Pothinus - Depiction in Drama

Depiction in Drama

Pothinus's death has been depicted more fancifully in dramatic literature.

• In George Bernard Shaw's play Caesar and Cleopatra, Cleopatra arranges to have him secretly murdered by her female servant Ftatateeta after he embarrasses her (Cleopatra) in front of Caesar by telling him that she longs for his departure from Egypt so that she can rule alone. He is killed offstage. In the film based on this play, Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) he was portrayed by Francis L. Sullivan, and in a 1976 television version of the play, he was portrayed by Noel Willman.

• In Cecil B. DeMille's 1934 film Cleopatra where he was portrayed by Leonard Mudie, Cleopatra kills him herself, after realizing that he is hiding behind a curtain, ready to murder Caesar.

• In the 1963 Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, he was portrayed by Grégoire Aslan. Pothinus tries to poison Cleopatra, but the plot is discovered in time, whereupon he is put on trial (with no witnesses testifying), pronounced guilty, and sentenced to death by Caesar. Cleopatra's faithful male servant Apollodorus follows Pothinus and the small procession of guards as they exit the room, and within a few seconds an off-screen death scream is heard. Caesar is approached by one of the returning guards who hands him a dagger. Caesar then summons his servant Flavius and hands him the dagger with the words, "Please return this to Apollodorus, but clean it first; it has Pothinus all over it".

• In "Caesarion", an episode of the television series Rome (2005–07), in which Pothinus is portrayed by actor Tony Guilfoyle, he is beheaded by the Romans and his head is placed on a spike on the outer wall of the palace

• In The Judgment of Caesar (part of the Roma Sub Rosa series by Steven Saylor) he is forced to drink poisoned wine by Caesar.