Pothinus
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Potheinus
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Pothinus | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 90 BC |
| Died | 48 or 47 BC (aged c. 43) |
Pothinus or Potheinos (Greek: Ποθεινός;[1] early 1st century BC – 48 or 47 BC), an eunuch, was regent for Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. He is most remembered for turning Ptolemy against his sister and co-ruler Cleopatra, thus starting a civil war, and for having Pompey decapitated and presenting the severed head to Julius Caesar according to some sources.
When
Arsinoe IV also began to claim the throne
for herself.
Rome was also enveloped in
Brutus
. Cleopatra used Pothinus's mistake to gain favor with Caesar and eventually became his lover.
Caesar then arranged for the
execution of Pothinus and the marriage of Cleopatra to Ptolemy. In the last chapter of Commentaries on the Civil War, however, it is described that Pothinus arranged for Achillas to attack Alexandria and upon sending a message not to hesitate but to fulfill the plan, the messengers were exposed, whereupon Caesar had Pothinus imprisoned and killed, probably with a knife. His death occurred during the ten-month Siege of Alexandria
.
Depictions
Only Roman and Greek sources have mentioned Pothinus.[Caesar's Civil War. As it happened, however, Caesar came to emerge as the sole credible contender for his position of power, with Pompey dead and a Roman protectorate installed in Egypt.[2]
Pothinus's brief role and death have been depicted more fancifully in dramatic literature.
- In George Bernard Shaw's play Caesar and Cleopatra, Cleopatra arranges to have him secretly murdered by her female servant Ftatateeta after he embarrasses her (Cleopatra) in front of Caesar by telling him that she longs for his departure from Egypt so that she can rule alone. He is killed offstage. In the 1945 film based on this play, Caesar and Cleopatra, he was portrayed by Francis L. Sullivan, and in a 1976 television version of the play, he was portrayed by Noel Willman.
- In Cecil B. DeMille's 1934 film Cleopatra, in which he was portrayed by Leonard Mudie, Cleopatra kills him herself, after realizing that he is hiding behind a curtain, ready to murder Caesar.
- In the 1963 film Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, he was portrayed by Grégoire Aslan. Pothinus tries to poison Cleopatra, but the plot is discovered in time, whereupon he is put on trial (with no witnesses testifying), pronounced guilty, and sentenced to death by Caesar. Cleopatra's faithful male servant Apollodorus follows Pothinus and the small procession of guards as they exit the room, and within a few seconds an off-screen death scream is heard. One of the returning guards approaches Caesar and gives him a dagger. Caesar then summons his servant Flavius and hands him the dagger with the words, "Please return this to Apollodorus. You might clean it first; it has Pothinus all over it."
- Pothinus is depicted, portrayed by David Foxxe, in the 2002 TV miniseries Julius Caesar, as he pretends to welcome Pompey but rather silently orders for him to be assassinated by his own guards, and later welcomes Caesar, in the famous gift scene. He is later mentioned by Cleopatra while explaining the Civil War to Caesar.
- In "Caesarion", an episode of the television series Rome (2005–07), Pothinus is portrayed by actor Tony Guilfoyle; he is beheaded by the Romans and his head is placed on a spike on the outer wall of the palace.
- In The Judgment of Caesar (part of the Roma Sub Rosa series by Steven Saylor) he is forced to drink poisoned wine by Caesar.
- Pothinus is an antagonist in Assassin's Creed Origins, where he is depicted as a member (nicknamed "The Scorpion") of the Order of the Ancients, a precursor organization to the Templar Order. In the game, he is assassinated by the protagonist Bayek during the Battle of the Nile.
Notes
- ^ Dio Cassius, Histories, 42.39.1
- Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft(RE), vol. XXII, 1 (1953), col. 1177
References
- Julian Morgan, Cleopatra: Ruling in the Shadow of Rome, The Rosen Publishing Group 2003, ISBN 0-8239-3591-4, pp. 26–32
- Prudence J. Jones, Cleopatra: The Last Pharaoh, Haus Publishing 2006, ISBN 1-904950-25-6
- Lucanus, The Pharsalia of Lucan, Translated by Henry Thomas Riley, H. G. Bohn 1853
- Julius Caesar, The Civil War, Translated by Jane F. Gardner, Penguin Classics 1976, pp. 161ff.