Movie Review: Cleopatra (1963)

This week, I wanted to take a look at the movie that has the dubious distinction of being the only film ever to be the top-grossing film of the year to lose money at the box office, "Cleopatra":

An epic historical drama focusing on the famous Queen Cleopatra, the film focuses on her machinations to maintain her power and position in the face of the imperial ambitions of Rome.   But how is she supposed to do so, with Egypt hobbled by generations of corruption and incompetence?  The young queen must rely on her personal assets...

Loosely based on history, the film begins shortly after Caesar defeats Pompey Magnus at the Battle of Pharsalus to end Caesar's Civil War.  Pompey flees to Egypt and Caesar pursues, only to find his frenemy assassinated by the Egyptians.

Thereafter, Caesar is quickly involved (in several senses of the word) in the power struggle between Cleopatra and her brother/husband/co-ruler Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator.  Cleopatra seduces the new leader of the Roman world and, after Caesar defeats her brother, bears him a son, Caesarion.

"A woman too must make the barren land fruitful. She must make life grow where there was no life. Just as the Mother Nile feeds and replenishes the Earth, I am the Nile. I will bear many sons. Isis has told me. My breasts are full of love and life. My hips are rounded and well apart. Such women, they say, have sons."

However, after the would-be king kicks the bucket (Et tu, Brute?), Cleopatra then seduces his old friend, Mark Anthony, who has formed the Second Triumvirate with Octavian, Caesar's great-nephew and adopted son, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, another of Caesar's generals.

Like the First Triumvirate, the Second Triumvirate, is an alliance of convenience that breaks down and leads to a showdown between Mark Anthony, with Cleopatra as ally, and Octavian.  At the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra inexplicably chickens out and flees, causing by her doomed lover to follow and abandoned his troops.

With a run time of over 4 hours, "Cleopatra" was an epic (in several senses of the word) mess.  Originally budgeted at $2 million, the film rapidly ballooned out of control.  20th Century Fox fired original director Rouben Mamoulian after 2 years, $7 million, and only 10 minutes of film!  Replacement director Joseph L. Mankiewicz was able to complete the film, sort of.

Mankiewicz worked to sheer exhaustion directing by day and writing by night, with little sleep.  The resulting movie is a mish-mash of love triangle, battle scenes and over the top grandeur.  "Cleopatra" has a stellar cast but Elizabeth Taylor isn't able to carry the lead.  For example, Queen Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, was one of the most interesting figures of Anquity, a diplomat, naval commander, polyglot, and medical author.  However, not much of that background makes it to the silver screen.

So, if you want to see sparks fly between Liz Taylor and Richard Burton (they had a scandalous affair during production) or if you like old Hollywood Epics, this is an okay film.  Otherwise, check out a better and more accurate take of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony in Season 2 of Rome!

Board Game Review: "Royal Game of Ur" (~3000 BC)

This week, I want give a shout out to one of the most popular board games of all time that also happens to be almost completely forgotten nowadays: The "Royal Game of Ur":

The Royal Game of Ur, also known as the Game of Twenty Squares or simply the Game of Ur, is a two-player turn-based strategy game where the players race to be the first to move all their pieces through and then off the game board.  However, this is easier said that done in this simple but elegant game that can become surprisingly intense.

On the player's turn, they roll four dice to determine how many squares they can move a single piece.  However, the dice are d4s (a triangular pyramid with four triangular faces), and not the d4 that are commonly used in RPGs today: two of the four vertex corners are marked with a white tip.  The number of white tips pointing upward equals the number of squares they can move a single piece.  This means a player can move 0 to 4 spaces, with the results distributed on a bell curve.

The game board consists of 20 spaces arranged in two rows of 6 and one row of 8 (looking like a deformed "I").  Each row of 6 is controlled by one player only and the row of 8 is shared.  Players must send a game piece through both their controlled row and the shared row before they can move the piece off the board.

The Royal Game of Ur, so named because it was first rediscovered by the English archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley during his excavations of the Royal Cemetery at Ur between 1922 and 1934, was first played in ancient Mesopotamia during the early third millennium BC and was popular across the large parts of the ancient world among people of all social strata.  In addition, boards for the game have been found at locations as far away as Crete and Sri Lanka.

This game is probably a direct ancestor of the backgammon family of games and was popular until late antiquity. At this point, it have may evolved into backgammon or may have been eclipsed in popularity by early forms of backgammon.  However, the Game of Ur was also brought to the Indian city of Kochi by Jewish traders, where they were still playing a recognizable version into the 1950s.

