A papyrus dated to February 23, 33 B.C., may bear the notation "make it so" of Cleopatra VII. (Courtesy Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung)
Posted on 06/21/2016 6:35:29 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A single Greek word, ginesthoi, or "make it so," written at the bottom of a Ptolemaic papyrus may have been written by the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII herself, says Dutch papyrologist Peter van Minnen of the University of Groningen. Received in Alexandria on Mecheir 26 (February 23, 33 B.C.), the papyrus text, recycled for use in the construction of a cartonnage mummy case found by a German expedition at Abusir in 1904, appears to be a royal ordinance granting tax exemption to one Publius Canidius, an associate of Mark Antony's who would command his land army during the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C...
The manuscript is not one of the copies received by the other officials, as there is no forwarding note attached to it and because it was executed in multiple hands. The text of the ordinance was written first, Cleopatra's written approval second, and the date of the document's receipt in Alexandria third. As for the "make it so" subscription, there are only two parallels from antiquity, says van Minnen, citing one of Ptolemy X Alexander I, who signed a document "take care" in Greek in 99 B.C. and another such closing penned in Latin by the fifth-century Roman emperor Theodosius II in a petition to Appion, the bishop of Syene.
According to Lorelei Corcoran of the University of Memphis, such documents would have been both written and signed by a court scribe; however, given the nature of this particular papyrus, Cleopatra herself would have been the only one who would have had the authority to approve such edicts. The document, known as Berlin P 25 239, is on display at the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung in Berlin.
(Excerpt) Read more at archive.archaeology.org ...
A papyrus dated to February 23, 33 B.C., may bear the notation "make it so" of Cleopatra VII. (Courtesy Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung)
Cleopatra’s Signature Discovered
By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery.com News
October 3, 2000
http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000928/hi_cleopatra.html
Sept. 28, 2000 — The handwriting of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra has emerged from a Greek papyrus stored for more than a century in a mummy casing in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, Germany, a Dutch scholar claimed yesterday.
“Cleopatra’s signature can be found in just one word: ‘genestho,’ which means ‘Make it so!’ It is the formula for the royal authorization, and had to be added by the ruler’s own hand,” said Peter Van Minnen, a Dutch Academy research fellow in religious studies at the University of Groningen.
There are plenty of royal ordinances from Egypt during the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty (323 - 30 B.C.) that include royal subscriptions, but they are copies embedded in official correspondence or engraved inscriptions.
Van Minnen insists the document he discovered is an original. The main text was the work of a secretary, while the subscription “genestho,” written in a different hand, was signed by the queen herself.
14 posted on 09/22/2005 10:34:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Down with Dhimmicrats! I last updated by FR profile on Sunday, August 14, 2005.)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1489615/posts?page=14#14
ginesthoi
When you have nothing left to prove, you have everything to die for. CleoMe.
Fascinating.
We can actually see something written by Cleopatra, and we also have some letters (presumably written by) Bar Kochba.
Otherwise I don’t know that much else has survived, other than very much later signed documents by Byzantine emperors.
Almost everything not burned in the sacking of cities probably went into the fire on a cold night. Interesting idea that she touched it -- it would be amusing if her DNA survived on it. ;')
Soon Queen Hillary could be writin “Make It So”
She and Huma, uh, nope, not gonna say it...
I wonder if there are descendants who could try to get that tax abatement recognized?
I opened up this here history book
And flipped my lid when I took a look.
There on page 219 was this here Egyptian queen.
Although she lived in 44 BC,
Cleopatra is the chick for me.
I'm going to build a time machine
So I can go back and make the scene.
I'm gonna make some time
With my Egyptian queen
In my little old time machine
Pretty soon, I'll be making the gig
When I set the doodad on my thingamajig
I'm gonna crank and turn the dial
Very soon, I'll be on the Nile
Holding hands with my Cleo kid
Setting in the shade of a pyramid
She got a daddy rich as old King Tut.
I hear her mommy's all wrapped up.
Got a room of diamonds on every shelf.
When I walk in, she'll say, "help yourself."
I'll fill my pockets and after a while,
We'll make some time, 1960 style.
Look at that girl go!
Like she sure is?
Like, wow!
get that snake away from my girl!
Oh, no, it's too late!
Aw...ya beat me to it!
But that’s OK...It was Pub Night and I rocked the house.
I was just thinking the same thing. I wonder if the Greek subtitles read the same as the papyrus.
Wow, that old one was a new one for me. :’)
http://whitedoowopcollector.blogspot.com/2009/05/dante-evergreensda-doo.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_%26_the_Evergreens
Several years ago, I met a member of the group—I think it was Dante himself. He told me that the orchestra in the background was led by Herb Alpert—long before the Tijuana Brass.
One of those pages linked said the group was discovered by Dean (of Jan &), and Herb Alpert and Lou Adler produced ‘em.
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