Cleopatra's Lost Monuments

CLEOPATRA
TOMB, BATHS AND BIRTH-HOUSE
(AND OTHER LOST MONUMENTS)
Dr Chris Naunton
@chrisnaunton
chrisnaunton.com/online-lectures/

CLEOPATRA
TOMB, BATHS AND BIRTH-HOUSE
(AND OTHER LOST MONUMENTS)
Dr Chris Naunton
@chrisnaunton

51 BC: Ptolemy XII Auletes dies
Succeeded by his children:
Ptolemy XIII (aged 10)
Cleopatra VII (18)
– siblings and now married
Ptolemy XIII, Kom Ombo

Tyldesley,
Joyce.
Cleopatra
(Kindle
Location 50).
Profile. Kindle
Edition.

Tyldesley, Joyce. Cleopatra (Kindle Location 50). Profile. Kindle Edition.

48 BC: General and Consul Pompey
defeated by Julius Caesar in Rome
Cleopatra marries a younger, brother,
also a Ptolemy, who became her co-
regent, Ptolemy XIV.
Julius-Caesar travels to Egypt; Cleopatra
allies herself with him, in opposition to
Ptolemy XIII
Ptolemy is soon drowned and Cleopatra
and Julius-Caesar have a child –
Ptolemy (XV) Caesarion
Julius-Caesar, Staatlich Museum, Berlin

Cleopatra and Caesarion
Dendera

44 BC: Julius-Caesar is assassinated in Rome
Cleopatra allies herself with Mark Anthony
Ptolemy XIV died, perhaps poisoned on Cleo’s orders
40 BC: Cleopatra and Mark-Antony had twins
Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios
36 BC: Cleopatra and Mark-Antony married and they
have another child, Ptolemy Philadelphus
Mark-Antony, Bankes Collection, National Trust

34 BC: ‘Donations of Alexandria’ – territory
granted to C & M-A’s children, Cleopatra
declared ‘Queen of Kings’ and of E and
Caesarion King and heir to Julius Caesar
- Unacceptable in Rome
33 BC: 2nd Triumvirate (M-A, Octavian and
Lepidus) expires and Octavian declares war
31 BC: Octavian defeats Mark-Antony at
Actium
30 BC: Mark-Antony is again defeated by
Octavian, just off the Alexandrian shore
Meroë Head of Augustus (Octavian)
© The Trustees of the British Museum

James Burton Archive
©British Library
Add MS 25634 f.4

A reconstructed bull burial (L)
Plan of the Bucheum, Armant
Images © The Egypt Exploration Society

... He reached Thebes, his place of
installation, which came into existence
aforetime, beside his father, Nun the Old. He
was installed by the King himself in year 1,
Phamenoth 19. The Queen, the Lady of the
Two Lands, the Goddess Philopator, rowed
him in the boat of Amen, together with the
boats of the king, all the inhabitants of
Thebes and Hermonthis and priests being
with him. He reached Hermonthis, his
dwelling place on Mechir 22 …2
Tyldesley, Joyce. Cleopatra (Kindle Locations
662-665). Profile. Kindle Edition.
Image © The Egypt Exploration Society

Armant, key-plan
PM V, 152.
(‘Porter and Moss’)

Birth-house
‘mammisi’ from Coptic, pr-mst in
Egyptian = ‘[place of birth’
Small temple buildings, Nectanebo I
(30th Dynasty) to Roman Period
Hall of offerings, sanctuary,
forecourt
Decoration related to the birth of
the child of the god
Right: plan of Dendera (PM VI, 40)

At Armant, the principal deity was Montu,
His consort: Rat-Tawy – a female form of
the sun-god, Ra
Their child: Horus-the-child
Child is equated with the sun,
…and therefore re-birth
…and therefore the renewal of kingship
Scenes may have replaced the divine birth
scene of the New Kingdom onwards

