Cleopatra: The problematic reception of an Egyptian Queen as a sex symbol in the Western imagination & its legacy.
public domain image sourced here
CW: Before we get stuck in, this post is absolutely NSFW. In addition, I’m referencing themes that may be triggering to some readers regarding sexual violence against women and racism.
Over on my Instagram page, I have been posting about Cleopatra and ‘egyptomania’ in light of the 60th anniversary of the famous Cleopatra film starring Liz Taylor. Each week, I’ve been focussing on a different way in which the idea of Cleopatra has been translated into the popular imagination in Western culture. So far I’ve touched on films (western) and how Cleopatra’s image has been appropriated in order to sell soap.
One thing I’ve been keen to write about, but that I haven’t been able to mention on my social media, is Cleopatra as a sex symbol, and how this has seeped into the world of porn. Firstly because of word count, but also because I have to substitute sex for ‘seggs’ and porn for ‘corn’- I’d much rather say what I mean. (Just to note that I recognise this is a privilege that historians of sex, activists, and sex workers don’t have).
One thing I’d like to note before we get into this post is that my intention in writing this piece is to share my opinion based on my research and not to market myself as the expert on the ethics of the reception of Cleopatra. It is by no means an attempt to vilify, judge, or belittle folk who have consumed the media I discuss further down this post (there’s enough of that going around.) I certainly didn’t come to these conclusions overnight and we’re all a product of our individual experiences. This media is out there and I think it’s important to open up the conversation to better understand the ramifications of it.
Cleopatra as a ‘sex symbol’:
On the surface, the reception of Cleopatra in the Western imagination can sometimes seem pretty innocuous. In reality though, as with most things in history, the image of Cleopatra that we know today is a product of generations of colonialism, orientalism, and sexism, all of which are interconnecting themes. Context, is as always, extremely important, but representations of Cleopatra do go to some very dark places.
Early depictions of Cleopatra:
These depictions of Cleopatra aren’t limited to the 19th and 20th centuries and go back much further to Ancient Rome, where she had been referred to as a ‘whore Queen’ by Emperor Augustus, who then embarks on a fairly lengthy rant that appears to belittle her power.
The city, high on its seven hills, that directs the whole Earth, was terrified of a woman’s power and fearful of her threats. What was it worth to have shattered Tarquin’s axes, whose life branded him with the name of ‘Proud’, if now we had to endure this woman?
Arguably, these early descriptions of Cleopatra set the groundwork for gendered violence against the Queen, creating an image of her as a ‘whore’ as a means to stifle her power. Cleopatra is not alone in this as a powerful woman. Mary Queen of Scots has, for example, been branded a ‘whore’, as was Elizabeth I. The supposed ‘virtue’ of queens throughout history and their sex lives (real or imagined) have been up for scrutiny.
Linked to this is the idea of Cleopatra as a ‘seducer.’ It’s a word you often find associated with her, most notably that she ‘seduced’ Caesar or that she ‘seduced’ Anthony. Crafting strategic political alliances? Nope. Too busy ‘seducing’ men, who of course, get off lightly, playing the age old ‘but she came on to me’ card.
I could go on, but I won’t. The idea of the ‘seductress’ or ‘temptress’ really interests me, and it’s something I’m keen to write about in more depth, but it is worth pointing out that when it comes to sex, we don’t use the same language for men in power. It all just gets a little ‘boys will be boys’.
Before we move on to cinema though, it is worth a very brief pause to consider the impact Shakespeare had on representations of Cleopatra. I am of course referring to his famous play Anthony and Cleopatra. In part it’s a tragic romance, but Cleopatra is presented to the audience as a jealous, power-hungry manipulator. For example, in Act 1 Scene 3, where she basically says ‘go find out where Anthony is. If he’s having a bad time, tell him I’m having a great time. If he’s having a great time, make him feel guilty about it.’
See where he is, who’s with him, what he does:
I did not send you: if you find him sad,
Say I am dancing; if in mirth, report
That I am sudden sick: quick, and return.Shakespeare’s ‘Anthony & Cleopatra’ Act 1 Scene 3
Cinema:
public domain image sourced here.
Theda Bara is commonly referred to as one of Hollywood’s first sex symbols, who made several false claims about her heritage, which she claimed to be partly Egyptian. Before her identity as a ‘vamp’, she was referred to by Fox Studios as “The Serpent of the Nile.”
A significant amount of footage is now lost to the sands of time, but clips and photographic stills still exist of Theda Bara, the ‘original vamp’, depicting Cleopatra. The 1917 silent film was based on the 1889 novel of the same name by Rider Haggard and features Bara in a range of risqué, ‘exotic’ costumes that started the film trend of the ‘sensual’ Queen of Egypt.
Other representations of Cleopatra include Vivien Leigh in the 1945 movie Anthony and Cleopatra, where she is depicted as a nymphet, and of course, the aforementioned 1963 ‘Cleopatra’ starring Liz Taylor.
