Review of Cleopatra at Cincinatti Museum Center

The tour of the Cleopatra Exhibit at the Cindinatti Museum Center starts with a 6 minute film about Cleopatra and the underwater discovery of ancient artifacts from her time in Egypt.  Next as the movie screen lifts  you begin a 14 stop audio tour through the exhibit.  The audio tour is included with the ticket and the audiodevices worked very well.  In the audio Cleopatra speaks to you telling you about the history of her life, her children, the men in her life, and the battles with the Romans.

The exhibit includes 150 Egyptitan artifacts that included  Egyptian Coins, jewels, statues, and more.  My favorite were two 15ft tall statues, one of  a man and one of a woman that were recovered from the bottom of the ocean.  The statues were both cracked in a few places but they did an excellent job of piecing the statues back together.  The female statue is missing her right arm.   There is a video showing them being rescued from the ocean.

I learned the Cleopatra was a Ptolemy who spoke both Greek and Egyptian,.  She was a good student who studied History, medicine, and philosophy.  Cleopatra captured the heart of two of the most powerful men in the world, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

After being conquered by the Romans she committed suicide to avoid being embarassed in front of her people, Mark Antony did the same upon hearing about itAt the end of the exhibit there is a screen showing clips from movies about Cleopatra.  They include: 

1963 "Cleopatra" with Elizabeth Taylor

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1946 "Caesar and Cleopatra" with Viven Leigh

1934 "Cleopatra"with Claudette Colbert

1954


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2007  Leonor Varela

There are also paintings of Cleopatra at the very end of the Exhibit.   We really enjoyeod our visit to this exhibit and my son is already asking to go a second time!  The exhibit is at the Cincinatti museum center through Sept. 2011 so  you never know, we just may go back!

We also visited the Museum of Natural History and Science and my son really enjoyed the Science of Mummies exhibit.  For more information on the Cleopatra Exhibit please visit http://www.nationalgeographic.com/events/cleopatra/.