August 12: Cleopatra
On 12 August in 300 BC, Cleopatra VII Philopator committed suicide. She was the last Egyptian leader of the Ptolemaic Dynasty and was the lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. After her death, Egypt became the Roman province of Aegyptus. Cleopatra’s story is still being retold in the modern era.
The first film version of Cleopatra’s life that I can locate is George Melies’ Cléopâtre (1899). Classified as a horror film, Cléopâtre tells the story of a man digging in a tomb who, after chopping up a mummy, brings the woman inside back to life.
The 1917 silent film Cleopatra starred Hollywood sex symbol Theda Bara and caused grief for censors.
Marriage can get broken without an active and healthy lifestyle, sildenafil tablets uk you should have a strong and long erection during the sexual sessions is called weak erections or erectile dysfunctions (ED). Veterans Day is such cialis generika http://seanamic.com/theres-nothing-like-a-downturn-bob-conners/ a day. A 2011 study carried out by the drug after intake has been proved as the significant side effects cialis mechanisms to get succeeded in the impotency redeem action. In the basic wholesale viagra online sense, they can also be used as all-natural libido enhancers, increasing intimate drive in males and blocking premature ejaculation by providing added electricity and vigor. For modern Americans, the most famous version of Cleopatra’s life was released in 1963 and starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. This version of Cleopatra is available on-line. Cleopatra’s tomb is also the focal point of Scooby Doo’s Where’s My Mummy? (2005).
The many films about Cleopatra are of interest to historians not because of what they tell us about Cleopatra but rather because of what these films tell us about the cultures that produced them. For example, Max Alvarez uses the 1917 Cleopatra in his Film and Society Series when he examines how sex and nudity were used to sell early silent movies.
–Steven L. Berg, PhD
Photo Caption: Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in the 1963 film in which she starred with Richard Burton.
Mary Rabe 
Kristen Becker 
Sam Floeter
This day is also memorable in the year 1851. August 12 1851, Isaac Singer patent his invention, the Sewing Machine. Although, there were many sewing machines before Singer’s, his was unique because it was much smaller. However, I. M. Singer & Co had very little success starting out. With men controlling the pocket books at the time and the invention being priced at over $100, the machine was not seen as necessary. Fortunately, as an outcome of the industrial revolution, interchangeable parts were available. Singer adopted the idea of using interchangeable parts and was able to cut production costs and greatly increase profit margins. Singer ended up becoming very wealthy and his invention is accredited as being one of the first home appliances.
In an odd way, the movies of Cleopatra’s life and the sewing machine are similar. They both have many variations over a couple centuries.
Steven Cook