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WHAT TO DO WITH CAESARION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2014

Michael Gray-Fow
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This article is about a young man of whom we know almost nothing. He never said or did anything that was recorded, we do not know for certain what he looked like, and his personality is entirely lost to us. He was killed at the age of seventeen, but even that event is passed over in fleeting comment. However, the very mention of his demise tells us something: that despite our almost total ignorance about the youth himself he was not without some importance. He was at least in name a king, though it can hardly be said that he ever ruled. Yet his birth and death were equally planned, and from his birth onwards he was someone who figured in the plans and dreams of mighty people. Those plans and dreams shifted with the politics of the day, and he was always a pawn on the chessboard of life. What follows here examines how the personalities of the great people around him and their changing fortunes governed how he was seen, and the uses to which he was put.

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Research Article
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Greece & Rome , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , April 2014 , pp. 38 - 67
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Copyright © The Classical Association 2014 

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References

1 On the name as a joke, see Deininger, J., ‘Bemerkungen zum alexandrinischen Scherznamen fur Ptolemaios XV’, Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik 131 (2000), 221–6Google Scholar.

2 Numbering the Ptolemies has varied depending on whether Ptolemy Neos Philopator (briefly 145 bc) is counted as Ptolemy VII, as in the current practice: see Green, P., From Alexander to Actium (Berkeley, CA, 1990), 537Google Scholar. An elder brother of Neos Philopator named Ptolemy Eupator was co-king c.155–150 bc but is not often counted. A more recent renumbering is that of Huss, W., Ägypten in Hellenistischer Zeit (Munich, 2001)Google Scholar.

3 Iwa-panetjer-entynehem, Setep-en-Ptah, Ir-maat-en-re, Sekhem-ankh-Amun: ‘Heir of the God that saves, Chosen of Ptah, Carrying out the rule of Re, Living image of Amun’. As with pharaohs for centuries before him, these names included his throne name and his Horus name. Clayton, P., Chronicle of the Pharaohs (London, 1994), 213, 218Google Scholar; Dodson, A.Monarchs of the Nile (London, 1995), 212Google Scholar.

4 Both kingdoms made dedications at the border temple of Isis at Philae but relations in Cleopatra's time were at best guarded and uneasy. Welsby, D., The Kingdom of Kush (London, 1996), 67–8Google Scholar.

5 The last unsuccessful attempts to replace the Ptolemies by native pharaohs had occurred in 205–186 bc and 131 bc, but there had been an uprising at Thebes as recently as 88 bc. Hölbl, G., A History of the Ptolemaic Empire (London, 2001), 154–7, 164–6, 184,198–9, 259–9Google Scholar; Myśliwiec, K.The Twilight of Ancient Egypt (Ithaca, NY, 2000), 182Google Scholar; Welsby (n. 4), 67; Baines, J. and Málek, J., Atlas of Ancient Egypt (London, 1980), 54Google Scholar; Bevan, E., The House of Ptolemy (reprint, Chicago, IL, 1985), 318–23Google Scholar; Veisse, A.-E., Les revoltes égyptiennes. Reserches sur les troubles intérieurs en Égypte du regne de Ptolémée III à la conquête romaine (Leuven, 2004)Google Scholar. In Egypt's great imperial age, Thebes and its temple of Amun-Re had been the main beneficiaries of royal bounty but the Ptolemies saw the city as a focus of native unrest, hence they patronized Memphis and Ptah.

6 His official Greek titles were Theos Philopator Philadelphos Neos Dionysos (‘Father- and brother/sister-loving god, the new Dionysus’). Ptolemy Auletes and his brother Ptolemy of Cyprus were sons of Ptolemy IX Lathyrus by a concubine. In the eyes of his native Egyptian subjects the legitimacy issue was irrelevant, as a number of past pharaohs had been the children of concubines.

7 Strabo 14.6.6; Plut. Vit. Cat. Min. 24.2, 28.1–2; Livy, Per. 104.6.

8 It remains a matter of debate whether the Cleopatra VI Tryphaena who briefly reigned immediately after Auletes’ expulsion was his wife Cleopatra or an eldest daughter of the same name. Bevan (n. 5), 354; Hölbl (n. 5), 227; Green (n. 2), 650. Berenice IV's first husband when she succeeded had been the pseudo-Seleucid Seleucus Cybiosactes, but she killed him after only a few days.

