History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 10 (of 12)Rappoport, A. S. (Angelo Solomon)
History
History of Egypt From 330 B.C. To the Present Time, Volume 10 (of 12)
Rappoport, A. S. (Angelo Solomon)
Egypt -- History
On the early coins of Cleopatra we see her head on the one side and
the eagle or the cornucopia on the other side, with the name of "_Queen
Cleopatra_." After she had borne Antony children, we find the words
round their heads, "_Of Antony, on the conquest of Armenia;" "Of
Cleopatra the queen, and of the kings the children of kings_." On the
later coins we find the head of Antony joined with hers, as king and
queen, and he is styled "_the emperor_" and she "_the young goddess_."
Cleopatra was perhaps the last Greek sovereign that bore the title of
god. Nor did it seem unsuitable to her, so common had the Greeks of Asia
and Egypt made that epithet, by giving it to their kings, and even to
their kings' families and favourites. But the use of the word made no
change in their religious opinions; they never for a moment supposed
that the persons whom they so styled had any share in the creation and
government of the world.
[Illustration: 347.jpg LATER COIN OF CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY.]
The death of Julius Caesar and afterwards of Brutus and Cassius had left
Antony with the chief sway in the Roman world; but his life of pleasure
in Egypt had done much to forfeit it; and Octavianus, afterwards called
Augustus, had been for some time rising in power against him. His party,
however, was still strong enough in Rome to choose for consul his friend
Soslus, who put the head of Antony on one side of his coins, and the
Egyptian eagle and thunderbolt on the other. Soon afterwards Antony was
himself chosen as consul elect for the coming year, and he then struck
his last coins in Egypt. The rude copper coins have on one side the name
of "_The queen, the young goddess_," and on the other side of "_Antony,
Consul a third time_." But he never was consul for the third time;
before the day of entering on the office he was made an enemy of Rome by
the senate. Octavianus, however, would not declare war against him, but
declared war against Cleopatra, or rather, as he said, against Mardion
her slave, Iris her waiting-woman, and Charmion, another favourite
woman; for these had the chief management of Antony's affairs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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