Archive for October, 2009

Cleopatra VII (69-30), last of the Ptolemies, was portrayed to Romans as an oriental femme fatale who had lured the great Roman general Mark Antony to his downfall. In fact Cleopatra was Greek in language, culture and background, and she relied more on her intelligence and charm to captivate Caesar and then Antony than on her physical beauty. She wanted to acquire and then keep the throne of Egypt, and used Egypt’s wealth to buy support of Roman armies.

Cleoptra won Caesar’s support against her brother Ptolemy XIII, supposedly her co-monarch, when he landed at Alexandria in 47BC. Legend say that Cleopatra was delivered wrapped in a carpet to Caesar’s headquarters and they began an affair. Later, she had a son, Caesarion, by him. This liaison so enraged Ptolemy’s supporters that they besieged the lovers in the palace. Part of the great library was burnt in the ensuing fighting, which led to Caesar installing her as sole monarch and a client of Rome. Cleopatra followed Caesar to Rome in 45BC, but returned to Egypt after his death.

When Antony met her, he was tempted as much by her wealth as her beauty, but he became her lover, the pair indulging in life of sensual pleasure in Egypt, much to the delighted horror of opinion in Rome. After Antony had publicly snubbed his wife, the sister of his rival Octavian, he donated some provinces to his and Cleopatra’s three children. Octavian’s propagandist used this evidence that Antony wanted to hand over the empire to Cleopatra – clearly not the act of a true Roman.

This famous love affair did not seem to affect Antony’s plans for Rome’s eastern frontier, but his political judgement was clouded. Instead of leaving Cleopatra behind when he assembled his tropps for the final showdown, Antony let her come with him, leading may of his men to desert, The doomed pair escaped from actium for a last winter love, but Octavian followed. Cleopatra cheated him of his final victory by committing suicide, traditionally from an asp’s bite, before she could be captured. Although Cleopatra may have affronted Octavian’s puritanical patriotism, she presented little military threat to Rome.
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Cleopatra in Her Time
(All dates are B.C.)

331B.C.

Alexander the Great, a Macedonian Greek, conquers Egypt and founds the city of Alexandria.

323B.C.

Following Alexander’s death, one his generals, a Macedonian Greek name Ptolemy becomes satrap of Egypt

305B.C.

Ptolemy names himself king, Plotemy I, founds a dynasty that will last 300 years.

69B.C.

Cleopatra is born to Ptolemy XII, the ruler nickname Auletes (flute-player). As the daughter of this highly in-bred line, the product of nince generations of intermarriges. Her genetic as well as her cultural heritage is not truly Egyptian but Greek.

51B.C.

At the age of 18, Cleopatra becomes queen of Egypt. Though formally married to her younger brother, as called for by tradition, she is in practice the first female Ptolemy to reign alone.

48B.C.

Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsallus (in Greece) and becomes master of the Roman world. Cleopatra, who has backed Pompey, goes into exile. Caesar sails to Alexandria to collect a debt owed him by Cleopatra’s father and to restore her to the throne of Egypt. Cleopatra is smuggle into the palace some say rolled in a carpet to meet him. Caesar finds life in alexandria to his linking and settles in.

47B.C.

Cleopatra gives birth to her first child, name Ptolemy Caesar and nickname Caesarian (little Caesar). He is presumed to be Caesar’s son, though Caesar never officially acknowledges him as son.

46B.C.

Cleopatra has returned to Rome and Cleopatra meets him there. She and Caesarion take up residence in Caesar’s villa across the Tiber. While rumbling againt her in Rome grows louder. Egyptian appears in Roman clothes, hairstyles, art, and religion.

44B.C.

Caesar is assassinated on the Ides of March, Cleopatra having lost her ally and protector returns to Alexandria.

Antony and Octavian (later known as Augustus) are vying for control of the Roman Empire, Antony heads east to solidify his control and summons Cleopatra as a client queen to Tarsus, in what is not Turkey. She ignores a succession of letters from him, buy finally responds. She arrives on a royal barge, arrayed as Aphrodite reclining under a golden conopy. More than a Century later Plutarch described the scene: “…a barge with poop of gold, its purple sails billowing in the wind, while her rowers caressed the water with roars of silver which dipped in time to the music of the flute, accompanied by pipes and lutes…. and all the while an incredibly rich perfume, exhaled from innumerable censers, was wafter from the vessels to the river-banks.” Cleopatra returns to Egypt and Antony soons follows. Planning only to spend the winter, he instead stays with Cleopatra for a year, living a life of banquets, parties and other pleasures.

40B.C.

Cleopatra gives birth to twins by Antony: Cleopatra Selene (moon) and Alexander Helios (sun). Meanwhile, Antony reaches an agreement with Octavian and Lepidus and Marries Octavian’s sister, Octavia.

37B.C.

Drawn by love or politics or perhaps both-Antony returns to Cleopatra and marries her according to Egyptian practices, which allow polygamy. She supports his military campaigns with the wealth of Egypt, and he grants her territories in return.

36B.C.

Cleopatra gives birth to another son called Ptolemy Philadeiphus. Antony suffers serious military defeats; Cleopatra arrives with aid.

35B.C.

Cleopatra forges alliance with neighboring states.

34B.C.