Description de l’Égypte (2nd Ed), Antiquités, planches vol. I, pl. 91

Arnold, Temples of The Last Pharaohs, 222-3

James Burton Archive
©British Library
Add MS 25634 f.4
Robert Hay Archive
© British Library
add ms 29832 f.72

“The Ka’shif of Armen’t
has taken possession of
this building (that is, of
the naos itself),
surrounded it, excepting
on the left side, by a wall
of crude brick, and built
by a pigeon house upon
its roof. I was unable to
examine the interior on
my first visit: the Kash’if
being absent, I was not
allowed to enter it; but
on a later occasion I
obtained admission."
Lane, Description of Egypt (Edited by J.
Thompson, Cairo, AUC Press, 2000), 391

Armant (Hermonthis), Nestor l’Hote (1828)

Edward Hawker,
5 February 1851
From Clayton,
The Rediscovery
of Ancient Egypt
(London, 1982),
135

Coloured
lithograph by
Louis Haghe
after David
Roberts, 1848
Via Wikimedia
Commons

Félix Teynard
1851-2
Via Wikimedia
Commons

Howard Carter
1903
‘From a photo by
C.J. Fountain Esq.
1861’
Via
www.christies.com

Birth-scene before Amen-re', Nekhbet, and Cleopatra
Text: PM V, 156. Image Lepsius, Denkmäler IV. Via The New York Public Library
Digital Collections (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/)
Birth Room. Third register

Four goddesses nursing children, goddess and two cow-goddesses suckling
children on couch with cows suckling children below, and goddess before Ra't-
taui suckling child and Hathor . Text: PM V, 155. Image Lepsius, Denkmäler IV.
Birth Room. Third register,

Rear wall. Pillar.
Cleopatra with sistra
before Ra't-taui
Text: PM V, 153. Image
Lepsius, Denkmäler IV.

MAIN TEMPLE.
Façade, Lintel
Double scene, Ra't-
taui suckling child
followed by Meskhent
w deities, Cleopatra
and Caesarion
Text: PM V, 153.
Image Lepsius,
Denkmäler IV, 64.
Monthu
Buto
Hathor
Cleopatra
Cleopatra
Caesarion
Caesarion
Amen-Ra Nekhbet Hathor
Ra't-taui
Ra't-taui
Meskhent

Ra't-taui, Isis, and Sobk-
Neith
suckling children
Inner Hall, Lower part, south of doorway, lintel (PM V, 153-5)
Young Harpocrates,
sacred cow
Ra't-taui
suckling
child
Text: PM V, 153-5. Image Lepsius, Denkmäler IV, 64.

DEMOLISHED…
1861-2

James Burton
“Most of the rooms so full of sand
that a man cannot stand upright in
them
All about this part of the coast are
remains of baths and catacombs’
©British Library Board, add ms
25634 f.4

Luigi Mayer
(1755–1803)
Views in Egypt
(1801), 26-7.

Description de
l’Égypte. 2nd Ed.
Antiquities, Volume V
(Plates) (1823), pl.
42.

Pascal Cote,
1819
From Pascal
Coste Toutes
les Égypte
(Marseilles,
Éditions
Parenthèses /
Bibliothèque
Municipale de
Marseille,
1998)

Hector Horeau
‘Bain de
Cléopâtre’.
Kom es
Shoqafa?
© Griffith
Institute,
University of
Oxford.

Kom es-
Shoqafa (L)
Venit,
Monumental
Tombs…, fig.
104, p. 126.
James Burton.
©British Library
Board, add ms
25634 f.4 (R)

Forster, E. M.
Alexandria: A
History and
Guide
(Gloucester,
Mass., Peter
Smith, 1968),
189.

The ‘Grand Catacomb’
at Wardian
After Venit,
Monumental Tombs of
Ancient Alexandria.
The Theatre of the
Dead (Cambridge
University Press, 2002),
fig. 112, p. 135.

