Academic

Academic articles | Courses | Abstracts | Bibliographies | Student papers

Academic articles

"Cléopâtre de Virgile à Mankiewicz: Origine et évolution d'un mythe" by Renaud Calvat, Bulletin de l'Arelam (July 1995)

Hans Teitler, "Cleopatra en haar tapijt" from Diva Cleopatra. Historische en onhistorische verhalenvan 2000.

Courses

Dreams of Cleopatra taught by Timothy Billings, Middlebury 1999. This was clearly one of those great courses that force self-satisfied Freshmen to churn out prose regularly and in great quantity, and fortunately for us the results are online. Instructors interested in teaching Cleopatra in history and myth are encouraged to check the site. Highlights include assignments, reviews of Cleopatra websites, and "Cleopatra's Infinite Variety" (final projects).

"Her Infinite Variety": The Life and Times of Cleopatra VII of Egypt taught by Greg Daugherty, Randolph-Macon College (Fall 2002). Includes syllabus, links, and an excellent list of Cleopatra's appearances in recent fiction. The list of report topics page includes the presentations and reports his students created to answer them. Great stuff!

Cleopatra: History and Myth Syllabus of course by Eric Orlin, University of Puget Sound has an excellent bibliography and visual representations (mostly paintings) of Cleopatra, some hyperlinked, most of which are now linked to from my image gallery. The course website, put together by Peggy Burge, is a good guide to academic research, particularly across disciplines. Many of the general resources linked to are only available to subscribed users. The syllabus gives a remarkably quotation I had never seen before, from Théophile Gauthier, One of Cleopatra's Nights (1845):

"…the most complete woman ever to have existed, the most womanly woman and the most queenly queen, a person to be wondered at, to whom the poets have been able to add nothing, and whom dreamersalways find at the end of their dreams."

"The true history of Antony and Cleopatra will probably never be known; it is buried too deep beneath the version of the victors."

Abstracts

"The Cleopatra Cocktail" by Prudence J. Jones, abstract of 1999 American Philological Association talk. Dr. Jones has taught a whole course on Cleopatra at Rutgers, but no course materials are online.

Bibliographies

Cleopatra Site by Michel Buijs. Dutch site with an excellent set of resources, including a list of primary sources (not just ancient—the Rolling Stones make it in!) and secondary sources. This strength of this site—one of the few link-lists this doesn't completely supercede—are the lists of non-internet resources.

Bibliography from Diotima: Materials for the Study of women and Gender in the Ancient World.

Student papers

"Maternal Instincts: The Role of Cleopatra's Children in Defining Her Character" by Cheryl Thayer, for Billings's Dreams of Cleopatra class. Hard-hitting analysis of "Cleopatra's childlessness in literature and film" and the contrasting presence of Octavia's.

"A Symbolic Death Suitable for a Queen: An Analysis of Snake Symbolism in Cleopatra's Suicide Scene" by Cathy Schieffelin, for Billings's Dreams of Cleopatra class. This one's interesting and perceptive; I enjoyed the description of dying of asp-bite.

"The Carpet Scene: Unraveling Cleopatra" by Edlyn Chao, for Billings's Dreams of Cleopatra class. Runs down images of their meet-up.

"A Gift For Caesar: Cleopatra's Initial Encounter With Caesar as a Defining Point Of Her Strength and Sexuality" by Lauren White Henry, for Billings's Dreams of Cleopatra class. Runs down images of their meet-up.

"Cleopatra: The Natural Nemesis of Rome" by Maggie Goedecke, for Billings's Dreams of Cleopatra class. Runs down images of their meet-up. Not-so-hot.

"A Broken Home: Caesar and Cleopatra's Affair at the Expense of Calphurnia" by Rick Jamgochian, for Billings's Dreams of Cleopatra class. Runs down images of their meet-up. Not good.

"Cleopatra: A Sign of the Times" by Diana Lerman, for Billings's Dreams of Cleopatra class. Runs down images of their meet-up. Gender politics.

"A Moral Conflict: The Contrast of Character Between Cleopatra and Octavia" by Katharine A. Ott, for Billings's Dreams of Cleopatra class. Interesting.

The Existence of Beauty: An Analysis of Cleopatra's "Beauty" by Larcombe Teichgraeber, for Billings's Dreams of Cleopatra class. Pat. Is physical beauty really "uncontrollable and is purely a circumstance of genetics"?

"The Alliance between Marcus Antoninus and Cleopatra VII" by Andrew Mason.