09/28/2026
The Archaeological Institute of America New Orleans Society and The Department of Classical Studies at Tulane University present “Imperial Barge: Cleopatra The Goddess” by Alison Futrell (University of Arizona).
AIA Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectureship
Date ~ Tuesday, October 6, 206
Time ~ 6pm
Location ~ Jones Hall 204
One of the key motifs in popular representations of the last of the Ptolemies is Cleopatra’s Barge, a nexus of seduction, pleasure, gratification. For the historical Cleopatra VII, the barge was a political and religious platform for shaping positive interactions with diverse audiences in the ancient Mediterranean, meant to stabilize and secure her realm and shape a vision for future authority, with power strongly founded in the past. In Egypt, Cleopatra reinforced connections with local powerbrokers and processed between ritual centers, a dynamic divine ruler enacting key functions that ensured the practical and sacred continuity of her realm. Her famous Nile Cruise with Julius Caesar was a sacred pageant that featured her newly secured strength as queen, goddess, partner and chosen of the gods. Her notorious meeting with Antony on the barque of Isis was both a ritualized performance of royal leadership and the reassertion of dynastic claims, the launch of a new Empire rising in the Eastern Mediterranean.
This in-person, non-ticketed lecture is free and open to the general public. There will be no zoom component. Tulane University is committed to providing universal access to all our events on site. Please contact Elizabeth M Reyna at 504-865-5719 / [email protected] at least two weeks in advance of the event if you have accessibility needs and need a disability-related accommodation to participate. Please note that advance notice is necessary to arrange some accessibility needs.
