that it is impossible to prove that Cleopatra did not use opium. However, having said that, nothing I have read here or anywhere has convinced me that Cleopatra did 100% use opium for recreational purposes.

Our historical sources are all pro-Roman or anti-Cleo and no matter what they say must be treated with the utmost scepticism. Again it is my belief that just because opium was widely known for hundreds of years previous does not mean that Cleopatra used it. Just because wine was widely available did not mean a Roman had to drink it.

In fact I think that the example of Caesar can add weight to the idea that Cleopatra might not have regularly used opium. Not only was Caesar going against the grain by not consuming wine, he could also have found something more alluring in Cleopatra than merely her beauty for him to risk his reputation by sleeping with a brother-marrying, decadent, Oriental barbarian. Her intellect could have played a huge part but if she was regularly doped up on opiates then how did she have time to learn seven or eight different languages?

I know that it is entirely possible that Cleopatra did use opium but it is not certain. Very little of the intricacies in history even about the most famous people to have ever lived is certain. I am only suggesting an alternative scenario that IMHO is equally believeable