How Did I NOT Know This About the Name, Cleopatra?

Olympias, mom of Alexander and his sister, Cleo the unknown.

One of the earliest Cleopatras that I learned about was Alexander the Great's little sister. 

What, I wondered, was Cleopatra of Macedon like? What if she was even smarter and more wily than Alex? What kind of life did she lead? How did she feel about her older brother getting to conquer the world while she was traded off to marry her own mother's older brother when she was a young teen?(Hmmm, maybe there's a book in there somewhere....). 

Sadly, we'll never know anything about her because, well, she was a girl, which meant no one bothered to record her life.

When the Ptolemies took over Egypt, they connected their blood line to Alexander's for political legitimacy. So, many royal women were named after Alex's little sister. Our famous last queen of Egypt was the seventh Cleopatra in the Ptolemy line and her daughter, Selene, was the eighth.

Snow happens, even in Athens. Here in Atlanta, it's more of an apocalypse. 

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that there was an even "older" Cleopatra in Greek history. Khione, the goddess of snow, had a sister named...Cleopatra! I learned this only because snow is a big deal right now in the South. Here in Atlanta, the entire city is on lockdown because of ice and sleet. Which got me wondering what the ancients thought about snow. When I searched for ancient Greek snow gods, up popped Khione and her sister, Cleopatra.

Well, knock me over with an olive leaf. 

Cleopatra was the daughter of Boreas, the god of the north wind, and Oreithyia, a mountain nymph.  Some sources say she is a goddess of twilight, sometimes known as Alcyone.

Would knowing this little factoid have changed anything in my novel, Cleopatra's Moon, or my biography of the queen, Cleopatra Rules? No. I can't think of any way I could've worked that in without making it weird.

But still. Thanks to the snow and ice trapping me in my house, I learned something new about the name of two of my favorite queens in history. I'll try to remember that when I get cabin fever.

The Ancient Lure of Pretty Perfumes

Cupid hovers over Psyche like a perfume hawker at a department store.

I love this fresco of Psyche sniffing her wrist as she tests a new perfume cupid has brought her (from Pompeii at the Getty Villa).

How charming is it?  And how still true. After all, what woman hasn't dabbed a pretty scent on her wrist and sniffed?

Perfumes were big business in the ancient world. When I was researching Cleopatra's world, I was amused to learn that one of the reasons King Herod of Judea despised the queen was that Antony handed her territories that had once belonged to him.

Antony needed ships, Egypt had no forests, so BOOM, he took some of Herod's forested lands and gave them to the queen so she could build up his navy for him. That was bad enough, but Antony also gave her territory near the Dead Sea that included a very profitable perfume factory, probably so that she could use the profits to fund the ship-building.

Which is a reminder that the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra wasn't necessarily (as the Romans painted it) a hot and dangerous love-affair, but more of a mutually-beneficial business arrangement. She'd help him win a war, if he'd help her maintain power (and even expand) her kingdom.

Bidness (as we say in the South) before pleasure, folks.

The Egyptian god of perfume.

Perfumes and scents were big bidness in the ancient world for many reasons--primarily because the ancient world reeeeeked.  There is no other way of putting it. Check out this post by author Caroline Lawrence on the disgusting aromas with which the ancients had to contend. Apparently, if you had a time machine, you would want to lug several cases of Febreeze with you just so you could make it through the day.

The ancients used perfumes in religious as well as bathing rituals. So important where scents to the Egyptians, they even had a god of beautiful fragrance, Nefertem.  

One prayer of the Book of the Dead intones its hopes that the newly deceased will "Rise like Nefertem from the blue water lily, to the nostrils of Ra, and come forth upon the horizon each day."

In other words, may you come back to life in the Afterworld smelling like a rose (or actually, a blue lotus).

Rose and cinnamon were, according to some experts, the most popular combination for ancient perfumes. Interesting combination, eh?

Perhaps the smell would be akin to eating a Cinnabon while in the center of a rose garden. Maybe the ancients were on to something...

For more, check out this entry on ancient perfume-making from the Getty Museum blog.

Random Sightings

Walking through the Decatur Public Library, I stopped cold when I came across this: 

At the Decatur Public Library...Mother and daughter.

There. In a case, behind a lovely Cleopatra figurine was...my book! Now, Joe Davich at the Georgia Center for the Book, had mentioned that they'd included my book in the library's princess displays, but I'd forgotten all about it. (Sorry, Joe!)

I knelt in front of the case and coo-ed, then started taking pictures, secretly hoping someone would come up to me and ask me why I was doing this.

"Because this is my book!" I imagined I would answer proudly. "I wrote this. And there it is--in a case. At the library! Amazing, innit?"

But, as so often happens, people pointedly ignored my cray-cray. Which just reminded me how important it is to have friends who "get" you. My writer friends would have squee-d loudly right along with me, shushing-librarians be damned!

