Funny Background Event: Cleopatra and Getafix are calmly discussing the poisoned cake, somehow not being drowned out by Asterix and Obelix having a shouting match over the appropriateness of eating leftover almonds in the presence of a queen.Face Death with Dignity: Parodied When Cleopatra thinks the Gauls are going to assassinate her, she launches into a big speech that they will see how a queen faces her fate until Asterix interrupts to explain what's going on.

Exact Words: Obelix defines 'three slices' as 'two slices and I'll take what's left'.Cut a Slice, Take the Rest: Obelix divides the poisoned cake into three pieces- two little ones for Asterix and Getafix, and one large one for himself! ('You greedy pig!' mutters Asterix.) Since they need to get rid of the whole thing to make sure nobody else tries it, this works out fine for them.Credits Gag: In some editions of the album, the front cover listed all the things that had gone into making the book, including '14 litres of India ink', '1984 sheets of paper', '2 typewriters' and '366 pints of beer', as a spoof on Cleopatra touting itself as the greatest film ever made.Cardboard Prison: Cleopatra's prison can't keep Obelix in or out any longer than he feels like it.Julius Ceasar on the other hand resorts to brute force, using his soldiers to lay siege to the construction site and attack the palace with catapults.

Artifis tries to sabotage the construction by convincing the workers to go on strike, bribing the stone-delivery man to throw his load away, kidnapping Edifis, sending Cleopatra a poisoned cake and blaming the Gauls for it, and having the Gauls locked up in a pyramid.

Big Bad Ensemble: Julius Ceasar and Artifis act as two separate big bads who, despite their common goal (both want to see Edifis fail) never join forces.

The Gauls are able to survive both attempts, and Artifis and his lacky Krukhut are forced to work on the palace without magic potion. Artifis tries to get rid of the Gauls by first trying to trap them in a pyramid, then framing them for attempting to poison Cleopatra and kidnapping Edifis. Artifis incites a worker's rebellion, and sabotages shipments of stone, but both are stopped by the magic potion. The construction of the palace is inhibited by Edifis' rival Artifis, who would love to see the former fed to the crocs. Since such a thing would not be possible without magic, Edifis goes to Gaul and enlist the aid of his friend Getafix, with Asterix, Obelix, and Dogmatix along for the ride. The Queen of the Nile warns her architect Edifis that if he fails to make the three-month time limit, he will be fed to the crocodiles. To prove him wrong, Cleopatra declares that she will have a palace for him built within three months. Julius Caesar has insulted Cleopatra VII by saying that the Egyptians have become decadent.

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