (not egyptian again until 19th century) - dogs in paintings indicate fidelity cleo in the 18th century - since there was lots of political debate going on (revolutions), cleo and her lovers/ accomplishments were not obsessed over as it had been previously - cleo embodies a form of power that is unacceptable for the norms in this society - she does appear in art and ballets, music dramas - blonde and white, european in modern and wealthy fashion - people drawn as cleopatra Tiepolo - 1740s - painter - 3 paintings of the banquet with the pearl earring story - as well of lots of smaller studies - wealthy family called labia were his patrons, they were so rich they had a banquet with everything made of gold and instead of washing it they just threw it away - he also drew the meeting of cleo and ant egyptomania - happened 4 times, is the craze for egyptian art or egyptianizing art 1. 15- 30 bce, augustan rome 2. renaissance 3. early 19th century western, napoleonic expedition (21 volume description of egypt) 4. 1920s discovery of king tuts tomb orientalism (19th century) - "the orient" - Orent is a 19th century idea and associated with cleo because the poets wanted a perfect place where things could move freely, as well as because the west becomes newly fascinated by and familiar with the east because of policies that come into place, comes a safe place to tour, also because in 1824, Egyptian hieroglyphs were decoded, also because it had a history of eroticism -In the erotic discourse, sexuality is used to describe the east or a women (the east/ women needs to be conquered/ penetrated) - Orientalism- the east as the west imagines it, represents a very patronizing attitude, a way of justifying western takeover, to civilize them, doesn't distinguish countries 19th century cleo - in art she is depicted as actually egyptian now - but is also shown in contemporary europe - shown as a combination, luxury, exotic stuff - she did things that were not apart of the European value system - gets more eroticized - but there are signs in the paintings that she's in egypt like leopard, egyptian art, hieroglyphs, architecture, dark hair, clothes, headdress poetry in 19th century - still a product of the orient classics Page 3 poetry in 19th century - still a product of the orient - her cruelty and sexuality merge - where did the cruel image come from? - reimagined as a femme fatal/ dominatrix - someone who likes to hurt and kill men - early movies portray her as such george shaw caesar and cleopatra play, 20th century - depiction of cleo insulting, trying to be the opposite of shakes, had nothing to do with the cruel figure - caesar is kind, the hero of the play, practical - cleo is desexualized, infantilized, made fun of - odd for this writer because he usually had strong female roles - no love affair, cleo 16 - women as silly and decorative - in movie adaptation there is a romance cleo in 20th century - ts elliots wasteland, might be about cleo but maybe not- during the fourth period of egyptomania - silent film in 1917- sheet music discovered, black cleopatra is a maybe due to not knowing who her family is - cleopatra jones- black heroine, action comedy discoveries in 20th century - the octagon- in this was a scull of a young women, maybe arsinoe, based on age, manner of death, date and race, but seemed too young, race measuring is inaccurate early versions of cleo on film - her life was one of the first stories to be told on film - 1899 french production, 1909 germany, 1912 america, all silent films, italian version in 1913 - cleo 1917 based on she, missing, theda bera, we have the script, 50 costumes, large cast and budget - snake bra, remerges in princess leia Bara - the vamp - femme fatale persona on and off screen - had to retire in 20s because new image of girl was in- flappers -had a radio career - lots of advertising and premotion came from film cleo in early films - cast as an oriental seductress - exotic - killer cleopatra - flappers were becoming popular, good time girls who liked adventure but never actually did anything too risky (colleen moore) cleo 1934 film - first speaking version - director of the 10 commandments - light and comical - lavish sets and costumes - modern humor and dialogue - no wicked cleo, only sexual - not doomed or tragic even though she dies at the end - very upbeat - more advertising tie ins 63 cleo film - international scandal due to liz taylor and richard burton affair - lots of people got fired - took years to film - 93 hours of film classics Page 4 - 93 hours of film - wanted audrey hepburn or joan collins, liz got sick - cold locations - started shooting sequentially due to being rushed - 20th century fox sued liz and rich due to the amount of attention they were bringing, but luckily sound of music also came out that year and saved them - major faults: length, editing, her voice - eye shadow stuck around as cleo - they were modern day cleo and ant 34 vs 63 films 32- witty society lady 63- more suited to the social climate of america in the 60s, world unity, elenor roosevelt? katy perry dark horse - killer cleo - extravagance, snakes, alchemy, isis wings, makeup classics Page 5