Egyptian Princess, Roman Prisoner, African Queen

Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Mark Antony, was the only member of the Ptolemaic dynasty to survive after her parents were defeated by the future Roman emperor Augustus at the Battle of Actium.

Paraded as a prisoner in a Roman triumph, then brought up in the household of Augustus’ sister Octavia, she would marry a North African prince, becoming co-ruler of the Roman client-state of Mauretania.

Jane Draycott recreates the life and times of a woman who became a powerful ruler in her own right at a time when most women were marginalised, and whose remarkable life shines new and revelatory light on Roman politics, society and culture in the early years of the Empire.