knife. His death was shortly followed by the ten-month siege of Alexandria. Depictions Unfortunately, only Roman and Greek sources have mentioned Pothinus. He is thus criticized for his murder of Pompey and his insidious behavior with regard to Caesar, while both measures are generally believed to have served to keep Egypt out of Caesar's Civil War. As it happened, however, Caesar came to emerge as the sole credible contender for his position of power, with Pompey dead and a Roman protectorate installed in Egypt. Pothinus's brief role and death have 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 1945 film based on this play, Caesar and Cleopatra, 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, in which 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 film 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. One of the returning guards approaches Caesar and gives him a dagger. Caesar then summons his servant Flavius and hands him the dagger with the words, "Please return this to Apollodorus. You might clean it first; it has Pothinus all over it." Pothinus is depicted, portrayed by David Foxxe, in the 2002 TV miniseries Julius Caesar, as he pretends to welcome Pompey but rather silently orders for him to be assassinated by his own guards, and later welcomes Caesar, in the famous gift scene. He is later mentioned by Cleopatra while explaining the Civil War to Caesar. In "Caesarion", an episode of the television series Rome (2005–07), Pothinus is portrayed by actor Tony Guilfoyle; he