9 Cic. Pis. 21.49–50; Cic. Rab. Post. 20, 28; Livy, Per. 105; Cass. Dio 42.2.4; Luc. 8.448–9, 518–19; 9.1028–9.

10 See family tree at the end of the article.

11 Cleopatra's parents had also been brother and sister. Brother–sister marriage was common with the Ptolemies from the days of Ptolemy II (282–246 bc) but was not characteristic of the other Hellenistic dynasties. It had been practised by Egyptian pharaohs centuries earlier and by the Achaemenids of Tyldesley, Persia. J., Cleopatra. Last Queen of Egypt (New York, 2008), 23–6Google Scholar; Goldsworthy, A., Antony and Cleopatra (New Haven, CT, 2010), 40–1Google Scholar. See also Ager, S. L., ‘Familiarity Breeds: Incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty’, JHS 125 (2005), 1–34CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

12 Meadows, A. ‘Sins of the Fathers’, in Walker, S. and Higgs, P. (eds.), Cleopatra of Egypt. From History to Myth (London, 2001), 20Google Scholar.

13 Their countries were bequeathed (without reference to the inhabitants) by Attalus III of Pergamum (133 bc), Ptolemy Apion of Cyrene (96 bc), Ptolemy XI of Egypt (see above), and Nicomedes IV of Bithynia (c.74 bc).

14 A century and a half after William Smith declared it impossible to determine which Ptolemy Alexander left Egypt to Rome – either Ptolemy X (Alexander I) in 87 bc or Ptolemy XI (Alexander II) in 80 bc – the question remains unresolved. Smith, W., Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (London, 1850)Google Scholar, iii.587. See also Green (n. 2), 553; Hölbl (n. 5), 211; Bevan (n. 5), 350.

15 Plut. Vit. Crass. 13.1; Suet. Iul. 11.1.

16 Eusebius strangely thought Cleopatra was content with joint rule and that it was Ptolemy XIII who wanted to rule alone. Schoene, A. (ed.), Eusebii Chronicorum Libri Duo (Berlin, 1875), i.167–8Google Scholar.

17 Ascalon was a Hellenistic free city from 104 bc, having been liberated from Hasmonean rule by Cleopatra's grandfather Ptolemy IX Lathyrus. In gratitude it continued thereafter to place the heads of Egyptian rulers on its coins. Grant, M., A Guide to the Ancient World (New York, 1986), 72Google Scholar.

18 Lucan has Cleopatra claiming that she was really loved by her brother Ptolemy XIII but he was controlled by Pothinus: Luc. 10.94–5. He did not show it.

19 Appian says that the ships were provided by Cleopatra and her brother who was still a boy, but in 48 bc Cleopatra was in no position to send any Egyptian ships. They would have been sent by Pothinus and Achillas on behalf of Ptolemy XIII. Appian's wording implies some uncertainty about whether the ships were sent at all. App. B Civ. 2.71.

20 Plut. Vit. Pomp. 77.1–79.4; App. B Civ. 2.84–6; Cass. Dio 42.3.1–4.5; Caes. B Civ. 3.104; Luc. 8.688–90; Vell. Pat. 2.53.1–4; Livy, Per. 112. Dio seems to imply that the boy Ptolemy was not privy to the plan to kill Pompey, or at least could have been swayed by Pompey had the latter had a chance to speak to him; however, Livy's Periochae claims that the order to kill came from Ptolemy at the instigation of his tutor, Theodotion.

21 Strictly speaking the money was owed to C. Rabirius Postumus, but somehow Caesar had acquired the reversion. Plut. Vit. Caes. 48.4.

22 Plut. Vit. Caes. 49.1.

23 Caes. B Civ. 3.107–22; Caes. B Alex. 1–33; App. B Civ. 2.88–90; Cass. Dio 42.34.1–45.1; Plut. Vit. Caes. 48–9; Joseph, AJ 14.127–6; Joseph, BJ 1.187–94.

