Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII was the last Pharaoh of Egypt and the wife of Mark Antony. (PROSE: State of Change, The Last Pharaoh) She was Greek, although it was a common mistake to think she was Egyptian. (PROSE: The Lonely Computer)
History
Cleopatra had a brother and a sister, Arsinoe. She married her brother, but later convinced Julius Caesar to have him murdered. She then took Caesar as a lover and had a son with him. After Caesar's death, Cleopatra took Mark Antony as a lover and convinced him to have Arsinoe murdered. Eventually she married Mark Antony and together they had three children, including at least one daughter. (PROSE: The Last Pharaoh)
The Sixth Doctor and Peri Brown watched Cleopatra's barge on the River Nile in preparation for the Battle of Actium. (PROSE: State of Change)
According to an early draft of William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, the Mara attempted to possess Cleopatra shortly before her suicide. (PROSE: Antony and Cleopatra) Within a year of the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra committed suicide by drinking poisoned wine. (PROSE: The Last Pharaoh)
According to one account, she was saved by River Song who posed as Cleopatra's corpse and was buried (albeit alive) in her place. Cleopatra then fled Egypt with her children to start a new life as a free woman. (PROSE: The Ruby's Kiss)
Cleopatra was resurrected in the City of the Saved. Krisztina-Judit Németh guessed that she may have been at a masked ball held by Allisheer St Marx. (PROSE: Unification Theory)
Undated events
The Fourth Doctor claimed to have played bridge with Cleopatra. (PROSE: The English Way of Death, AUDIO: The English Way of Death)
The Fifth Doctor reported to have met Cleopatra at some point. He described her as having "the succour and grace of a carpet flea." (AUDIO: Loups-Garoux)
Cleopatra was abducted by Momus while she had Mark Antony waiting in her studio. Donna Noble and the Tenth Doctor encountered her among several other historical figures from Earth who were also abducted by Momus. (PROSE: The Lonely Computer)
Cleopatra married an unspecified incarnation of the Doctor. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)
Panda seemingly once met Cleopatra. (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)
References
The Fourth Doctor claimed to have learned swordsmanship from a captain in Cleopatra's bodyguard. (TV: The Masque of Mandragora, PROSE: The Shadow of Weng-Chiang)
Mickey Smith used the fact that the Tenth Doctor referred to her as "Cleo" to taunt Rose Tyler. (TV: The Girl in the Fireplace)
The Tenth Doctor told Donna Noble that accounts of her beauty were greatly exaggerated. Indeed, he said that she could only be "the most beautiful woman in the world" if her bedchamber were expanded to the size of the Earth, and "all her handmaidens had had the day off". Nonetheless, the Doctor intimated that he had actually seen her bedchamber. (PROSE: Ghosts of India)
In 102, River Song pretended to be Cleopatra and used her hallucinogenic lipstick on a Roman soldier to fool him, even though the real Cleopatra had died a hundred thirty-two years before River arrived. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)
During the Last Great Time War, the War Doctor listed Cleopatra's court among the things that he would have shown to his companion Cinder. (PROSE: Engines of War)
While musing where to go next, Iris Wildthyme suggested Cleopatra's palace, which Panda shot down by saying that Cleopatra was an "incorrigible woman". (PROSE: Enter Wildthyme)
Alternate timelines
On the duplicate Earth known as Terra Nova, Cleopatra and Mark Antony won the Battle of Actium and had three children. (PROSE: State of Change)
In an alternate timeline in which all of history happened at the same moment because River Song refused to kill the Eleventh Doctor, Cleopatra met with Holy Roman Emperor Winston Churchill in Gaul. River Song also got her to give Amy Pond the Great Pyramid of Giza by using hallucinogenic lipstick and a gun. (TV: The Wedding of River Song)
Aliases and nicknames
| Name | When used/given | Source | Etymology |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleo | Given by the Tenth Doctor and picked up on by Mickey Smith. | The Girl in the Fireplace | A short form of Cleopatra. |
Behind the scenes
- According to The Brilliant Book 2012, a book that contains non-narrative based information, the alternate Cleopatra was on Facebook. She was friends with River, Churchill and Napoleon Bonaparte. She was a fan of Vincent van Gogh and Silurian medicine and played live chess with Joseph Stalin; she also read the book Murder on the Sky Orient Express and joined the online groups Can I get 6,000,000,000 people to join this group before 5.03pm??? and I'm not being funny but I think this is all the Doctor's fault!
- She was portrayed by Claire Bloom in the 1956 version of Caesar and Cleopatra.
- The depiction of Cleopatra in The Lonely Computer is based on Elizabeth Taylor's portrayal of the character in Cleopatra.
- With the depiction of Cleopatra in The Last Pharaoh, Iain McLaughlin said this: "We (Iain and Claire Bartlett) did a bucketload of research into Cleopatra before writing The Last Pharaoh, reading up on the descriptions of her and checking out the coins with her face on from when she had moved into middle age. She had a big nose and a turkey neck. Nothing wrong with that, either. She was noted as being ordinary to look at but extraordinary to talk with. Intelligent, witty and charming. When I sent out the brief for that cover to Paul, I asked for the real take on Cleopatra rather than Liz Taylor (or even Amanda Barrie, who was, of course the definitive Cleo).
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