In the program "Historically yours", Stéphane Bern tells on Monday the tragic and unknown story of a forgotten character of the great history, yet eldest daughter of the famous Cleopatra and Marc Antoine: Cleopatra Séléné.
A princess, the only survivor of the dynasty and condemned to the ban on remembering her family.
Did you think you knew everything about Egypt?
But do you know Cleopatra Selene, great forgotten in history and only daughter of Cleopatra?
It all started under a blazing sun, August 15, 29 BC.
AD Three young children parade in Rome during the triumph of Octavian, the future first Roman emperor under the name of Augustus.
But why do they have tears in their eyes?
Isn't that a happy event?
For them, really not.
Chained, they are going through a terrible humiliation, that reserved for the vanquished.
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Their parents were defeated by Octavian in the naval battle of Actium two years earlier. They are the children of the most famous lovers of Antiquity, Marc-Antoine and Cleopatra. Carried around the streets of the capital, under the insults of the Romans, the children follow a statue of their mother. The one that interests us today, at the top of her 10 years, has the same first name as her. It's Cleopatra Selene. She is the oldest of the siblings, a place she shares with a twin brother.
"Selene" is her nickname, from the name of the goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.
Her brother is Alexandre Helios, the sun god.
Why are there references to Greek deities, when their mother is queen of Egypt?
Quite simply because these children were born at the crossroads of two of the greatest civilizations in history.
The "damnatio memoriae", the ban on remembrance
Their mother, Cleopatra VII, belongs to the Lagid dynasty, also known as the Ptolemy, these pharaohs of Greek origin who have reigned over Egypt since the 3rd century.
She is descended from Alexander the Great and, after having been the companion of Julius Caesar, became the lover of the Roman general Marc-Antoine.
Together, they rule over Egypt from the sumptuous capital Alexandria.
Cleopatra Selene grew up there in luxurious palaces, where she received the same education as her brothers.
From the stories that cradle her childhood, she particularly retains those of Homer and the exploits of Hercules.
In the fall of 34 BC.
AD, Marc-Antoine, who wants to share the Empire between the children he had with Cleopatra, the queen of Cyrenaica, a region of present-day Libya.
A decision that does not help ease the already violent tensions between East and West since Caesar's death.
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In Rome, Octavian, the adopted son of Caesar, does not hear it that way.
It is in Actium, that he defeats Marc-Antoine and Cleopatra in 31 BC.
In order not to fall into the hands of the Romans, the lovers commit suicide while Caesarion, the son of Caesar and Cleopatra, the elder brother of Selene, is slain.
So here is a 10-year-old orphan, Cleopatra Selene, who goes from the splendor of beautiful Alexandria to Roman humiliation.
In 30 BC.
AD, Egypt becomes a province of Rome.
And to top it off, his parents are victims of an ordeal even worse than death: the damnatio memoriae.
It is the condemnation of memory, the prohibition of memory.
But Cleopatra Selene knows.
She never forgets where she comes from, even though she grows up with the enemy.
Her education is entrusted to Octavia, Octavian's sister, who was married to her father Marc-Antoine.
She therefore grew up alongside her two half-sisters.
His brothers are all sooner or later murdered by the Roman victor.
Cleopatra Selene is now the only survivor of the Ptolemy dynasty.
A "power couple" with King Juba
In 27 BC JC, in Rome, Octave takes the title of Augustus. It is the beginning of the Roman Empire which includes, among others, the kingdom of Mauretania. Be careful, nothing to do with Mauritania! This ancient region corresponds to a group that would form today Morocco and Algeria. Augustus appoints Juba king of Mauretania. This Berber officer in his twenties is the son of the former king of Numidia (today the Constantinois).
But although originally from the region, Juba does not know it.
His father was killed in a war against Julius Caesar, who sought to expand his influence and fought for the natural resources of North Africa.
Juba, a prisoner at the age of three, was brought up in Rome with the wife of his father's assassin, Calpurnia.
Her career is very similar to that of Cleopatra Selene.
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And now that Mauretania has a king, it needs a queen.
On an idea of Octavia, which is attached to her prisoner, Cleopatra Selene is sent to Juba.
She's 20, he's eight more.
If she doesn't believe she has inherited her mother's beauty, she too shines with her intelligence.
The spouses reign over the Berbers in the land of Mauretania.
They make their different origins a strength.
She speaks Greek and Egyptian, but not Berber.
He is Kabyle and speaks Punic, the language of Carthage, Libyan and Greek.
Highly educated and literate, Cleopatra Selene wants to quench her thirst for revenge against Rome.
Not in war, nor in blood.
It is first of all a cultural and religious revenge which is within his reach.
By highlighting its Egyptian and Greek culture, it emancipates itself from Rome.
An international cultural aura
Their representations on coins bear witness to the richness and diversity of their cultures.
They are the only ones to have gold coins like the Romans.
And they do not hesitate to display their origins.
In legend for him, it is written "Rex Juba", in Latin therefore, while she has "Cleopatra Basilissa" written in Greek.
She is represented with elements from her home: crocodiles from the waters of the Nile, lotus flowers, the horns of the goddess Hathor, the great eagle of Alexandria, or with the headdress with the head of an elephant which symbolizes Africa.
In architecture, it's the same.
They make Caesarea, the current Cherchell in Algeria, the capital of Mauretania.
And they built a palace with columns from Egypt and a lighthouse, while the only lighthouse at the time was that of Alexandria.
They perpetuate the Egyptian cult by building a temple of Isis.
The spouses also develop their cities of Morocco, like Volubilis, which sees forums, baths and temples of Saturn and Hercules, local gods emerging from the earth.
And that's not all.
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By marrying Juba, Cleopatra Selene hopes to perpetuate the Ptolemy dynasty.
To do this, he must secure offspring.
From his union with Juba was born, after several children who died in infancy, a son, in 5 or 6 BC.
J.-C .. What to call him?
Ptolemy, quite simply!
When does Cleopatra Selene disappear?
We don't know.
She died, according to some historians, in 5 or 6 after Jesus Christ.
According to others, it is between 14 and 17, when the poet Crinagoras of Mytilene publishes a funeral epigram in honor of a mysterious Selene.
Unless she has lived as long as her half-sisters, who will see three Emperors succeed one another at the head of the Roman Empire.
An offspring also cursed
In 23, Ptolemy succeeded his father at the head of the kingdom of Mauretania.
But once again, for questions of rivalry and jealousy, the fate of the family changes.
A few years later, Ptolemy was invited to Rome by his cousin, Emperor Caligula.
He accepts the invitation and crosses the Mediterranean.
But during a gladiatorial spectacle, he dares a terrible affront by wearing a cloak of purple, the imperial color.
And a purple more beautiful than that of the Emperor, moreover.
Caligula, who is a mad and jealous emperor, immediately has him murdered.
Thus disappears the son of Cleopatra Selene, the last descendant of the Ptolemy of Egypt.
The Romans then annex Mauretania.
Today, Moroccan and Algerian cultures keep almost no trace of Cleopatra Selene, or even of the Roman presence in their regions.
From their independence, in the 20th century, the countries of the former Mauretania will begin their history with the advent of Islam.
At the bend of Tipaza, in Algeria, we find today a masterful royal tomb.
As tall as a small pharaonic pyramid but rounded in shape, it is inspired by Greek and Berber funerary architecture and illustrates the incredible cultural diversity embodied by Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Cleopatra.