Review: Cleopatra's Daughter by Jane Draycott

Synopsis: The first biography of Cleopatra Selene – daughter of Cleopatra VII – princess, prisoner and African queen.

In 1895, archaeologists excavating a villa outside Pompeii discovered a hoard of Roman silverware. In the centre of one dish was a female figure with thick, curly hair, deep-set eyes, a slightly hooked nose and a strong jaw, and sporting an elephant scalp headdress. Modern scholars believe this woman is Cleopatra Selene, daughter of the infamous Cleopatra and Mark Antony.

Using this discovery as her starting-point, Jane Draycott recreates the life and times of a remarkable woman. Unlike her siblings, who were either executed as threat to Rome's new ruler, Augustus, or simply forgotten, Cleopatra Selene survived and prospered. She was a princess who became a prisoner; a prisoner who became a queen; an Egyptian who became Roman; and a woman who became a powerful ruler in her own right at a time when women were marginalised. Her life shines new light on the conflict between the politics, culture and history of Rome and Egypt, as well as the relationship between Rome and one of its most significant allied kingdoms, Mauretania.

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Cleopatra Selene ... " ... born a princess of one of the most ancient kingdoms in the classical world, only to lose her entire family, her birthright and her rank, and become a Roman prisoner, and succeed in being crowned Queen of an entirely different and brand new kingdom, and rule it successfully for two decades ..."

I really enjoyed this book on one of history's more neglected personalities. Overshadowed by her more famous mother, Cleopatra Selene lived in most interesting times - a period when Egypt, a mighty empire in its own right, came into conflict with another stronger nation whose imperical aspirations would dominate both the region and her life.

Draycott utilises what is readily available - archaeological evidence, historical documents and contemporary histories - to flesh out the life of this cultured and politically astute woman. However, as with many women throughout history, actual, verifiable evidence is often lacking, making the retelling more general than specific. Many women are often overshadowed by either famous parents, siblings or marriage partner, and Cleopatra Selene is one. As a result, Draycott uses more generalised knowledge to re-imagine what her life may have looked like - and that is fine, as long as this is not taken for actual fact.

From the very little we know of Cleopatra Selene, we know she is a survivor, a diplomat, and an astute ruler.  As a result of her hard work, Mauretania became wealthy - especially through the export of purple dye - and she attracted many intellectuals and scholars.  Juba himself was said to have been highly educated as a result of his time spent in Rome as a "spoil of war" following the death of his father.  We can only assume that Cleopatra Selene's intent was to re-create her lost homeland of Egypt in this new kingdom of hers.  

Cleopatra Selene II died fairly young, and we are left wondering about what could have been had she lived longer - would she have achieved a greatness to rival her mother and namesake - we will never know. This is a worthy tome to pick up if this is your area of interest or if long lost historical women are on your research radar.

See also article by Jane Draycott for History Today.

Nefertiti’s Face — Joyce Tyldesley

From the publisher, Harvard University Press:

Little is known about Nefertiti, the Egyptian queen whose name means “a beautiful woman has come.” She was the wife of Akhenaten, the pharaoh who ushered in the dramatic Amarna Age, and she bore him at least six children. She played a prominent role in political and religious affairs, but after Akhenaten’s death she apparently vanished and was soon forgotten.  Yet Nefertiti remains one of the most famous and enigmatic women who ever lived. 

In Nefertiti’s Face, Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley tells the story of the bust, from its origins in a busy workshop of the late Bronze Age to its rediscovery and controversial removal to Europe in 1912 and its present status as one of the world’s most treasured artifacts. This wide-ranging history takes us from the temples and tombs of ancient Egypt to wartime Berlin and engages the latest in Pharaonic scholarship. Tyldesley sheds light on both Nefertiti’s life and her improbable afterlife, in which she became famous simply for being famous.

read more here

@ Profile Books

@ The Australian

@ The Guardian

Review: The Drowning King by Emily Holleman

Egypt 51BC - the House of Ptolemy is about to take its final steps on the political stage. The power struggle that is about to unfold is centred around three siblings - sisters Cleopatra & Arsinoe, and their brother Ptolemy. Fueling the flames are a cast of political hangers-on, palace eunuchs, Egyptians and Romans.

We all know the story of Cleopatra - but it is not her narrative in that the story is not told from her perspective as in many other novels. Arsinsoe and Ptolemy are the ones to give voice to events as they are unfolding in Egypt from the time of the death of their father. Here, Cleopatra is seen from their point of view. And it is a very different Cleopatra - "traitor, whore, handmaiden of Rome". Is she a naive pawn of the Roman Empire, is it all posturing and sleight of hand, or is she truly, the sly and cunning minx.

This is an easy to follow narrative. Even though I had not read the first in this series "Cleopatra's Shadows", the story of what transpired before is easily picked up - Arsinoe is our faithful reporter. It probably also helped that I was already familiar with the "guts" of the story prior to picking this book up. 

I found the alternating narrative (between Arsinoe and Ptolemy) not confusing at all, but well structured. We are immediately drawn to both the characters of Arsinoe and Ptolemy, in particular, who you can't help but feel sympathetic towards - outwitted at every turn by his two cunning and politically adept sisters.

Not once did I consider putting the book aside - the storytelling itself constantly builds - think of a snowball hurtling downhill, all the while getting bigger as it builds momentum, barreling towards its inevitable conclusion - a cliff-hanger! Yes, we are left wondering ... what now??? 

Eagerly awaiting Book 3 in this series - then who knows, back to reading them all one after the other.

Review of the Drowning King here @ Goodreads

Cleopatra's Shadows: Before Caesar and the carpet, before Antony and Actium, before Octavian and the asp, there was Arsinoe. 

Visit website of Emily Holleman

Cleopatra’s shadows

Cleopatra’s shadows: The sisters who could give “Game of Thrones’” women a run for their money - Salon.com

The author of a debut novel sidelines Cleopatra in favor of her sisters, powerful protagonists of their own dramas.

The story of Cleopatra has been told many times over, in many different ways, though there’s a certain consistency to the tale’s key elements — the seductiveness, the asp, the sultry kohl eyeliner. In her new novel, “Cleopatra’s Shadows,” Emily Holleman decided to break free of the clichés dogging the last great pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt, the better to see her fresh. 

The book is the first in a planned series of four that will tell of Cleopatra’s rise and famous fall, but Cleopatra herself hardly appears in it; we glimpse her, in the opening pages, not as some Elizabeth Taylor-esque glamazon sure of her erotic power, but as an 11-year-old girl, setting sail from Alexandria with her father, Ptolemy Auletes, to seek support from Rome against her half-sister, Berenice, who has taken the throne for herself.

Berenice, 19 and in charge of holding together an unstable kingdom, is one of the shadows of the title. The other is Arsinoe, Cleopatra’s younger sister, left behind in Alexandria to fend for herself in an environment of political and familial treachery. The book’s title turns out to be slyly deceptive; Arsinoe and Berenice might be confined to the shadows of history, but here they are squarely in the limelight, powerful protagonists of their own dramas.