DID CLEOPATRA VII CHOOSE HER DAY OF SUICIDE?
The LLJĐhŶapsia aŶd the Birth of Isis
By Robert Bauval ©2013
The ŵost Đeleďrated suiĐide iŶ historLJ, aŶd oŶe ǁhiĐh has fired the popular iŵagiŶatioŶ for
centuries, which has inspired Shakespeare, poets and authors and even Hollywood, is surely
that of Queen Cleopatra VII, the last of the Ptolemies. In consideration of the universal
notoriety of this event, it is a irony of historical that the date and time of her famous and tragic
death has not been recorded in any contemporary or near contemporary record –at least none
that have survived.
In 1953 Professor Theodore C. Skeats (1907-2003) of the British Museum, realized that this
curious paradox of history and decided to investigate the matter. Skeats wisely decided to
work on one date that was known with certainty and which was related indirectly to the death
of Cleopatra VII: the day of the fall of Alexandria to the armies of Octavian (later Augustus
Caesar). Octavian is known to have reached the gates of Alexandria sometime towards the
end of July 30 BCE and, from records kept at the Roman Senate it is known that he took
Alexandria on the 1
st
August of the Roman Calendar. Skeats established that this date
corresponded to the 8 of Mesore according to the Egyptian Calendar ---Mesore being the last
month of the Egyptian Calendar. He then used another known day also associated to this
historic event: the 1
st
of Thoth, ǁhiĐh ǁas the ĐoroŶatioŶ of OĐtaǀiaŶ as pharaoh of EgLJpt.
The 1
st
Thoth was the New Years Day which fell after the 5 Intercalary Days (the Epagomene)
that were added to the last month of the year i.e. Mesore. Skeats also found contemporary
records that allowed him to deduce that the death of Cleopatra occurred 18 days before the
coronation of Octavian. Working backwards from the coronation date, Skeats concluded that
Cleopatra died on the 17
th
Mesore. Converting the 17
th
Mesore into the Roman Calendar, this
gave the 10
th
August as the date of Cleopatras death on the Roman Calendar. However, at
that time the Roman Calendar was two days behind the Julian Calendar, which gave SKeats the
date of 12
th
August (Julian).
In 1937, thus six years before Skeats groundbreaking article, professor M.S. Salem, an
authority on the influence of ancient Egyptian cults in Rome, investigated the well-known
Roman Feast of Lychnapsia that was celebrated in the early centuries. This was an Isiac feast
i.e. a feast of Isis, and was incorporated in the calendar of Rome by the Emperor Caligula
around 39 CE, and was celebrated on the 12 August (Julian). Knowing that the Lychnapsia was
also called the Feast of the Laŵps or the Feast of Light iŶ hoŶor of the Goddess Isis, M.S.
Salem sought to find its source in one of the many feasts of Isis celebrated in Egypt at the time.
He first noted that the Roman Lychnapsia feast was incorporated into the Julian Calendar in 39
CE from the Egyptian Calendar. At that time the 1st of Thoth fell on the 14
th
August (Julian).
Salem knew that in Egypt the Birth of Isis was celebrated on the 4
th
Intercalary Day of the
Egyptian Calendar, thus 2 days before the 1
st
of Thoth i.e. the 12
th
August. There was little
doubt that the Roman Isiac Lychnapsia feast ǁas also regarded as the BirthdaLJ of Isis.
Cleopatra VII close relationship with Rome and Roman affairs need no further reminding. It
must also be born in mind that it was Cleopatra who, in 47 BC, had introduced Caesar to her