SPOWER ANTIQUITY IN THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS Eptrip By SILKE KNippscHILD AND Marra Garcia MorciLLo BLOOMS BURYBloomsbury Academic ‘An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Pc needs Newer oe vse wwvw.bloomsburycom First publishes 2013 (© 2019 edited by Sike Knipgschis and Marta Garols Morcilo. Al rghts reserved. No p ton may be reproduced or transmitted in any by ary mens, mechani reading phctceepyng, recog. ieval system, without in writing from the pubishers, Sike Krippschi, Marta Garcia Morifo and the convibutor have asserted their right ‘under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Ac, 1988, tobe identiied as Authors of ss for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refreining {result ofthe material inthis publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury ‘Acsdemic or the authors. No responsi trom action British Library Cataloguing-in-Publ A catalogue record for this book is Typeset by Fekenhom Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 ANN and bound in Great Britain Contents Acknowledgements vil List of Contributors vii List of Figures ssi 1 10 Seduction and Power: An Introduction 1 Marta Garcia Morcillo and Silke Knippschild Power and Seduction in Babylon; Verdis Nabucco 9 ‘Michael Seymour ‘Go Fast Young Mant” jewel-in-the-Bellybutton-Orientalism in Oliver Stone's Alexander a Loyd Llewellyn-Jones Modern Dance and the Seduction of Minoan Crete 35 Nicoletta Momigliano Trojan Lovers and Watriors: The Power of Seduction in Age of Bronze 57 Erie Shanower Dark Ladies, Bad Gils, Demon Queens: Female Power and Seduction from Greek Tragedy to Pop Culture a Martina Trew ‘he Eroticism of Power in Jordi Coca gene (2008) 85 Maite Clavo ‘Prince of Painters: The Grimacing Mask of Power and Seduction in Aristophanes’ Assemblywomen 95 ‘Andrea Capra and Maddalena Giovannelli Redefining Catharsis in Opera: The Power of Music in Birtwistle The Minotaur and Amargés Buridic y ls titers de Caronte 109 Jest Carruesco and Montserrat Reig “The Self in Conflict with Itself A Heracltean Theme in Eliots ‘The Cocktail Party11 Three Queens: Helen, Penelope and Dido in Franco Rossi Odissea and Eneide ‘Martin M. Winkler 12, Claudia Quinta and Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica: Exempla Virtuti in Vienna under Leopold I (1657-1705) Pepa Castillo 13 The Stolen Seduction: The Image of Spartacus in Riccardo Fredds Spartaco, gladiatore della Tracia Osear Laperia Marchena 14 The Great Seducer: Cleopatra, Queen and Sex Symbol Francisco Pina Polo 15 Sediuced, Defeated and Forever Damned: Mark Antony in Marta Garcia Morcillo 16 Power Beyond Measure ~ Caligula, Corruption and Pop Culture Martin Lindner 17 Consta a Memoriae: The Reput Mary R. McHugh of Agrippina the Younger 19. The Spell of Antinous in Renaissance Art: The Jonah Statue in Santa Maria del Popolo Rosario Rovira Guardiola 20 History, Moral and Power: The Ancient World in Nineteenth- Century Spanish History Painting Antonio Duplé 21 The Lure of the Hermaphrodite inthe Poetry and Painting ofthe lish Aesthetes Charlotte Ribeyrol Seduction and Power in Postclassical Reception: Traditions and Trends 133 155 183 aun 225 263 263 279 295 3 aoe Acknowledgements ‘This volume is the outcome of the shared interest and enthusiasm, the fruitful exchanges and interactions that made possible the holding of the conference Seduction and Power in 2010, Accordingly, our thanks belong first and foremost to the contributors to this volume. The conference would not have been possible without the generous support of the Institute of Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition (University of Bristol), the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Bristol and Professor Gillian Clark, then the Head of Subject and the first person to express enthusiasm and offer financial help to get this show on the road. The University of Wales Trinity Saint David contributed liberally to the conference. The Universidad de la Rioja, Professor Pepa Castillo and the Gobierno de la Rioja were equally helpful. We are grateful for their support and extend our thanks to all of them, We also thank all institutions, museums, enterprises and individuals who very kindly granted us permission to reproduce images in the volume. Alberto Marti is the person who makes the web-page of the Imagines Project run (ttp://imagines-projectorg). We are grateful for his skill, patience, creativity and above