#Cleopatra

[classicalcanvas]

Title: Cleopatra

Artist: John William Waterhouse

Date: 1887

Style: Romanticism

Genre: History Painting

[varigoforlife]

Let Joan drink a drink

poor Joan

[aboutanancientenquiry]

The Death of Cleopatra

Edmonia Lewis The Death of Cleopatra, 1876. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Historical Society of Forest Park, Illinois.

Edmonia Lewis (1844-1907) was Black American sculptor.

[pharsalianostra]

Progress on my Cleopatra & Livia painting :D

I’m shockingly happy with how this is progressing. When I finish it, I’ll write an extended analysis about the parallels in their lives to go along with it

[eirene]

The Death of Cleopatra, 1890

John Collier

[occvltswim]

Leontyne Price as Cleopatra in Barber's ‘Antony and Cleopatra (1966)’ — The Met Archives/Metropolitan Opera

[aloneandforsakenbyfateandbyman]

After Theda Bara as Cleopatra by Bob Carlos Clarke, 1986

[bitter69uk]

“Elizabeth Taylor deserves the credit, along with Italian street-gang girls, for the heavily lined eye and pearlized lipstick look of the late fifties and early sixties. Remember all those paparazzi shots of Liz in her Cleopatra eyes and fur hats, sneaking around Rome with Dicky?”

/ From the book Flesh and Fantasy (1978) by Penny Stallings /

Elizabeth Taylor “papped” in Rome on 20 February 1962.

Elizabeth Taylor 1962

[neelihara]

Jane Austen would've loved Ao3

Rabindranath Tagore would've loved Tumblr

Agatha Christie would've loved true crime podcasts

Leonardo Da Vinci would've loved drones

Vincent Van Gogh would've loved Procreate

Cleopatra would-be loved Vlogging and Makeup videos on YouTube

Shakespeare would've loved roasting people on Twitter

Benjamin Franklin would've loved memes

Nikola Tesla would've loved WiFi and would binge watch cat videos

Franz kafka would've loved blogging

Socrates would've loved TED talks

[j5daigada]

cleopatra

commission for Mystery Vee

[summertimenoir]

Cleopatra (1934) - dir. Cecil B. DeMille

[gleafer]

Cleopatra DENIED

I mean, can you blame him? Look at that smile!

[twixnmix]

Marilyn Monroe photographed by Richard Avedon as Theda Bara in "Cleopatra" (1917) for LIFE magazine, 1958.

[floatyflowers]

Dark Platonic Mother! Cleopatra x Reincarnated Reader

Getting Reincarnated as the daughter of Cleopatra was the last thing you expected to happen to you.

The woman had you with a lover and decided to pass you off as the daughter of her first husband, Ptolemy XIII.

Let us get one thing straight, you were proud to be Cleopatra's daughter, as you saw her intelligence and chrismatic nature.

Being her first child, her overprotective attitude showed as you grew up.

She seduced Julius Caesar and Mark Antony to secure your safety.

There's no denying that you are her favourite child.

You tried to convince your mother to take different paths to avoid her demise.

But in the end, the paths still led to her demise.

However, the last female Pharaoh of Egypt decided to take you with her, refusing to leave you in the mercy of Augustus Caesar like the rest of her children.

Cleopatra’s gaze burned with a frenzied intensity as she clutched the your trembling hands, her voice trembling with emotion.

"My dearest daughter," she whispered, her tone a mix of desperation and conviction.

"Rome’s chains will not touch us. If Augustus dares to take us, we will not give him the satisfaction of parading us as spoils of war. You and I are above such humiliation, we are divine!"

Her grip tightened, her nails pressing into your skin, and she gestured toward a small, ornate chest on the table.

Within it lay the deadly asp, coiled and waiting.

Cleopatra’s eyes shone with determination as she drew the you closer, her words laced with a terrifying calmness.

"Together, we shall ascend to the gods. You belong with me, forever."

You stumbled backward, your heart pounding in terror as Cleopatra’s words sank in.

"No! I don’t want to die! Please, Mother, we can escape! There has to be another way!" You pleaded, tears streaming down your face.

The idea of experiencing death once again, a foreign, unimaginable concept for someone pulled from a different world sent you into panic.

Cleopatra, however, dismissed your protests with a soft, almost pitying smile, as though the your fear was a child’s naivety.

"Hush now," she murmured, stroking your cheek with a tenderness that only deepened the dread in her heart.

"You don’t understand yet, but you will. This is the only freedom left to us. The gods will welcome us as one."

Desperation clawed at you as Cleopatra reached for the asp, her movements slow.

You fell to your knees, clutching Cleopatra’s skirts, your voice breaking as you begged,

"Please, don’t do this! I’m not ready, I don’t want to leave, I need to be here for my siblings"

For the first time, Cleopatra hesitated, her hand trembling as she looked down at the your tear-streaked face.

For a fleeting moment, something human flickered in Cleopatra’s gaze, doubt, perhaps, or sorrow.

But it was gone as quickly as it had come, replaced by the unyielding determination of a queen who believed she was saving her beloved daughter from a fate worse than death.

"You don’t need to be afraid," Cleopatra whispered, pulling the reader into a suffocating embrace.

"We are leaving this world together. You’ll thank me when we are free."

However, when the asp bites you then Cleopatra...you miraculously and barely manage to survive.

𓅁 𓅂

When you woke, the oppressive weight of Cleopatra’s arms was gone, replaced by the cool silk of Roman linens.

The air felt heavy, and the low murmur of distant voices sent a shiver down your spine.

Slowly, you opened your eyes, your body weak but alive, and saw a figure seated beside your bed, his presence radiating authority. Augustus.

His smile was unnervingly calm, his piercing eyes watching her as if you were a prey ensnared in his trap.

“Ah, you’re awake,” Augustus said softly, his voice like honey laced with venom.

He leaned closer, his hands clasped as though he were greeting an honored guest, not a survivor of a tragedy he orchestrated.

"You’re even more exquisite than I imagined. Cleopatra spoke of you so often, a divine child, she called you, her most precious treasure."

His gaze darkened slightly, a possessive edge creeping into his tone.

"And now, you’re mine." Your heart raced as you struggled to sit up, your body shaking under the weight of exhaustion.

Augustus reached out, his fingers brushing against your cheek in a mockery of Cleopatra’s tender touch.

"You don’t need to fear me, I will protect you, as she couldn’t. No harm will come to you… so long as you remember who owns you now.”

[maxanor]

GINA TORRES as CLEOPATRA in XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS (1995–2001) Season 3, Episode 8, 'The King of Assassins'

[butchhamlet]

everyone in the world should read L.T. Fitz's article about misogynist shakespearean scholarship on cleopatra. partially because it's full of excellent analysis of cleopatra as a character and protagonist, but mostly because it's really fucking funny