Editing Cleopatra (section)

==== Donations of Alexandria ====
{{main|Donations of Alexandria}}
[[File:Mark Antony & Cleopatra, denarius, 34 BC, 543-1.jpg|thumb|A [[denarius]] minted by [[Mark Antony|Antony]] in 34 BC with his portrait on the [[obverse]], which bears the inscription reading "ANTONI ARMENIA DEVICTA" (For Antony, [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] having been vanquished), alluding to his [[Antony's campaign against Armenia|Armenian campaign]]. The reverse features Cleopatra, with the inscription "CLEOPATR[AE] REGINAE REGVM FILIORVM REGVM" (For Cleopatra, [[Queen of Kings]] and of the children of kings). The mention of her children on the reverse refers to the [[Donations of Alexandria]].{{sfnp|Crawford|1974|pp=102, 539}}{{sfnp|Newman|1990|pp=50, 51 (note 29)}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 February 2007 |title=Coin shows Cleopatra's ugly truth |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/6357311.stm#:~:text=On%20one%20side%20is%20the,,%20Armenia%20having%20been%20vanquished%22. |access-date=22 May 2024 |language=en-GB}}</ref>]]

As Antony prepared for another Parthian expedition in 35 BC, this time aimed at their ally [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]], Octavia traveled to Athens with 2,000 troops in alleged support of Antony, but most likely in a scheme devised by Octavian to embarrass him for his military losses.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=97–98}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=27–28}}<ref group="note">{{harvtxt|Bringmann|2007|p=301}} claims that [[Octavia Minor]] provided Antony with 1,200 troops, not 2,000 as stated in {{harvtxt|Roller|2010|pp=97–98}} and {{harvtxt|Burstein|2004|pp=27–28}}.</ref> Antony received these troops but told Octavia not to stray east of Athens as he and Cleopatra traveled together to Antioch, only to suddenly and inexplicably abandon the military campaign and head back to Alexandria.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=97–98}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=27–28}} When Octavia returned to Rome Octavian portrayed his sister as a victim wronged by Antony, although she refused to leave Antony's household.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=98}}{{sfnp|Bringmann|2007|p=301}} Octavian's confidence grew as he eliminated his rivals in the west, including [[Sextus Pompeius]] and even Lepidus, the third member of the triumvirate, who was placed under house arrest after revolting against Octavian in Sicily.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=98}}{{sfnp|Bringmann|2007|p=301}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=27}}

Dellius was sent as Antony's envoy to Artavasdes II in 34 BC to negotiate a potential [[marriage alliance]] that would wed the Armenian king's daughter to Alexander Helios, the son of Antony and Cleopatra.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=99}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=28}} When this was declined, Antony marched his army into Armenia, defeated their forces and captured the king and Armenian royal family.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=99}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=xxii, 28}} Antony then held a military parade in Alexandria as an imitation of a Roman triumph, dressed as [[Dionysus]] and riding into the city on a chariot to present the royal prisoners to Cleopatra, who was seated on a golden throne above a silver dais.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=99}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=28–29}} News of this event was heavily criticized in Rome as a perversion of time-honored Roman rites and rituals to be enjoyed instead by an Egyptian queen.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=99}}

[[File:Papyrus document containing signature of Cleopatra VII of Egypt.jpg|thumb|left|A [[papyrus]] document dated February 33 BC granting tax exemptions to a person in Egypt and containing the signature of Cleopatra written by an official, but with "{{lang|grc|γινέσθωι}}" ({{transliteration|grc|ginésthōi}}; {{literal translation|lk=on}}&nbsp;"make it happen"{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=133–134}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=33}} or "so be it"{{sfnp|Reece|2017|pp=201–202}}) added in Greek, likely by the queen's own hand{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=133–134}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=33}}{{sfnp|Reece|2017|pp=201–202}}]]
In an event held at the [[Gymnasium (ancient Greece)|gymnasium]] soon after the triumph, Cleopatra dressed as Isis and declared that she was the [[Queen of Kings]] with her son Caesarion, [[King of Kings]], while Alexander Helios was declared king of Armenia, [[Media (region)|Media]], and Parthia, and two-year-old [[Ptolemy Philadelphus (son of Cleopatra)|Ptolemy Philadelphus]] was declared king of Syria and Cilicia.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=99–100}}{{sfnp|Bringmann|2007|pp=301–302}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=xxii, 29}} Cleopatra Selene II was bestowed with Crete and Cyrene.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=100}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=29}} Antony and Cleopatra may have been wed during this ceremony.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=100}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=xxii, 29}}<ref group="note">{{harvtxt|Roller|2010|p=100}} says that it is unclear if Antony and Cleopatra were ever truly married. {{harvtxt|Burstein|2004|pp=xxii, 29}} says that the marriage publicly sealed Antony's alliance with Cleopatra and in defiance of Octavian he would divorce Octavia in 32 BC. Coins of Antony and Cleopatra depict them in the typical manner of a Hellenistic royal couple, as explained by {{harvtxt|Roller|2010|p=100}}.</ref> Antony sent a report to Rome requesting ratification of these territorial claims, now known as the [[Donations of Alexandria]]. Octavian wanted to publicize it for propaganda purposes, but the two consuls, both supporters of Antony, had it censored from public view.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=100–101}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=29}}