all his dedication to the project. On that count, we also express our appreciation to all members cof Imagines Project, now operational since 2007 and going strong, for their ongoing interest, collaboration and backing. We further owe recognition to Rachael Pearce for her careful reading of the manuscript and her help with the ‘At Continuum Press we extend our thanks to Michael Greenwood for formali his enthusiasm and constant support. We are equally indebted to Dhara Patel at Bloomsbury Publishing and to Kim Storry and Barbara Archer at Fakenham standing, humour and countless cups of tea.around 1823 might be considered asa precedent, although the tragedy was never fanzoni 1965: 254 in 1861, Frederik Engels had wr addressed to Karl Marx that Spartacus was a great general, yet not a Garibaldi; ‘Casa 1999: 416, la Casa 1993: 58, 26 Baldi 1994: 36. 994: 36; Della Casa 2001: 312. 1966: 77 30 Monthly Film Bulletin 1953: 179, Legrand 1963: 172 31 Prieto 2008: 196, flight from the ludus and the fisal battle. See further Lourcelles 2000: 66 and Cano 1975: 8. 34 Paver 2009a: 103, 35 Paver 2009b: 38 36 Fofi 1993: 37 Combs 1984: 2571 38 Above and Baxter 2009: 18 39 Rae Hark 1996: 167. 40 Spinazzola 1968: 76 14 The Great Seducer: Cleopatra, Queen and Sex Symbol Francisco Pina Polo ‘The image of Queen Cleopatra is above all that of a great seducer who used seduction to achieve power, and whose own power could in turn be seductive. Most ancient sources, from the triumph of Augustan propaganda onwards, propagated negative characteristics of her as a ‘femme fatale who could manip- ulate at will the great Roman imperatores of the Late Republican period, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Thus, for instance, Horace describes Cleopatra as a fatale monstru te to discredit her by calling her “Egypts shame; fury of Latium: to the bane of Rome unchast of how the Egyptian queen appeared unexpectedly before Caesar, wrapped in « carpet or bundled up in some clothes, or how she met Antony (on Antony and Cleopatra from Antony's perspective see also the article by Marta Garcia Morcillo in this volume), surrounded by luxury and exoticism as if she was Aphrodite,‘ are dazzling examples of a type of behaviour which would be ‘more appropriate for a courtesan or a regina meretrix, wi ruler of independent Egypt tends to be identified Thu: ofa complex person is being concealed, She behaved intelligently in a world of men, trying to keep Egypt free from the control of the great Mediterranean power whom the last we image created by ancient accepted and even stressed. by modern scholarship, which has focused on Cleopatra numerous times, very offen from a biased male, if not blatantly sexist, viewpoint Cleopatra would be the archetype of a woman who achieves her obj through cunning and, above all, by using her beauty, but not because of her intelligence or education. Yet, Plutarch’s description of the queen meeting Antony in 41 ac in Tarsus indicates that there were records in antiquity of her184 Seduction and Power ‘The Great Seducer: Cleopatra, Queen and Sex Symbol 185 being a learned and cultivated person who had an outstanding ability to master different languages, She could converse with the ambassadors of the peoples who came to meet her without the assistance of an interpreter said, was not in itself so remarkable that be compared with her, or that no one could see her without being it, but the contact of her presence, if you lived with her, was irres joining with the charm of her conversation, he said or did, was something b of them she spoke hersé Syrians, Medes, Parthians, and many (Phat. Ant, 27, 2-4, Translation J, Dryden) ‘whose language she had lea Cassius io, in his turn, also outlines the charming nature of Cleopatra as a brilliant conversation: unlike Plutarch he emphasizes her unparalleled Deauty above all: For she was a woman of surpassing beauty, and at that time, when she was in the prime of her youth, she was most voice and a knowledge of how to make herself agreeable to every one. Being bri look upon and to listen to, with the power to subjugate every one, ‘even a love-sated man already past his prime, she thought that it would be in keeping with her role to meet Caesar, and she reposed in her beauty all het also possessed a most charming leopatra. Sculpture. Staatliche Museen in Berlin, Preussischer 2, Antikensammlung, Invn. 1976.10. Taken from Andreae 2006. Simo the tone, (Cass, io XLI 34 4-5. Transition