Modern replicas are available for purchase with an easy internet search.

If you'd like to see this five millennia old game in action, played by Irving Finkel, a curator at the British Museum, who rediscovered the rules of the game by translating in the early 1980s a clay tablet written c. 177 BC by the Babylonian scribe Itti-Marduk-balālu, check out this awesome video!

Culture: Beer (~3000 BC)

Last year, I mentioned that eating well is one of things that makes life worth living!

This week, I wanted to take a look at the other side of cuisine and give a shout out to one of the oldest and most widely loved beverages of all time, Beer:

Beer is the third most popular drink in the world after water and tea.  And whether one calls this liquid awesomeness a cold one, a brewskie, or real man's Zima, people have been enjoying beer for a long, long time.  For example, during the building of the Great Pyramids of Giza, each worker got a daily ration of four to five liters of beer, serving as both nutrition and refreshment that was crucial to the Pyramids' construction.

Related to the invention of bread (it is theorized that beer-like beverages were independently developed throughout the world soon after a tribe or culture had domesticated cereal), beer has been arguably partly responsible for humanity's ability to develop technology and build civilization.  Unsurprisingly, the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating beer and beer parlors.

Fermentation is one of the earliest chemical processes mastered by humanity.  Barley brewed beer has been around since at least 3100 BC, as per archaeological evidence (ancient pottery jars) from Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of modern day western Iran.  

The oldest surviving beer recipe is the "Hymn to Ninkasi," the Sumerian goddess of brewing:

"Given birth by the flowing water ......, tenderly cared for by Ninhursaja! Ninkasi, given birth by the flowing water ......, tenderly cared for by Ninhursaja!

Having founded your town upon wax, she completed its great walls for you. Ninkasi, having founded your town upon wax, she completed its great walls for you.

Your father is Enki, the lord Nudimmud, and your mother is Ninti, the queen of the abzu. Ninkasi, your father is Enki, the lord Nudimmud, and your mother is Ninti, the queen of the abzu.

It is you who handle the ...... and dough with a big shovel, mixing, in a pit, the beerbread with sweet aromatics. Ninkasi, it is you who handle the ...... and dough with a big shovel, mixing, in a pit, the beerbread with sweet aromatics.

It is you who bake the beerbread in the big oven, and put in order the piles of hulled grain. Ninkasi, it is you who bake the beerbread in the big oven, and put in order the piles of hulled grain.

It is you who water the earth-covered malt; the noble dogs guard it even from the potentates (?). Ninkasi, it is you who water the earth-covered malt; the noble dogs guard it even from the potentates (?).

It is you who soak the malt in a jar; the waves rise, the waves fall. Ninkasi, it is you who soak the malt in a jar; the waves rise, the waves fall.

It is you who spread the cooked mash on large reed mats; coolness overcomes ....... Ninkasi, it is you who spread the cooked mash on large reed mats; coolness overcomes .......

It is you who hold with both hands the great sweetwort, brewing it with honey and wine. Ninkasi, it is you who hold with both hands the great sweetwort, brewing it with honey and wine.

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You ...... the sweetwort to the vessel. Ninkasi, ....... You ...... the sweetwort to the vessel.

You place the fermenting vat, which makes a pleasant sound, appropriately on top of a large collector vat. Ninkasi, you place the fermenting vat, which makes a pleasant sound, appropriately on top of a large collector vat.

It is you who pour out the filtered beer of the collector vat; it is like the onrush of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Ninkasi, it is you who pour out the filtered beer of the collector vat; it is like the onrush of the Tigris and the Euphrates."

As befits the followers of Ninkasi, many ancient beer meisters in Mesopotamia were women, and making beer was one of the few trades open women at the time.  This is a reflection of the responsibility that women had to supply both bread and beer to the household. 

In contrast with today's brews, ancient beers were often thick, more of a gruel than a beverage, and sometimes early beer drinkers used straws to avoid the bitter solids left over from fermentation.  In addition, some beers contained ingredients that would be unusual to modern beer drinkers, such as berries, honey and narcotic herbs!

But perhaps the biggest difference between ancient beers and modern beers is the latter's use of hops, which started in Germany in the 9th century.  Germany, of course, is home to the most epic of beer festivals, Oktoberfest, which has been held annually for over two centuries!

So, whether you are drinking craft brew or your favorite commercial megabrand, remember that you are doing your own small part to further civilization.  Cheers!