Egyptian Queen Cleopatra: Who Was She? | Documentary

Cleopatra the most iconic woman in history her name is linked to power Beauty and lethal femininity like most historical figures over time her life looked more and more like a Hollywood movie until it was one archaeology reveals Cleopatra's long buried secrets which part did she play in the battle over the ancient world lover and enemy her story is entwined with Rome's most powerful rulers she smarted the most powerful men on Earth and they could not find her it's not hate it's I'm first and don't want to be second she was already a myth during her lifetime every time we tell the story of Cleopatra I think we're provoking the question are women allowed to rule the world unraveling the myth of the last queen of Egypt who who was [Music] Cleopatra it's August 12th 30 BC Cleopatra has lost everything imprisoned in her own Palace defeated by her greatest enemy Rome's future Emperor Augustus she takes her own life with the help of a poisonous snake this is just one of the many Legends surrounding Cleopatra which of them are true Cleopatra has an enduring Fascination for us because her story embodies power and Beauty and the rise and fall of dynasties and murder and sex I mean it has everything you would want in a Hollywood Blockbuster Legends of the queen have persisted for over 2,000 years with Cleopatra being perhaps the most famous enigmatic figure in history today she inspires women around the world serving as a symbol of beauty luxury and femininity but who was she really there are very few written sources that actually describe her and explain her so what we really need is some archaeology to help unlock that puzzle Alexandria in Northern Egypt one woman is on the hunt for Clues in 2005 Kathleen Martinez gives up her career as a lawyer to become an archaeologist it is Queen Cleopatra who fascinates her I always love Egypt but once I went to my father's office and he was sitting there gathering with professors and intellectuals and I asked for the book of Shakespeare anthonian kleopatra and my father immediately and All His Friends start speaking badly about the last queen of Egypt at that moment I could not reply to them but I thought maybe they were all [Music] wrong the archaeologist is determined to find Cleopatra's tomb she picks up the trail here in Alexandria hardly any traces remain of the once magnificent ancient Metropolis this is where the RO quarters used to be which were the The Citadel a small city where the the king and queens of Egypt the PHS used to live and you could see probably at the entrance beautiful gardens at the end the Palace of Queen Cleopatra overlooking the Mediterranean Sea with gold different colors of marbl literary sources claim that a thousand years ago earthquakes and tsunamis have caused severe damage burying large parts of the ancient city of Alexandria for a long time Cleopatra's tomb is believed to lie at the bottom of the harbor this is where underwater archaeologist Amad Khalil has been diving in search of ancient evidence let's go this way this is a unique site there's no such anywhere else diving here also is very impressive when the visibility is good it's amazing it's like going back to history for the past three decades archaeologists have been retrieving evidence 2,000-year old testimonials of ancient Alexandria they find over 3,000 pieces belonging to the famous ancient Lighthouse phos fragments of statues obelisks columns and Foundations which once B palaces and temples what was found there are foundations floors basically and Floors could be related to any building uh from studying these Foundation we can date them to the helenistic or theic period the reain of the pamies the tmy succeeded Alexander the Great after his death they take on many Egyptian customs and traditions Crown themselves God Kings and transform Alexandria into a center of knowledge and progress ression from 332 BC the tommies rule Egypt for over 300 years Cleopatra was the last of the dynasty no tomb of a member of the tmes has ever been found but could Cleopatra's tomb be in Alexandria it seems that she was buried somewhere around where she lived around the Royal quarters could be but there's no concrete evidence to to link the ancient Royal quarters to the tomb of Kat ancient sources reveal very little 100 years after Cleopatra's death the Greco Roman historian Plutarch [Music] writes and she herself now that she had a tomb and Monument built surpassingly lofty and beautiful which she had erected near the Temple of Isis Plutarch does not name coordinates but for Kathleen search this passage indeed proves [Music] useful I believe she want to die not as a prisoner as she was she want to die as a goddess and it was a beginning of a religious act that will end it up with her being buried in a temple but [Music] where scenes on Egyptian temple wall suggest that Cleopatra mirrored herself as Goddess Isis to ancient