E,Cary) coinage and leads us to believe that the sculptor tried above all to be realistic. ‘The two Greck authors agree on the extraordinary seductive capacity of the In the other two sculptures that could perhaps be attributed to Cleopatra her Fayptian queen, but disagree on her beauty which is in any case a relative nose as been broken offOne of them is preserved inthe Vatican Museum and concept; to Cassius Dio she vas uncommonly bea resembles the one in Beri, both in physical appearance and inthe hairstyle and beaaty dadem, to the point that they could be considered copies of the same original Cleopatra’s beauty given that coins are preserved with her effigy, accompanied ‘The other is called Cleopatra Nahtman, because it belonged to a collector of this et. There are also some sculp- name and remains in private hands to this date. Its identification as the Egyptian ures portraying the Egyptian queen that were ide ct of debate. The main differences to queen is much less certain and the sut and stylistic criteria, which obviously makes ther testimony more biased. the previous two portraits are the and the lack of the typical royal ‘The sculpture most likely portraying Cleopatra is housed at the Staatliche diadem. This last point is the crucial factor for some scholars. They believe that sxecuted in Parian marble (Figure 23). Cleopatra is depicted Cleopatra would never have agreed to be portrayed without the diadem and ‘wearing her hair in a bun at the back of her head, a common hairstyle for her, without thus displaying her role as the only monarch of Egypt. This last issue, as can be seen from the coins, with a diadem as symbol of royalty. The most sis well known, had been the reason for the conflict with her brother Ptolemy striking feature is her rather prominent nose. This is equally confirmed by the XIIL It could actually be a private portrait of a woman who emulated Cleopatra186 Seduction and Power but could obviously not be portrayed wearing the diadem.’ Cleopatra age in these portraits has been often discussed. There are no concluding data in this respect, but experts tend to think that they could have been made in the lat years of her life, between 34 and 31 se, de in her thirties? 1g Cleopatra as a mature woman ‘he catalogue of the recent exhibition on Cleopatra held in Hamburg has revived an issue which had already arisen in the 1950s. It concerns the possible identification of the so-called Esquiline Venus as the Egyptian queen, This renowned sculpture was found in the nineteenth century in Rome and is currently housed at the Palazzo dei Conservatori. It portrays a naked woman whose features and hairstyle resemble the portraits of Cleopatra; she also seems to be wearing a diadem, These characteristics, as well as the fact that an uraeus snake is wrapped around the base, have led some to belive that it might be the Egyptian queen. Arguments against this identification include the facts that the face is narrower than in the bust in Berlin and, above all, that it would be inappropriate and quite extraordinary for a queen to be portrayed naked as iff she was a Greek goddess.” The available data are not conclusive enough to favour either option, and the question will undoubtedly remain open in future. Apart from sculpture,! we also know Cleopatra through the coins, which provide the only image we can with certainty identify as the Egyptian queen, the image on official documents represented by coinage.” Cleopatras profile here is similar to that found in the Berlin portrait: hair in a bum at the back of her head, diadem and prominent hooked nose. The portrait of the Egyptian queen, beyond the greater or lesser quality of the coinage, does not vary much even though the coins were minted in at least 12 different cities over a long period of time. From this it could be gathered that Cleopatra cultivated a somewhat ‘official image of her person, through which she wished to be perceived by her contemporaries. Above all, Cleopatra wished to be seen as the queen of Egypt However, the image which has prevai in moder and contemporary art is the one transmitted by Augustan propaganda, that is, the image of a woman ‘ho used all her charms to conquer and manipulate the powerful men who surrounded her: a beautiful, seductive and cruel woman."