There is a British documentary seems to be very one sided on the event's surrounding the death of Arsinoe, Cleopatra's kid sister. It's on You Tube at this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DWaYOJCxtI&feature=related Please view all six parts of it before reading further.
You can also view it via the video bar on the right, that will take you there.
I propose a very different scenario. Yes the events of long ago was the Portrait of a Killer, but not that of Cleopatra.
Let's start the story with the adoption of the heir to Rome. Octavian. Soon after he was made Julius Caesar's son. He's dead. Assassinated.
With the help of his brother in law Mark Antony they cased down his killer. A voice silenced that could possibly link him to an assassination plot .
Then due to Mark Anthony's lifestyle he took up with Octavians' enemy....Cleopatra, He would not have this. Not only was he betraying his marriage to his sister, but was sleeping with the enemy, literally. What was he to do? How could he discredit the two. Maybe even turn the Egyptian people against their Queen. This was simple have Arsinoe executed and the blame laid on those two. This crime would have been unheard of . First violating the law of Sanctuary. AND spilling he blood on the temple steps.
This documentary, doesn't take into account that Cleopatra allowed her to live all those years there. And in fact she had been petitioned to save the life of the Priest who took Arsinoe in, right after the murder. If the story told here was true, why save him.
You can be sure, the last words Arsinoe heard was......"We have a message from your sister...." when they ran her through.
Also I might add, despite her Rebellion again her sister and Rome, that Cleopatra secretly was proud of her spirit and courage. The only reason Cleo took up with the Romans in the first place was to keep them from destroying her beloved Egypt. The youthful rebel would not have realized just how bad a defeat they would have had if they tried to go against the Roman might.
But I want to add that this trail of blood behind the mechanization's of Octavian didn't end with Arsineo's death. His hatred of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra only grew when this plot didn't work. Eventually leading him to have Mark Anthony assassinated and brought to his loves arms. Yes I say that he had his brother in law killed. It wasn't suicide.
Cleopatra was not a suicide either. I believe he had her food poisoned. And she and her hand maidens died a painful death on his way to being the first Emperor of Rome.
As a master of propaganda, it was his version of events that went down through history. Events that were written about centuries after the fact. So, my dear friends who put this documentary together, before laying the trail of blood on Cleopatra....THINK before you speak. There are things unknown that must be taken into account........Remember this..."In The End....It's All About Family"
