Image: Roman Wall painting from the House of Giuseppe II, Pompeii, 1st century AD, death of Sophonisba, but more likely Cleopatra VII of Egypt consuming poison

Description: A Roman wall painting from the House of Giuseppe II (Casa di Giuseppe II), Pompeii, Italy; it is dated to the first quarter of the 1st century AD and was first discovered in 1769. It is now located in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy. It was originally thought to depict Sophonisba, the noble Carthaginian woman loved by the Numidian King Massanissa, who sent her poison during the Second Punic War so that she could commit suicide rather than allowing the Romans to capture her. However, more recent analysis strongly identifies the reclining woman wearing the royal diadem as Cleopatra VII of Egypt, consuming poison as her son Caesarion, also wearing a royal diadem, stands behind her. A male attendant in front of her holds the mouth of a crocodile, perhaps not a real one but merely an extension of a large, elaborate tray handle. Duane W. Roller (2010: 178-179) questions the theory about Sophonisba, saying that it was more likely a Roman audience of the time would have identifies the woman as Cleopatra than a more obscure figure such as Sophonisba, who lived two centuries prior to the creation of the painting. Roller also highlights the fact that Masinissa was an associate of Cleopatra's ancestor Ptolemy VIII, and that Cleopatra's own daughter Cleopatra Selene II married the Numidian prince Juba II, king of Mauretania. One of the bystanders also appears to be a Roman man, while the double doors high up on the rear wall (outside the view of this close-up scene) suggest the entrance of Cleopatra's tomb in Alexandria where she likely committed suicide and was buried alongside Mark Antony. There is no asp depicted in the painting, but Roman historiography contains contradictory accounts of Cleopatra's cause of death, with some saying it involved a venomous snake and others claiming it was from needle injections shooting poison into her arm or even a poisonous ointment (Roller, 2010: 147-149). Source: Duane W. Roller, Cleopatra: a biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-19-536553-5, pp. 178-179.
Title: Roman Wall painting from the House of Giuseppe II, Pompeii, 1st century AD, death of Sophonisba, but more likely Cleopatra VII of Egypt consuming poison
Credit: VIII.2.39 Pompeii. Casa di Giuseppe II or Casa di Fusco or House of Emperor Joseph II.
Author: Ancient Roman painter(s)
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No