Cleopatra Series: Part 4

The Historical Question

One of the pleasures of writing about Cleopatra is that so much of her early life remains uncertain.

Historians can tell us quite a lot about her father Ptolemy XII and his exile from Egypt. We know that he sought support from powerful Romans. We also know that he eventually regained his throne. Meanwhile, Rome was becoming an increasingly important factor in Egyptian politics.

What we do not know is whether Cleopatra accompanied him.

That uncertainty is what attracted me as a novelist.

In the historical record, Cleopatra effectively disappears for a period during her childhood. For a writer, such gaps are both a challenge and an opportunity. They allow us to ask not what happened, but what might plausibly have happened.

In my novel, I chose to imagine that Cleopatra accompanied her father into exile.

If she did, she would have encountered the Roman world at a formative age. She would have seen ambitious politicians jostling for power. She would have witnessed first-hand the extent to which Rome could determine the fate of kingdoms.

The novel therefore places Cleopatra in Pompey’s household and allows her to encounter some of the great figures of the late Republic, including Pompey, Crassus, Cicero and Caesar.

Did these meetings happen?

We cannot know.

Indeed, we cannot even prove that Cleopatra was in Rome at all.

Where History Ends and Fiction Begins

But historical fiction is not the same thing as history.

History is concerned with evidence.

Historical fiction is concerned with possibility.

The two overlap, but they are not identical.

The characters of Charmian and Iras provide another example. Ancient sources tell us almost nothing about their early lives. We know only that they became Cleopatra’s trusted companions and remained loyal to her until the end.

A novelist must therefore decide how such relationships began.

My solution was to imagine them as childhood friends who accompanied Cleopatra during her years abroad. There is no evidence for this. Equally, there is no evidence against it.

This is where the speculative element enters the story.

The goal is not to rewrite history.

It is to explore the spaces that history leaves unexplained.

In that sense, Cleopatra’s possible exile offers something more than an interesting historical puzzle.

It offers a stage on which history and imagination can meet.

History provides the outline.

The novelist explores the possibilities within it.

Further Reading

Historical References

Encyclopaedia Britannica: Cleopatra VII
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cleopatra-queen-of-Egypt

World History Encyclopedia: Cleopatra VII
https://www.worldhistory.org/Cleopatra_VII/

Oxford Classical Dictionary: Cleopatra VII, 69–30 BCE
https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-1672

Recommended Non-Fiction Books

• Adrian Goldsworthy, Cleopatra: A Life
• Stacy Schiff, Cleopatra: A Life
• Duane W. Roller, Cleopatra: A Biography
• Joyce Tyldesley, Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt

Historical Novels

• Margaret George, The Memoirs of Cleopatra
  Widely regarded as one of the finest historical novels about Cleopatra, written as an autobiographical memoir.
• Michelle Moran, Cleopatra’s Daughter
  Focuses on Cleopatra’s daughter Selene after the fall of Egypt.
• Stephanie Dray, Lily of the Nile
  Another novel centred on Cleopatra Selene and the legacy of her famous mother.
• Margaret George, Mary, Called Magdalene and Helen of Troy
  Not Cleopatra novels, but excellent examples of the author’s immersive historical fiction style.
• Colleen McCullough, The October Horse and Antony and Cleopatra (Masters of Rome series)
  Detailed historical fiction covering Cleopatra’s relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.