Cleopatra & the Siege of Alexandria (48 to 47 B.C.E.)

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Reddit Comments

I'm looking forward to the day I can watch an 8 hour Historia Civilis playlist of the fall of the roman republic

👍︎︎ 37 👤︎︎ u/shahnick 📅︎︎ Sep 27 2018 🗫︎ replies

Historia Civilis for consul of the United States!

👍︎︎ 53 👤︎︎ u/jl2352 📅︎︎ Sep 27 2018 🗫︎ replies

Man, the HBO miniseries really did a terrible job with that chapter of Roman history.

👍︎︎ 28 👤︎︎ u/Bigred2989- 📅︎︎ Sep 27 2018 🗫︎ replies

I've felt a big jump in production quality in the last few videos. I liked the humor in this one especially, and the small music callback from the death of Pompey in the previous video.

👍︎︎ 7 👤︎︎ u/BorisAcornKing 📅︎︎ Sep 27 2018 🗫︎ replies

I am still waiting for a big news that they would find CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY'S bodies.

👍︎︎ 6 👤︎︎ u/Fil_az 📅︎︎ Sep 28 2018 🗫︎ replies

It's impressive how he keeps winning despite being outnumbered.

👍︎︎ 10 👤︎︎ u/Tppcrpg 📅︎︎ Sep 28 2018 🗫︎ replies

I was so worried that he was going to drone on about the burning of the Library of Alexandria. Like, it was totally a tragedy and it sucks hard that some of that knowledge was lost and that individuals in the area no longer had access to such a wealth of academic knowledge, but some people think we'd be colonizing Mars right now if it hadn't burned.

Tragic, yes, but hardly world shattering.

Always so happy to see these videos on my feed.

👍︎︎ 12 👤︎︎ u/CMLMinton 📅︎︎ Sep 27 2018 🗫︎ replies

This is a great series. I really like the 'shits gettin real' synth that comes in

👍︎︎ 2 👤︎︎ u/SkankHunt70 📅︎︎ Sep 28 2018 🗫︎ replies

Yessss!