Egyptians Isis was the Supreme female deity she was the protector and the mother and a magical healer who could Resurrect The Dead Cleopatra wanted to be the queen mother of Egypt Pharaoh's ascended to the throne is Horus son of Isis Isis is a myth of feminine power power she's brilliant nurturing sexual and dignified so too was Cleopatra Cleopatra rules Egypt for 21 years during this time she most likely had a tomb erected in order to fulfill her role as God Queen and protector of the people in the afterlife she collected there the most valuable of the royal Treasures gold silver emeralds pearls ebony ivory and cinnamon those are the words of plutar Kathleen means to find those Treasures along with Cleopatra's mummy after studying ancient texts Kathleen investigates 21 possible burial sites outside Alexandria in one of them she strikes gold barely 50 km from Alexandria lies taposiris Magna and this is my office taposiris Magnus stands for the great tomb of Osiris back in the 18th century even Napoleon is said to have excavated here but apart from the foundation walls he found nothing in 2005 Kathleen Martinez starts the Dig and finds some small tablets in Greek script in the moment we were able to discover the foundation plates and the foundation plates refer who built this Temple and which year and the dedication to Temple to Isis everything changed here and even everything that has been written before us was wrong digging within the walls of taposiris Magna Kathleen unearths what appears to be the Hallmarks of a temple of Goddess Isis and in the rubble of this Shrine archaeologists find over 200 bronze coins many of them bear Cleopatra's image Kathleen also finds a head of a small Cleopatra statue another tantalizing link to the last queen of Egypt if she would have the opportunity to choose a place to be buried I believe she will choose tapirus Magna I am uh convinced this Temple was the most important religious Temple for Isis in the north of Egypt and Cleopatra was the human representation of godess Isis Kathleen is convinced the living Isis once chose to be buried beneath an Isis Temple Archaeology is a science and Science is based on facts but I hugely admire anyone who has a new Theory who seeks to find new facts I actually very much hope that Kathleen Martinez is right and if she's right it would be a discovery as great as the finding of Tuten Caron's tomb the discovery of her tomb could also unravel further myths on Cleopatra passed on by the Greco Roman writers she was so lustful that she often offered herself as a prostitute so beautiful that many bought one of her knights with death the image of the seducing Beauty has been handed down through centuries like most historical figures over time her life looked more and more like a Hollywood movie until it was one in 1963 Elizabeth Taylor plays Cleopatra it becomes a worldwide hit she embodies a woman who uses her sexuality to seduce Rome's most powerful [Music] men a myth that emerged due to Cleopatra's encounter with Julius Caesar in 48 BC it all started with Cleopatra's brother and co-regent claim the throne Egypt descends into Civil War Rome's troops led by Julius Caesar occupy Alexandria attempting to restore order to the Egyptian throne in the dead of night the young Queen smuggles herself into Caesar's Chambers hoping to gain favor this is the story recounted by Roman historians What specifically happened that night remains Unwritten what we do know is Caesar reinstates Cleopatra as Queen at the side of her second younger brother the relationship between Cleopatra and Caesar is very much mutually beneficial so on the one hand Cleopatra gets to secure her kingdom Roman soldiers Roman security keeps Egypt safe and in return Caesar gets ships he gets grain and allows him to finance his Wars and his continued conquests allies become lovers Cleopatra not only retrieves her throne she becomes pregnant with Caesar's child only one year after their first encounter Caesar fathers his only son Cleopatra has him portrayed on the temple walls of dendera his name tmy Caesar a name that should leave no doubt that Caesar is the father for the Romans this was a scandal and then Caesar even invites his mistress and their son to Rome two years after their meeting in Alexandria Caesar brings the Egyptian queen and her son to Rome she holds Court in one of Caesar's Villas and seeks to win over Rome's political Leaders with festivities she becomes The Talk of the Town according to ancient historians Cleopatra speaks Greek Egyptian and seven other languages her high level of education and eloquence stands out being brilliant to look upon and to listen to with the power to subjugate everyone even a love sated man already past his prime one of the tropes that comes up again and again is that she is exotic she is other she is dangerous and fascinating the cunning Egyptian queen exploiting male weaknesses to secure her throne this is how artists