Essay: Uncovering the True Story of Antony and Cleopatra: Inaccuracies, Myths, and Realities

Antony and Cleopatra, the story of a romantic love affair, a war together, a defeat, and their eventual suicides has been famous for centuries. The two are famous, household names even, partly due to the fact that much of their story revolves around love. William Shakespeare’s theatrical portrayal certainly gave the story and characters a certain fictional, and even put the tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra in the same scope as Romeo and Juliet. Therefore, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that this story has been retold and slightly altered time and time again in books, cinemas, and most recently, in films. However, many of the portrayals of this well-known stories have strayed from the truth. One such source of this historical inaccuracy is Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1963 film Cleopatra.
Although the movie is largely correct in its telling of the famous story, much of what we are told in the movie about Cleopatra and Antony is wrong. Adrian Goldsworthy, author of Antony and Cleopatra, which was published in 2010, did a great job at aiming to telling the story of these two individuals as fact-driven and accurate as possible. Mark Antony has very little trace of intelligence and virtually doesn’t offer much to admire, the fictional portrayals have fed off the idea that Mark Antony is likeable due to the fact that he is the rival of the an even harder to like, Augustus. The film portrays Octavian as a sort of evil schemer and cowardly political figure, and Mark Antony as an underdog, passionate soldier. However, both of these depictions are wrong and have been shaped for dramatic affect.
Much like how Antony is awarded affection purely because of how disliked Augustus, his rival, is, a similar empathetic sympathy is given to Queen Cleopatra. Unlike Antony, Cleopatra was undoubtedly clever and wise. However, whereas Julius Caesar’s and Augustus’ intelligence was displayed frequently and is well recorded, it is much more difficult to see how she thought and examine her level of intellect. In adaptations of this story for the screen, Mankiewicz seems to have this particularly strong emotional admiration toward Cleopatra, and creates this sense that she was a benevolent ruler. The film even would have a viewer who isn’t well versed in Greco-Roman history believe that Cleopatra was an Egyptian with her costumes featuring mostly Egyptian accents, in reality, she was of descendant of King Ptolemy I, a Greek general who was given kingship of Egypt.
A lot of this probably has to do with the fact that Cleopatra is a female, which was obviously quite rare to be able to examine any woman from this era so thoroughly. Another contributing factor for this sympathy is the fact that Cleopatra was so radically different from other Greco-Roman leaders before her, and was really a revolutionary figure in that sense. More so than anything, though, is that this affection toward Cleopatra is directly fueled by the widespread disliking of Augustus. Yet, the truth is that there simply is not enough evidence to determine if the way that Cleopatra is portrayed in this movie is accurate. I think that in this case, the unknown was filled in by what the director declared from his own image of Cleopatra as he thought she was.
The great legend of Cleopatra being smuggled in to meet Caesar hidden inside a wrapped up rug is in the 1963 film as well. There is no factual proof that this event actually happened, but it is worth noting that Cleopatra had the ability to make an impression on the powerful Julius Caesar. The two then had a son, Caesarion, together and with Caesar’s army along her side, Cleopatra was able to defeat her brother and gain sole leadership of Egypt. The film shows Caesar spending some genuine family time with Caesarion, including him picking up him up in front of the city, however, in reality, Caesar did not even officially recognize the child as his son.
In the movie, Marc Antony and Cleopatra met in Rome prior to Caesar being assassinated. In truth, this original meeting of the soon to be lovers did not occur until after the assassination when Antony reached out to Cleopatra seeking help both militarily and financially. The love affair would sprout from their and the two produced three children together, however the film neglects to mention any children between Antony and Cleopatra.
Some other minor inaccuracies in the film included: Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was featured in the film as one of Caesar’s admirals, and later one of Octavian’s. Agrippa appears to be about the same age as Caesar in the film and much older than Octavian, however he was actually much closer in age to Octavian. The film also depicted Caesar to be desirous of being Emperor of Rome. That is actually not true. Caesar actually was acclaimed as an “imperator”, which was actually used to describe a great military commander and not a politician. Also, when Caesar did gain power as dictator he was in complete control and did not need approval from the Roman Senate. Cleopatra also includes Cicero attending the Senate during Julius Caesar’s rule and, also, includes a fictional twist that he may have been involved in Caesar’s assassination, neither is true. Lastly, one interesting piece that was included in the movie that never would have had the possibility of occurring was that upon Cleopatra’s initial arrival in Rome, shows the queen entering the Roman forum. However, during the era of the Roman Republic, any and all foreign rulers were strictly prohibited from crossing the Pomerium, the sacred frontier of the capital city.
The film followed the real story pretty closely, and actually did not dramatize the truth as much as many other historical epics. Joseph L Mankiewicz did nothing worse than others who have retold and reinvented this story have been doing for centuries now. He added and twisted this story here and there to shape it in a way that made it seem more interesting or relevant, but it is always important to remember what really happened to this tragic duo who died as they lived, fighting for control. Antony and Cleopatra, both having a little theater and no doubt some drama within them, actually probably would not have minded the truth of their story being stretched a tad. In fact, since neither of them was extremely humble, they probably would think they deserved that sort of attention at the very least.