Égypte-actualités

The famous story of Cleopatra’s suicide gets points for drama and crowd appeal: Her lover, Mark Antony, had been defeated in battle by Octavian and, hearing that Cleopatra had been killed, had stabbed himself in the stomach. Very much alive, after witnessing his death, the beautiful last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt pressed a deadly asp to her breast, taking her own life as well.

But what if Cleopatra didn’t commit suicide at all?

Pat Brown, author of the new book, The Murder of Cleopatra: History’s Greatest Cold Case, argues that the “Queen of Kings” did not take her own life. Rather, she was murdered, and her perpetrators managed to spin a story that has endured for more than 2,000 years.

Smithsonian.com
Read more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/03/maybe-cleopatra-didnt-commit-suicide/

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For more than two thousand years, the great pharaoh Cleopatra VII has been portrayed as a failed monarch. Various ancient sources state that she desperately ended her life with the bite of an asp, as her nemesis—the Roman general Octavian, later known as Augustus, the first Roman emperor—stormed Alexandria.
Now, a completely unique interpretation of history is brought to light by world-renowned criminal profiler Pat Brown in her new myth-busting book, The Murder of Cleopatra. As host and profiler of The Mysterious Death of Cleopatra (Discovery 2005), Brown challenged the long-enduring myth that Cleopatra died via snakebite and that she committed suicide to avoid further humiliation. Using the techniques and methodology of investigative criminal profiling and crime reconstruction, The Murder of Cleopatra takes up where the Discovery Channel documentary left off. Brown’s findings, borne of scientific method, rigorous inquiry, and deductive reasoning, will be revealed against a historical backdrop of mystery, drama, politics, danger, and romantic intrigue. 
The result: a thought-provoking analysis of the amazing woman Cleopatra truly was, a fascinating account of the queen’s final desperate attempt to escape Egypt with her ships and treasure, and the brutal homicide that ended her life as the last Egyptian pharaoh. 

Pat Brown (Washington, DC) is the chief executive officer of the Sexual Homicide Exchange (SHE), a nonprofit criminal-profiling and investigative organization offering pro bono services to families and law enforcement to solve cold homicide cases throughout the United States and Canada (www.SHEprofilers.com); the president/consultant of the Pat Brown Criminal Profiling Agency, which provides crime-scene analysis and behavioral profiling to prosecutors, defense attorneys, and international clients (www.patbrownprofiling.com); and a well-known television crime commentator who is a regular guest on Nancy Grace, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Dr. Drew, The Today Show, The CBS Early Show, Larry King Live, The Joy Behar Show, and Inside Edition. She is the author of How to Save Your Daughter’s Life; The Profiler: My Life Hunting Serial Killers and Psychopaths; and Killing for Sport: Inside the Minds of Serial Killers.

Cléopâtre est un personnage historique fascinant qui a la particularité d'être devenue une légende de son vivant. Chant du cygne de la dynastie Lagide, cette souveraine d'essence divine deviendra une gourgandine par le biais de la propagande d'Octave. Si il existe des monnaies, statues, reliefs antiques à son effigie, c'est souvent l'imaginaire contemporain qui demeure notre référence pour nous la représenter.Mais comment la dernière des Ptolémées a-t-elle réussi à traverser les siècles avec un tel succès. La légende de Cléopâtre naît à Alexandrie. Elle transite à Rome grâce à ses amours avec Jules César et Antoine. La pieuse Cléopâtre Séléné, sa fille, préservera le souvenir de sa mère dans son royaume fantoche de Maurétanie. Cléopâtre sera le modèle d'autres souveraines comme Zénobie de Palmyre. Elle traversera le Moyen Âge dans les traités moraux où on fustige son ambition mais où on admire son amour absolu pour Antoine. A la Renaissance, on trouve une Cléopâtre inspirée avant tout des modèles classiques. Il faudra attendre le xix ième siècle et le courant orientaliste pour la voir évoluer dans un style "revival" égyptien. 
Et si sa fin sous la morsure de l'aspic intrigue aujourd'hui les amateurs d'enquêtes scientifiques, elle n'en demeure pas moins une part "mystérieuse" de la légende.

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