often portrayed her in the years that followed but do these paintings show the real Cleopatra the portraits and paintings of Cleopatra across different epochs differ so much because each one is reflecting different intentions it might be that it's reflecting attitudes towards female rulers or that it's something to do with attitudes towards Egypt ancient Egypt and how that's being viewed so depending on where and when she's being depicted her portrait changes at times she's presented blackhaired at others brunette sometimes innocent or seductive every era portrays a different Cleopatra we've inherited an idea of Cleopatra as having this dark black hair cut in a nice sharp Bob one source for this comes from the 1920s egypto Mania that took place Howard cser had discovered totin Common's tomb everyone across the world was going crazy for the Fashions the style that was coming out of Egypt but there's another reason that we have this idea of her and that could be the relief carvings from ancient Egypt which tend to stylize female pharaoh in that way showing the hair short and in profile but what did she really look like one of the very few portraits of Cleopatra from her time is on display in the collection of classical Antiquities in Berlin did the last queen look like this this buness is the image is a little unsettling I would say it's not what you expect when you compare it with Liz Taylor's portrayal of Cleopatra in the famous Hollywood film for example or the character in asteris here we have a somewhat rather brittle figure before us this head is one of two Plastics dating back to Cleopatra's time the other one is in the possession of the [Music] Vatican stylized coin images helped archaeologists to identify her one feature is the Royal diadem this thick band typical for helenistic rulers then her hairstyle known as a melon hairstyle and then specific features of her profile as well her nose for example which curves forward a little her lower lip protruding somewhat further forward than the upper lip plus the large eyes these are all features which are particularly characteristic of Cleopatra the 7th but how realistic is this portrait there are no written sources showing whether a Statesman a queen or a commander ever sat for a sculptor it is rather unlikely but we can assume that everyone was aware of some of the more notable features these people certainly appeared in public they sometimes also presented themselves to the people in ritual acts for example and then it was possible to get an impression of what they looked like what if the sculptor had never met the legendary Queen in person could they have created a truthful image of the queen using only a mere description what if an experiment could prove this Theory facial composite artist lyanna Bellman is specialized at drawing faces of people working only with a description she is to draw two facial composits of one person [Music] the first description comes from the model herself the second from another person if the two drawings are alike it would strengthen the theory that the portrait in Berlin actually resembles [Music] Cleopatra I would describe the Miss almond shap and the outer tip very very big eye definitely curving slightly to the back a little higher than the inside one my face is quite narrow but I don't have a pointy chin it's quite a long face with very narrow nostrils no my bottom lip is thicker the cheekbones are definitely a little higher the lower third of the ear is definitely exposed so The Parting is here yes it goes slightly to the left hair falling forward behind the air and then pulled back 3 hours and two facial composits later how similar are the two portraits and how [Music] realistic wow like two versions of myself chin and jaw they fit perfectly yes true I think the nose is quite similar yes the nose is good as well but I had to laugh when it came to my nose because he basically described it exactly as I did one face two images the sketches are different but the main features are the same the narrow nose the large eyes the pronounced Jawbone are identical in both images and we also find them in the model's face the experiment shows the marble bust in Berlin could depict Cleopatra's Main features it's essentially an ancient facial composite of the Pharaoh not quite like a photograph but still true to life maybe even more than that a mural from Pompei also shows her hair skin and eye color it was painted at the same time Cleopatra was probably residing in Rome this is what she might have looked like the true face of Cleopatra the expectations of portraits really have changed across time today we'd expect a portrait to be a recognizable lifelike rendering of a person their exact face but that really wasn't the case in Antiquity portraiture then was more about what the person represents what they symbolize really we won't know exactly what she looked like in real life unless we were to discover her skeleton