Cleopatra’s Daughter

Title: Cleopatra’s Daughter – Egyptian Princess, Roman Prisoner, African Queen
Author: Jane Draycott
Publisher: Head of Zeus, 2023 (First published 2022)
ISBN: 9781800244825
Pages: 328

Mark Antony of Rome and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt are two historical characters in a crucial chapter of ancient history that ended in tragedy. Though Antony could outsmart the coup leaders who assassinated Julius Caesar and prevent the empire going back to a republic, his constant friction with his ally Octavian led to the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE where the allied forces of Antony and Cleopatra were routed in a naval battle. The winner took the throne as Augustus Caesar and established the Julio-Claudian dynasty in power while the losers committed suicide. The couple is an attractive subject for poets and dramatists across the world. This book tells the story of Cleopatra Selene, the daughter born to Queen Cleopatra of Egypt in her relationship with Mark Antony. The references to the daughter who was an Egyptian princess, then a prisoner in Rome and finally the queen of Mauretania in North Africa are scant in historical records, but the author sifts through all the available material with a fine sieve and comes out with a delightful work of historical narrative. Jane Draycott is a Roman historian and archaeologist with a special interest in Graeco-Roman Egypt. She has degrees in archaeology, ancient history and classics. She is currently lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Glasgow.

The core of the story is astonishingly small. The Egyptian queen which we commonly know as Cleopatra was in fact Cleopatra VII in her regnal name. Julius Caesar helped her overcome dissidence to her rule and later entered into an amorous relationship with her. A prince named Caesarion was born to them. After Caesar’s assassination she entered into another similar relationship with Mark Antony who was assigned the eastern part of the empire as his realm. She bore three children to him – Cleopatra Selene, Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphos. Rome was leaving its republican phase to the consolidation of Augustan Principate. Octavian, or Augustus Caesar, was fed up with Antony because of his poor governance, fickle command over the legions and over-socialization with the Egyptians. The Roman fleet met the combined naval forces of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium. Octavian won, forcing the vanquished to flee back to Alexandria and commit suicide there. Octavian executed Caesarion, but let the other children live as hostages with his family in Rome. After a few years, he married Cleopatra Selene off to Juba, who was assigned the kingdom of Mauretania (part of today’s Algeria and Morocco). It is believed that she died in 5 BCE at the age of 35. So, in short, this is the story of an extraordinarily willed woman, who was born a princess in one of the most ancient kingdoms, lost her entire family, birth right and rank to become a Roman prisoner. In the end, she was crowned queen of a brand new kingdom and ruled for two decades. The book includes a discussion on Cleopatra VII’s ethnicity where some scholars believe her to be black. Hence the author hopes that Cleopatra Selene should be much better known to women of colour in particular, with whom they can personally identify and engage with in the historical record. The cause of her death is not exactly known and it is guessed that she might have died in childbirth. The danger in pregnancy and labour to both mother and the baby was a fate no amount of power or prestige could alleviate in the ancient world.

Since the storyline is very lean, the book also covers many facets of the polities of Egypt and Rome and has made a quick review of how life had been in Alexandria and Rome. Readers get an interesting account of the Great Library of Alexandria, the largest in the ancient world. Attached to a temple, it contained up to 70,000 titles. Early Ptolemies were great bibliophiles. Ptolemy II Philadelphos purchased substantial personal libraries of notable book collectors in his kingdom. Ptolemy III Euergetes borrowed manuscripts from other cities and refused to return them. He instituted a policy to search ships docking in Alexandria. If there were any exotic books on board, copies were made and these copies were given back to the owner while the original was added to the Library’s collection. In 48 BCE, a part of the library was damaged by fire which was later repaired by Antony by gifting 200,000 books which were looted from the library of Pergamum that was the Alexandrian library’s foremost rival. The author does not say anything about the library’s eventual destruction by Islamic forces. In 642 CE, Alexandria was captured by the army of Caliph Omar. He ordered the destruction of the library with the infamous outburst that “if these books are in agreement with the Quran, we have no need of them; and if these are opposed to the Quran, destroy them”.

