Watch the video to see why the messed up truth about Cleopatra may surprise you!
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00:00More than 1,500 years before the reign of Elizabeth I of England,
00:04Cleopatra proved that women were capable of ruling nations.
00:08Cleopatra believed in the power of fragrance, not just as a cosmetic, but also as a tool of
00:12persuasion. According to Perfume Power, Cleopatra doused her ship's sails with perfume before sailing
00:18to her first rendezvous with Marc Antony, to make sure that he smelled her before he saw her.
00:22She also owned a perfume factory, which makes sense, as she seems to have thought that the
00:26stuff was a gateway to mind control. The ruins of Cleopatra's perfume factory are located near
00:31the Dead Sea, and there is evidence that it also operated as a sort of day spa.
00:36Some seating remains, which is reminiscent of the chairs you might sit in to have your nails done,
00:40or if you wanted to be doused with mind-altering fragrances.
00:44If someone asked you to name an Egyptian from ancient history,
00:47it would probably be a toss-up between King Tut and Cleopatra. For many people,
00:51these are the two historical figures that embody ancient Egypt. Gilded,
00:55eyelinered, and striking poses in front of pyramid-dotted desert scapes. But here's a
00:59funny thing. One of these two people was not actually Egyptian. According to History of
01:04Macedonia, Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The dynasty was descended from Alexander
01:10the Great's general, a man named Ptolemy of Lagos. That means they not only had Greek ancestry,
01:15but they spoke Greek and followed Greek customs, too. The Ptolemies ruled Egypt for 300 years,
01:20after the nation was handed over to Ptolemy following Conqueror Alexander's passing in 323 BC.
01:26Pretty much every modern and semi-modern depiction of Cleopatra tells us she was
01:30stunningly beautiful, which you might not expect seeing as how she was the product
01:34of generations of familial intermarriage. But there was never really any way to know, either way.
01:39However, in February 2007, a coin was unearthed bearing a portrait of Cleopatra,
01:44which appears to confirm that the queen was actually rather ordinary-looking,
01:48at least by modern standards. The fact that ancient historians didn't say much about her
01:52looks also suggests she was no Elizabeth Taylor. The more important point is that
01:57it doesn't really matter. Life of Antony, written by Plutarch in 75 AD, made the following observation
02:03about Cleopatra. Her actual beauty was not so remarkable that none could be compared with her,
02:08or that no one could see her without being struck by it, but the contact of her presence
02:13was irresistible. The character that attended all she said or did was something bewitching.
02:18Turns out, Cleopatra wasn't just a shrewd and charming diplomat. She was also a student of
02:22mathematics, medicine, alchemy, economics, history, geography, and pretty much every
02:28general education subject you probably detested in college. Oh, and she spoke nine languages.
02:34In ancient Egypt, it was customary for pharaohs to rule in pairs. Every regent
02:38needed a co-regent of the opposite gender. According to Live Science, Cleopatra ruled
02:42with her father Ptolemy XII for a short time until his demise in 51 BC. In his will, Ptolemy
02:48XII decreed that Cleopatra should marry her 11-year-old brother, which was probably only
02:52a ceremonial union. Either way, the two were clearly not fond of each other, and the relationship
02:57ended with Ptolemy XIII trying to wrest control of the throne away from his sister. Cleopatra,
03:03in turn, appealed to Julius Caesar for help.
03:05If you ally with my sister, I will kill every last Roman in Alexandria.
03:12Enough of the big words, little brother.
03:15Caesar and Cleopatra famously became lovers, and Ptolemy XIII was never happy with Caesar's
03:20decision that he should rule alongside his sister. Eventually, Caesar defeated Ptolemy
03:24at the Battle of the Nile, and Ptolemy drowned in the river while trying to escape.
03:29Because of the whole must-have-a-co-regent thing, Cleopatra had to marry her other brother,
03:33who later died under mysterious circumstances. In other words, Cleopatra had him poisoned.
03:39Then she ordered the execution of her sister Arsinoe, who had taken Ptolemy's side during
03:43the family feud and at one point declared herself queen.
03:46One of Cleopatra's most enduring legends has to do with her untimely passing.
03:51According to the story, when Cleopatra learned her forces had been defeated by Octavian Augustus,
03:55who would become the first emperor of Rome, she killed herself by holding a venomous snake to
03:59her breast. Because historians like to debate things, no one totally accepts this account of
04:04Cleopatra's death. For a start, the story indicates that it only took a few minutes
04:08for her to die, but the venom of that particular kind of Egyptian snake actually takes a few hours
04:13to work and is even occasionally survivable. According to the Smithsonian, most historians
04:18do agree Cleopatra's death was self-inflicted, but the method isn't clear. It's possible she
04:23simply drank a bunch of poison, but that story just isn't as dramatic, which is probably why
04:28today most people still think it was a snake.
04:31Like pretty much every human being, Cleopatra had an innate desire to avoid getting older.
04:36Unfortunately, plastic surgeons were in short supply in 1st century B.C. Egypt,
04:40and Botox wouldn't be invented for another couple millennia, so Cleopatra had to get creative.
04:45According to legend, Cleopatra's daily bath required a tub and 700 lactating donkeys.
04:51According to the Vintage News, all over the ancient world, women used donkey milk to keep
04:55their skin pale and keep wrinkles at bay. Emperor Nero's wife was said to travel with, quote,
05:00"...whole troops of she-asses," so she'd never have to miss her daily donkey milk bath.
05:04Well, I only bathe four times a day.
05:07Today, scientists know donkey milk has a lot of important health benefits. It can be used as a
05:11cow milk substitute for people with allergies, and yes, it's also used in modern beauty products.
05:17Marc Antony might not have had his priorities in check. Why? Well, he skipped an entire invasion
05:22so he could spend the winter with Cleopatra in her Alexandrian palace. According to HistoryNet,
05:28in 41 B.C., Antony assembled an army and went east,
05:31summoning client kings in hopes of gathering resources for a Parthian invasion.
05:35One of those client kings was 28-year-old Cleopatra, who convinced Antony to effectively
05:40abandon the invasion in order to spend time with her. Antony followed her back to Alexandria,
05:45leaving his army in the hands of his governor. To make a long story short,
05:49the Parthians soon crossed the Euphrates River, and everything fell apart.
05:53It doesn't seem like Antony picked the right time for an invasion.