The Legend Of Arsinoe

Arsinoe (pronounced AR SIN O WAY) , was the sister of Cleopatra . On the death of their Pharaoh father , his son , the young Ptolomy became Pharaoh . Ptolomy knew how ambitious Cleopatra was and had her exiled . Cleopatra determined to oust her brother and claim the throne of Egypt for herself . She set a plan . She dressed herself as a dancing girl complete with erotic makeup and at the court of Julius Caesar , she had herself rolled into a big red carpet which was rolled out in front of Caesar . As the carpet unfurled out jumped Cleopatra and began a sexy erotic dance . It is said Caesar became infatuated by her beauty and they spent the night together .

The next morning Ptolomy saw his sister Cleopatra and screamed in a loud voice " I HAVE BEEN BETRAYED" . Caesar and his imperial guard arrested Ptolomy . Arsinoe heard the commotion and called the Egyptian guard .She told them " you must save your king , Stop them from taking him " . A fight broke out between the two factions and Caesar fled to the port of Alexandria . They set the ships ablaze but the Egyptian archers fired arrows at them . Caesar and his men jumped into the sea and swam for their lives . Caesar removed his bright scarlet cloak and his armour . His cloak floated on the water and the Egyptian archers fired at it believing Caesar was wearing it . Caesar swam to the Pharos lighthouse (one of the seven wonders of the world) and escaped capture . The Pharaoh Ptolomy the younger was drowned in the escape .

Arsinoe , saddened by her brothers death and fearing Cleopatra would claim the throne did a surprising thing . She recovered Caesars scarlet cloak and flew it from the topmast flagpole , a symbol of Egypt's great victory over the romans . the crowds gathered and cheered Arsinoe , they called her name and declared Arsinoe the new queen .

Cleopatra now persuaded Caesar to invade Egypt with a large army . this he did and Egypt was conquered . Arsinoe was arrested and paraded around the streets of Rome in a cage , so that the romans could see Egypt had been conquered and their queen captured . Arsinoe was very pretty and smiled at the roman crowd , she waved and blew kisses . The romans were impressed and waved back and blew kisses back to her . When they reached the town centre , Caesar realised he could not execute Arsinoe , it would cause a riot , so he exiled her to the island of |Ephesus

where she stayed in sanctury at the Temple of Artemis .

At Temple she adopted the monks ways ,she fasted, prayed and worked along side the monks and became one of them . Cleopatra now ruled over Egypt under roman protection but Caesar didn't live long , he died and Cleopatra became afraid . The Egyptians still called Arsinoe's name and wanted her for their queen . Cleopatra decided to befriend Marc Anthony , a powerful roman general . She persuaded him to murder Arsinoe . He went to the Temple with a dozen or so trusted men but when they got there the men refused to enter the Temple bearing arms . It would desecrate the holy of hollies . Marc Anthony removed his armour and forced his way in , Pushing the monks out of his way . He found Arsinoe hiding under a bed and dragged her out by her hair . He dragged her to the steps and there he slit her throat and stabbed her to death . With rivulets of blood flowing down the steps , his men were horrified . All of Rome were horrified . Marc Anthony now blamed her death on his queen Cleopatra . He claimed to be a good general following orders of his queen and he murdered Cleopatra by poisoning her . With the death Of Cleopatra , Ptolomy and Arsinoe Egypt fell into decline under roman occupation , never to recover the greatness they once attained .