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If the Romans experienced their way, we would try to remember Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt as a depraved and electric power-hungry lady. Her lavish tastes and promiscuous lures corrupted the best rungs of Roman leadership.
Cleopatra to start with paired off with Roman Dictator Gaius Julius Caesar, who served her return from exile and ascend to the throne. Immediately after Caesar’s assassination in 44 B.C., Marcus Antonius (a.k.a. Marc Antony) became one of three Roman Republic rulers, and Cleopatra’s subsequent ally and love curiosity.
The Romans weren’t prepared for a powerful girl, and biographers and historians smeared her legacy. They failed to note that Cleopatra was a major scholar. She spoke at minimum seven languages and was intrigued in science and medicine. She investigated, done experiments (albeit cruel and unethical types) and wrote about her findings. In her time, she was an specialist in gynecology, pharmacology and aesthetics.
Cleopatra supported breakthroughs in science and medicine. She also contributed to The Great Library of Alexandria, which was at some point wrecked after Cleopatra’s dying through the Roman profession.
Arabic-language texts note her legacy as a scientist and a scholar. Listed here are 3 documented illustrations of Cleopatra’s scientific prowess.
1. Cleopatra Experimented with Chemistry
Applying her chemistry expertise, Cleopatra won a famed wager versus Marc Antony.
In accordance to the legend, Cleopatra and Marc Antony were taking pleasure in a feast when she wager she could shell out 10 million sesterces on a one banquet. The subsequent day, she hosted a gorgeous banquet that Marc Antony was mentioned to have liked. He also doubted she reached the agreed on selling price tag.
For the next course, Cleopatra organized for a servant to area a vile of vinegar in entrance of her. With Marc Antony observing, she eliminated 1 of her priceless pearl earrings and dropped it in the vile. Immediately after the pearl dissolved, she drank the vinegar, so consuming much more than 10 million sesterces in a single sitting down. Roman Senator Lucius Plancus declared her the winner of the wager.
Despite the fact that some students say vinegar is not acidic more than enough to dissolve a pearl, some others contend the calcium carbonate in a pearl would indeed respond with the acetic acid. And that 5 % acetic acid remedy would acquire a few minutes to respond fully with powdered calcium carbonate. The cocktail, on the other hand, would probably have a fishy style that was not fulfilling.
2. Cleopatra Performed with Poisons
Cleopatra was anticipating Roman forces to wipe out her dynasty and tested which poisons would present her the speediest, minimum unpleasant dying. She utilised condemned prisoners to experiment on with lethal concoctions.
Employing tinctures, which were being mixtures of plant extracts dissolved in alcoholic beverages, Cleopatra would observe how long it took the prisoner to die and which side outcomes resulted. Some prisoners skilled seizures or nausea, and she wanted to obtain the ideal poison that would enable her to die rapidly and peacefully.
She then experimented with venomous snakes. Her personal loss of life has been attributed to cobra venom, but students are not in agreement. At the time of her dying, Roman occupiers held Cleopatra below household arrest, and they intended to continue to keep her alive. The Romans considered her useful for preserving purchase in Egypt, and it’s unlikely they would have allowed a servant to whisk an angry cobra into her space.
Some historians say Cleopatra probably bit herself to develop a wound and then applied the cobra venom topically. Other individuals say she most likely drank a deadly mixture of hemlock and opium. Most concur that we’ll by no means actually know. The to start with account of her demise didn’t occur until eventually a long time afterwards.
3. Cleopatra Established Cures
Despite the fact that Cleopatra expended sizeable time researching the best way to die, she also experimented with cures for numerous ailments. Her creation to get rid of baldness was manufactured with equal components of burnt mice, rags, and horse’s enamel. She put together those components with bear’s grease, deer marrow, and reed bark. Shen then mixed in the previous ingredient, honey, to make a salve to rub on the troubled place till hair began to develop.
Students have also attributed publications on toxicology and cosmetics to Cleopatra. Egyptians were regarded for lining their eyes with black make-up. Researchers now comprehend the makeup contained minimal doses of guide, which supported the activation of nitric oxide. This served overcome bacterial eye bacterial infections.
Cleopatra also formulated skin brightening recipes as well as salves for helping contusions mend. She also may well have concocted a painkiller that she sooner or later utilised in the closing moments of her lifetime. While students aren’t certain how her lifetime ended, some assume it’s doable she dosed herself with a painkiller to ease her remaining struggling.