24 Plut. Vit. Caes. 48.3–49.5; Livy, Per. 112; Caes. B Civ. 3.106–12; Caes. B Alex. 1–33; Suet. Iul. 35.1; Luc. 10.333–546; App. B Civ. 2.90; Cass. Dio 42.37.1–43.4; Meier, C., Caesar (New York, 1996), 406–11Google Scholar; Canfora, L., Julius Caesar. The People's Dictator (Berkeley, CA, 2007), 199–204CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Grant, M., Cleopatra (Edison, NJ, 2004), 70–8Google Scholar; Kleiner, D. E. E., Cleopatra and Rome (Cambridge, MA, 2009), 84–5Google Scholar.

25 Modern authors denying or doubting Caesar's paternity include Jérôme Carcopino and J. P. V. D. Balsdon. The arguments for and against are admirably summarized by C. Bennet, ‘Ptolemy XV Cesarion’, Egyptian Royal Genealogies (2000–1), <http://www.reocities.com/christopherjbennett/ptolemies/genealogy.htm>, accessed 23 October 2013. See also Grant (n. 23), 83–5; Tyldesley (n. 10), 100–3; Everitt, A., Augustus (New York, 2006), 148Google Scholar; Bevan (n. 5), 366.

26 Suet. Iul. 52.2.

27 His grandmother Marcia claimed descent from Ancus Marcius, traditionally listed as the fourth king of Rome in the seventh century bc. Suet. Iul. 6.1; Val. Max. 4.3.4; Ov. Fast. 6.801–3.

28 Meier (n. 23), 408–9; Tyldesley, J., Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt (London, 2006), 202Google Scholar; Wyke, M., Caesar. A Life in Western Culture (London, 2007), 90–121Google Scholar.

29 A daughter would have raised issues for them later. Equally illegitimate in Roman law as a son, she would have had to be found a husband one day. Caesar loved his only daughter, Julia, and had lost her seven years earlier. Cleopatra eventually had a daughter by Antony who married the scholarly Juba II of Mauretania. Hallett, J., Fathers and Daughters in Roman Society (Princeton, NJ, 1984), 76–110Google Scholar; Cantarella, E., Pandora's Daughters (Baltimore, MD, 1987), 90–8Google Scholar.

30 The Lagid dynasty, the Ptolemies, descended from Ptolemy I Soter, whose mother, Arsinoë, was a second cousin of Alexander the Great's father, Philip II of Macedon. Ptolemy was also reputed to have been Philip's illegitimate son by Arsinoë. Paus. 1.6.2; Curt. 9.8.22.

31 Grant (n. 23), fig. 29 (facing p. 111). The baby's head is just a blob.

32 For an Egyptian contract (13 bc) stipulating the duties and requirements for a wet-nurse, see ‘16. Engagement of a Wet Nurse’, in a. Hunt and Edgar, C. C. (ed.), Select Papyri (London, 1988) i.47–51Google Scholar. See also Plaut. Men. 20–1; Varro, Ling. 9.15; Ov. Met. 4.324; Syrus, Sent. 659; Juv. 6.592–3.

33 Suet. Iul. 52.1. Apparently this did not affect Bogud's politic support for Caesar, and he was instrumental in helping to win at Munda. Meier (n. 23), 453.

34 Cass. Dio 43.19.12.

35 Gai. Inst. 1.55–87; Inst. Iust. 1.10.praef.; Gardner, J., Women in Roman Law and Society (Bloomington, IN, 1991), 31Google Scholar.

36 App. B Civ. 2.102; Meier (n. 23), 445–6; Tyldesley (n. 10), 106. However, Caesar also set up a statue of his horse in front of the temple: Suet. Iul. 61. The suggestion that the Cleopatra statue was really of Isis is difficult to square with a decree of only 48 bc banning shrines to Isis and Serapis. C. Alfano ‘Egyptian Influences in Italy’, in Walker and Higgs (n. 11), 285; Rose, H. J., Religion in Greece and Rome (New York, 1959), 281–2Google Scholar; Orlin, E. ‘Octavian and Egyptian Cults: Redrawing the Boundaries of Romanness’, AJPh 129.2 (2008), 231–58Google Scholar.