Hollywood has a lot to answer for in terms of creating sex symbols. Everything is marketing, after all, and as they say, sex sells. Liz Taylor fell victim to this after she shot to sex-symbol infamy when she starred in Butterfield8. Later, she would play a sultry, luxurious version of the Queen. I do wonder if the scandalous affair between Liz Taylor and her co-star Richard Burton has furthered these ideas of Cleopatra as a sex symbol.
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of their various portrayals of Cleopatra and their contributions to the enduring lore of her, the immense pressure these women must have been under to perform and to stay desirable and relevant in the public imagination must have taken its toll. It is curious that these money making tactics, these re-branding exercises that took female actors from virginal to pin-up girl overnight, were all conducted in a male dominated industry, don’t you think?
Orientalism
It’s a term made popular in its current critical context by Edward Said in his 1978 book ‘Orientalism’. In short, orientalism serves as a tool to uphold colonialist ideals, support the European superiority complex, as well as the creation of exaggerated, racially charged depictions of people in the ‘East’.
Orientalism also combines the idea of the colonial gaze with that of the male gaze when it comes to depictions of women, who were portrayed as promiscuous and highly sexualized. You can see some examples of Orientalist paintings here.
This narrative has been perpetuated over time with the various depictions of Cleopatra. Take, for example, the Palmolive soap advertisements. In this example from 1917, we see a representation of Cleopatra reclining on a daybed with exposed skin to give a sense of allure. Interestingly, this depiction, as with other orientalist art, seems to present her as an idealised Western woman. You’ll note more common orientalist, racist tropes in the background of the image, where Black men are shown in roles of servitude.
This orientalist-style painting by Alexandre Cabanel depicts Cleopatra testing poison on condemned prisoners. It was sourced from here and is currently housed in The Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp.
Pornography (then and now)
Rule 34 of the internet states: if it exists, then there is porn for it.
I have seen some things while researching for this post. When I thought about researching this topic, it was in an almost lighthearted way and I have come out a little bruised, and quite angry.
A brief search on the popular adult film site PornHub (for purely academic purposes, I’m sure you’ll understand) yields fewer results than I had anticipated. However, of the few videos which depict the fantasy version of Cleopatra, the majority have a few things in common: they are overwhelmingly violent. Videos depict Cleopatra as being the giver as opposed to the receiver of pleasure, in submissive roles and as subservient to the cis-male phallus.
There are some videos where porn actors playing Cleopatra are in a position of sexual power (eg, BDSM videos) but they are few and far between. But even then, it raises questions of whether the image of Cleopatra to use in a sexual context is okay at all.
This is the same pattern across the various categories, whether it is a Hentai, computer generated (the ones that look like video games), furry cartoons, amateur or professionally produced. The line between sex symbol and sex object is crossed, as is often the case with porn and the male gaze.
I keep coming back to this question of WHY Cleopatra? To prove a point to myself, I searched for ‘Queen Victoria, then for ‘Queen Elizabeth I’ and received a grand total of zero results. I’m sure, as rule 34 states, that somewhere there is a very specialist market for it, but I think there’s a few reasons why an Egyptian Queen has been represented in pornography, and other female monarchs have not, including legacies of colonialism and the narrative of women in the ‘East’ as hypersexual that has been pushed as a result of orientalism.
I find it uncomfortable that our society feels so much ownership of the image of Cleopatra – we have stripped a woman of her agency, misused and misrepresented her for sexual gratification, and worryingly, (as I discuss below) used her image as a vessel for representations of rape fantasies.
Pre-Internet Pornography
Whilst there weren’t many depictions of Cleopatra on the site I was using, there have been multiple across the decades. Most links honestly looked like they would fire a Trojan horse virus through my PC, but on the odd-safe-looking site, I found several forums sharing stills from films starring actors Olivia del Rio and Alexis Payne as Cleopatra.
In addition to stills from VHS movies, there were also links to magazines such as Private, which dedicated an issue of the magazine to porn actor Julia Taylor and her depiction of Cleopatra.
I started to look further back to see if there had been a shift in pornographic portrayals of Cleopatra. I came across the 1970 porn film ‘The Notorious Cleopatra’ and watched an abridged version of it on Youtube, which was part of a review. What shocked me, (other than the wholly bizarre things that happen in the storyline) was while videos I had seen elsewhere had an undercurrent of sexual violence – an almost threat of rape-, this film outright includes scenes and references of rape.
I know that this post is about the reception of Cleopatra in the West, but I’ve included the Japanese anime ‘Cleopatra: the Queen of Sex’ from 1970 for a very specific reason: the modern reception of this film in the West. (I was thinking what the hell was happening in 1970?! – in all seriousness, these films were probably inspired by the release of the 1963 Cleopatra). The reception of this film is interesting for the name change alone. In Japan, Osamu Tezuka’s film was known simply as Cleopatra, but across the pond, in the States, it gained the adage ‘Queen of Sex’.
