Bernard Legras

Cleopatre l'Egyptienne Bernard Legras

English summary: The history of Cleopatra VII, Greek queen and female pharaoh, is based essentially, since antiquity, on literary sources that present her in a negative light, as L'Egyptienne, which devalues her both as a barbarian and as a woman. This ideological discourse, which reproduced the propaganda of the victor, Octavian Augustus, must be confronted with the historical documents from Cleopatra's Egypt: papyri, inscriptions, archaeological and iconographic sources. The publication of these sources has indeed accelerated since the beginning of the 21st century, both through discoveries made in the collections of museums and papyrology institutes and through the progress of Alexandrian archaeology thanks to underwater excavations. A more authentic Cleopatra is born from the study of these documents, a queen, who affirmed herself as a stateswoman. She defined herself as Greek and Egyptian, a double identity accepted by her subjects. Her will was to give back to her kingdom the power which it had at the beginning of the Hellenistic era, by completely binding its destiny to the assets which gave him the control of Egypt, and by tying subtle alliances with Rome. Bernard Legras is a professor of Greek history, specializing in the Hellenistic world. He teaches at the School of History of the Sorbonne, University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, and belongs to the UMR 8210 ANHIMA (Anthropology and History of Ancient Worlds). French description: L'histoire de Cleopatre VII, reine grecque et pharaon feminin, repose essentiellement, depuis l'Antiquite, sur des sources litteraires qui la presentent sous un jour negatif, comme une Egyptienne , ce qui la devalorisait a la fois comme barbare et comme femme. Ce discours ideologique qui reproduisait la propagande du vainqueur, Octavien-Auguste, doit etre confronte aux documents historiques issus de l'Egypte de Cleopatre: papyrus, inscriptions, sources archeologiques et iconographiques. La publication de ces sources s'est en effet acceleree depuis le debut du XXIe siecle, tant par des decouvertes faites dans les collections des musees et des instituts de papyrologie que par les progres de l'archeologie alexandrine grace aux fouilles subaquatiques. Une Cleopatre plus authentique nait de l'etude de ces documents, une reine, qui s'affirmait comme une femme d'Etat. Elle se definissait comme grecque et egyptienne, une double identite acceptee par ses sujets. Sa volonte fut de redonner a son royaume la puissance qu'il avait au debut de l'ere hellenistique, en liant totalement son destin aux atouts que lui donnaient le controle de l'Egypte, et en nouant de subtiles alliances avec Rome.