37 Suet. Iul. 52.1–2.

38 Ptolemy VI Philometor and his brother Ptolemy VIII Physcon battled over the throne (170–45 bc); Ptolemy IX Soter II and his brother Ptolemy X Alexander I (116–88 bc) did the same.

39 Cic. Att. 15.5.2.

40 Suet. Iul. 52.3. C. Helvius Cinna was a poet and friend of Catullus. He was killed at Caesar's funeral when he was mistaken for one of the assassins. Catull. 95; Quint. Inst. 10.4.4; Suet. Iul. 85.

41 Legitimatio per subsequens matrimonium (‘legitimization by subsequent marriage’) was unknown to classical law but a vote of the populace could presumably have circumvented this. Schulz, F., Classical Roman Law (Oxford, 1961), 143Google Scholar.

42 Cic. Phil. 2.34.87; App. B Civ. 2.107–19; Livy, Per. 116.1; Cass. Dio 44.9.1–11, 15.3–4; Plut. Vit. Caes. 60.1–61.5; Plut. Vit. Ant. 12.1–4. See also Meier (n. 23), 475–9; Canfora (n. 23), 285–9; Wyke (n. 27), 151–3; Syme, R., The Roman Revolution (reprint, Oxford, 1956), 54–5Google Scholar.

43 Nic. Dam. FGrH F.130.20; Suet. Iul. 83.1–2; Livy, Per. 116; Plut. Vit. Caes. 64.1; App. B Civ. 2.143; Syme, R. ‘No Son for Caesar?’, in Roman Papers III, ed. Birley, A. R. (Oxford, 1984), 1236–50Google Scholar.

44 Cic. Att. 14.8, 20. The inference involves reading de Caesare illo (‘about that Caesar’) instead of de Caesare filio (‘about Caesar's son’). Grant (n. 23), 95–6; Tyldesley (n. 10), 107–8.

45 Though others called him Octavian in the early years after his adoption he soon dropped the name himself and his supporters always called him Caesar. From 27 bc he was Augustus. Here, to avoid confusion, he will be called Octavian.

46 Joseph, AJ 15.89; Joseph, Ap. 2.57. Despite Josephus’ bias against Cleopatra, we must assume that it would have been too much of a convenience for Ptolemy XIV to have died a natural death at this time. He was the only one of Auletes’ children who did not try to get rid of his siblings. Grant (n. 23), 98.

47 Pashereneptah III had succeeded to the title in 76 bc at the age of fourteen and died during the joint reign of Cleopatra and Caesarion in 41/40 bc, having crowned a succession of Ptolemies – and perhaps even Cleopatra. Bevan (n. 5), 346–9; S.-A. Ashton ‘Identifying the Egyptian-style Ptolemaic Queens’, in Walker and Higgs (n. 11), 184–6; Thompson, D. J.Memphis under the Ptolemies (2nd edn, Princeton, NJ, 2011), 99–143Google Scholar. It is remotely possible that his grandmother Berenice was a(n illegitimate?) daughter of Ptolemy VIII. He was succeeded at Memphis by his son Imhotep-Pedubast.

48 Grant (n. 23), 99–100; Tyldesley (n. 10), 119–21; G. Goudchaux, ‘Cleopatra's Subtle Religious Strategy’, in Walker and Higgs (n. 11), 135–6; Baines, J. and Málek, J., Atlas of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 1986), 83Google Scholar; Wilkinson, T., Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (London, 2005), 143Google Scholar. Before the shrine's destruction, drawings of the interior paintings were done by K. R. Lepsius (Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Ethiopien [Berlin, 1849]), and images of the then surviving structure by two early travelling photographers: Felix Teynard (Egypte et Nubie [Paris, 1858]) and Francis Frith (various volumes of photographs of Egypt, published London, 1858–65).

49 Iverson, E., ‘The Canonical Tradition’, in Harris, J. R. (ed.), The Legacy of Egypt (Oxford, 1971), 55–81Google Scholar.

50 Lloyd, A., ‘The Ptolemaic Period’, in Shaw, A. (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 2000), 420Google Scholar; Preston, D., Cleopatra and Antony (New York, 2009), facing p. 148Google Scholar.

