Tomb of Antony and Cleopatra

The long-lost Tomb of Antony and Cleopatra, the burial crypt of Mark Antony and Cleopatra (VII), from 30 BC, remains unknown somewhere near Alexandria, Egypt. According to historians Suetonius and Plutarch, the Roman leader Octavian (later renamed Augustus) permitted their burial together after he had defeated them.[1] Their surviving children were taken back to Rome, to be raised as Roman citizens.

Shakespeare described the entombment in the voice of Augustus in Antony and Cleopatra, Act V, scene II:

No matter what the senate's wishes be,
She shall be buried by her Antony:
No grave upon the earth shall clip in it
A pair so famous. Thus I covenant
To honor these in death, in life my foes,
Who by their own hands 'scaped a world of woes.

Reports in 2008 and 2009 focused on an announcement by the noted Egyptologist Zahi Hawass that he might find the tomb in the Taposiris Magna, a temple to Osiris, located west of Alexandria, Egypt, in excavations with Kathleen Martinez that have yielded ten mummies in 27 tombs of Egyptian nobles, as well as coins bearing images of Cleopatra and carvings showing the two in an embrace. So far, the tomb remains elusive, but the temple excavations continue, with additional sites below the surface identified using ground-penetrating radar in 2011.[1][2][3] In spite of Plutarch stating that Antony was cremated: [4]"After Cleopatra had heard this, in the first place, she begged Caesar that she might be permitted to pour libations for Antony; and when the request was granted, she had herself carried to the tomb, and embracing the urn which held his ashes"[5], the search seeks to find Antony's mummy as well.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Lucca Green. "The Tomb of Antony and Cleopatra?".
  2. ↑ Ishaan Tharoor (23 April 2009). "The Tomb of Antony and Cleopatra?". Time Magazine.
  3. ↑ "Search for the tomb of Antony and Cleopatra continues". Archeology News Network. 2011-07-05.
  4. ↑ Plutarch. "The Parallel Lives The Life of Antony".
  5. ↑ http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Antony*.html


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.