“Where do you want me to start?”
“In the beginning.”
“Very well. Do you wish me to be brief?”
“You can be as brief or as long winded as you like so long as you are accurate. I assume you’ll begin with the founding of this city. I should very much like to visit the tomb of Alexander the great.”
“I will take you on a personal guided tour Caesar. How about tomorrow morning?”
“Splendid. Now please begin.”
She took a deep breath and began.
“Alexander of Macedon, King, son of Phillip II and Olympias, known to the rest of the world as the ’Great’ came here to Egypt in the winter two hundred and thirty years before you were born….”
“You know when I was born?”
“I know a lot about you Caesar. More than you can imagine. I have done my homework.”
“So it seems. And I must learn as much about you as I can. If I am to help you that is.”
“Egypt watched the events unfold. First Turkey, then Syria and the great and ancient city of Tyre was destroyed and then Gaza. When he appeared on the banks of the Nile Egypt offered no resistance. Alexandria was just a narrow piece of land, coastal land, to the west of the Nile. He took string and sticks and laid out his new city Alexandria. So early in his career he wanted to spread the Hellenistic ideal, its culture, its civilisation. He didn’t stay long enough to see what it would become though. He left for Siwa, an oasis in the desert, to consult the oracle there, where Alexander claimed his father lived.”
Caesar was fascinated. He felt goose bumps on his arms as he thought about the great King. He concentrated on the young Queen and found himself drifting. Her lips were full and sensual. The way her tongue touched her teeth as she spoke. He found it very arousing.
“Are you listening to me?”
“Of course.”
She continued telling the tale but he now found himself too distracted to listen anymore.
“I’m sorry Cleopatra I’m not listening as much as I’m enjoying you telling the tale. I’m rather tired and it is very late.”
She got up out of her seat. He rose too and now they were standing very close. Caesar was surrounded by her femininity. His heart was pounding. For a second he was tempted to kiss her. He wasn’t sure as to how she would react. He decided to kiss the back of her hand instead. He expected her to pull away after the kiss but she held his hand and her touch was warm. Then the moment passed.
“Do you intend to hold my hand forever Caesar?”
They both smiled. His was one of embarrassment.
“Guards,” he called.
The door opened instantly.
“Escort the Queen to her bedroom.”
Eight guards waited for her in the corridor.
She was about to leave then she suddenly reached up and kissed him on the cheek.
“Are you sure you wouldn‘t like me to stay?” she asked.
“Good night queen Cleopatra.”
She joined the guards in the corridor and they closed in around her as the door closed. Their footsteps receded into the distance. Caesar reached up and touched his cheek where she’d kissed it. He brought his fingertips in front of his face and looked at them. Then he looked at the door from where she’d left moments before.
“I think I’m beginning to fall in love with her,” he said to the night.
CHAPTER FOUR
“It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”
Julius Caesar was standing in front of the spectacular tomb of Alexander the great. They were in a room bigger than his entire house in Rome. Its walls were decorated with the very finest paintings, scenes depicting the great Alexander’s life. The room was lit by hundreds of torches. The fumes from which escaped by a series of chimneys. It was almost as light as daylight.
Caesar paused for a moment in front of a painting of the battle of Issus. The detail was fantastic. Here Alexander on his favourite horse ’Bucephalus’ runs through a Persian officer as Darius only a hairs breadth away looks on from his chariot.
“I like this,” Caesar said.
As soon as he had seen it he had decided he would, on his return to Rome, have a room in his house painted just like it.
’My wife Calpurnia will understand’ he said to himself.
Now he focused on what he’d come to see. Standing on a magnificent plinth with steps leading up on all four sides was the sarcophagus of Alexander the great. The base was cut from the finest marble, intricately carved. The four corners facing each other were Babylonian lions, once again carefully crafted in exquisite detail. Between them the sides were of the best quality Phoenician glass. The lid was marble, the carvings on it showing scenes of Greek warriors, heroes and Gods. The sarcophagus towered four feet above them and was twice the length of a man.
Inside were the finest quilts and cushions of silk. On them lay Alexander himself. He lay on his back. At his feet, which were together and pointing upwards, lay his shield and helmet. His boots were gold, so was his robe and the mask that covered his face. His arms were folded across his chest, his hands held his sword close to his body.
Cleopatra sat down on a stool while Caesar climbed the steps in front of her, his back to her, and peered inside at Alexander. Cleopatra had seen the sarcophagus many times.
“It has been kept in perfect condition,” the Roman said, “It’s keepers are to be congratulated. It’s as if he was buried only this morning.”
“The tomb has not been opened since the day it was sealed nearly three hundred years ago.”
Caesar turned to look at her open mouthed. She was wearing a sheer sky blue dress today which revealed much of her cleavage. She wore a simple head dress of black and gold squares. He took his eyes off her chest to look at her face.
“How is this possible? To keep him preserved I mean.”
“When the tomb was made and Alexander laid to rest inside its designers used bellows in those holes you can see that have been plugged. The bellows created a vacuum leaving absolutely no air to allow the corpse to deteriorate.
Caesar turned back to look at the body of his hero.
“Ingenious.”
“Of course Alexander also had the best embalmers Egypt had to offer to attend him.”
Caesar turned back to her.
“Yes of course. Only the best.”
“Would you like me to continue the story Caesar? About Alexander and my ancestors and my family.”
He smiled.
’She looks so beautiful today’
“Please Do,” he said turning back to the sarcophagus.
Cleopatra began telling the story that she loved to tell. The story her father had told her time and time again. She could remember it word for word.
“Alexander could not have imagined the city Alexandria would become. From his marking the city out with rocks, sticks and string to the commercial port and chief trading city of the Mediterranean. Jewish immigrants arrived in their droves, traders from Africa, Arabia and as far away as India. Alexander would never again see the great city he founded. Did you know he founded over twenty Alexandria’s throughout his world.”
Caesar nodded.
“Ptolemy brought him back here, eleven years later, after he died in Babylon. It was the proudest day in the history of this city. Everyone attended the funeral procession. From the richest noble to the lowliest peasant. Everyone wanted to see him, some for their first, others for the last time. The Pharaoh had returned. Though now Egypt was without a ruler. Ptolemy! Alexander’s general was welcomed as a hero. There were many days of mourning. When it finished Ptolemy gave huge amounts of gold and money to the city, Persian gold. And it was all spent on Alexandria. Palaces, temples, baths and monuments were built Caesar. Egypt became once again the richest country in the world. Not since Ramses the great did we have so much wealth. I think this is why Rome is so interested in Egypt is it not?”