Near the end of the page of Mesechet Sanheidrin 90b it says “Queen
Cleopatra questioned Rabbi Meir…”
Obviously that could never have happened. Queen Cleopatra
VII committed suicide in 30BCE, her children and relatives were executed, the
Ptolemy dynasty came to an end, and Egypt would have no more kings and queens,
but would have a similar governorship by Rome as was in Israel.
Rabbi Steinsaltz in his text, as well as “Rabbi Artscroll” remark
“Cleopatra was the name of a long line of Egyptian queens” (which is correct) “The
one mentioned here is *not* the one commonly known.” (which cannot be
correct). I do not know the source they used to state this, and it does not appear to be correct.
The implication is that this was a later Queen Cleopatra in
Egypt. But there was none, and neither source cites where they got that idea
from.
I found another source (W.Bacher in the JQR, I., 336) that turned the Aramaic for “Queen Cleopatra”
into “Patriarch of the Cutheans” as an anagram. But in order to do that, he
needs to ignore the mem and lameds in the original, and toss in a dalet and an
extra yud for it to work, which doesn’t have a satisfying answer to me, either. He
tries to equate Midrash Rabbah 5:11 where a Cuthean is asking R’ Meir if the
dead will come back to life in secret or in public with the Cleopatra question
if the dead will come back to life dressed or naked, and does the forced
anagram to make them the same - sort of.
My current thought on this is that Cleopatra is being used as a symbol, one who made herself Isis incarnate to the Egyptian people. To the Egyptian people, Cleopatra was the mother goddess who would gather the parts of her dead husband/brother together from all over the world, brought them back to life, and they mated. From this union came forth Horus, their son from the resurrected death of his father. While it would not be seemly to have Rabbi Meir speak with a Goddess (Isis), to have him speak to a historical figure who made herself Isis would have been a better fit. And the Egyptians would bury their dead with all that they would need in the next life, including clothing, so Isis making this question on those who do not follow that practice (Jewish burials), about the clothing during the resurrection period, will something be provided, was a valid question.