👍︎︎ 2 👤︎︎ u/Whatever_man123 📅︎︎ Sep 28 2018 🗫︎ replies
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In the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Pharsalus, Caesar did not linger in Greece. Pharsalus, remember, was Julius Caesar's decisive victory over Pompey Magnus, which effectively, although not literally, ended the Roman Civil War. Caesar immediately sent one of his top lieutenants, Marc Antony, back to Rome to oversee the political situation, and then, after some intelligence gathering, he set off to Egypt in pursuit of Pompey, taking with him only 4,000 soldiers for the sake of speed. As we know, Pompey was killed the moment he stepped foot in Egypt, but this fact was not yet known to the outside world. When Caesar arrived in Egypt, officials greeted him as an honoured guest, and as a token of Egypt's good will, presented him with Pompey's severed head. According to some ancient sources, Caesar reacted to this by recoiling in horror and refusing to look at it. When the Egyptians handed him Pompey's signet ring, these same sources say that Caesar broke down in tears. Historians are not quite sure what to make of this incident. Was Caesar upset, or was he pretending to be upset? Or, is this a piece of propaganda intended to win over Pompey's supporters? We don't know! Even the ancient sources disagree. Plutarch calls Caesar's grief genuine, while Cassius Dio describes Caesar "feigning to mourn." Regardless, I think that we can with some confidence that Pompey's head was not what Caesar wanted. What he wanted was Pompey's surrender. By this point it was clear that Caesar genuinely wanted to reintegrate every Pompeian that was willing to acknowledge his supremacy, knowing that their cooperation was key to a lasting peace. Reintegrating Pompey would have been the ultimate prize, but now, thanks to the Egyptians, that was off the table. Whether or not Caesar was genuinely upset, he used Pompey's murder as an excuse to bring his 4,000 soldiers off the ships and into the city of Alexandria. The Egyptians did not give him permission to do this, but didn't feel comfortable stopping him either. The Romans paraded through the streets of Egypt's largest city as if they were a conquering army. This understandably offended the Alexandrians, and before too long there were protests, and then rioting, and then several Roman soldiers were killed. For the Romans, it was no longer safe to be out on the streets. Caesar took his tiny army and hid them away in the city's Royal Quarter, which housed the Egyptian king, his court, and a bunch of government buildings. Caesar had entered Alexandria intending to get Pompey's to surrender, but instead, in a matter of days, he had accidentally engulfed the city in a general riot, and, just to make things extra complicated, taken custody of the Egyptian king. What a mess. The current Egyptian king was a 13 year old boy named Ptolemy. Ptolemy had two older sisters, Cleopatra and Arsinoe, and one younger brother, also named Ptolemy. (Spoiler alert: they're all named Ptolemy, and it's super annoying.) The current King Ptolemy's father, (also named Ptolemy,) had died three years earlier, and, to sum up his entire life in one sentence, which is a totally fair thing to do, the only thing that kept him on the throne was support from Rome, specifically a series of massive loans. When the current king's father got sick, he named Rome as the executor of his will, which was basically a way of sucking up to his benefactors. When he died, his son inherited his father's crown and debts. Now that Caesar occupied the Royal Quarter, he was like "while I'm here, how's that debt repayment coming?" Caesar owed pensions to tens of thousands of soldiers, and at the moment was basically broke. It would be awfully nice if Egypt could magically solve this problem. When Caesar approached the king's councilors, they kinda gave him the runaround, saying it would take some time, blah blah blah, they would try sending installments to Italy whenever they could. Caesar told them not to bother, because he would be remaining in Egypt until their debts were paid. As you can imagine, this was a tense exchange. Meanwhile, the people of Alexandria continued to riot against the Roman presence in their city. Caesar accused the king and his councilors of being behind the riots, but they denied it. (Second spoiler alert: they were definitely behind the riots.) Since the Egyptians were giving Caesar a hard time, he decided that now was a good opportunity to step up and act as executor of the dead king's will. So what was in that will? For starters, the child-king Ptolemy was supposed to serve as co-monarch with his older sister, Cleopatra. Currently, that wasn't happening. In fact, Cleopatra had been ousted by a rival faction, and was now raising an army to the south. Not only were the terms of the king's will not being met, but an Egyptian Civil War seemed imminent. Since the king's will was at the root of this problem, the Romans had every right to intervene if they wished. Caesar announced that he would be doing just that. He would mediate the dispute. Naturally, the king and his councilors hated every second of this. Caesar's implied message was clear. If Ptolemy's faction wouldn't cooperate, maybe another faction would. Before we go any further we should probably talk about Ptolemy's older sister Cleopatra, because even if this is all brand new to you, you probably recognize that name. Every credible ancient sources describes her as charming, and witty, and incredibly intelligent. Apparently she could speak at least 9 languages, including Hebrew and Latin. She was even the first person of her dynasty that could actually speak Egyptian, which was an incredibly tough language for an outsider to learn. She was a world-class strategic thinker. She was often the first to diagnose problems, and when she knew what needed to be done she was absolutely tenacious. The fact that she also happened to be royalty truly made her a force to be reckoned with. So, Cleopatra was attempting to build an army in the south of Egypt, but this wasn't going very well. Then, out of nowhere, a wildcard entered the picture and offered to mediate. This could be turned to her advantage, but she needed a plan. And then bam! She had a plan! Cleopatra found herself a tiny boat, disguised herself in rags, and set off on an exhausting eight day journey down the Nile. Her only companion on this expedition was a dude named Apollodorus, who was a big guy from Sicily who presumably spoke Latin without an accent. When Cleopatra and Apollodorus reached