Kathleen Martinez hopes to find this skeleton over 15 years ago she started looking for tunnels and secret passageways below the ruined taposiris magnet Temple at the beginning the ministry of Antiquities they they laughed they said it's impossible I said no because you haven't found those donals here that doesn't mean they don't exist I will find them and indeed 10 years ago she uncovered a shaft leading 25 M underground in total the archaeologist exposes 17 vertical shafts some of them leading to single tunnels others part of a larger tunnel [Music] complex every time we go down to this tunnel we can die and the way down the process is really really uh very dramatic if we can safely go down then there's many many dangers down there like snakes all of them poison and you can die in 10 minutes down there if you get by over 2,000 years ago these passages were cut into the Rock by [Music] workers hi and wide enough to stand upright or transport a [Music] sarcophagus after we start Excavating I became more and more excited about the possibility of these tunnels leading me to the tomb of Queen Catra the supply of oxygen is limited workers can only excavate 2 hours at a time this slows down the whole process they can only dig 5 m a day at most for me cleaning Excavating has taken 10 years imagine what would took to build and make this Temple by hand how many workers they use here and what was the purpose the hope of making a big Discovery grows with every meter [Music] dug they're hiding something that's why we're ready here to risk our life I believe once we finish Excavating this tunnel at the end we will get what I've been searching for the search for a phantom or a much desired answer to the question who was Cleopatra good I think we want to get a hold of Cleopatra to kind of take a hold of who she really was and when you look at the Historical story of Catra she is genuinely compelling because she is a woman trying to assert herself as a ruler in a world dominated by men and the ways that she does that are intriguing Cleopatra a scandalous Beauty from distant Egypt whom powerful men cannot resist was it her political relationship with Rome that shaped her reputation Rome in 46 BC Caesar has a temple built to Venus a golden statue of the Goddess Isis inside the temple has Cleopatra's face and shows her naked today only ruins remain to bear witness to the political Scandal we've lost an original image of her that was commissioned by Caesar and made while she was still alive of solid gold now that particular statue made the Roman senate absolutely Furious that the Caesar would lavish that amount of tension and solid gold on Cleopatra the new Museum m in Berlin houses a collection of over 60,000 antique documents historian Mario skart is investigating the few remaining written documents from the Roman Empire might they reveal Cleopatra's true character a letter from the powerful Senator Cicero one of Caesar's adversaries clearly indicates the impression Cleopatra leaves on the Romans in this letter Cicero WR ranam ODI I hate the queen he is referring to Cleopatra and he goes on talking in a more General fashion about why that is indeed for many Romans Cleopatra was a queen who heavily depended on Rome but ascended to The Confidant of the all powerful Caesar and suddenly acts as if she were the ruler of the Roman Empire Caesar relationship with Cleopatra and her stay in Rome suits his opponents since his thirst for power has long been a thorn in their side they finally feel strong enough to put their murderous plot into action Rome was a republic the thought of a royal ruler was abhorent to them but that's exactly how Caesar presented himself to Rome with Cleopatra at his side on March 15th 44 BC Caesar is murdered he is betrayed by his most trusted confidence a power struggle breaks out in Rome Cleopatra is no longer [Music] safe she flees the city so long as the Roman Republic is preoccupied with itself Cleopatra consolidates her power in Egypt her brother whom Caesar had installed as a pharaoh at Cleopatra's side dies under mysterious circumstances it said that he was poisoned and that Cleopatra herself was behind it because he was the only male relative who could dispute her power she elevates her three-year-old son Caesar's heir to co-ruler the god Queen ruling like a man thus becomes a man-killing seductress adulterous and Royal [ __ ] this is how Cleopatra will be portrayed by artists after her death every time you tell the story of Cleopatra it shows women how powerful they can be and it's exactly because she's such a complete and empowered woman that she gets dismissed and demonized throughout history she now rules independently in her country reforms the administration and reduces taxes the new Museum in Berlin discloses rare documents from her reign these this text this Royal Decree shows very clearly how she cared for the people at the time Egypt is plagued by famines to avoid