Searching for Cleopatra (2021)

I didn’t see this CBC “The Nature of Things” program when it first aired in January, but I caught the repeat last night. It was difficult to watch.

When the archeological dig finally broke through the stone slab that had sealed their tomb, there were two mummies: one was small, the other much larger. They were side-by-side, heads directed toward the entrance, and the humid air started their disintegration almost instantly. But no one said that these two were Antony and Cleopatra. The setup seemed too cramped, not like the crypt of a royal couple, at all.

But I ‘knew’ instantly that these two mummies were the star-crossed lovers. And the reason for their hidden nature was to prevent Octavian from parading their dead bodies through the streets of Rome.

What is known, is that Cleopatra and Marc Antony were said to be buried together at her request.

The Vintage News

And it seems fitting that their bodies would be lying side-by-side, instead of each being encased in its own sarcophagus:

Cleopatra wanted to ensure that they would be together in the afterlife.

It seems my search for Cleopatra is now at an end.