Sorry folks, long time no post. My summer class was fun but because it was a 5 week class, it was also a LOT of work! But I'm back with more interesting info to file away in the "in case I'm ever on Jeopardy" part of your brain.
You guys know I love Ancient Egyptian history and it seems like there's no end to the stories about Cleopatra. The chick died over a millenium ago and we still keep talking about her. Makes sense though cause duh, she's interesting!
It makes me laugh to think that flirting in the BC times was very similar to flirting today. Cleopatra was known for her love affairs, especially the one with Marc Antony. According to Pliny the Elder (if you ever study ancient history, you'll get to know this guy intimately), to impress the great general, Cleo bragged that she could consume the most expensive meal in history. She waved for a servant to bring her a goblet filled with white vinegar and proceded to drop a pearl into the goblet. Once the pearl dissolved, Cleopatra downed the liquid. Pliny said that what made the drink so expensive was the fact that it was the largest pearl ever discovered making the price of the drink 10 million sesterces.
How true was this? People have always assumed that the story was blown out of proportion by Pliny to exaggerate the wow factor of Cleopatra and Marc Antony's relationship. But classicist Prudence Jones at Montclair State University in New Jersey has proven that the drink itself could have been made. She took a Roman-sized goblet of vinegar and dissolved a 5-carat pearl in it. It wasn't very quick, actually took about 24 hours, but the pearl did ultimately break down into a shimmery layer on top of the vinegar.
Go figure. The uber-expensive flirting must have worked because Cleopatra and Marc Antony hooked up and had 3 kids.
I sort of have this mental picture of the two of them reclining on a couple of lounge chairs, Roman-style, Marc Antony making some sort of quasi-sexual comment, Cleopatra smacking him on the shoulder 5th grade flirting style. And then boom! I can run up the highest dinner tab ever. I'm assuming the idea behind it was to show how much wealth and power she had but I'm thinking that if I was a guy the only thing that would run through my head would be, "this bitch is high maintenence."
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