Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile

Most everyone is familiar with the story of what happens to Cleopatra eventually, but this novel tries to come up with what her life might have been like when she was only twelve years old.

The story starts right off with some of the troublesome intrigue that Cleopatra, young as she is, has to worry about, revolving around her father who is hiding and various others who either want to kill him, her, both, or someone else. Eventually a plan is drawn for her and her father to go to Rome to get help from the Romans to restore stability to the Egyptian throne and most of the book deals with this attempt, involving Cleopatra going to Rome and staying in various villas.

One of the really interesting aspects is her description of Rome of the time as being essentially a rather dirty and smelly city, with refuse just thrown out of windows and left to rain to wash away.

It's interesting to read about the contrast between Egyptian and Roman civilizations of the time. There is, as always, a historical section, although it could have used a little more detail. For example, the game shown on page 215 is Senet, which you can actually buy today (Journey to the Netherworld), and is an interesting and rather challenging game.

Overall an interesting book, especially since it deals with a young Cleopatra and not the grown woman.

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