*From the seventeenth century onwards there are plenty of paintings by many authors of a series of scenes depicting, more or less accurately, narrations from ancient sources regarding Cleopatra, mainly taken from Plutarch’ biographies of Caesar and especially Antony: Cleopatra has often been depicted in her famous encounters both with Caesar and Antony, but above all at the moment of her death, Seldom. is Cleopatra presented as a respectable figure in her role as queen. Tiepolo ‘The Great Seducer: Cleopatra, Queen and Sex Symbol 137 depicted her with gowns from his own time against a luxurious background in two paintings showing her meeting with Antony and the banquet they shared.” Cleopatra appears more like a European queen of Tiepolo's time than as the ruler of ancient Egypt. The banquet scene was also painted in the seventeenth century by Jan de Bray. In this Cleopatra appears serious and demure, surrounded by ladies also elegantly clad as ifin an actual official meeting or rather in a reunion of wealthy Flemish family of the period. This type of represent exceptional. The norm is to show Cleopatra full of eroticism and sensuality. example, Ottmar Elliger painted Cleopatra in the scene of the banquet with Antony with bare breasts, something quite unnecessary in that context, while Mark Antony, sitting opposite her, wears a full military uniform even including his helmet, and all other characters around the table are fully dressed. Cleopatra her power nis actually, is depicted above all asa shameless and seductive woman, expl of seduction to stabilize her political power. Jean-Léon Géréme, in 1866, painted the moment when Cleopatra made her surprising appearance before Caesar wrapped in a carpet. The artist shows Caesar's great shock and implicitly his immediate fascination for the queen, who is only wearing a see-through dress revealing her naked breasts. Again, power and seduction combine to characterize the queers nature and ambitions. This eroticism constantly surrounds Cleopatra, even in the scene of her suicide, without a doubt the scene most often depicted since the sixteenth century in paintings of her life. Cleopatra generally appears with the asp on her chest or wrapped around her hands, always as a model of beauty and with ly evoking Venus as the archetype of eroticism, or Eve as the symbol of sin. Significantly enough, Cleopatra is always shown either completely naked or at least with one or both breasts naked as if she was offering them to the snake, although there is no record in ancient sources that she ied like this." The scene of her suicide had already been painted in the firsthalf ofthe sixteenth century, for example by Giampietrino or Jan van Score. ‘he latter depicted Cleopatra completely naked, with a strikingly muscular body, set in a rural landscape with the asp around her right hand, while her left hand insinuatingly rests between her legs. The scene reminds us of Giorgiones of Titian representations of Venus.” Cleopatra looks distressed and resigned to her death. In the seventeenth century, the image is at times reminiscent of the scenes of Christian martyrs facing their torment, with a mixture of ecstasy and triumph over death, gaining access to immortality. A good example of this isthe work of Guido Reni, an artist dating to the first half of the seventeenth century who painted the scene of Cleopatra's suicide on several occasions. In each one characteristics im act188 Power Courtesy of the Picture Desk. the queen looks up to heaven while holding the asp in her hand just before it les her and the venom takes effect (Figure 24). In Reni's work we can see, for lene, penitent or repentant, clearly evocative jus created a form of model for this scene, n for Cleopatra but also for depicting other women, dying or in rapture, in the centuries to follow. Among other artists painting Cleopatras suicide we might mention Guido Cagnacci in the seventeenth century, Jean-Baptiste Regnaul the late eighteenth century, ‘The Great Seducer- Cleopatra, Queen and Sex Symbol 189 Makart in the late h century. Jean-André Rixens in 1874, Reginald Arthur in 1892, Ha ‘were sensuality and ero the world famous actress Sarah Bernhardt Sardou’s play Cléopdtre (Figure 25) and in 1899 in Shakespeate’s Antony and Cleopatra, performed arout and made it popular through films, a much more accessible form of art for a broader audience. About 20 films so far have been made with Cleopatra as the190 Seduction and Power Figure 26. Theda Bara in Cleopatra (1916). star, many of them based on Shakespeare's play, from which. and dialogues.” Cleopatra was already portrayed