Little is known about Cleopatra's queens

An Egyptian researcher, the Italian has recently rediscovered a sculpture of twin twins of Cleopatra VII and his lover Mark Antony at a museum in Cairo. The forgotten statue reveals many unknown things about the famous Egyptian queen's children.

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After being discovered for the first time in 1918 near the temple of Dendera on the west bank of the Nile, the 10-meter tall sandstone statue was bought by the Egyptian museum in Cairo and numbered as JE 46278, but almost was forgotten until now.

The sculpture of the Queen's twin children
Cleopatra VII and his lover Mark Antony. (Photo: Discovery)

Behind the statue shows the figure carved with some stars, seemingly implying that the statue was once attached to some ceiling. Overall, the rest of the statue looks quite unusual.

'It shows two naked children, one male and one female, identical size standing inside the hearts of 2 snakes. The kid's hand was on the shoulder of the other child, while the other hand grabbed a snake, ' said Giuseppina Capriotti, an Egyptian scholar of the Italian National Research Council on Discovery.

Capriotti noted that the boy wore a solar plate on his head, while the girl wore a moon plate with a crescent-shaped strip. Both plates are decorated with udjat eyes, also known as Horus eyes - a popular symbol in Egyptian art.

'Unfortunately, the faces are not well preserved, but we can still see curly-haired boys and have a right-hand braided hair braid, typical of Egyptian children. The girl's hair was styled like a melon - a hairstyle often associated with the Ptolemy dynasty, especially Cleopatra's Queen , "Capriotti added.

After a thorough analysis, Capriotti identified two children in the statue, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene - twins of the mother - Cleopatra Queen with her lover Antony. The twins are believed to be born around 40 BC.

They were not the first children of the famous Egyptian Queen in history. Cleopatra gave birth to her first child to Julius Caesar in 47 BC. This baby is named Caesarion. By 36 BC, she gave birth to her son Antony, another son - Ptolemy Philadelphus.

At the time of birth, the simple twins were named Cleopatra and Alexander. When his father officially admitted three years later (when Antony returned to Antioch, now Turkey, to reunite with Queen Cleopatra and his children), the two children were renamed Alexander Helios (Sun). and Cleopatra Selene (Moon).

Capriotti said: ' The fact that Antony acknowledges you coincides with the time of a natural affair. Perhaps for this reason and to mystify the birth of the twins, the two children have been given more names about the moon and the sun. Although in Egypt, the moon is a male god but in sculpture statues, gender associated with moon symbols, the sun is reversed to match the Greek tradition. '

The faces of two children in the statue
kept intact. (Photo: Discovery)

Little is known about the fate of the children Cleopatra and Mark Antony left after their suicide in 30 BC. Only thing, though Caesarion was murdered on Octavian's orders, three children of Cleopatra and Antony were acquitted.

A few years later, Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus disappeared without a trace, leaving only Cleopatra Selene. Growing up, Cleopatra was married to Mauretania King Juba II and gave birth to at least one child named Ptolemy Philadelphus in memory of his missing little brother.

The picture of Cleopatra Selene was engraved on coins along with a picture of King Juba. This implies that the daughter of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra also has the right to rule over her husband's support country.

Reference: Discovery