Cleopatra Rolled Out On A Carpet

In 48 bc the resourceful cleopatra forbidden by her brother ptolemy xiii to meet with the roman general had herself wrapped in a carpet or according to some historians a linen sack and smuggled into caesar s quarters.

Cleopatra rolled out on a carpet.

An affair followed leading to the birth of a son caesarion. But what is known is that a hundred and fifty years later the young queen of egypt cleopatra showed up in caesar s alexandria headquarters wrapped in a carpet almost certainly made in north africa. A year later caesar was assassinated. Caesar and cleopatra left alexandria for rome in 45 b c.

Julius caesar arrived in egypt and met a 22 year old cleopatra rolled in a carpet supposedly. As outlined in amy crawford s smithsonian article it is often said that cleopatra came up with a scheme to sneak herself into the palace where caesar was staying by hiding inside a rolled up carpet. The guards saw some. The romans burst in laughter and clapped along with the song.

Rolled up in a carpet cleopatra surprises caesar what part berber carpets may have played in that defeat is a matter of speculation. Cleopatra had herself rolled up in a rug or a mat or a laundry sack there are various versions of this story because caesar summoned her to alexandria to try to get her and her brother to. Cleopatra received caesar in her own unique way. She lay down on a carpet.

Cleopatra knowing that her brother and his cronies would stop her from attending an audience with caesar rolled herself up in a carpet or a burlap sack depending on who you believe and had. Taking them by surprise cleopatra turned on her beat box and started to play walk like an egyptian on her father s old flute. After wrapping her up her. Then the carpet was taken to the palace where caesar was staying.

We ve all heard the following story. As i explain in this article i wrote in january 2020 the famous story of cleopatra rolling out of a carpet when she met julius caesar for the first time comes from a mistranslation of a passage in the biography the life of julius caesar written by the greek biographer and middle platonist philosopher ploutarchos of chaironeia lived c.