Legendary Egyptian Queen Cleopatra in Murudj al-Dhahab wa Ma‘adin al-Djawhar by al-Mas‘udi (10th century)

Abstract

Cleopatra (69–30 B. C.) is the last of the sovereigns (51–30 B. C.) of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, that was ruling Egypt in the 4th–1st centuries B. C. As early as in the writings of the authors of Antiquity, she acquired fame as an irresistible and voluptuous beauty. But most of all she became famous for having courageously put an end to her life through a bite of a poisonous snake, as she hated to fall prey to the first Roman Emperor Octavian August (63 B. C. – 14 A. D.; since 31 B. C. — the individual ruler of the Roman State). The fate of the Egyptian Queen was inspiring many European creators of culture in different eras: at the dawn of Modern Times, during the epoch of Romanticism and in the 20th century. The great Arab-Muslim traveler, geographer, historian and belletrist al-Mas‘udi (d. 956) was informed about Cleopatra. He installed into his main surviving work “The Meadows of Gold and the Mines of Germs” the story of the death of the Royal Beauty, which bears a most tragic character. In the version of al-Mas‘udi justice is triumphant, as cruel August (Ughustus) suffers due punishment. While publishing the academic translation of the story about the death of the Egyptian Queen the author of the present lines hopes that it would be interesting both for the academic experts and for the general reader. As a supplement the translation of the life of Ughustus (Octavian August) is attached, which is made on the basis of the same source.