More than two thousand years after her death, the allure and mystery surrounding the last queen of Egypt remains very much alive. Now a major exhibition in Rome pays tribute to Cleopatra, focusing on her relationship with the city: “Cleopatra. Rome and the Magic of Egypt”.
The exhibit showcases 180 works of art on loan from Italian and international museums, including Turin's Egyptian Museum, the British Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris, some of which have never been shown to the public before.
The exhibit’s goal is to investigate the queen's relationship with Rome and the depth of Rome's fascination for Egypt.
Some of the highlights among the masterpieces on show include: the “Nahman” portrait of Cleopatra; a portrait of Octavia, Mark Anthony’s wife and Emperor Augustus’s sister, reworked to represent Cleopatra; a portrait of a very young Cleopatra, probably dating to when she rose to the throne in 51 B.C.; a bronze depicting Alexander Helios, the son of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony.
Only 17 when she took the throne, Cleopatra became one of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs, establishing a strong political and personal relationship with two of ancient Rome's greatest rulers, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, at a time when Egypt was on the verge of collapse.
Cleopatra returns to Rome after 13 years: the last major exhibition devoted to the Queen of Egypt was in 2000, with a record-breaking number of visitors to an exhibition in the Italian capital.
"Cleopatra. Rome and the Magic of Egypt" is on display at the Chiostro del Bramante in Rome until February 1, 2014.
For more information, please see: http://chiostrodelbramante.it/en/info/cleopatra_roma_e_lincantesimo_dellegitto/
