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Cléopâtre l'Égyptienne

Legras, Bernard (1956-....)

Livre

Adultes

Résumé

The history of Cleopatra VII, Greek queen and female pharaoh, is based essentially, since antiquity, on literary sources that present her in a negative light, as 'L'Égyptienne', which devalues her both as a 'barbarian' and as a woman. This ideological discourse, which reproduced the propaganda of the victor, Octavian Augustus, must be confronted with the historical documents from Cleopatra's Egypt: papyri, inscriptions, archaeological and iconographic sources. The publication of these sources has indeed accelerated since the beginning of the 21st century, both through discoveries made in the collections of museums and papyrology institutes and through the progress of Alexandrian archaeology thanks to underwater excavations. A more authentic Cleopatra is born from the study of these documents, a queen, who affirmed herself as a stateswoman. She defined herself as Greek and Egyptian, a double identity accepted by her subjects. Her will was to give back to her kingdom the power which it had at the beginning of the Hellenistic era, by completely binding its destiny to the assets which gave him the control of Egypt, and by tying subtle alliances with Rome. Bernard Legras is a professor of Greek history, specializing in the Hellenistic world. He teaches at the School of History of the Sorbonne, University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and belongs to the UMR 8210 ANHIMA (Anthropology and History of Ancient Worlds).