This bet between the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and her splendid lover, the Roman military leader Mark Antony, is considered the most expensive in history since the creation of the world. However, starting the story about him, we will inform you that the amounts that will be discussed should, of course, be calculated not in American currency, but in ancient Roman sesterces. However, we deliberately made this recount. For, repeating after the ancient Roman writer Pliny the Elder (23-79 years) the story of how Queen Cleopatra dissolved an earring with a pearl worth 10 million sesterces in a vessel of vinegar, most modern researchers deprive us, mere mortals, of the opportunity to imagine how the charming debater was wasteful. And could she, at least in principle, wear such earrings - and in both ears.
An ancient legend from Pliny the Elder
To begin with, here is the plot outlined in Natural History by Pliny the Elder. Cleopatra and Mark Antony argued whether the queen would be able to throw such an expensive feast that her influential lover (by the way, a famous gourmet) could not afford it.
In order to win this bet, Cleopatra - we read from Pliny - “commanded that the servants put a vessel of vinegar before her. She took off the pearl earring and threw it into the vinegar, and when the pearls dissolved, she drank it all."
Here we note: firstly, the Roman philosopher-naturalist writes that the pearl was “the largest in the whole world, a wonderful and truly unique product of nature,” and secondly, she recalls that Cleopatra wanted to do the same with the second earring, but was stopped by the commander Ayucius Planck, who undertook to judge the disputants …
Amazingly, for 2000 years, scientists have been arguing: could the event described by Pliny take place? It is striking if only because their disputes, as we will see later, testify rather to the not very high scientific level of the disputants, rather than lead to the establishment of the truth about the dispute mentioned by Pliny over 100 years after the death of the legendary queen.
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The brilliance and poverty of learned interpreters
For some reason, scientists who put their scientific reputation at the service of Cleopatra (or, on the contrary, denounce the "myth created by Pliny") are most worried about whether pearls can dissolve in vinegar. But - so be it. Let's follow their logic and understand this issue.
To quote from The Thinking of the Ancient World (1937) by Herbert Wesered: “Unfortunately for the author of this story, pearls do not dissolve in ordinary vinegar.” And here is Harris Reckham, who translated "Natural History" in 1940: "There is no vinegar that would dissolve pearls!" The biographer of Pliny the Elder, John Gil, echoes Wesered and Reckham, reporting in his book Pliny the Elder in Science and Technology (2000) that "no acetic acid is capable of dissolving pearls."
All these scientists, philologists by education, are wrong: pearls decompose in vinegar. But the point is not even that philologists do not understand chemistry - that would still be excusable. The fact is that, for all the glory of their names in the West, they did not even bother to read the classic works on the issue that they undertook to explain to the venerable public. But the experiments that debunk their claims were carried out back in 1881 by the German Ludwig Friedlander. And more recently (2010) - by the American Prudence Jones from Montclair University.
Another thing is that according to the same Prudence Jones, it takes from 24 to 36 hours to dissolve pearls weighing about 1 gram with a 5% solution of vinegar. And it is not so important that this process can be accelerated, for example, by boiling acetic acid - for Pliny does not say that the queen swallowed boiling water. More significant is the fact that while some scientists completely deny the ability of vinegar to dissolve pearls, others - mc> the same Jones - do not even question the real weight of the legendary Cleopatra pearl. And they experiment, for some unknown reason, with 1 gram of pearls, later reporting that, according to Jones, "such a drink, though not as refined as a martini, is still quite pleasant to the taste."
As a result, the tabloid press from year to year indulges us with the news that the events described by the ancient Roman have been finally exposed (or confirmed). The most interesting thing: in order to put an end to this discussion, it is not at all necessary to have fundamental knowledge in chemistry, as well as in philology. It's enough to have a calculator at hand.
Let's deal with sesterces
What is 10 million sesterces in modern reality? Answer: This is 1.764 British gold-coin pounds. (Apparently, this "almost one" and misled the venerable Prudence Jones when he experimented with 1 gram of pearls.) One pound mentioned is 12 troy ounces, more familiar to us (or 373.2417216 grams). Multiplying 1.764 by the number in brackets - and we get the approximate weight of the "elegant decoration" in the no less graceful ear of Cleopatra. Approximately 658 grams!
