Cleopatra Queen of Egypt is one of the most famous female figures in history.
Known for her intelligence and love of theatrics as much as her beauty and charm, she is historically
viewed as something between a temptress and a goddess.
Cleopatra fought to the bitter end, but evidence of the last Pharaoh has been mysteriously
erased from history.
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, I am Rebecca Felgate and today
we are asking Where is Cleopatra’s Tomb?
Before we dig deep into this question, I just want to ask you guys to leave a thumbs up
on our video if you like our content and also let me know where you think Cleopatra’s
Body is hiding.
Cleopatra reigned for a tempestuous 21 years, during which she both married and killed her
brothers, killed her sister, bedded Julius Caesar and had a long-standing affair with
the Roman political leader and general, Marc Antony.
Along her way, she made many an enemy and she was eventually defeated by the first Roman
Emperor, Octavian.
As she was losing the battle, she reportedly had her own tomb built, in which she and Antony
killed themselves.
On defeat, she allegedly killed herself in the said tomb.
The problem is, her body has never been found.
Over 2,000 years later, and intrigue in Egypt's last Queen has all but grown, with historians
and archeologists over the generations grappling to find her remains.
It is thought that Cleopatra’s final hideout was somewhere in the vicinity of Alexandria.
There is a multitude of things that could have happened, although it was reported by
historians around the age that Octavian, later renamed as Augustus, allowed Cleopatra and
Antony to be buried together, something reflected in the final act of Shakespeare’s Anthony
and Cleopatra.
Firstly, prior to her death and in a desperate bid to negotiate with Octavian, Cleopatra
threatened to burn herself and her treasure in her tomb.
If that happened, well...call off the search party, as we’ll never find her.
Others think that, while she may have killed herself in her tomb, she would not have wanted
to burn herself for fear of not properly entering the afterlife.
This opens up other possibilities – Cleopatra could well be laying next to Anthony in a
secret tomb somewhere…or her enemies could have found her and disposed of her, wishing
her ill in the afterlife, or one of her loyal subjects could have hidden her body away elsewhere.
So, assuming Cleopatra’s body was not destroyed, where on earth is it?
Surely if it was still out there, we would have discovered it by now?
18th Century Egyptologist Giovani Belzoni thought he had discovered all that was left
of ancient Egypt, and so again did explorer Theodore Davis in the 19th Century.
This, of course, is not true.
As recently as February 2018 a 4,400-year-old tomb was discovered near Giza’s Pyramids.
The tomb belongs to Hetpet, a friend of ancient Egyptian royalty.
Of course, this tomb is too old to be the tomb of Cleopatra, even if she had been buried
in disguise, but it does show new discoveries are being made.
It has been largely speculated that Cleopatra was buried in the temple of Taposiris Magna,
where archeologists discovered a bust of the ancient queen, 22 coins with her face on and
a statue dating back to the era of her reign, but again, there is no sign of her body.
None the less, being buried within a temple may have played on
Cleopatra’s desire to be seen as something akin to a goddess.
While Cleopatra’s body has yet to be found, we have to ask…given the history of unearthing
ancient Egyptian burial sites, is it worth the risk of looking?
I am a hearty level of skeptical, but bad luck and pestilence seemed to befall those
who cracked open King Tut’s tomb in 1922.
So guys, for now, we don’t yet have an answer to this question.
Where do you think Cleopatra’s tomb is?
Do you think it is still out there waiting to be discovered or do you think the time
has eroded it?
Let me know in the comments section below.
I for one find the secrets of the ancient world so so exciting!
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Life’s Biggest Questions, please do hit that thumbs
up button and stay subscribed for more interesting answers.
I am your host, Rebecca Felgate, I’ll catch you in the next video, but for now, stay curious,
stay alert and never ever stop questioning.