riots in the capital grain distribution must be specifically regulated the decree bans officials from taking Farmers from the fields to work for them this document compared with literary sources on Cleopatra's Reign suggests she was a very rational and level-headed ruler this document definitely does not portray her as the seductress we see described elsewhere particularly by Pluto another document exempts a Roman businessman from paying any tax presumably buying his loyalty she was obviously trying to form a work to establish Connections in Rome but what we can certainly assume is that if the to Kingdom had had a weaker ruler it would have become a Roman province much earlier Cleopatra was very successful she eventually failed but for a long time she was able to hold and stabilize a country in constant danger of becoming a Roman province after Caesar's death Civil War rages in Rome his most loyal Commander Mark Anthony joins forces with Caesar's adopted son and nephew 19-year-old Octavian finally they defeat their opponents and the victors share power in the Empire Octavian rules in the west Mark Anthony controls the East including Egypt Mark Anthony and Octavian are both heirs to Caesar and initially it appears that they're happy to share power on the outside they make it seem that way but on the inside they know that they can only really be one person and Mark Anthony makes the move to replicate what Caesar had done so he sides with Cleopatra their first meeting goes down in Roman history she provided herself with many gifts and money but she went putting her greatest confidence in herself and in the charms and sorceries of her own person the commander is unable able to resist at first this was all about politics and not pleasure both sides saw something in each other that was valuable to them for Anthony he needed help with his wars in the East particularly against the parthians he needed Egyptian supplies and Grain and money and Cleopatra well she needed the political support of the most important man in Rome to consolidate her power and perhaps even expand her kingdom the rule demands a price for giving herself to Mark [Music] Anthony according to Roman accounts Cleopatra's sister arino was in Exile in Ephesus she was the only person who could still dispute her throne she was also by Nature very Covetous and stuck at no wickedness she had already poisoned her brother and this when he was but 15 years old and she got her sister aroi to be slain by the means of Anthony is this just Roman propaganda for a long time people doubted the accuracy of the story The Ruins of ancient Ephesus in today's turkey in 1926 archaeologists found an unknown tomb here Martin tar leads the current excavation being buried within the city is a privilege one of the longest standing laws ever prohibits being buried in the city being buried here means this is a very important person there are no inscriptions and no indication of who was buried here but in 2009 archaeologists managed to scan the remaining 70 stone fragments of the Tomb and reconstruct it digitally the architectural design resembles the middle story of the Lighthouse of Alexandria that means it is very reminiscent of Egyptian architecture AR until its destruction the pharoh lighthouse was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World it represents the reign of the T [Music] could a member of that family really be buried here the tomb was erected between 50 and 20 BC during Cleopatra's [Music] Reign the bones are now stored in the excavation Camp's archive the skeleton is no longer complete its skull is missing but even without the head the bones reveal valuable information on the long bones you can see very clearly that the growth plates are not yet completely closed this indicates that the person isn't yet an [Music] adult and you can clearly identify a relatively wide birth canal this indicates that the skeleton belongs to a woman [Music] the bones their age and the place of their Discovery lead Martin steskal to an inevitable [Music] conclusion Gathering all the evidence I believe that we can safely assume it's perhaps 90% likely that these are the human remains of Cleopatra's sister this would make these the only remains ever found from a member of the tommies do they really belong to Cleopatra's sister [Music] arino a potential danger is simply being removed as it is quite common in family dynasties Cleopatra expressed this desire to Mark Anthony and he made it a [Music] reality Roman accounts tell Tales of a passionate love pact a story that fuels the imagination of painters and writers to this day being in Alexandria Mark Anthony enjoys the Sweet Life Cleopatra offers him wealth luxury Glamour and sex and bears him three more children they were in separable Companions and lovers and developed a taste for hunting playing dice and drinking together together on several occasions they even went on nocturnal escapades around the