Returning from a successful military campaign, Antony grants Cleopatra and her children many of the conquered territories, expanding from Epyptian Empire-though still as client of Rome. Octavian responds to these acts. “The Donations of Alexandri,” by spreading propaganda about this dangerous foreign mistress.

32B.C.

Antony repudiates his Roman wife, Octavia. Some closest friends desert him for Octavian. Octavian declares war against “the foreign woman” and the Roman propaganda campaign against her intensifies.

31B.C.

After a long stand-off on land and a Roman blockade at sea, Octavian’s great admiral, Agrippa attacks Antony’s fleet at Actium. Cleopatra’s ships slips through and flee. Antony follows and joins Cleopatra on her ship, where according to Plutarch, he sits in silence for days, his face burried with his hands.

30B.C.

Cleopatra and Antony try to negotiate with Octavian, seeking to protect her children and ensure the future of the Ptolemaic line. Octavian demands thats Cleopatra abdicate and have Antony executed; he makes further inroads into Egypt, up to the gates of Alexandria. Cleopatra retreats to her mausoleum.

Antony, hearing a rumor that she is dead, stabs himself with his sword. Dying, he is carried to the mausoleum to see Cleopatra; he is hauled in through the window by ropes. There, amid her lamentations, he dies in her arms.

Octavian holds Cleopatra prisoner, hoping to parade her in chains through the streets of Rome. But she is determined to die rather than suffer such humiliation. After visiting Antony’s tomb, she sends a final message to Octavian, asking to be laid besides her husband. Though Octavavian sends men to stop her, they are too late; she lies dead, wheather by an asp concealed in a basket of figs, or by the poisons she had carefully tested for months, or by some other means, we may never know. The tomb of Antony and Cleopatra has never been found.

Cleopatra and Mark Antony in HBO Rome portrayed by James Purefoy and Lynsdey Marshal

Popularity: 30% [?]

The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts was organized in March, 1863 at Camp Meigs, Readville, Massachusetts by Robert Gould Shaw, twenty-six year old member of a prominent Boston abolitionist family. Shaw had earlier served in the Seventh New York National Guard and the Second Massachusetts Infantry, and was appointed colonel of the Fifty-fourth in February 1863 by Massachusetts governor John A. Andrew.

As one of the first black units organized in the northernstates, the Fifty-fourth was the object of great interest and curiosity, and its performance would be considered an important indication of the possibilities surrounding the use of blacks in combat. The regiment was composed primarily of free blacks from throughout the north, particularly Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Amongst its recruits were Lewis N. Douglass and Charles Douglass, sons of the famous ex-slave and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass.

After a period of recruiting and training, the unit proceeded to the Department of the South, arriving at Hilton Head, South Carolina, on June 3, 1863. Soon after it saw its first action at James Island. The regiment earned its greatest fame on July 18, 1863, when it led the unsuccessful and controversial assault on the Confederate positions at Battery Wagner. In this desperate attack, the Fifty-fourth was placed in the vanguard and 281 men of the regiment became casualties (54 were killed or fatally wounded and another 48 were never accounted for). Shaw, the regiment’s young colonel, died on the crest of the enemy parapet, shouting, “Forward, Fifty-fourth!”

It was also on the parapet of the battery that Sgt. William H. Carney, Company C, risked his life in an action for which he received the Medal of Honor. His citation reads in part: “When the color sergeant was shot down, this soldier grasped the flag, led the way to the parapet, and planted the colors thereon. When the troops fell back he brought off the flag, under a fierce fire in which he was twice severely wounded.”

That heroic charge, coupled with Shaw’s death, made the regiment a household name throughout the north, and helped spur black recruiting. For the remainder of 1863 the unit participated in siege operations around Charleston, before boarding transports for Florida early in February 1864. The regiment numbered 510 officers and men at the opening of the Florida Campaign, and its new commander was Edward N. Hallowell, a twenty-seven year old merchant from Medford, Massachusetts. Anxious to avenge the Battery Wagner repulse, the Fifty-fourth was the best black regiment available to General Seymour, the Union commander. However, only about 500 members of the regiment were present at Olustee, the others having been detailed for other duty.

Along with the 35th United States Colored Troops, the Fifty-fourth entered the fighting late in the day at Olustee, and helped save the Union army from complete disaster. The Fifty-fourth marched into battle yelling, “Three cheers for Massachusetts and seven dollars a month.” The latter referred to the difference in pay between white and colored Union infantry, long a sore point with colored troops. Congress had just passed a bill correcting this and giving colored troops equal pay. However, word of the bill would not reach these troops until after the battle of Olustee. The regiment lost eighty-six men in the battle, the lowest number of the three black regiments present.

The 54th, as well as the 35th United States Colored Troops, served as the rearguard for the Union Army and possibly prevented its destruction. After Olustee, the Fifty-fourth was not sent to participate in the bloody Virginia campaigns of 1864-1865. Instead it remained in the Department of the South, fighting in a number of actions, including the battles of of Honey Hill and Boykin’s Mill before Charleston and Savannah. It was mustered out in August, 1865.

More than a century after the war the Fifty-fourth remains the most famous black regiment of the war, due largely to the popularity of the movie “Glory”, which recounts the story of the regiment prior to and including the attack on Battery Wagner.

As shown in Glory (1989) Robert Gould Shaw portrayed by Mathew Broderick and the men of the 54 Massachussetts Infantry Regiment.

Popularity: 86% [?]