Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period: Kleopatra Thea and Kleopatra III by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and Alex McAuley (review)

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:

• Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period: Kleopatra Thea and Kleopatra III by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and Alex McAuley
• Prudence Jones

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and Alex McAuley. Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period: Kleopatra Thea and Kleopatra III. London and New York: Routledge, 2023. Pp. xiii, 275. $170.00. ISBN 978-1-1386-3509-8.

Despite the large number of books on Cleopatra VII, other Ptolemies have received relatively little attention from biographers. The tide may be turning, however, as Llewellyn-Jones and McAuley add their study of Cleopatra Thea and Cleopatra III to a growing corpus on earlier Ptolemies that includes works on Ptolemy I by Worthington, Berenice II by Clayman, and Arsinoë II by Carney.¹ As such, it is a welcome addition to scholarship on the Hellenistic world. The book tells the fascinating story of two women, who were born into extraordinary circumstances but also were architects of their own success in a way that will interest scholars and lay readers alike.

While much of Sister-Queens presents a detailed account of the two Cleopatras' lives, Llewellyn-Jones and McAuley go beyond biography to consider broader aspects of queenship and to reframe the final century of Ptolemaic rule as the High Hellenistic Period. The authors argue that the High Hellenistic Period is deserving of rehabilitation just as Hellenistic art has come to be seen as more than "Baroque."

As the authors point out in their "Introduction," these two Cleopatras themselves require some image rehabilitation. Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century accounts emphasize their cruelty to the point of casting them as psychopaths. Llewellyn-Jones and McAuley argue, however, that the women wielded dynastic power strategically and within the norms of the High Hellenistic Period, which they describe as "a curious mix of tradition, innovation, and improvisation." (22).

After an initial chapter ("The Importance of Being Ptolemaic: Royal Women in Context") that provides background on the public and private lives of women in Hellenistic dynasties and on the essential qualities of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the authors devote two chapters ("Princesses to Queens" and "Mothers, Wives, Queens") to the years 163–101 bc, which span the lives of Cleopatra Thea and Cleopatra III. In doing so, they also detail key periods of Cleopatra II's life.

The fourth chapter, "Queenship in Name; Queenship through Image; Queenship in Practice," departs from narrative biography to consider Cleopatra Thea and Cleopatra III as part of the administrative system that was Hellenistic monarchy. The authors aim to answer the questions "What was the public image of these royal women? … and what can be said of the role of the queen in shaping [End Page 109] how she was identified and depicted?" (179–80). An analysis of the Cleopatras' royal titles structures the answer to the first question: these queens benefited from an already-institutionalized system of female power. To answer the second question, the authors reflect upon the queens' biographies to "identify consistent agendas" that indicate their involvement and agency in administering their empires (198). For Cleopatra Thea, the authors identify diplomacy as her key strategy for maintaining stability in Syria. In Egypt, Cleopatra III focused on the economy and used Egypt's increasing wealth to fund exploration and ambitious building projects like the Dendera temple.

Chapter five, "Fast-Forward: The Pentekontaetia," assesses the importance of Cleopatra Thea and Cleopatra III through their influence on subsequent generations of Seleucids and Ptolemies during the 50 years following Cleopatra III's death. There, the authors argue that Cleopatra Thea and Cleopatra III are under-appreciated as role models for Cleopatra VII.

A brief epilogue explores the relationship between Cleopatra Thea and Cleopatra III to argue that Hellenistic monarchy represented less the singular rule of one individual and more the dominance of an oikos, or household. In this sense, the two Cleopatras are inextricably linked in a larger dynastic system.

In this excellent volume, Llewellyn-Jones and McAuley present a meticulously researched and highly readable treatment of two Cleopatras and the historical period in which they flourished. More than a biography, Sister-Queens in the High Hellenistic Period brings welcome attention to the Greek-speaking world of the second century bc. With the...