on the big screen back in the times of silent films. The first film about the Egyptian queen was directed by Georges in 1899, and lasted only about four minutes, but nothing is preserved ico Guazzoni, who had just shot a version of Quo Vadis with ‘great commercial success, made the film Marcantonio e Cleopatra, supposedly ‘ough it was actually quite far removed from i. ‘The most famous silent film about Cleopatra was directed in 1917 by Gordon Edward It cost 500,000 dollars, an extraordinary sum at the time, employed to reproduce an atmosphere of luxury and opulence. It starred Theda Bara (Figure 26), who is said to have sported 50 different costumes in the film. Bara ‘was one of the most popular actresses of her time, p ly famous for her roles as femme fatale, which earned her the nickname “The Vamp. The slogan uused by the Fox studio to promote the film speaks for itself Cleopatra was ‘most famous vamp in history’ and Theda Bara was her reincarnation. The lost nowadays but for a few surviving stills, was a great success. Thus, drew scenes based on Shakespeare's play ‘The Great Seducer: Cleopatra, Queen and Sex Symbol 191 Figure 27. Claudette Colbert in Cleopatra (1934), Courtesy of The Kobal Collection tive consciousness Cleopatra was giv the attributes of a vamp, that is, of a lascivious woman who used her sensuality to seduce men. This was @ decisive landmark which definitely opened the path to what, from then on, of Cleopatra as sex symbol, identified t very image for the general audienc character remained mostly constant, the actresses playing her. The first Cleopatra who starred in the great production was to become the general perce} th actresses who incarn: 1. Her features as a hist physical appearance changed wi sound film was Claudette directed by Cecil B. DeMille in 19: director with a marked taste for the colossal, the film had spectacular sets, such as the lavish ship used by Cleopatra to travel to Tarsus to meet Mark Antony. Despite the moral constraints of the the scene in which Cleopatra seduces ‘Mark Antony on board her ship is highly erotically charged and is, no doubt, the most famous scene of this film. The exotic characters and settings, along with the screen presence of the leading actress, were key to its global success. In 1901, playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote Caesar and Cleopatra. Shaw presented quite a different version of Cleopatra, who was represented as‘Tarsus (Cleopatra 1963). Courtesy of The Kobal Collect a teenager learning the secrets of Gabriel Pascal, who some years ¢: and government from her lover Cacs ier had already made a film based on another play by Shaw, Pygmalion, turned the play into a film in 1945. The role of Cleopatra in this film was played by one of the great actresses atthe time, Vivien Leigh, who had starred in Gone with the Wind some years. Many other films have had Cleopatra as the star but, without a doubt, the ‘most popular and the one with the highest visual Egyptian queen yas shot by Joseph Mankiewicz in 1963, with as Cleopatra (Figure 28). This film, as could only be expected, reproduced the best loved and most spectacular scenes of Cleopatras life. But Mankiewicz also tried to go beyond the simple idea of the Egyptian queen as a sensual woman and erotic symbol, depicting her as an intelligent ruler and also as a mother concerned about the future of her son, Caesarion. In Mankiewice’s characteri- zation, actual political power accordingly joins Cleopatra’ stereotypical power of seduction. ‘The original version of the film was too long, which resulted in the studio showing a much abridged version. This was highly detrimental to the ‘The Great Seducer: Cleopatra, Queen and Sex Symbol 193 rectors objective of presenting the characters with more detailed psychological depth, going beyond the characterization normally presented. Nevertheless, the film, which was inal length, has become one of the great milestones in the history of cinema. Cleopatra was above all the queen of Egypt and as such she acted as she thought appropriate for the benefit of her country. She showed great capacity to rule her kingdom, tried to keep the throne under Egyptian control and strove, without success, to maintain Egypt as an independent country. According to the ancient sources, she was a learned person who had an outstanding command of several languages. She was also a mother who cared about her children, in particular about