FROM THE MURDER OF CLEOPATRA by PAT BROWN
Publication date: February 19, 2013 Prometheus Books
PROLOGUE: THE MYTH OF CLEOPATRA’S DEATH
When the sun rose over the city of Alexandria on the morning
of August 12, 30 BCE, it did not shine down on the great Alexandria of Egypt,
but the new Alexandria of the Roman Empire. The air was heavy with resignation
and solemn respect for the passing of the queen, and the transfer of Alexandria
into the hands of the Roman general Octavian. Cleopatra had provided a
dignified conclusion to the great dynasty with her brave, if surprising, exit
from the world.
The story
was simple, yet awe-inspiring. Octavian had been in the palace, and Cleopatra
in her tomb with her two favorite handmaidens. Somehow, a cobra had been
smuggled into the mausoleum hidden in a basket of figs. A soldier delivered a
letter to Octavian in which Cleopatra explained that she was about to take her
life with a request that her body be buried next to her beloved husband and
Roman general, Mark Antony, who had already committed suicide a few days
earlier, dying in the arms of his wife.
Octavian immediately dispatched his men to the mausoleum to intervene
and stop the queen from this rash course of action. However, by the time the
soldiers arrived, Cleopatra was dead. Word was sent back to Octavian, “We were
too late.”
Unwilling to believe Cleopatra was
truly dead, Octavian hurried to the mausoleum. He was stunned and angered by
the sight of the motionless queen. This determined woman who had refused to
yield at any time in her life, this enchantress who lured married Roman men
into unfaithfulness and turned them against their countries, this queen who had
refused to recognize his superiority in life, preferred death over submission
to his sovereignty. He would now be unable to bring her back to Rome in
shackles and parade her though the streets in his grand triumph—his final coup
de grace. Queen Cleopatra, the greatest prize in the entire world, had slipped
out of his grasp.
Hoping she
was perhaps in a coma, the sleep that mimics death, Octavian desperately sent
for the physician and for specialists in snake venom who might still find a way
to save her. But the snake venom experts had no remedies and the doctor
pronounced her dead. All of this was witnessed by the soldiers, and after they
left, Octavian met with his advisors.
The story
of Cleopatra’s death did not take long to spread beyond the compound and soon
the city was in mourning. Later that week, a wealthy friend of Cleopatra's came
to Octavian and gave him a large sum of money to maintain statues of the queen.
Wishing to prove he was a moral leader who respected the sentiments of his new
subjects, Octavian agreed.
This is the
account of Cleopatra’s death, a tale that has been dutifully retold for two
thousand years. But the real story of how Octavian got away with the most
perfect crime in history, the murder of Cleopatra, has never been uncovered
until now.
In 2004, I hosted the Discovery Channel documentary, The Mysterious Death of Cleopatra, and
debunked the “death by snake theory.” I also stated that I believed Cleopatra was
murdered but I wasn't able to go into my reasoning in the show that was just an hour long. I decided only a book would allow me to present my research and an in-depth analysis, to present a solid profile of history and to reconstruct the events of Cleopatra's life and death. During the work on the documentary and throughout the next eight years, I spent time in Egypt, Rome, and England
working with Egyptologists, poison experts, archeologists, and historians of
the ancient world and I began to piece together another, more credible story
behind the death of Cleopatra.
I believed
Cleopatra was tortured.
I believed
Cleopatra was strangled.
I believed
Anthony was murdered.
I believed
Cleopatra did not hide in her tomb with her treasure.
I believed
Cleopatra did not bargain with Octavian.
I believed
Cleopatra planned a brilliant military maneuver at Alexandria, her Actium Two,
which this time would not have been an escape strategy from a failed naval
battle, but a faux naval battle to permit a successful escape from a dire
military position that offered little hope of survival.
I believed
Cleopatra never loved Antony.
I believed
Cleopatra never loved Julius Caesar.
I believed
Cleopatra did not have Caesar’s son.
I believed
Cleopatra may have been one of the most brilliant, cold-blooded, iron-willed
rulers in history and the truth about what really happened was hidden behind a
veil of propaganda and lies set in motion by her murderer, Octavian, and the
agenda of the Roman Empire.
And now The Murder of Cleopatra brings this new view of history to you with my full analysis of the world's greatest cold case.
The Murder of Cleopatra is in stores on February 19th
and available for order now at Amazon (Amazon. Canada) and Barnes & Noble. Kindle format is also available in the US and UK and Canada.