Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- I Pearls Scattered: An Introduction
- II A Women's World History, in the World of Arabic Letters: A Reader's View
- III Founding Mothers, Speaking Sisters: Lineaments of Community in History
- IV Writerly Pursuits: A Compiler's Archive
- V A Beckoning Compass, Circulating Lives: The Bustani Encyclopedia and Other Nineteenth-century Sources
- VI Interlocutors? Men Authoring Women's History in the 1890s
- VII Framing a History of the Present: or, Did the Pearls Scatter to the World's Fair?
- VIII Violent Romances: The Bodily Drama of Patriarchal Trauma
- Conclusion: A World of Women, Feminist History and the Importance of the Feminine Signature
- Appendix I: Translations
- Appendix II: List of Fawwaz's Pearls
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Appendix I: Translations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2016
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- I Pearls Scattered: An Introduction
- II A Women's World History, in the World of Arabic Letters: A Reader's View
- III Founding Mothers, Speaking Sisters: Lineaments of Community in History
- IV Writerly Pursuits: A Compiler's Archive
- V A Beckoning Compass, Circulating Lives: The Bustani Encyclopedia and Other Nineteenth-century Sources
- VI Interlocutors? Men Authoring Women's History in the 1890s
- VII Framing a History of the Present: or, Did the Pearls Scatter to the World's Fair?
- VIII Violent Romances: The Bodily Drama of Patriarchal Trauma
- Conclusion: A World of Women, Feminist History and the Importance of the Feminine Signature
- Appendix I: Translations
- Appendix II: List of Fawwaz's Pearls
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Cleopatra Queen of Egypt
She was one of the Ptolemaic rulers who gained mastery over Egypt in the wake of the Pharaonic state. She married her brother Ptolemius Dionysius in 52 Bc. He was aged thirteen and she was seventeen years old. She was strongly tempted to seize the throne for herself but the men of the court and guardians of her husband, still a minor, opposed her. When wiles [al-hila] failed her she determined to seek the support of the Roman Caesar Augustus and they formed an affectionate union. But soon she married her second brother, who was not yet eleven. On the order of Caesar he was named king over Egypt. But then this fellow died, poisoned four years after his marriage. Now that the throne was vacant, Antonius [Mark Antony], one of the four who shared rule in Rome, summoned Cleopatra to Tarsus where he was headed, to fight Brutus the Roman. Accepting the invitation she voyaged on the wings of the wind. Reaching the river at Tarsus she took occupation of a boat that was furnished very grandly and boasted purple drapery and sails, ornamented with beautiful receptacles and precious gems. Over her seductive body she draped a regal gown adorned with pearls and she haloed her luminous brow with a splendid brilliant crown. She dressed her houri-like maids in gowns of verdant silk and brocade and placed herself at their centre, as though she were the sun and they were full moons. They were playing lutes and lyres and releasing into the air all manner of incense and fragrance until the entire riverbank was scented with their breezes, and the river heaved with the musical ecstasy of their lutes’ melodies and the glistening pearliness of their countenances. And so, when Antonius met her, his heart soared in flights of desire and his good sense deserted him amidst his passionate fancies. It was not long before he returned with her to Alexandria where she was married to him legally. He could not endure any separation from her, and so he abandoned his obligations and cast duty to the fates, refusing to awaken from the intoxication of her love.
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- Classes of LadiesWriting Feminist History through Biography in Fin-de-siecle Egypt, pp. 331 - 345Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2015