Cleopatra: a thinker not a lover?

CS is on MC today, so there'll be no post...like real. Being on MC is even better, cos I can post from the comfort of home, albeit a little later than usual. But, I'm kinda tired so I will make this post short.

We've all heard about Cleopatra. The beautiful Egyptian queen who mesmerised the whole of the ancient world. However, long before Shakespeare potrayed her as femme fatale that corrupted Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, Medieval Arab scholars at her intellectual accomplishments.

Arab sources have referred to Cleopatra as 'the virtuous scholar' and admired her for her intellectual ability and scientific knowledge. Based on these descriptions, she may well be the earliest "career woman" in recorded history. No mention of her appearance was made though, so Shakespeare's play might just be pure fiction. Some might say, however, that there was some truth in her seduction of both Caesar and Mark Antony, but only to get the power of the Roman Empire behind her. Which was a brilliant plan, not a ploy for sex.

Well, this article places Cleopatra in a different light for me. Though it seems quite sad that she was cast as a seductress in most popular media, while her greatest accomplishments were ignored.

LONDON: Long before Shakespeare portrayed her as history's most exotic femme fatale, Cleopatra was revered throughout the Arab world - for her brain.

Medieval Arab scholars never referred to the Egyptian queen's appearance and made no mention of the dangerous sensuality that supposedly corrupted Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

Instead they marveled at her intellectual accomplishments: from alchemy and medicine to philosophy, mathematics and town planning, according to a new book.

Even Elizabeth Taylor, who played the title role in the 1963 epic Cleopatra, would have struggled to inject sex appeal into this queen. Arab writers depict Cleopatra's court as a place of intellectual seminars and scholarship rather than the more traditional vision of kohl-rimmed eyes and hedonistic intrigue.

Click here for the full article.