the end of the Nile, they waited until dark, and then silently rowed their boat into Alexandria's Royal Harbour. At the docks, Cleopatra stuffed herself into a laundry bag, and Apollodorus hiked the bag over his shoulder and casually walked into the city. With his flawless Latin (probably) Apollodorus was somehow able to talk his way into the Royal Quarter, and then into the palaces, and then into Caesar's private chambers. Once in Caesar's presence, Apollodorus set down the laundry bag and revealed Cleopatra, still dressed in rags and still a mess from her eight day journey down the Nile. Nevertheless, Caesar was impressed, as I think, we all would be, and grew even more impressed as he heard what the Cleopatra had to say. We don't know exactly what happened on that first night, but we know that within a matter of time it was clear that Caesar and Cleopatra had begun an affair. Caesar decided to side with Cleopatra in the dispute with her brother, announcing that Cleopatra and Ptolemy were to serve as co-monarchs, just as their father's will instructed. Let's not get too hung up on the fact that Caesar and Cleopatra were sleeping together, though. Caesar already knew that Ptolemy's faction was behind the riots. It had been nothing but thinly veiled hostility since the moment he arrived. It made a lot of sense for Rome to throw their support behind Ptolemy's rival, no matter who that was. Obviously, Ptolemy and his councilors were not happy with this new arrangement. Shortly after Cleopatra's arrival, 20,000 Egyptian soldiers descended on the city. The anti-Roman riots suddenly shifted into a formal blockade with the full support of the Egyptian military. The Siege of Alexandria had begun. Caesar sent a bunch of frantic messages to allied kings in Syria and Asia Minor, but even in the best case scenario, help was months away. Within a few days, it was no longer possible to get word in or out of the city, and Caesar's 4,000 Romans were trapped in the Royal Quarter. Any attempt to negotiate was met with violence. The king and his councilors, who were still under Caesar's care in the Royal Quarter, claimed that this was all happening against their orders, which was obviously a lie. Caesar made the first move and seized the nearby Royal Harbour, which was home to both the Egyptian and Roman fleets. There was some intense fighting down by the docks, but in the end the Romans were able to set fire to a bunch of ships, successfully crippling the Egyptian fleet. Many historians believe that this fire inadvertently spread into the city, consuming part of the Library of Alexandria, which at this time was one of the world's greatest repositories of ancient knowledge. However, it's kinda... trendy, for lack of a better word, to exaggerate the impact of this, and the Library would continue to operate for centuries, ultimately falling for reasons that had nothing to do with this fire. Caesar had the Roman army close off the streets and fortify the Royal Quarter. As the defenses were going up, Arsinoe, the king's other sister, escaped Roman custody and went over to the besieging Egyptian army, who immediately proclaimed her Queen. After Arsinoe's escape fighting began in earnest, and each day yielded only a few metres gained or lost in either direction. Historian Philip Freeman calls this "one of the most vicious campaigns of urban warfare in the ancient world." This would go on for months. Caesar had never been much of a drinker, but during this time he began staying up every night and drinking himself into a stupor. These were dark times. Things only got more desperate. The Egyptian army figured out how flood the Roman water supply with impotable sea water. This caused a minor panic, and Caesar's soldiers began to openly criticize their leader's slow response. Eventually the Romans were able to dig new wells, but morale remained low. As the fighting continued back and forth, the Egyptians started to gather a bit of momentum. The entire city rallied behind a big patriotic push to rebuild the Egyptian fleet, which involved literally ripping up buildings for their wood. These makeshift Egyptian ships eventually outnumbered the Roman fleet at something like 2 to 1. This was bad. Such an extreme disadvantage at sea put the Royal Harbour at risk. Something needed to change. Caesar decided to attack the island of Pharos. Pharos was home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, but more importantly, Pharos controlled access to the Royal Harbour. If the Romans controlled Pharos, it would buy them some time. Caesar loaded a third of his army onto a bunch of small boats and lead an assault on the island. The Egyptians on Pharos were relentless in their defense of the island, and as the day wore on, Egyptian reinforcements poured across the bridge. By the end of the first day of fighting, the Romans had only managed to capture part of the island. On the second day, the Romans launched an all out assault on the bridge, but by this time they had obviously lost the element of surprise and the Roman advance ground to a halt. Then, late in the day, the Egyptian fleet swooped into the harbour and began landing soldiers behind the Roman position. Facing an attack on two fronts, a large number of Romans broke and fled back to their boats. Caesar saw the writing on the wall, and ordered a general retreat. In the rush to get off of the island, the boat carrying Caesar capsized. Thinking quickly, Caesar slipped out of his armour and proceeded to swim across the harbour all by himself, holding a bunch of maps and papers above his head to keep them dry. This was one of the low points of Caesar's career. Less than half of those who attacked the island made it back alive. The total size of Caesar's tiny army fell by like 20%. It was a devastating defeat. The Siege of Alexandria slid into its fifth month, with no end in sight. When an envoy from the besieging Egyptians approached the Romans asking for the release of their king, Caesar was all ears. The faction currently leading the Egyptian army had shown consistent opposition to the idea of a negotiated settlement. Behind the scenes, some whispered that it might be a different story if Ptolemy were in charge. Caesar agreed release the child-king and his councilors, on the condition that they come back to him with a peace plan. But Caesar was had. As soon as Ptolemy and his councilors were free, they ordered an all-out attack on the Royal Quarter. So much for that idea. About a month later, a foreign ship was able to slip past the Egyptian fleet and into the Royal Harbour. It carried a letter