If there is any doubt that there is a connection between events in Rome and events in Egypt, those doubts should be removed by the the fact that after every critical event there is a flight to that country.

Pompey after Phillipae

The first example in 48 BC was Pompey’s flight after the battle of Phillipae.

Different versions give different timing. One version gives Pompey murdered on the beach with his wife and children still on the boat. This is the version where Caesar is “furious” that a Roman was killed by a “foreigner”.

However a different version has Caesar going to Rome first to take advantage of his victory and secure control.

We are told that Anthony fought at Phillipae and was then given control of rome whilst Caesar chased down Pompey’s allies. This left time however whilst Caesar was in rome for antony to do something else.

No one seems to find it necessary to explain how Antipater, in Judea, discovered what was happening further west. sending a message to Antipater would not have been one would have thought, a high priority.

Nevertheless Antipater found time to mobilise 3000 Jewish troops and march them to Alexandia in time to fight for Caesar and by all accounts be a vital factor in swinging the battle Caesar’s way.

If Antonius were in fact Mark Anthony’s alter ego then all this is easily explained.

There are several other twists to the tale. It is probable that Cleopatra VII took refuge with Antipater’s family in judea and marched back to Alexandia with Antipater’s army. This would confirm opinions that Anthony knew Cleopatra a long time before their much reported meeting at Tarsus.

In fact there are some reports that Antonius met Cleopatra as early as 65BC when he was part of Galbinus’ army which restored Ptolemy VII to power.

Ptolemy XIII the teenage villian of the Roman stories about Pompey’s death is supposed to have drowned whilst trying to cross the nile to escape from Caesar.

In the same year after Antipater has been appointed procurator of Judea, he creates his sons Herod and Phaesel as governors and a son, Joseph, appears on the scene. Joseph could possibly another alter ego, that of Ptolemy VIII.

Atonius And Cleopatra after Actium

One reference to the conflict between Antonius and Cleopatra is that it was a “necessary fiction” in order to pursuade the Roman world to accept the imposition of a dictatorship.

There was no land battle at Actium as there had been at Phillipae.the action was totally concerned with the escape from the narrow mouth of the harbour and the flight back to Egypt.

In fact despite the majority of reports the escape was successful.

Antonius and Cleopatra are then reported tp have committed suicide and Cleopatra’s son Caesarian is reported to have been murdered because “There can be too many Caesars”.

Her other children, Cleopatra Selene, Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelpus were taken to Rome, to be inducted into Octavia’s famous “School”.

Cleopatra Selene eventually married Juba II, client king of Mauretania, who had also attended Octavia’s school but the fate of the other children is unknown.

After Actium, most of Antony’s legions shifted allegiance to Octavian and were absorbed into Octavian’s army.

It is by no means certain that the battle of Actium took place at all, and if it did, the outcome was not the defeat of Antonius and Cleopatra which is commonly reported. Why then did they commit suicide without their being a decisive battle?

It is possible that they continued to live in Egypt. Certainly for over two hundred years no paticians, other than the Emperor was allowed to visit Egypt. What was happening there which demanded such tight security?

Alternatively, it is possible that they were accommodated in Judea. They were very well credentialed Egyptian royals ,kept safe in obscurity, in case anything were to go wrong with the succession in Rome, hopefully carefully protected by their close relatives, the Herodians.