Secrets of Egypt

The goal of this essay is to analyse the documentary film Secrets of Egypt: Cleopatra. A documentary movie is one, which provides historical, political, social or scientific information on a particular subject, be it a famous person, a drug, a war, or any subject that depicts reality, in order to inform the viewers. It presents the information without any fictional data inserted [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/documentary]. Secrets of Egypt is a movie on Cleopatra, the strikingly beautiful woman who was also the last pharaoh of Egypt. More particularly, this documentary covers not only her life, but furthermore gives rich information on the city of Alexandria, the most important city during that period, and on how the Romans as well as the Egyptians perceived her.

1. Primary sources

This documentary discusses Cleopatra's life, who a very famous political figure in Egyptian history. As it is known, Egypt is considered the cradle of civilization, and due to its rich history, important evidence of monumental events can be found on its sites. One primary source that is seen in the movie, are the Anfushi tombs. In fact, on these limestone tombs there are numerous drawings made with charcoal. This particular artifact was not subject to modern technologies, as the drawings were simple for experienced archeologists and historians to analyse. The charcoal drawings on some of the Anfushi tombs provide evidence of the notorious meeting in Ancient Greece of Julius Cesar and Cleopatra. The graffiti depicts Cesar's arrival, and this is important information as the Romans gave Cleopatra the opportunity to bring Egypt back to its prosperous self. Most importantly, in this version of events, Cleopatra was not simply portrayed as his mistress, but by his partner.

A second primary source that is important and that is discussed in the movie are the coins with Cleopatra's face on them. It is known that Cleopatra was beautiful, but not much is known with certainty on her looks since there was very few archeological evidence of her presence and her ruling. Colin Clement shared in the movie that there was never a female representative on such coins, besides if the woman was standing next to the male ruler. The coins that were found prove that she was the country's sovereign. Moreover, this is not where the importance of such a coin stops. In Egypt, the people did not use coins, but had barter. Therefore, historians speculate that these coins were currency for propaganda and were used outside the empire. On the coins, she looks Greeks, but it is well known that on the walls of temples and monuments in Egypt, she is truly Egyptian.

2. School of thought

In Secrets of Egypt, the historians do not seem to disagree on much. However, some opinions throughout the movie do differ. For example, archeologist Franck Goddio believed that clues still were to be found, though others thought that the royal city of the last Egyptian Dynasty was lost in a series of natural disasters. This archeologist persevered and found the sunken city as well as a statue