Estimate the figure. Pull your ear back. And now let's remember that, according to Pliny the Elder, such a "weightless" earring was in every ear of the Egyptian queen. Can you imagine how graceful she appeared before the eyes of the amazed Mark Antony? It seems that such an appearance in front of her beloved - even if the earlobes could withstand such a weight - would be much less permissible for Cleopatra than the opportunity to part with a piece of jewelry that cost $ 30 million in actual terms.
Why are we talking about approximate weight? Because in the years of Cleopatra's life (69-30 BC) gold was much more valuable than pearls. Simplified: for 1 gram of "metal of the Sun" the buyer would have weighed both 5 and 10 grams of pearls. Even simpler: a real suspension would have to weigh well over 658 grams.
But let's imagine that Pliny is not even talking about gold, but about silver, or, worse, about brass sesterces. Let's assume that even in Ancient Rome there were “cuts” with “kickbacks”. Suppose, for 10 million sesterces, Cleopatra acquired two jewelry, each weighing not n6 658, but, say, only 60 grams. But even then, based on the current experiments of Prudence Jones, it would take at least 1440 hours, or 60 days, to dissolve pearls in vinegar. As you wish, but it is difficult to believe that the legendary feast of Cleopatra and Mark Antony lasted two months, during which the Roman commander waited for his mistress - forgive me for this style - “something” into “something” dissolve.
Version: Cleopatra's Joke
And now - let the reader smile and take a break from the figures that we needed solely to demonstrate the gaps in the logic of scientists who are still arguing about whether Cleopatra drank pearls or not.
Here is our version: the Egyptian queen could play a trick on the unyielding, but not too shrewd warrior. For example, simply demonstrate to him sleight of hand by imitating the immersion of a huge pearl in a goblet of vinegar, replacing the latter with good wine.
Why does this version have the right to exist? Because in the annals of history there is evidence of similar jokes performed by Cleopatra, who loved to fool a glorious warrior. What is the story of how the queen commanded the swimmer to hide near the ship from which Mark Antony was fishing, and to hang the shining angler… ready-made, salted fish on the hook!
If you believe the ancient chronicles, then the prank did not immediately reach the proud Roman - to the delight of the joker, who watched, barely holding back her laughter, his astonished face. So why not imagine that in the case of the "pearl of 10 million sesterces" there was also an easy joke? By the way, let the readers of "Secrets of the XX century" themselves conduct a "scientific experiment", repeating the experience of Cleopatra in front of any male representative. It seems that nimble female fingers will not be difficult to hide the removed earring in the palm of your hand. Cleopatra's task was also facilitated by the fact that, judging by Pliny's description of the legendary feast, Cleopatra won her famous dispute just when Mark Antony was already drunk.
What is common between Pliny the Elder and … Caesar's wife?
Answer: both of them are beyond suspicion. Pondering whether Cleopatra could dissolve an expensive pearl in vinegar or not, most modern researchers do not even ask the question: "Did Pliny the Elder copy this whole story from his predecessors?" Meanwhile, this could well be.
Remember: Cleopatra died in 30 BC. Pliny spoke of a famous controversy in 77 AD. That is, 100 years after the legendary dispute (allegedly) occurred. And now let's think: a similar plot - with the only difference in the personalities of the disputants - appears for the first time in Horace in his "Satyrs" (about 33 BC). Further, this plot wanders from Valerius Maximus, a Roman writer of the time of the emperor Tiberius, to Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. In general, both the predecessors and the followers of Pliny the Elder are countless.
As for the followers, among them we will mention, first of all, the American advertisers who promoted the "analogue of Cleopatra's drink" back in the 1960s-1970s. For regardless of whether there was a dispute between the queen and Mark Antony, pearls dissolved in vinegar and then mixed with wine, since the Middle Ages, have been considered in the West as an excellent remedy for indigestion - a companion of a plentiful meal with generous libations.
Finely crushed cheap pearls, initially softened with hot steam, and then dissolved in a powdery state in heated vinegar and wine, are mentioned as a "sure remedy for the stomach" in the writings of William Shakespeare and Francis Bacon. In general, there is at least some truth in any legend. The ancient myth of the $ 30 million drink is no exception.
Alexander Grishin