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Caesar and cleopatra by shaw6/8/2023 ![]() ![]() Julius Caesar approaches and praises the sphinx, failing to notice the young girl sleeping between its paws. Cleopatra’s chief nurse, Ftatateeta, emerges from the palace and informs the guards that Cleopatra, who is terrified of the Romans, has run away.Ĭleopatra is sound asleep between the paws of a Sphinx. A Nubian sentinel runs inside the palace to warn everyone of the advancing army. A wounded Egyptian soldier named Bel Affris staggers through the gate to warn the Egyptians that Julius Caesar’s powerful Roman army is on its way to conquer Egypt and will reach them soon. The action shifts to Cleopatra’s palace in Syria, where she has been banished by her brother Ptolemy, with whom she is fighting for control of Egypt. Ra recounts how Julius Caesar defeated Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus and chased him to Egypt, where he was ultimately assassinated by Lucius Septimius in 48 B.C.E. ![]() He also establishes the origins of Julius Caesar’s rivalry with Pompey, explaining that the gods favored Caesar, who lived boldly and had an affinity for progress and exploration. The Egyptian god Ra addresses the play’s audience directly, belittling them for their ignorance and insulting contemporary (mid-Victorian) British society. ![]()
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