Cleopatra had affairs and children with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, but whereas Mark Antony officially recognized Cleopatra and their children together, Julius Caesar did not. Caesar remained a Roman. When Cleopatra and Caesar met, she was young. When Mark Antony and Cleopatra met, she was no longer young. The story of Caesar and Cleopatra is very different from the later romantic story where both lovers killed themselves. We don't know what exactly what happened behind closed doors, but various fiction writers have tried to take a peak.
Steven Saylor is a master of Roman historical fiction and for me, Judgment of Caesar doesn't disappoint, although, as with Shaw below, a healthy taste for the silly helps. Called upon to solve a dynastic dispute, Caesar is led by his sexual attraction to prefer Ptolemy, but by luck and Ptolemy's treachery, Caesar is led to support Cleopatra -- his perfect match.
First read when I was a few years younger than the 16-year old Cleopatra, I loved the way the famous queen of Egypt, seated on the great sphinx, warned the unknown old man (Caesar) that the fearful Romans would eat him and then proceeded to ramble on about her cat. In the end Caesar promises to send her a man more suited to her age, Mark Antony. Some are offended that Shaw portrays the great queen as silly, but especially if read by one of even greater silliness, the play is good fun.
While Shaw is criticized for historical inaccuracies and a negative portrayal of Cleopatra, Colleen McCullough is generally applauded for the scholarship behind her works of biographical fiction. Caesar is an old man when he has his affair with Cleopatra. As reviewer Irene Hahn writes, "He has met Cleopatra, Pharaoh of Egypt, and mutual expediency of a sexual liaison grows into love, at least on her part. But he is determined not to give her a daughter, future wife of their son."
The prequel to
Pharaoh (
Kleopatra) was so exciting that it would have been hard to beat, and
Pharaoh doesn't. Somewhat disappointing, it still has memorable and visual scenes especially of the carpeting of Cleopatra. Ten years spent researching Cleopatra and the history of the times has given Essex a profound familiarity with the powerful, misunderstood woman who died two millennia ago.
This is alternative fiction based on the idea that a son of Caesar and Cleopatra survived. As reviewer Irene Hahn writes, "In this book, Ms. Bradshaw imagines that Caesarion survived his intended death, and she proceeds with a psychological study about what happens when a person of his royal standing is faced with the fact that he is presumed dead to the world and has to accept this as an inevitable reality."
