A reexamination of the rivalry between Cleopatra and her two sisters, Berenike and Arsinoe—three queens who shaped the tumultuous final years of the Ptolemaic dynasty
In this dramatic political, cultural, and historical narrative of the period 60 to 40 BCE in Egypt and Rome, three sister queens are each seeking power for themselves: Cleopatra, who would become the most famous woman of the ancient world; Berenike, executed by their father, Ptolemy XII; and Arsinoe, murdered at Cleopatra’s request.
Jane Draycott profiles each queen in her historical and archaeological context—not just through Roman eyes but also through Greek and Egyptian ones. The overlooked story of the sister queens and the sibling rivalry that brought down a 300-year-old dynasty is now being told.