streets dressed as slaves they set up lavish Banquets for each other Money Was No Object during excavations in Alexandria and other ancient digging sites archaeologists keep coming across traces of the ruling couple historian Kristoff schaer has collected many of them this Roman dinar for example probably minted in 36 BC Cleopatra is depicted on one side Mark Anthony on the other a unique design the fact that this sort of coin was even minted shows how close the two were here you can see how they link their Destinies and see each other as completely reliable Partners otherwise this kind of coin would never have been minted Mark Anthony and Cleopatra certainly become partners proclaiming more than just their love through this coin boundaries are being crossed here it's not unusual to have two rulers depicted on one coin but here you have a Roman General on one side and an Egyptian pharaoh on the other two empires being made into one by a simple coin according to ancient writings Mark Anthony even transfers huge parts of his Dominion to his lover and their children [Music] the Roman provinces of Libya C Cyprus extensive lands in Syria and the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant Coast for 250 years no member of the tmes had ruled over an Empire of this size the last pharaoh of Egypt is now at the Pinnacle of her power the Egyptians worship Mark Anthony and Cleopatra as reincarnations of the Gods Isis and Osiris looking at catra's actions she is acting entirely in the sense of national interest as a clever ruler but the Romans were probably not all enthusiastic about the close ties between Anthony and Cleopatra there were concerns that the Queen's influence would change Rome octavian's chance has come to defeat his adversary Mark Anthony and win the battle for Rome evidently octavian's goal was to rule alone at this time he already controlled Italy and he breached the treaties he had concluded with Anthony and of course greatly damaged Antony's reputation with his propaganda propaganda Octavian turns the Senate against Mark Anthony who would not lament at seeing that Anthony has now abandoned all his ancestors habits of life and pays homage to a wench as if she were a GU we Romans Lords of the greatest and best portion of the world should be trodden Under Foot by an Egyptian woman foul allegations but from both sides Anthony replies accordingly a wild mudslinging which ends in Civil War a war which does not last long in the late summer of 31 BC a naval battle takes place off the west coast of Greece which will prove decisive Octavian faces Mark Anthony and Cleopatra with their fleets in the Bay of actium with 270 ships against 400 Anthony and Cleopatra are outnumbered by octavian's Fleet the Heat and lack of fresh supplies cause an increasing number of soldiers to fall ill and die from hunger and disease Mark Anthony's advisers recommend he give up the fleet but he chooses differently the couple flee this is how artists of past eras have depicted this decisive battle for supremacy of the Roman Empire the Battle of actium is very clearly transposed into artistic mediums what you see are representations of the Brave Roman Legions fighting on in the face of adversary while Anthony and Cleopatra are fleeing they are running away later this will be the reason why Mark Antony's Legions turn their back on him hello Constantino ah nice to see how are you it was from this hill that Octavian is said to have closely watched the battle he recorded it later in his Memoirs the battle begins at midday several thousand soldiers lose their lives and Mark Anthony loses a huge part of his Fleet he flees with Cleopatra back to [Music] Egypt Octavian describes his victory over the world in great detail but could it have happened differently Kristoff schaa has been looking at today's sea currents which help him understand what really happened in that battle we have a current from the north yes to the South uh along the coast a current the ships are said to have waited for several hours in one formation but according to Schaefer this cannot be true that's not possible if you have currs these ships have to maneuver to hold position plut and casuso they describing land battles yes and not a sea Battle yeah Mark Anthony and Cleopatra break through they managed to escape to Alexandria and secure the valuable War chest this is something that Octavian will later conceal everything is a propaganda um glorifying his uh Victory and trying to present that um his victory was a great victory in reality was not a great battle was not a great battle there is no fleeing the cowardice and fleeing are just defamation this is how you discredit an enemy whom you are unable to turn in as the final touch to his War propaganda Octavian erects a gigantic Monument celebrating his victory and the irreversibly ruined reputation of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra now they lose the support of their