In late 34 BC, Antony and Octavian engaged in a heated war of propaganda that would last for years.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=129–130}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=29}}{{sfnp|Jones|2006|p=xiv}}<ref group="note">{{harvtxt|Jones|2006|p=xiv}} writes that "Octavian waged a propaganda war against Antony and Cleopatra, stressing Cleopatra's status as a woman and a foreigner who wished to share in Roman power."</ref> Antony claimed that his rival had illegally deposed Lepidus from their triumvirate and barred him from raising troops in Italy, while Octavian accused Antony of unlawfully detaining the king of Armenia, marrying Cleopatra despite still being married to his sister Octavia, and wrongfully claiming Caesarion as the heir of Caesar instead of Octavian.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=129–130}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=29}} The litany of accusations and gossip associated with this propaganda war have shaped the popular perceptions about Cleopatra from [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan-period literature]] through to various media in modern times.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=130}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|pp=65–66}} Cleopatra was said to have brainwashed Mark Antony with [[Magic in the Graeco-Roman world|witchcraft and sorcery]] and was as dangerous as [[Homer]]'s [[Helen of Troy]] in destroying civilization.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=130–131}} [[Pliny the Elder]] claims in his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' that Cleopatra once dissolved a pearl worth tens of millions of sesterces in vinegar just to win a dinner-party bet.{{sfnp|Pliny the Elder|1906|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D58 IX, ch. 58]}}{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=132}} The accusation that Antony had stolen books from the [[Library of Pergamum]] to restock the Library of Alexandria later turned out to be an admitted fabrication by [[Gaius Calvisius Sabinus (consul 39 BC)|Gaius Calvisius Sabinus]].{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=133}}

A [[papyrus]] document dated to February 33 BC, later used to wrap a [[mummy]], contains the signature of Cleopatra, probably written by an official authorized to sign for her.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|pp=133–134}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=33}} It concerns certain tax exemptions in Egypt granted to either Quintus Caecillius or [[Publius Canidius Crassus]],<ref group="note">[[Stanley M. Burstein]], in {{harvtxt|Burstein|2004|p=33}} provides the name Quintus Cascellius as the recipient of the tax exemption, not the [[Publius Canidius Crassus]] provided by [[Duane W. Roller]] in {{harvtxt|Roller|2010|p=134}}.</ref> a former Roman consul and Antony's confidant who would command his land forces at [[Actium]].{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=134}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=33}} A subscript in a different handwriting at the bottom of the papyrus reads "make it happen"{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=134}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=33}} or "so be it"{{sfnp|Reece|2017|pp=201–202}} ({{langx|grc|γινέσθωι|ginésthōi}});<ref group="note">{{harvtxt|Reece|2017|p=203}} notes that "[t]he fragmentary texts of ancient Greek papyri do not often make their way into the modern public arena, but this one has, and with fascinating results, while remaining almost entirely unacknowledged is the remarkable fact that Cleopatra's one-word subscription contains a blatant spelling error: {{lang|grc|γινέσθωι}}, with a superfluous [[iota]] [[adscript]]." This spelling error "has not been noted by the popular media", however, being "simply transliterated&nbsp;[...] including, without comment, the superfluous iota adscript" (p.&nbsp;208). Even in academic sources, the misspelling was largely unacknowledged or quietly corrected (pp.&nbsp;206–208, 210).{{pb}}Although described as {{"'}}normal' orthography" (in contrast with {{"'}}correct' orthography") by Peter van Minnen (p.&nbsp;208), the spelling error is "much rarer and more puzzling" than the sort one would expect from the Greek papyri from Egypt (p.&nbsp;210)—so rare, in fact, that it occurs only twice in the 70,000 Greek papyri between the 3rd century BC and 8th century AD in the Papyrological Navigator's database. This is especially so when considering it was added to a word "with no etymological or morphological reason for having an iota adscript" (p.&nbsp;210) and was written by "the well-educated, native Greek-speaking, queen of Egypt" Cleopatra VII (p.&nbsp;208).</ref> this is likely the autograph of the queen, as it was Ptolemaic practice to [[Countersign (legal)|countersign]] documents to avoid forgery.{{sfnp|Roller|2010|p=134}}{{sfnp|Burstein|2004|p=33}}