51 Cass. Dio 42.35.5.

52 Everitt (n. 24), 79–82; Goldsworthy (n. 10), 231–2; Syme (n. 41), 190–6.

53 Cass. Dio 47.31.5.

54 App. B Civ. 3.78, 4.59–63, 5.8; Goldsworthy (n. 10), 236–8; Grant (n. 23), 102–5; Tyldesley (n. 10), 143–4; Hölbl (n. 5), 240.

55 Cass. Dio 48.24.2; Plut. Vit. Ant. 25.1–27.4; App. B Civ. 5.1.8–9.

56 Green (n. 2), 662.

57 Antony had four Roman wives: Fadia, married when he was a young man, either died or divorced; Antonia, his cousin, 47 bc; Fulvia, died 40 bc; Octavia, divorced 32 bc. He had known children by Antonia, Fulvia, and Octavia. His descendants by Antonia became monarchs of Pontus, Armenia, and Thrace.

58 Green (n. 2), 664; Grant (n. 23), 166.

59 Egyptologists find it hard to resist comparisons with Hatshepsut and Thutmose III centuries earlier, but it is highly unlikely that Cleopatra knew of these rulers. Gardiner, A., Egypt of the Pharaohs (Oxford, 1961), 181–7Google Scholar.

60 See Val. Max. 6.2.7; Plin. HN 7.56(57); Just. Epit. 12.3; Green (n. 2), 30; Bevan, E. R., The House of Seleucus (reprint, Chicago, 1985) ii.274–5Google Scholar. Although often translated as ‘cloak’, the himation was not a clasped over-garment but simply a rectangular or square piece of cloth wrapped round the body.

61 Val. Max. 5.1.ext.4. Causia passed into more common use: Plaut. Mil. 1178.

62 Livy, Per 130.1; Plut. Vit. Ant. 28.1–2; Joseph, AJ 15.89–91; Joseph, BJ 1.359; Vell. Pat. 2.82.3–4; Flor. 2.21.11; Cass. Dio 49.34.1; Goldsworthy (n. 10), 267–8, 298; Tyldesley (n. 10), 150–5; Green (n. 2), 671–2; Pomeroy, S. B., Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves (New York, 1975), 124, 187–8Google Scholar.

63 Joseph, AJ 15.89; Joseph, Ap. 2.57; App. B Civ. 5.9. Although Arsinoë IV was granted royal title to Cyprus in 48 bc and again in 44 bc, there is no evidence that she ever visited the island or had coins minted there. Both grants were stillborn. Skeletal remains found in Ephesus in 1926 and re-examined in part in 1992 have been claimed as Arsinoë: ‘Cleopatra Had African Ancestry, Skeleton Suggests’, Daily Telegraph, 15 March 2009 <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/4995155/Cleopatra-had-African-ancestry-skeleton-suggests.html>; ‘Cleopatra's Mother “Was African”’, BBC News, 16 March 2009, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/also_in_the_news/7945333.stm>, both accessed 23 October 2013.

64 Grant (n. 23), 135–9; Tyldesley (n. 10), 162; Goldsworthy (n. 10), 295; Green (n. 2), 674–5; Syme (n. 41), 260–1; G. Goudchaux ‘Was Cleopatra Beautiful: The Conflicting Answers of Numismatics’, in Walker and Higgs (n. 11), 233–8.

65 Plutarch attributed his failure to his infatuation with Cleopatra, doubtless reflecting the lasting effects of Octavian's propaganda: Plut. Vit. Ant. 37.4.

66 This is a historian's designation, rather than one given at the time. See R. Strootman, ‘Queen of Kings: Kleopatra VII and the Donations of Alexandria’, <http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/let/2010-0909-200243/UUindex.html>, accessed 23 October 2013.

67 Livy, Per. 131.3; Plut. Vit. Ant. 54.3–6; Cass. Dio 49.41.1–4; Grant (n. 23), 162–7; Tyldesley (n. 10), 168–9; Goldsworthy (n. 10), 329–34; Syme (n. 41), 270; Everitt (n. 24), 160–1.