allies Mark Anthony's Legions defect to Octavian the outcome of the battle of actium and the way that that's preserved down the centuries shows how powerful propaganda can be it can bring a kingdom to its knees but it can also shape Legacy so really all we have about Cleopatra down to the modern day was formulated as a result of that event less than a year after the battle of actium Octavian stands before Alexandria with his army Mark Anthony and Cleopatra are now at his Mercy in despair Mark Anthony falls on his sword Octavian plans to show off Cleopatra as a trophy in the Triumph to Rome to avoid this humiliation she also takes her life if indeed by the bite of a poisonous snake remains her secret but Octavian Caesar although vexed at the death of the woman admired her lofty spirit and he gave orders that her body should be buried with that of Anthony in splended and Regal fashion could he have buried Cleopatra and taposiris Magna before the gates of Alexandria 500 m east of the ruined Temple stands a miniature version of the pharaoh's Lighthouse here in 2007 archaeologists found human remains and a huge burial site a discovery that exceeds all expectations this chamber points towards the temple could the mummies of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony be buried here when Kathleen opens it she discovers several cavities in the west and north wall no signs of splendid [Music] wealth although looted by robbers the tomb still reveals some Treasures human remains which are carefully being excavated wow I find the femmer you find a fmer yes it is a it's too fragile but we can see Tes time amen that mean that it was a mmy but very destroyed so we found remains of U mommy it was a mommy sometimes scattered bones we we have discovered steel golden tongs we have discover amulets but this is for sure remains of the mumification archaeologists rarely find m why not everyone in ancient Egypt was mummified mummification is a very time consuming process the dead body needs to be dried out this supposedly stops the decaying process and helps the soul find the body even in the afterlife mummification is a privilege and only reserved for nobility and Priests mama ification is about preparing Pharaoh for a successful Journey Through the afterlife which was all but impossible most will be lost to the chaos but if the Pharaoh made it through they could take the hand of those who had been lost and they could save everyone else Cleopatra as Isis was almost certainly mummified as she was seen as a protectress for souls in the Underworld are these Cleopatra's remains you can see what's the poor type of mumification it was made in a hairry and this kind of mumification is usually from the time of Queen philopatry was the end of Egypt as a Empire and they went in a hurry to make the to prepare the mummy so this is good for my theory here then Kathleen Martinez and her team find something unusual this is something something important yes look a lead to Cleopatra we have to see if it has inscriptions or it has any kind of drawings uh we don't know yet I am dying to turn it around but I have to follow the procedures [Music] wow it's an offering table look it's like representing this tomb with the stairs wow it's beautiful [Music] wow an offering table like this was filled with food and drink to supply the dead in the afterlife I am the first one in 2,000 years touching this offering table it's an amazing feeling they could put beer wine honey for the Seas this sort of Relic is not rare but Kathleen believes this one could lead to Cleopatra's tomb she has the find examined by independent experts fortunately no description right yes but only powerful people rich people will have offering table have the money to make tombs like this and have offering table inside it yes exactly they are not common people you know someone like the last queen of [Music] Egypt no we don't have any archaeological evidence this will be her tomb but I'm expecting to have like toan St that was find uh on touch this is what I'm expecting it is possible that the deceased in these tombs could have known Cleopatra during her reign [Music] that must mean something and I think it's because they have some information and these tombs here are pointing to the tomb of Queen Cleopatra the tomb hasn't yet been found but Kathleen is convinced it is only a matter of time archaeological findings help us understand the story of the last queen of Egypt the real Cleopatra a powerful strategist a politically calculating seductress a god Queen overshadowing everyone around her history will never give us all the answers but I think that's where the power lies because we can fill in those blanks with what we want her to be we create her a new every time we tell her story The Myth of CLE Catra the last Pharaoh has endured for over 2,000 years a fascinating story both beautiful and tragic unless we find her tomb her life remains a myth [Music]