addressed to Caesar from King Mithridates of Pergamum, to whom Caesar had appealed for help at the beginning of the siege. The letter said that Mithridates had just entered Egypt with 18,000 soldiers. This was fantastic news. Caesar used this opportunity to load the majority of his army, which was only like a couple thousand soldiers, onto his ships and sail away, leaving behind only a small garrison to hold the Royal Quarter. The Roman ships evaded the Egyptian fleet and sailed east around the Egyptian position to join up with Mithridates's army, at which point Caesar assumed command. In late March, 6 months after Caesar's initial landing in Egypt, a Roman-lead army and an Egyptian army faced each other at what historians call "The Battle of the Nile." The Egyptians encamped on a hill just west of a tiny little branch of the Nile, with one side of the protected by the river, another by some rocky terrain, and a third by a marsh. Wisely, the Egyptians decided to make their stand here. But naturally, before anything else could happen, the Roman-lead army had to cross the river. The Egyptians anticipated this, and sent cavalry and light infantry to make this crossing as difficult as possible. But Caesar anticipated their anticipation, and as the Roman-lead army approached the river, he sent some cavalry upstream to secretly cross ahead of the main army. Then, when the rest of the army reached at the tiny river, they laid a bunch of tree trunks flat across its banks, forming makeshift bridges. As this was happening the cavalry on the other side of the river came into view, and the two groups simultaneously charged. This was more than the Egyptians were expecting, and many were killed before they were able to withdraw back up the hill. The Roman-lead army was already exhausted from a long day's march, but nevertheless Caesar ordered them to storm a nearby town, hoping that the Egyptians would rush to their aid. They did not. For similar reasons, Caesar decided to encamp uncomfortably close to the enemy, basically at the foot of the hill. Again, the Egyptians remained disciplined and stayed put at the top of the hill. The next morning, left with no other options, Caesar ordered an all-out attack. The Roman-lead army charged straight up the open side of the hill. Caesar then split off a small group, instructing them to circle around and squeeze themselves between the river and the hill, where they might be able to open up a second line of attack from the other direction. This didn't go very well. The Egyptians focused their arrow fire on this tiny isolated group, and even brought up river vessels to fire at them from the other direction. This group of soldiers would spend the rest of the battle huddled together on the side of the hill trying not to get shot, and would suffer massive casualties. Meanwhile, the main group were continuing to the uphill attack, but were making virtually no progress. But Caesar noticed that in their zeal, the Egyptians had moved a little too far down the hill, revealing a little gap in their line. He ordered a few Roman cohorts to circle around and see if they could exploit that gap. They got through! The cohorts stormed the top of the hill, and then turned and charged straight into the rear of the Egyptian line. This was enough to set off a widespread panic. The signal was given to retreat back to the Egyptian river boats. It was not an orderly retreat. In the confusion, the ship carrying King Ptolemy capsized, and the child-king drowned in the Nile. Caesar didn't waste any time admiring his victory. He immediately left for Alexandria with a small group of cavalry, bringing with him news of the Egyptian defeat and of the death of the king. The Alexandrian garrison surrendered at once, which at last brought the Siege of Alexandria to an end. The historian Stacy Schiff wrote in her biography of Cleopatra: "The best that can be said of the Alexandrian War is that Caesar acquitted himself brilliantly in a situation in which he stupidly found himself." Plutarch, an ancient writer that I would generally categorize as pro-Caesar, wrote: "as for the war in Egypt, some say that it was not necessary," later describing it as "inglorious and full of peril." There's a pretty broad historical consensus that this entire campaign was a disaster, and frankly it's astonishing that it wasn't end of Caesar's career. But now that Cleopatra was fully empowered in Egypt, a peace deal was possible. Cleopatra agreed to repay Egypt's debts in full, and to host to a permanent Roman garrison. She also agreed to serve as co-monarch with her last living brother, also named Ptolemy, and to let the Romans take her sister Arsinoe back to Rome in chains. In exchange, Caesar agreed to return the province of Cyprus to Egypt. After the Battle of the Nile and the subsequent peace settlement, Caesar lingered in Egypt for three months. What was he doing? Not a whole lot! Caesar and Clepoatra used this time to travel up the Nile with the Roman army. On paper this was a demonstration to the people of Egypt that their new Queen had Rome's full support, but if we're being honest, it was probably just an excuse to take a pleasure cruise. By the time everybody returned to Alexandria, Cleopatra was extremely pregnant. She would later give birth to a boy, naming it - wait for it - Ptolemy. Back in Rome, people would half-jokingly refer to the child as Caesarion, which means "Little Caesar." It's not exactly a subtle nickname, but it's the name that historians still use. By this time news from the wider world was beginning to trickle into Egypt. Most of it was not good. First, an allied king in Asia had turned against Rome, and was slaughtering every Roman citizen found in his territory. Second, the remnants of the Pompeian Faction were gathering strength at an alarming rate down in North Africa. Third, Marc Antony was making a big ol' mess of Roman politics back home, and things were approaching a boiling point. Clearly, Caesar still lacked a reliable second in command. Every time he removed himself from the equation, things began to crumble. Lingering in Egypt had probably been a mistake.
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Channel: Historia Civilis
Views: 1,460,272
Rating: 4.947516 out of 5
Keywords: Historia Civilis, Ancient Rome, Roman History, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Marc Antony, Roman Civil War, Roman Republic, Ptolemy
Id: nmpQv_jkBWA
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 23min 29sec (1409 seconds)
Published: Thu Sep 27 2018
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