Having writer friends is a must. Take, for example, what happened last week when I had lunch with my pal, Elizabeth O. Dulemba. Driving through Avondale Estates, Elizabeth cried out, "Oh my god, did you see that?"

"Huh? What?" I asked in my exceptionally witty way.

"We have to go back and check this out," she said, inspiring me to take the "mom-van" on a turn so sharp, we nearly made it on two wheels.

"Keep going, keep going!" she urged as we approached the parking lot of a church in construction.

And this is what we saw:

Out in the open, in the parking lot! As if Egypt in Atlanta wasn't just a tad...weird.

Right there, in the parking lot!  Isis. Anubis. The sphinx. All out in the open, presumably for the African church next door under construction. How awesome is that? And how awesome that my bud absolutely knew that I had to see it?

The sphinxes (sphinxii?) had tubes in their mouths. Fountains?

 The church under construction seemed somewhat small, so we were intrigued by the size of these decorations. How in the world will they fit it all in?

Elizabeth cozies up to the "big guy."

I can only imagine just how magical it will all look inside. After all, it turned a dreary, wet, ordinary day into something extraordinary--a parking lot full o' wonder.

Guess What These Two Have in Common?

National Public Radio (NPR) calls what they have in common the "other" four-letter "s" word. Not that they embody it, but that they have been labeled as such for political purposes. I have written before about this topic, particularly as it relates to the propaganda war against my favorite queen, Cleopatra.

So when the owners of the blog KidLit Women's History Month said I could write a post for them, I hit on the topic pretty hard. Then I got worried and asked them if I needed to "dial it back" a bit.

I was delighted when Margo Tannenbaum and Lisa Taylor said, "Nope, go for it!" Margo, in fact, kindly told me that her teen daughter read it and loved it and hoped it would go viral (me too, sweetie, me too). So, visit the site and let me know what you think!

Blog:  KidLit Women's History Month.  And check it out every day in March. A different kid lit author talks about her favorite female power-player in history.

(If you're not familiar with the latest political brouhaha I'm referring to, click the NPR link above.)

She Had Me at "Who you Looking AT?"

I loved Madonna's Superbowl Half-Time show. Completely and utterly. I mean, when the camera panned the gladiator-like "Romans" pulling her barge (that was NOT a euphemism, people!), I was a goner.

Madonna as Cleo? Brilliant!

Thankfully hubs and the boy were in the kitchen rummaging for more food when the show started, so they did not witness me standing up in awe. And when the golden fans parted (like the silver oars Plutarch described!) and there stood her Madgesty in an Egyptian-inspired crown and a golden cloak I actually cooo-ed.

Forget the mish-mash of images and the overwrought, ridiculous costumes. Ignore the dated 1990 techno-beat and the men in golden booties. What really mattered was that Madonna went for it. And she captured that sense of awe, slightly-disgusted disbelief, and head-shaking wonderment that ridiculous excess elicits in us mere mortals.

Love her or hate her, there is an unabashed fierceness in Madonna that I like to think the ancient queen also had in abundance.

The only thing that was missing? A giant snake. For Isis's sake, where was the snake?

The rest of the game was very frustrating for my die-hard Pats-fan-boys but still. As a result of Madge's unrepentant eye-fest, I spent the rest of the evening, warbling, "Don't just stand there. Let's get to it. Strike a pose, there's nothing to it!"

You go, your Madgesty.

Want the Real Dirt on Cleopatra? Check This Out

Drag queen Cleo sez: "Take the class. But first you must kneel and bow to me!"

Isn't technology grand? Now you can study with a renown Cleopatra expert, online. Dr. Prudence Jones of Montclair State University is offering a summer online class on the great queen.

Dr. Jones holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Wellesley College. She has published three books and numerous articles and was one of the experts included in the 2008 BBC/Discovery Channel documentary, Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer.

I used her two books on Cleo--Cleopatra: A Sourcebook and Cleopatra (Life & Times)--in my research for Cleopatra Rules! and was thrilled when she agreed to read my manuscript before publication. 

Here's the thing, though--my book is for kids. By necessity, some, er...not age-appropriate details were glossed over.  This class is for adults, so no holds barred.

Yup, now you can roll in the risque'! Savor the salacious! Pursue the prurient!  Oops no, I mean, now you can study for yourself the real details on how the great queen lived, died and endured in our collective fantasy world. Plus, she is including Cleopatra Rules! in some of her discussions.

How cool is that?

The class is open to all, so sign up here: https://sites.google.com/site/cleopatra99920/home.  Also, check out the youtube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YadvdiJEx84.

Seriously, sign-up. Or face the wrath of Drag-Queen Cleo Action Figure!

On the Kindness of Children's Book Authors

The Southern Kentucky Book (SOKY) Festival rocked for so many reasons: I got to hang with Kristin Tubb, met Cynthea Liu in person, and made new connections with the awesome Philana Marie Boles and Jen Bradbury. But I will always remember it as the festival where fellow author Tracy Barrett brought me a special surprise.

