History’s legends, back for one more chat. 🎙️

This week, Sam summons the last queen of Egypt: Cleopatra VII. She ruled at eighteen, spoke more languages than most of her court, and outlasted two of Rome’s most powerful men in her own way. She also arrives in the studio on a rolled-up rug, with Professor Whiskers having talked her into showing up.

In this episode:
• The real story of her rise, from a throne under siege to a winter in Alexandria
• Caesar, Antony and the hard questions
• Myth time: the milk baths, the snake and everything else the movies got wrong
• The What-If: a fictional scenario Sam made up for fun

The history is researched. The What-If and the jokes are invented, and Sam is not a real historian.

New episodes drop regularly. Follow The Impossible Interview with Sam so you don’t miss who gets summoned next.

Every historical claim below comes from an ancient writer or a modern historian. Where the sources disagree, the script says so out loud. Please double-check page and line references against your own editions before publishing the show notes.

Factual claims

Claim in the script

Source

Born 69 B.C.; father Ptolemy XII "Auletes" (Flute Player); Ptolemies ruled about 300 years from Ptolemy I

Standard reference history (Roller, Cleopatra: A Biography); Plutarch

First of her dynasty known to learn Egyptian; spoke with envoys of Ethiopia, Arabia, Syria, Parthia and others without an interpreter

Plutarch, Life of Antony 27

Queen at 18 in 51 B.C. beside brother Ptolemy XIII (about 10)

Roller; Dio Cassius 42

Father expelled, restored by Roman force (55 B.C.); promised ten thousand talents to Gabinius

Plutarch, Life of Antony 3

Entered the palace in a bed-sack carried by Apollodorus the Sicilian; Caesar captivated

Plutarch, Life of Caesar 49

The word "carpet" comes from a 1770 English translation, popularized by a French painting

Pelling's commentary on Plutarch; history of Gérôme's painting

Caesarion born June 47 B.C.

Roller; Suetonius, Divus Julius 52 (name given by Cleopatra; paternity debated)

Stayed in Caesar's villa across the Tiber in 46 B.C.; golden image in the temple of Venus Genetrix

Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15.15; Appian, Civil Wars 2.102 (interpretation debated)

Cicero wrote that he hated the queen and could not recall her insolence without anger

Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15.15

Caesar assassinated March 15, 44 B.C.

Plutarch; Suetonius; Appian

Tarsus barge scene, Cydnus river, Aphrodite costume, Antony left alone at his tribunal

Plutarch, Life of Antony 26

Antony in Alexandria as young officer in 55 B.C.

Plutarch, Life of Antony 3

Inimitable Livers club; the salted-fish prank

Plutarch, Life of Antony 28-29

Arsinoe killed at Ephesus in 41 B.C. at Cleopatra's request; Josephus's claim about Ptolemy XIV (unproven)

Appian, Civil Wars 5.9; Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 15.89

Beauty "not altogether incomparable" but charm and voice irresistible; Pascal's nose

Plutarch, Life of Antony 27; Pascal, Pensees

200 ships and 20,000 talents at Ephesus

Plutarch, Life of Antony 56

Papyrus of 23 Feb 33 B.C. for Canidius, closing word ginesthoi, possibly her handwriting

Papyrus Bingen 45 (Berlin); scholars debate the hand

Canidius bribed by Cleopatra

Plutarch, Life of Antony 56

Donations of Alexandria, autumn 34 B.C.; Queen of Kings; Caesarion proclaimed Caesar's son

Plutarch, Life of Antony 54; Dio Cassius 49.41

Rome declared war on Cleopatra, 32 B.C.

Plutarch, Life of Antony 60; Dio Cassius 50.4

Several versions of her death; "the truth of the matter no one knows"; Strabo's two options; Olympos's account

Plutarch, Life of Antony 86; Strabo 17.1.10; Roller

Poison tests on condemned prisoners

Plutarch, Life of Antony 71

Tomb beside a temple of Isis; contents listed; torch-wood and tow

Plutarch, Life of Antony 74

Kathleen Martinez digging at Taposiris Magna for about 20 years; no tomb found; experts doubt

News coverage of the excavation; scholarly commentary.