Actium

Octavian, adopted son and great-nephew of Julius Caesar watched on from grey-eyed distance as his general, Agrippa, faced off against Mark Anthony and Cleopatra's fleet. 400 ships versus 500 ships in Antony's favor, and whoever won would rule the world.

no, not a negro

You can imagine the tension on Bridge, to put it mildly. Of course Agrippa won, sinking Antony's wretched fleet and Octavian, Augustus, emerged triumphant. We celebrate him still, August, and his uncle, July. Antony killed himself afterwards as did his lover, Cleopatra, who was a Ptolomaic Hellene and not an African American negro. 

Octavian went on to rule all that was, under the deadly eye of his mother. And his victory, Νίκη!, still resounds as remarkable. Wow, stand back in awe, a pal (acquaintance) made a song about it. Here it is:

Shades of Ost Front, what?

Your Old Pal,

LSP

What Did Cleopatra Look Like?

 

Cleopatra continues to fascinate after two millennia. What did she look like, this fabled woman who seduced not only Julius Caesar but also Mark Antony, and bore them both children? Was she beautiful?

Popular imagination and the halcyon silver screen portray Cleopatra as a seductively winsome Egyptian Queen in the style of Luxor or Giza. In today's enlightened and decolonized movies she's depicted like this:

such idiocy

Who knows, maybe Julius Caesar was attracted by her glittery Ukrainian eye makeup, perhaps Mark Antony was captivated by the Nubian side of things. But no, hardly. Cleopatra, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ, "Cleopatra the father-beloved" was Greek, a Macedonian Ptolomy, and she looked like this:

bust portraits of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, 1 C AD (Berlin)

Beautiful? Not conventionally, but she had power, you'll note her diadem. In that vein, she was utterly ruthless and didn't shy scared of having family members assassinated, much less waging war itself. 

This went badly for her, Κλεοπάτρα (Glory of the Father) took poison and died on learning of her lover Antony's defeat at Actium. She played for the highest stakes and lost.

Just ask the monkey,

LSP