Tracy and I had never met face-to-face, though she was one of the first people I contacted when I joined the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and sought out help for submitting my first book, Alexander the Great Rocks the World.

She jumped in with several suggestions. Over the years, Tracy--the author of 17 books for kids-- continued helping in other ways. I was SO excited to thank her in person. Here's how it went:


Me:      Yay, we finally meet!

Tracy:  Oh, I have something for you. I read your post about how you forgot your Cleo Action Figure
            at home, and I was at the Getty museum so I picked this up for you. 

Me:      ???????????? *Chin drops to floor* *All words leave brain*

Tracy:   Smiles.

Let me point out just how inadequate the words "Thank You!" are in times like these. 'Cuz even though I lamely uttered them, they in no way captured how touched I was by her thoughtfulness and generosity. I mean, come on!  Who DOES that?

Back home, though, drag-queen Cleo was not amused.  After all, Cleo (with cat!) wore pretty blue eye-shadow. Only on her, it looked feminine. On drag-queen Cleo, the blue very nearly brought out the five o'clock shadow on "her" GI-Joe square jaw. Big Cleo was NOT happy.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I came across this scene:

"No! You may not hurt Cleo (with cat!)," I told her. "Use your words to express how you feel."

Drag-queen Cleo rolled her eyes, got in mini-Cleo's face and growled, "I will CUT you and leave you for the fishes in the Nile if you ever take my spotlight again. I will use my big man-hands to throttle--"

"Stop!" I interrupted. "Never mind."

It was easier to separate them.

Despite drag-queen-Cleo's less than gracious welcome to mini-Cleo (with cat!), I for one am thrilled at the addition. And very grateful for the incredible kindness of fellow children's authors.

Cleopatra Action-Figure Spotted in South Georgia

While traveling in Americus, Georgia, Queen Cleopatra VII took a liking to a magazine called, Garden & Gun.

The last queen of Egypt explains the wisdom of combining gardens with guns.

"I am quite impressed," she explained, "by this unique and delicious combination of the feminine and masculine, of the sweet and the violent.

"The Garden part lures the reader in with the promise of beauty and perfume from southern blooms and then--POW!--one's mind is blown by the shocking and unexpected violence of the Gun part.

"Brilliant, really!" continued the queen. "For, as you well know, this was the secret to my success--the sudden shift from a seemingly non-threatening position (possibly even appearing defeated) to the violence of an unexpected attack."

The great queen, of course, is referring to the time she outwitted her younger brother's henchmen by sneaking into her royal palace all snug in a rug (or bedroll) so that she could negotiate privately with the man of the hour, Julius Caesar. This move ultimately resulted in the Alexandrian War and the complete and utter defeat of her enemies.

The queen points to her favorite part of the magazine.

She also pulled the "Garden and Gun" trick upon her greatest enemy, Octavian. She told him she wanted to pray by Marc Antony's tomb (the flower part--playing the loving, devoted consort) and then whipping out an Egyptian cobra (the gun) to die on her own terms.

"I was the quintessential Southern Lady before you all even knew there was a south," explained the queen. "Indeed, it is a little known fact that the term 'Steel Magnolias' originated with me though, in my time, I was referred to as the 'Bronze Lotus.'"

As the queen left the platform, she was heard to mumble, "Steel magnolias, my asp. I'd wilt all them blue-haired ladies into a pile of pollen with just one look."

Cleopatra Musings: Was Antony Hot?

A Fayum portrait of an unknown man.

Let’s be honest. The enduring fascination with Cleopatra centers around her supposed beauty. After all, the thinking goes, she “snagged” two of the most powerful men of her era—Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. She HAD to be beautiful, right?

Yet, as I’ve explained in previous posts, the busts and coins bearing her image show her as attractive but not necessarily beautiful. Truth is, her looks likely had little to do with her liaisons with Caesar and Antony.  It’s more likely they “fell in love/lust” with her great wealth and her kingdom’s strategic value in controlling trade.

Richard Burton as Mark Antony.

But how boring is that?

So we continue to fantasize that Cleopatra was one hot mamma. Julius Caesar, we know, was fifty-two when he first met the twenty-two year old Queen of Egypt, so we tend to give him a pass in the looks department.

But Mark Antony was younger when he hooked up with Cleopatra. And so, in movies, plays and television, he is often depicted as hot in his own right—either as handsome and charismatic as Richard Burton (in the 1963 movie, above) or as pretty as James Purefoy in HBO’s ROME (below).

James Purefoy as Antony in HBO's Rome

But are we doing to Antony what we’ve done to Cleopatra all these centuries—are we making him “hot” just to add spice to the story?

Hollywood continues to worship physical attractiveness over the truths of history. So if the gorgeous Angelina Jolie can play the somewhat plain but brilliant Cleopatra, why not have a magnificent specimen of manhood play Mark Antony?

The "real" Mark Antony according to a first century bust.

They’ll sell more tickets that way.

Which of course, begs the question—which hunk will they cast opposite Jolie to play Mark Antony? Any guesses?