68 The inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΜΕΓΑΛΟϒ ΑΡΣΑΚΟϒ (‘Great King of Kings Arsaces’) occurs on a number of Arsacid coins. Hill, G. F., Ancient Greek and Roman Coins (Chicago, IL, 1964), 264Google Scholar.

69 Cass. Dio 49.41.6.

70 Ibid. 50.3.5.

71 Everitt (n. 24), 60, 76; Schulz (n. 40), 145.

72 Cass. Dio 50.1.5, 3.5.

73 Suet. Iul. 52.2. Suetonius does not indicate that Antony himself was a witness; he could have heard of Caesar's statement later. The other witness named was C. Matius Calvena, like Oppius a strong supporter of the young Octavian and therefore unlikely to contradict what Oppius wrote. Both Matius and Oppius corresponded with Cicero, and Matius seems to have been an old friend. Cic. Fam. 11.27–9.

74 Plut. Vit. Pomp. 10.5. Oppius wrote lives of several prominent Romans and both Plutarch and Suetonius probably used him as a source. Only fragments of his writings have survived. Peter, H. (ed.), Historicorum Romanorum Reliquiae (Leipzig, 1906) ii.lxiii, 46–9Google Scholar.

75 About a century and a half later Florus could claim that Cleopatra had demanded that Antony give her the Roman Empire as the price of her favours and that Antony had agreed to this. Flor. 2.11.2.

76 Verg. Aen. 8.675–728; Prop. 2.16.38–40, 3.11.29–56, 4.6.14–5; Hor. Carm. 1.37; Luc. 10.33–170, 351–98; App. B Civ. 5.9; Cass. Dio 32.2–35.1, 50.4.1–4; Vell. Pat. 2.82.3–4, 83.1–2; Flor. 2.21.1–3; Joseph, AJ 15.88–107, 131–2; Joseph, BJ 1.359–65, 390; Plut. Vit. Caes. 48.3; Plut. Vit. Ant. 25f; Plut. Comp. Dem. & Ant. 3.3; Suet. Iul. 52.1–3; Suet. Aug. 17.1; Eutr. 6.22, 7.6–7; [Aur. Vict.] De vir. ill. 81.2. For later authors, see I. Dante, Inferno, circ. 2, cant. 5; G. Chaucer, Legend of Good Women, 1; R. Garnier, Marc Antoine (1578); W. Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra (1606/7); V. Alfieri, Antonio e Cleopatra (1774); T. Gautier, Une nuit de Cléopâtre (1838); A. Guerne, Cléopâtre, in Les siècles morts (1890–9); G. B. Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra (1898). Chaucer's picture is the most admiring; Dryden's Cleopatra genuinely loves Antony; Shakespeare's Cleopatra is sensuous and impulsive; Alfieri's Cleopatra is ambitious and treacherous; Gautier's Cleopatra is ruthless and promiscuous; and Shaw's Cleopatra is a kittenish teenager. Even later historians largely reiterated the negative image generated by Octavian's propaganda: see Rollin, C., Ancient History (London, 1845), i.744–51Google Scholar; Whitaker, E. W., A Complete System of Universal History (London, 1821), Vol 1, 646–7Google Scholar; Merivale, C., A History of Rome to the Death of Trajan (London, 1911), 405–6Google Scholar.

77 Antyllus was the son of Antony's third wife, Fulvia.

78 Vagi, D., Coinage and History of the Roman Empire (Sidney, OH, 1909) ii.213Google Scholar.

79 Marrou, H. I.A History of Education in Antiquity (London, 1956), 232–51, 266Google Scholar; Balsdon, J. P. V. D., Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome (London, 1969), 92–106Google Scholar; Bonner, S. F., Education in Ancient Rome (Berkeley, CA, 1977), 10–33Google Scholar.

80 Pollard, J. and Reid, H., The Rise and Fall of Alexandria (New York, 2006), 60–89, 159Google Scholar.

81 Plutarch, Symposiacs, 8.4.1; FGrH 90 T2. Damascenus later went on to be the friend and apologist of Herod of Judea. Joseph, BJ 2.21; Richardson, P., Herod. King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans (Columbia, SC, 1996), 13, 21–2Google Scholar; Grant, M., The Jews in the Roman World (New York, 1984), 76–7Google Scholar.