Since the characters on and back of the stage in this book are women, it is only natural that we get a glimpse of the position and status of women in the ancient world. Their position appears to be much better than in the Middle Ages and in at least some places of the same geography even in the modern age. In the latter half of the first century BCE, Rome was full of strong women. Julius Caesar’s wife and Octavian’s sister wielded considerable influence. They were well educated, sometimes even in rhetoric and oratory. A noble lady named Hortensia put her studies to good use in 42 BCE to argue against a tax imposed on Rome’s wealthiest 1400 women. She marched into the Forum and argued her case against the Triumvirate of Octavian, Antony and Lepidus. Although the men were outraged at being upbraided by a woman, the tax was relaxed to apply only to 400 most wealthy women. However, Ptolemaic women of Egypt were more independent and assertive while Roman women were generally dependent and submissive to their menfolk. The status of women outside the ‘civilizing aura’ of the Roman Empire was not bad. Egypt’s southern neighbour kingdom of Kush was ruled by Queen Amanirenas. This is yet more proof that women could handle immense power in their own right than as ‘ornamental appendages of men’. This was true in Israel too. Berenice, the daughter of the Jewish king Herod Agrippa I was in love with Roman Emperor Titus and stayed in the imperial palace. She heavily intervened in the government of the empire and in the judicial system. At home, she had entreated her brother, Herod Agrippa II, to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment. But she was disliked at Rome and was heckled by philosophers at the theatre. This forced Titus to send her back home.

We get a nice picture of Roman polity and religion from the several anecdotes lying scattered in this narrative. Roman empire acquired foreign territories by military conquests and political manoeuvring. It comprised of provinces which were overseen by provincial governors appointed by the Roman Senate. In addition to this, the empire had interests in territories that were not technically part of it. These were client kingdoms whose kings and queens recognized the suzerainty of Rome and had patrons situated within the Roman aristocracy. This political structure is broadly similar to that of the British colonial empire in India. In the case of serious problems in the kingdoms, Rome militarily intervened to restore the authority of the client king. If the situation was unsalvageable, the ruler was replaced or the kingdom annexed outright as a province. A laudable feature of Roman religion was its toleration for other religions such as Egyptian even though it belonged to the conquered people. Destruction of places of religious worship or converting them for the use of victor’s devotees still lay in the future, awaiting the birth of monotheistic religions that claimed monopoly of the one true god. Julius Caesar built a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis in the centre of Rome where Octavian too had his own quarters. This glow would flicker out in a few centuries and some of the regions would witness the most brutal and sanguinary wars for religion in the form of crusades and resistance to it.

The book also sports an investigation into the descendants of Cleopatra Selene in historical and archaeological records which becomes hazier with the decline of Roman empire. A photograph of the marble bust of Gaius Julius Bessianus is included who served as the chief priest of Elagabalus during 187 – 217 CE. This solar deity was housed in the temple of the sun at Emesa – modern Homs in Syria. It shows a distinctive feature of the top knot hairstyle known as the ushnisha in Sanskrit. This is a clear Buddhist feature which represents supernormal knowledge and consciousness of the Enlightened One in Buddhist iconography. It is curious to see evidence of Indian influence as far west as Syria in the early centuries of the Common Era.

This book is an excellent source for uncomplicated reading which combines the flexibility of fiction with strong roots on historical and archaeological references. With some refining touches, this can be transformed into historical fiction and provides enough material to produce a mega Hollywood movie. The author herself suggests such a possibility and it is quite possible that we may sooner or later hear more of Draycott in a non-historical domain. What this narrative provides is a history of Rome, Egypt, the Levant and North Africa in the second half of the first century BCE. In addition to literary, documentary, archaeological and bio-archaeological evidence, the author uses contextual information sourced from other significant Hellenistic, Roman and Egyptian women’s lives to produce a qualified reconstruction of Cleopatra Selene’s life. The author has filled in many blanks which are quite logical and highly probable that adds value to the work. The book also includes pictures of several breathtakingly detailed and beautiful sculptures and mosaics excavated from Italy and other prominent places like Pompeii which faithfully depict the sophistication of presumably aristocratic life in that era. Colour plates of coins, sculptures and inscriptions are also added to the book. Written in an easy and uncluttered style, the book is a page-turner.

The book is highly recommended.

 

Rating: 4 Star