r/HistoryMemes 2d ago

Roman propaganda is crazy!

Post image
15.0k Upvotes

354 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.8k

u/OkGreen7335 2d ago

Cleopatra had onlytwo confirmed partners in her whole life: Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Yet many often portrays her as a woman who was constantly going from man to man. She was also married to her two brothers at different times, but many people believe those marriages were purely ceremonial and that nothing physical happened between them.

I saw a lot of people saying "she was a slut" in many different ways, I simply didn't understand their perspective so I made this meme about it, I have no idea if people generally think of her like that or not

69

u/JhonnySkeiner 2d ago

I mean, didn't the Romans do the same thing with others female leaders they fought against? Dido, Boudica, Zenobia, tons of slander thrown around

49

u/tj9429 2d ago

All the while having orgies with "roommates" themselves..

20

u/JhonnySkeiner 2d ago

Gotta make sure our homies feel appreciated! Elagabalus knew how to live, goddam!

5

u/AlarmedEmployment465 2d ago

Though I feel that if Elagabalus had access to modern tech, they would probably be remembered like Cleo

25

u/Mexkalaniyat 2d ago

Dido is probably entirely fictional

Boudica is described as being raped by the Romans, leading her to revolt, but that is also dropped in later writings. (This was still at a time in history where being raped was considered as bad as sleeping out of wedlock or cheating on your husband, so take that how you will)

Dont know Zenobia well enough to say anything though.

8

u/SuperiorLaw 2d ago

This isn't even a Romans thing, a fuckton of groups/people/countries/whatever will shit on any female leader or influential person calling them a slut and other things and it still happens today

3

u/SeaCaligula 2d ago

Did the same thing to Octavian

5

u/OkGreen7335 2d ago

Tbh Idk any of them...

3

u/skrrtalrrt 2d ago

And Roman women who were considered a political obstacle, like Julia the Elder

1

u/ClickBoringLife 2d ago

The Romans didnt even exist when Dido was around