The Cleopatras – Part 1: Cleopatra I, the Syrian

Queens are very much in fashion these days. They are receiving scholarly attention like never before, and queenship has emerged in recent years as a legitimate subject of serious academic study. Recently I published an academic book on Cleopatra Thea and Cleopatra III, sister-queens who dominated two Hellenistic royal dynasties: the Seleucids and the Ptolemies. Their intertwined lives were so extraordinary, and the times they lived through were so brutal and brilliant, that the writing experience set me thinking: might an exploration of the Cleopatras aimed at a more popular readership be of interest? I decided yes, it would, and so I have been spending my time writing The Cleopatras: Forgot