82 Plut. Vit. Ant. 81.1–2.

83 Sibylline Oracles, 3.350–61; Charlesworth, J. (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (New York, 1983), i.370Google Scholar.

84 Strabo 17.1.11; Eutr. 7.6. Some moderns have accepted the marriage: see Vagi (n. 77), i.77. At Brundisium in 40 bc Antony had denied that he had married Cleopatra after the death of his third wife, Fulvia. Plut. Vit. Ant. 31.2.

85 Cass. Dio 50.5.4.

86 Plut. Vit. Ant. 71.2–3; Cass. Dio 51.6.1–2. An ephebe, traditionally a young adult male, enrolled in pre-military training, though in the Hellenistic Age the training became increasingly one of broader studies. The toga virilis (‘gown of manhood’) was the plain white toga assumed by adult Roman males. Originally given at puberty, from the time of Augustus this event was set so that it took place at the age of fourteen. Marrou (n. 78), 102–15; Bonner (n. 78), 84–5.

87 Censorinus, DN 14.8; Gai. Inst. 1.196; Flacilière, R., Daily Life in Greece at the Time of Pericles (London, 2002), 249Google Scholar; Adkins, L. and Adkins, R. A.Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece (New York, 1997), 96Google Scholar; Marrou (n. 78), 102–10. See also Lewis, N., Life in Egypt under Roman Rule (Oxford, 1985), 39, 41–7Google Scholar; Balsdon (n. 78), 120–1; 299, ‘Application for Enrollment as an Ephebe’, and 300, ‘Concerning an Ephebe’, in Hunt and Edgar (n. 31), ii.308–13.

88 Cass. Dio 51.6.3, 8.5.

89 Plut. Vit. Ant. 69.1–3; Cass. Dio 51.7.1.

90 Plut. Vit. Ant. 78.4.

91 Sen, S. N., Ancient Indian History and Civilization (New Delhi, 1998), 183Google Scholar.

92 Although Hermaios, the last Indo-Greek ruler of the northern Punjab, died or disappeared around 80 bc, coins suggest that a few Indo-Greek petty kings may have survived some years longer before succumbing to the Sakas.

93 Tarn, W. W., Hellenistic Civilization (London, 1952), 245–8, 259Google Scholar; Cary, M., The Geographic Background of Greek and Roman History (Oxford, 1949), 200–5Google Scholar; Levi, P., The Cultural Atlas of the World. The Greek World (Alexandria, VA, 1992), 186Google Scholar. The route from Egypt to India is described port by port in the first-century adPeriplus Maris Erythraei. The early Ptolemies had maintained occasional contacts with the Mauryan emperors in northern India before the rise of the Parthian Empire. Smith, –V., The Oxford History of India (Oxford, 1941), 70, 97Google Scholar; Sagar, K. A.Foreign Influence on Ancient India (New Delhi, 1992), 120–4Google Scholar.

94 Strabo 15.1.4, 73; Hor. Carm. saec. 55–6; Suet. Aug. 21.3; Cass. Dio 549.8; Flor. 2.23.62; Oros. 6.21. On Pandya, see Arr. Indica 8.8–9.

95 The chronology of all of these kingdoms is uncertain, so identifying particular rulers who might have been contacted at some point by Cleopatra is almost impossible. However the Saka great-king may have been Azes I, and the Satavahana king perhaps Pulomavi I. See Puri, B. N., ‘The Sakas and the Indo-Parthians’, in Puri, B. N. and Etemadi, G. F. (eds.), History of Civilizations of Central Asia (New Delhi, 1999), 194–5Google Scholar; Mukherjee, B. N., ‘A Note on the Vikrama and Saka Eras’, Indian Journal of History of Science 32.1 (1997), 87–92Google Scholar; Majumdar, R. C., Raychaudhuri, H. C., and Datta, K., An Advanced History of India (New Delhi, 1974), i.112–13Google Scholar; Keay, J., India. A History (New York, 2000), 108–11Google Scholar; Frye, R. N., The Heritage of Persia (London, 1962), 172–4Google Scholar; Sastri, N., A History of South India (Oxford, 1955), 113–24Google Scholar.

