French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio shows a
recently excavated bronze cult statue found in the Temple
of Isis, onboard the Princess Duda research boat, anchored
in the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt. Photo by AP.
Was Cleopatra a conniving temptress who seduced her way
to the top, or the target of recorded history's most effective
negative political campaign?
A splashy exhibit making its world premiere at The Franklin
Institute in Philadelphia makes a case for the latter, using
recently discovered artifacts to illustrate two
archaeologists' search for the truth - and the tomb - of one
of antiquity's most maligned figures.
Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt, features
many never-before-seen artifacts from a pair of ongoing
Egyptian archaeological expeditions. It remains in
Philadelphia until January, when it begins a tour of five
not-yet-announced American cities.
The show employs theatrical lighting and sound, 17 video
screens documenting archaeologists uncovering some of the 150
artifacts on display, and a four-minute video providing an
overview of Cleopatra's life and loves in a style that looks
and sounds like a trailer for a slick action movie.
"We're using ancient objects to tell a modern-day story about
the search for Cleopatra," said John Norman of Arts and
Exhibitions International, the company that organised the
show.
The first of the exhibit's two sections showcases the
discoveries of French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio,
whose 20-year Egyptian expedition so far has uncovered
Cleopatra's palace, two ancient cities near the coast of the
ancient city of Alexandria, and 20,000 artifacts and
counting.
"These are the most important, the most beautiful of what we
found," Goddio said.
The artifacts range from tiny gold coins to a pair of
towering eight-tonne granite figures. All were raised by
Goddio's team from submerged ruins near the coast of ancient
Alexandria, where Cleopatra was born in 69 BC and where 39
years later, the legend claims, she chose a suicidal bite
from an asp over capture by the conquering Romans.
Visitors will see, through a glass walkway under their feet,
artifacts long hidden under the harbour's sediment after
earthquakes and tsunamis submerged ancient Alexandria more
than 1500 years ago.
"We have found less than one per cent of what is there,"
Goddio said. "I need three or four centuries to complete the
entire excavation. I'm trying to stay in shape."
In the second portion are never-before-seen finds of Zahi
Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of
Antiquities in Cairo. Hawass, whom visitors may recognise
from his appearances on archaeological documentaries,
describes in a brief video his quest for the lost tomb of
Cleopatra and her lover, the Roman general Mark Antony.
Hawass believes an artifact trail of sculpture, jewellery,
mummies and subterranean shafts is leading his team
tantalisingly close to the resting place of the ill-fated
couple.
"As each new treasure is discovered, it could be the one that
holds the answers to the mysteries surrounding her life,"
Norman said.
Beyond the historic items, the show examines the mystery and
enduring legend of the iconic queen who remains a figure of
fascination thousands of years after her reign.
Cleopatra is an enigma in part because the conquering Roman
general Octavian - later known as the emperor Augustus -
ordered all images of her destroyed, so little evidence
exists of what she looked like. Roman writers also
posthumously painted her as nothing more than a cold-hearted
seductress of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.
"What we do know is that she was extremely intelligent and
very devoted to her country and her children," said David
Silverman, an Egyptologist and curator at the University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Attitudes toward women at different periods in history also
changed how her story was told, and wildly contradictory
portrayals of her in literature and art over the centuries
have further clouded our view of her. The artifacts in the
exhibition provide a peek into her times and the ongoing
search for the real Cleopatra.
"We know about Cleopatra through pop culture, we know her as
Elizabeth Taylor," said exhibition designer Mark Lach, "but
one of the reasons this is so special is that now, here,
you're seeing her world."
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