After Venit, Monumental Tombs of Ancient Alexandria. The Theatre of the Dead
(Cambridge University Press, 2002), fig. I, p. 2.

‘Grand
Catacomb’,
Wardian,
Alexandria.
Lost?
After Adriani,
Repertorio
d’Arte
dell’Egitto
Greco-Romano
Series C
(Rome, 1966),
pl. 91.

chrisnaunton.com
bit.ly/cleobaths

Plutarch:
“…she herself, now that she had a tomb and monument
built surpassingly lofty and beautiful, which she had
erected near the temple of Isis…”
Plutarch. Lives, Volume IX: Demetrius and Antony. Pyrrhus
and Gaius Marius. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Loeb
Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1920. Pp. 307.

“she, fearing his anger and his madness, fled for refuge
into her tomb and let fall the drop-doors, which were
made strong with bolts and bars; then she sent
messengers to tell Antony that she was dead.”
1920. Pp. 311.

“Diomedes the secretary came from Cleopatra with orders to
bring him to her in the tomb.
Having learned, then, that Cleopatra was alive, Antony eagerly
ordered his servants to raise him up, and he was carried in their
arms to the doors of her tomb. Cleopatra, however, would not
open the doors, but showed herself at a window, from which she
let down ropes and cords. To these Antony was fastened, and she
drew him up herself, with the aid of the two women whom alone
she had admitted with her into the tomb.”
Plutarch. Lives, Volume IX: Demetrius and Antony. Pyrrhus and
Gaius Marius. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Loeb Classical
Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1920. Pp. 313.

When Octavian tried to persuade Cleopatra to give herself
up he sent his agent, Proculeius, to persuade her…
“she conferred with him after he had come close to the
tomb and stationed himself outside at a door which was
on a level with the ground. The door was strongly
fastened with bolts and bars, but allowed a passage for
the voice.”
1920. Pp. 313.

“Gallus was sent to have another interview with the
queen; and coming up to the door he purposely prolonged
the conversation. Meanwhile Proculeius applied a ladder
and went in through the window by which the women
had taken Antony inside. Then he went down at once to
the very door at which Cleopatra was standing and
listening to Gallus”
1920. Pp. 317.

From Naunton,
Searching for the Lost
Tombs of Egypt

From Goddio, Alexandria: The Submerged Royal Quarters

From Tzalas ‘The
Underwater
Archaeological
Survey conducted
by the Greek
Mission in
Alexandria, Egypt
(1998-2010)’ in
Shipwrecks
Around the
World:
Revelations of the
Past: Shipwrecks
from 15th
Century Onwards.

From Tzalas
in
Shipwrecks
Around the
World:
Revelations
of the Past:
Shipwrecks
from 15th
Century
Onwards.

Open-air Museum,
Kom ed-Dikka,
Alexandria

From Tzalas in Shipwrecks Around the World: Revelations of the Past:
Shipwrecks from 15th Century Onwards.

Loculi
Kom es-Shoqafa,
Alexandria

After Hawass and
Martinez, ‘Prelimiary
Report on the Excavations
at Taposiris Magna 2005-
2006’ in Kleine Götter –
Grosse Götter (=FS Kessler)

‘Foundation plates’, Ptolemy IV(?)
‘… to Isis’
Screenshot from ‘THE HUNT FOR CLEOPATRA'S TOMB’
https://www.channel5.com/show/the-hunt-for-
cleopatras-tomb/

Screenshot from ‘CLEOPATRA’S LOST TOMB’
Channel 4, 2015

EGYPTOLOGY
CHRISTMAS
QUIZ!
22 & 23 December 2020

ALEXANDER
THE GREAT
Buried three times in Egypt...
But where are those tombs?
COMING SOON
TO YOUTUBE…

MERRY
CHRISTMAS!
Dr Chris Naunton
@chrisnaunton

Cleopatra's Lost Monuments

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