96 Suet. Aug. 80–82.2; Everitt (n. 24), 32, 43, 88–9, 96, 216–17.

97 Plut. Vit. Ant. 81.2.

98 Both were listed as starting places for the voyage to India in the Periplus Maris Erithraei.

99 1 August became a Roman public holiday. ‘The Calendars (Fasti Anni Iuliani)’, in Ehrenburg, V. and Jones, A. H. M. (eds.), Documents illustrating the Reigns of Augustus and Tiberius (Oxford, 1955), 49Google Scholar.

100 Plut. Vit. Ant. 76.4–5, 77.1–4; Livy, Per. 133.2; Cass. Dio 51.10–13; Suet. Aug. 17; Everitt (n. 24), 190–5; Preston (n. 49), 169–77; Goldsworthy (n. 10), 377–85; Grant (n. 23), 222–8; Tyldesley (n. 10), 186–4; Burstein, S. M., The Reign of Cleopatra (Westport, CT, 2004), 31–2Google Scholar.

101 S.-A. Ashton (n. 46), text accompanying Photo 19 (p. 54).

102 Ibid., text accompanying Photos 14 (p. 51), 171 (p. 152), 172 (p. 174), 173 (pp. 174–5), and Fig. 5.5 (p. 152). (The statue in Fig. 5.5 could, however, just possibly be one of Cleopatra's brother-husbands, either Ptolemy XIII or Ptolemy XIV.)

103 Ibid. 172, 174.

104 The description ‘hooked nose’ is rather subjective, but arguably applies to at least some coins of Cleopatra's father, Ptolemy XII Auletes, her great-grandfather Ptolemy VIII Psychon, and her great-uncle Ptolemy VI Philometor. Among the Seleucid descendants of Cleopatra Thea it occurs on the coins of her sons Antiochus VIII Grypos and Antiochus IX Cyzecinus. Grypos increased the genetic heritage by marrying Cleopatra's great-aunt Cleopatra Tryphaena, and the hooked nose occurs on coins of all their sons, Seleucus VI, Antiochus XI, Philip I, Demetrius III, and Antiochus XI.

105 Plutarch claimed that Octavian ordered all of Antony's statues destroyed and would have done the same with Cleopatra's but was bribed to leave them alone. Plut. Vit. Ant. 86.5. The damage to the Caesarion statues (if indeed they are his) may have been done at this time, though many statues were mutilated much later by fanatical Christians and Muslims.

106 Suet. Iul. 52.2.

107 Plut. Vit. Ant. 81.1; Cass. Dio 51.15.5; Suet. Aug. 17.5. Areius’ observation was a variation on a line by Homer: ‘No good thing is a multitude of lords’ (Il. 2.204).

108 Plut. Vit. Ant. 80.1–2; Cass. Dio 51.16; Suet. Aug. 89; Quint. Inst. 2.15.36, 3.1.16.

109 Vell. Pat. 2.86.2.

110 At Rome after Caesar's assassination an Amatius had caused trouble, claiming to be a son of Marius. Antony had him killed, as later he killed an imposter claiming to be the drowned Ptolemy XIII. A century earlier two pretenders, Alexander Balas and Alexander Zabinas, had both made it to the Seleucid throne.

111 Cass. Dio 51.11.5; Hdt. 2.86; Dunand, F. and Lichtenburg, R., Mummies and Death in Egypt (Ithaca, NY, 2006), 94–101Google Scholar; Partridge, R., Faces of Pharaohs (London, 1994), 6–12Google Scholar.

112 Tyldesley (n. 10), 195.

113 Plut. Vit. Ant. 82.1.

114 Dunand and Lichtenberg (n. 110), 72–93.

115 Capponi, L., Roman Egypt (London, 2010), 11–17Google Scholar.

116 Grenier, J.-C., ‘L'empereur et le pharaon’, in Temporini, H. (ed.), Aufsteig und Niedergang der romischen Welt. Geschichte und Kultur (Berlin, 1972), 3188–90Google Scholar.