Cleopatra Rolled Out On A Carpet

Cleopatra received caesar in her own unique way.

Cleopatra rolled out on a carpet.

But what is known is that a hundred and fifty years later the young queen of egypt cleopatra showed up in caesar s alexandria headquarters wrapped in a carpet almost certainly made in north africa. In 48 bc the resourceful cleopatra forbidden by her brother ptolemy xiii to meet with the roman general had herself wrapped in a carpet or according to some historians a linen sack and smuggled into caesar s quarters. A year later caesar was assassinated. Whilst this was going on from out of the shadows a carpet rolled towards the romans and out popped cleopatra.

Rolled up in a carpet cleopatra surprises caesar what part berber carpets may have played in that defeat is a matter of speculation. Taking them by surprise cleopatra turned on her beat box and started to play walk like an egyptian on her father s old flute. Cleopatra knowing that her brother and his cronies would stop her from attending an audience with caesar rolled herself up in a carpet or a burlap sack depending on who you believe and had. The guards saw some.

As i explain in this article i wrote in january 2020 the famous story of cleopatra rolling out of a carpet when she met julius caesar for the first time comes from a mistranslation of a passage in the biography the life of julius caesar written by the greek biographer and middle platonist philosopher ploutarchos of chaironeia lived c. Julius caesar arrived in egypt and met a 22 year old cleopatra rolled in a carpet supposedly. Then her servants rolled up the carpet with cleopatra inside. Then the carpet was taken to the palace where caesar was staying.

We ve all heard the following story. Cleopatra had herself rolled up in a rug or a mat or a laundry sack there are various versions of this story because caesar summoned her to alexandria to try to get her and her brother to. She lay down on a carpet. An affair followed leading to the birth of a son caesarion.

As outlined in amy crawford s smithsonian article it is often said that cleopatra came up with a scheme to sneak herself into the palace where caesar was staying by hiding inside a rolled up carpet. After wrapping her up her.