CLEOPATRA VII. AT THE INTERSECTION OF DIPLOMACY AND EROTIC LITERATURE
CLEOPATRA VII. AT THE INTERSECTION OF DIPLOMACY AND EROTIC LITERATURE
Author(s): Emanuel-Daniel SărmășanSubject(s): History, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Essay|Book Review |Scientific Life, Anthology, Fiction, Studies of Literature, Social history, Ancient World, Cultural Essay, Philology, Theory of Literature, Drama, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Editura Arhipelag XXI
Keywords: Cleopatra VII; Roman propaganda; Femme fatale; Julius Caesar; Orientalism; Mark Anthony; Power and eroticism; Feminist literature and history;
Summary/Abstract: Cleopatra VII remains one of antiquity’s most polarized figures, yet her historical reality is frequently eclipsed by her stylization as a trans-historical seductress. This paper examines the evolution of the “Cleopatra Myth” tracing how Roman anxieties regarding the “decadent East” evolved into modern Orientalist fantasies. Through a comparative analysis of primary Roman sources and modern cultural reproductions, I argue that the trope of the femme fatale is systematically employed to substitute political authority with erotic deviance. By examining how her “power of seduction” was inextricably linked to the defense of Egyptian autonomy, this study challenges the binary between the “erotic” and the “political” suggesting that Cleopatra’s literary reception reveals more about the anxieties of the West than the realities of the Ptolemaic state.
Journal: Journal of Romanian Literary Studies
- Issue Year: 2026
- Issue No: 45
- Page Range: 255-262
- Page Count: 8
- Language: German