Caesarion, However, the propaganda broadcast by her great rival, Augustus, created the image of an immoral, cruel, seductive and manipu- lating woman who would not set herself any limits in the pursuit of her goals. Literary representations of Cleopatra contributed to the consolidation of her negative image. In the fourteenth century Boccaccio presented her in his De claris mulieribus as ‘the whore of oriental kings’ and as a woman characterized by ‘avarice, cruelty and lust? Works of literature from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century perpetuated a similar image. The film industry turned ‘Cleopatra into an erotic myth and sex symbol through some of the actresses who brought her to life. Theda Bara, Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh and Hlizabeth Taylor were the most popular personifications of Cleopatra in films in the twentieth century although, without « doubt, since 1963 Cleopatra is and continues to be above all Elizabeth Taylor. According to some newspaper fe released in. reports, producer Scatt Rudin is going to shoot a film in which Angelina Jolie will star as the Egyptian queen, Will she manage to become the new Cleopatra of the twenty- Notes Horace, Carm, 1.37.2 Lucan, Phar. 10.59, aes. 48. Plat. Ant. 25-7. i ‘three most recent biographies are by Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt, 2008 and D. W. Roller, Cleopatra. A biography, 2010, See also E, Flamarion, Cleopatra. The if and death ofa pharaoh, 1997. In raphy on Cleopatra is vast;194 Seduction and Power the last decade two great exhibitions have been devoted to the Egyptian queen. ‘Two catalogues have been published asa result, bringing together partial studies and plenty of iconography: S. Walker and P Higgs (eds), Cleopatra of Egypt, 2001; B. Andreae (ed), Kleopatra und die Caesaren, 20068. See Cid L6pez 2000: 119-37. ‘Andreae 2006b: 26. ‘Andreae leans towards the hypothesis that tis actually Cleopatra although he acknowledges that the possibilty of it being a private portrait cannot be discarded, ‘Andreae 2006b: 26. Roller dismisses the possibility that itis a portrait of Cleopatra, Roller 2010: 176. In this respect, see also Weill 2006c: 126-9, In his biogrephy, Roller considers it likely that the portrait housed in Berlin was ‘made while the queen was in Rome in the 40s ofthe Ist century nc, therefore as 8 of identifying the Esquiline Venus as ‘human being but as the personification ion, Weill Goudchau ‘categorically expounds the reasons why the sculpture could not ‘Cleopatra: the queen would never have been depicted naked, Vent ‘who could not be embodied by a queen, even less so by a foreign q 11 An Egyptian sculprur not add much to the knowledge ofa pharaoh, with no realistic features. Ani 12 The aforementioned sculptures are not the entre repertoire of pos representations of Cleopatra, either in Egypt or in Italy, which includes further sculpture as well as maral peintings and cameos, See a bref ist in Roller 2010 176-9. 13 See the synthesis by Weill Goudchaux 2006a: 130-5; Roller 2010: 179-83. 14 A synthesis ofthe representation of Cleopatra in painting can be found in Rhein, 2006: 204-47, 15 See also Garcf, this volume, 16 ‘he reference to snake venom causing the death of Cleopatra appears in Suet. Aug, 17 Rhein 2006: 218, 18 The Egyptian queen has even been depicted in some abstract works, for example, by Alexander Archipenko in 1957, in which Cleopatra is zepresented lying down, ny Rubens or Venus at her mirror by Veldzque, of the goddess who personifies beauty and ‘The Great Seducer: Cleopatra, Queen and Sex Symbol 195 19 On Classical Reception in Sardou’s plays see also Caria, this volume, 20 See Prieto Arciniega 2000: 143-76. 21 For a poster of the film see cover illustration, this volume. 22 The following year La vida intima de Marco Antonio y Cleopatra, by Mexican Gavaldén was released. 23 In Italy for instance, several films were made about Cleopatra, such as Due notti gion di Cleopatra by Vitorio Cottafavi comedy Toté ¢ Cleopatra by Fernando Cerchio (1963) and Il igo di Cleopatra by Ferdinando. Also, Charlton Heston directed and starred in Antony and Cleopatra in 1972. This film flopped atthe bax office, which was mainly due to the actress who played Cleopatra and who could not compete ‘Taylor. We must also mention Astérix et Cléopdtra (Classical eception in comics, inde 24 On the characterization of Antony in this film, see Garcia, this volume. 25 Osterkamp 2006: 194.