Macedonia History

In 1818, a lumber merchant tasked with removing scrap wood from the land which had been the Emperor Hadrian’s villa outside Rome, discovered a wooden crate among the lumber on the estate. The crate was carefully opened. Inside was a broken slate tablet with an overlay of dimly visible colors underneath a thick and dust-encrusted varnish. It was difficult to discern the image, but the 16 pieces fit together like a puzzle. Painters were called in to remove the thick, mottled layers of varnish. Colors with an amazing brilliance and polished finish began to emerge. The astonishing picture slowly revealed a figure of a young, beautiful woman clad in a crimson tunic, with a jeweled golden crown. Matching the crown were a set of earrings, necklace and pendant on her forehead that were inlaid with rubies and emeralds, and the jewelry had fine pearls mounted on the edges. A gold armband with pearls suspended on gold chains and a bracelet of gold were on her right arm. But...

Reading the first few chapters of Stacy Schiff's biography Cleopatra puts me in mind of another Cleopatra, the one for whom all the Egyptian Cleopatras were named. She nearly became the first Cleopatra to rule Egypt, more than 250 years before the time of Schiff's book, but died as a result of making the attempt. I am speaking of Alexander the Great's sister Cleopatra, the only full sibling of the great Macedonian king. After Alexander's death she was courted by no fewer than four of his former generals, principally because she could elevate them to near-royal status by marrying them. The last to attempt to wed her was Ptolemy I, already ensconced in Egypt where his descendants would rule for three centuries. For unknown reasons, she accepted him after refusing the others -- but that acceptance provoked a rival general, Antigonus, into ordering her assassination. (Schiff incorrectly states that she was murdered by family members.) Ptolemy built his authority in E...