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.

Friday Funnies--Ancient Style!

My favorite egomaniac, Alexander the Great, has some funnies of his own about his horse, Bucephalus. Check it out here.

And now back to our regular Friday Funnies: 

Totally Looks Like...

Uh, Oh...

Dear Teenage Boys: Please stop wearing body sprays altogether....Thanks, Our Collective Noses

Alexander’s Hair-raising Fight with the Oracle at Delphi

"Dude, everyone needs a
vacation. Come back later."

The Oracle at Delphi closed up shop and made no prophecies between November and February.

Why? Who knows. Maybe the hallucinogenic vapors emanating from the crack of the center of the world weren’t as strong when the weather cooled.

This was tough news for Alexander, who had marched 40,000 warriors from Macedon to visit the oracle before invading Persia. It was November and he’d just missed the last performance. But he needed the priestess's blessing. His men would not follow him into battle unless they knew the gods were on their side.

“Come back in February,” temple guards told Alexander when he requested a consultation anyway.  He asked nicely. He pleaded. He begged. But temple guards only had two words for him: Go home.

"Whaddaya mean you won't see me?
And I got my hair done and everything!"

Alexander flipped. He burst into the temple, grabbed the priestess by the hair and dragged her toward the sacred altar, demanding a prophecy.

“You!” she cried in outrage, “are invincible!”

She probably meant, “You are an insufferable little brat!” But he heard, “You will not be stopped in battle!”

He released her. Grinning, Alexander marched back to his men and announced that the priestess said no one would ever defeat him. His men cheered and happily set off a-conquerin’.

Even in the ancient world, some folks just never took “no” for an answer.

Good News on Several Fronts

     This past weekend, the Georgia Center for the Book had its celebration for its inaugural list of the "25 Books Every Young Reader in Georgia Should Read"--and my first book, Alexander the Great Rocks the World--was selected!
     What an honor! It seemed to me as if I were at a great party where I got to hang with a bunch of people I greatly admire and then--as a bonus--got the same pretty crystal award they did too (how did that happen?).
     Rubbing elbows with Deborah Wiles, James Dashner, Laurely Snyder, Elizabeth O. Dulemba and many other fine writers and illustrators (for the complete list, go here: http://tinyurl.com/2d366cc) just reinforced how much of a fangirl I am around other writers.
     I also spoke, for the first time, about my latest release, Cleopatra Rules! at the Suwanee Festival of Books. It was a lot of fun and my cardboard mummy mask only fell down a couple of times.  Plus, I got to sit next to Jackson Pearce (Sisters Red and As You Wish) at the signing table afterward and am still hoping I didn't embarrass myself too much around her (see above: fangirl issues).

   Next weekend, come see me at the Decatur Book Festival!


PS: Thanks, Stan Dulemba, for the photo!

Rockin' Review

Guys Lit Wire recently reviewed my first book, ALEXANDER THE GREAT ROCKS THE WORLD: http://tinyurl.com/255zxrp. Alex was pubbed in 2006, so I was pleasantly surprised to come across it. It's easy to forget your first "baby" when you're about to deliver the second and getting ready for the third!

Still, Alexander is in the air. Vicki Leon has also been writing about my favorite ancient guy on http://vickileon.com/blog/?p=23. Her new book, HOW TO MELLIFY A CORPSE discusses how Alexander was mummified in honey. Sweet, right? Her take on things is a riot. I recommend checking it out. Check out Guys Lit Wire too--it's an awesome site.

Thanks Hasan for the instructions on making the links work. How cool is it to get help from across the planet! Check out his awesome history and art history blog too at: http://threepipeproblem.blogspot.com.