Image sourced from IMDB
The London Tree appraised this film as an erotic masterpiece back in 2017. I take issue with this overwhelmingly positive review for several reasons, but the author’s summary of the film pretty much sums up how Cleopatra is still presented to this day:
In this animated feature, her persona has been shown as a very strong woman, who with her sexual power lures powerful men into her arms and alters the course of history through politics and wars by using them. She herself is in fact a reflection of men, a caricature of those whose lust for power never ends. But as she goes on, she slowly becomes a mockery of herself until she realizes that what ever she has been trying to gain is slowly getting out of her hands.
The idea of the film as erotic seems to stem from the idea that it doesn’t explicitly show sex, but this is a misinterpretation of erotica more generally. I have read plenty of erotica short stories and books that go into explicit detail about the ins and outs of sexual activity, but the difference is all in the tone. I don’t really feel that yet another film with themes of rape falls into the category of the erotic, but that’s a conversation for another time.
In addition to the instances in the film where the threat of rape was very real, it is also littered with racial stereotypes and villain coding: the film presents darker skinned characters as evil.
The thing is, I understand that porn is a fantasy, but in this context, it throws up so many issues. This idea of ownership over the image of Cleopatra, of male superiority over her body, male ego and the desire to ‘defile’ women in power. Sexual violence in the context of porn is still sexual violence, no matter what costume you’re wearing.
The problem with porn.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-porn at all, but I do believe in the ethical consumption of it. We live in a time where it is a few clicks away, no more hiding paper bags with dirty magazines in your jacket pocket, or shoving them in bushes. It’s far more socially acceptable to consume porn than it ever was, but this access comes with a certain level of responsibility.
I’m also not trying to come across as preachy, but the mass unethical consumption of pornography in our society has caused addiction, misunderstandings of sex, issues of consent, abuse, and trauma. This is also extended to creators of porn and companies who allow sexually violent content, some of whom seem to think it’s damage free and has no moral implications whatsoever.
I also understand there are wider conversations that could be held around kink and the role that it plays here, but that’s a topic I’m not an expert in the histories of. I’m always open to conversations though, so if you do have some thoughts to share, please contact me.
I suppose I’m still unpicking all of this myself. When I started researching, I had anticipated writing a short paragraph on porn as part of a wider piece, but it’s opened up a bit of a can of worms for me. Sex and pornography is a complex topic, full of nuance after all. What I am sure about is the fact that these misrepresentations of Cleopatra are (knowingly or unknowingly) a product of patriarchy and a metaphor for controlling women via sexual violence.
Consent in sex and porn is the most important thing. Cleopatra is presented to us as a character to be played (and in the context of porn, frequently abused) and yet we seem to forget that she was a real-life woman. She existed.
I know there will be people reading this blog who are thinking ‘She’s dead, what does it matter?’ But let me ask you this: how long do you need to be dead for it to be acceptable for your image to be replicated and used for the purposes of sexual gratification and displays of sexual violence? Three thousand years? 100 years? 50 years? 1 year? A week?
I return to my earlier point over ownership of her image and of her lack of agency because this is a problem we are very much facing in modern society as AI becomes increasingly sophisticated. Deep fake porn is on the rise, and it presents a real threat to women and people globally in the form of virtual sexual abuse.
Whilst the rules of sex, consent, and power dynamics are undoubtedly different from that of the ancient world if we don’t extend our principles to how women who came before us are represented in perpetuity, we are doing them, us, and future generations a disservice.
Further reading
There’s lots more on the topic of Cleopatra and hypersexuality in Spencer McDaniel’s excellent article over at Tales of Times Forgotten, where the portrayal of Cleopatra as hypersexual is covered in detail. It includes the supposed (they were fakes) letters sent from Cleopatra’s lover which detail her having sex with 106 people in one night, Emperor Augustus’ words about Cleopatra are also featured, too. It even covers the buzz around the fake stories that have been re-circulating lately regarding Cleopatra’s angry-bee-powered vibrator. I’d really recommend giving it a read.
Some reading not included in the links in the article.
Shakespeare: https://www.folger.edu/blogs/shakespeare-and-beyond/cleopatra-mythic-temptress/
‘Whore Queens:’ https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-137-10676-6_7
Forgotten women of Hollywood – just thought this was interesting as I’d spoken about Hollywood as a male dominated industry https://thehelm.co/hollywood-herstory-book/
Cleopatra – a great article! https://www.thecollector.com/cleopatra-ancient-egypt-ruler/
Sex lives of Roman Emperors – interesting to note the differences between how male and female rulers’ sex lives are discussed. https://www.thecollector.com/sex-lives-roman-emperor/