Murder of Cleopatra: History's Greatest Cold Case

by Pat Brown

A world-renowned criminal profiler takes a fascinating look at one of the most tragic mysteries in history. For more than two thousand years, the great pharaoh Cleopatra VII has been portrayed as a failed monarch. Various ancient sources state that she desperately ended her life with the bite of an asp, as her nemesis - the Roman general Octavian, later known as Augustus, the first Roman emperor - stormed Alexandria. Now, a completely unique interpretation of history is brought to light by world-renowned criminal profiler Pat Brown in her new myth-busting book, The Murder of Cleopatra. As host and profiler of The Mysterious Death of Cleopatra (Discovery 2005), Brown challenged the long-enduring myth that Cleopatra died via snakebite and that she committed suicide to avoid further humiliation. Using the techniques and methodology of investigative criminal profiling and crime reconstruction, The Murder of Cleopatra takes up where the Discovery Channel documentary left off. Brown's findings, borne of scientific method, rigorous inquiry, and deductive reasoning, will be revealed against a historical backdrop of mystery, drama, politics, danger, and romantic intrigue. The a thought-provoking analysis of the amazing woman Cleopatra truly was, a fascinating account of the queen's final desperate attempt to escape Egypt with her ships and treasure, and the brutal homicide that ended her life as the last Egyptian pharaoh.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Mystery, Historical

302 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Marc Kohlman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pat Brown has written and produced this intriguing thought-provoking re-analysis about the final days in the life of Queen Cleopatra VII, the last pharaoh of Egypt, who had both intimate and volatile relationships with the Roman Republic’s most notable leaders and almost changed the course of history entirely. Brown starts off immediately talking about how history has shown Cleopatra as a tragic romantic heroine who took her own life rather than be a trophy of Octavian, yet however asserts that the captivating story of suicide by snakebite, accepted unchallenged for 2,000 years-is a coverup. This approach isn't something most documentaries and historians take but it pretty much takes a critical in-depth look at the secondhand sources detailing Cleopatra’s final days and instead presents us with a more sensible and less Shakespearean dramatically passion-soaked story on how she came to high only to fall so far-at the cost of her own life. In 2003 I was amazed after having watched the Discovery Channel documentary “The Mysterious Death of Cleopatra” where Brown presents and reviews the ancient sources and investigates the mystery more deeply than others before her, so I've also had a change of mind about how this astounding ruler truly met her fate. This book here is certainly worth reading but at the same time I do question if much of what Brown asserts possibly is the truth apart from what Plutarch, Cassius Dio, and others have written. We must take their accounts along with Brown’s own hypotheses with a grain of salt as the archaeological record of the end of the Ptolemaic era is sparse and no documents as written by Cleopatra’s own historians have survived. For instance, Brown asserts that her son Caesarion (allegedly the son of Julius Caesar) was conceived with her first brother-husband Ptolemy XIII-whom she was in conflict over for the throne. I think the book from the techniques that Brown specializes in offers a newly revised version of events that certainly should not be ruled out, despite the absence of solid evidence. While I think it would have been great had Brown cited sources to support her theories (i.e. the murder-not botched suicide- of Mark Antony) although none unfortunately exist, yet her version is not outside the sphere of possibility. As it is, the book is enthralling and informative, and I think at times we never really consider the alternatives apart from the stories that get told and re-told for millennia, and I think Cleopatra really has become slandered and discredited significantly because of the masks and viewpoints history down the ages has placed upon her-ones which Brown dissects and turns upside down without reluctance. It appears that Cleopatra was not the type of woman nor leader to give up easily, so the sensually fabulous exit long associated with her really does not have much historic basis-especially given how impossible it would have been for any implement(s) to harm oneself would have been to be smuggled into her quarters before her fate was sealed. On the other hand, Brown’s research is simply wonderful in the way she paints the psychological portraits of the queen and each of the men in whom her destiny, ambitions, triumphs, and failures were joined in and really manages to bring them more to life apart from most historical biographies. While the subject remains highly debatable still, Brown gives the greatest attention to the fact that the most famous suicide in History-may well likely have been cold-blooded murderer. The details that Brown related about her exploration of Egypt was quite nice even engaging to read about, one really feels they are on the journey with her. History buffs, especially those fascinated by Cleopatra, should certainly read this book, and I think the best thing is how is breaks down what has been lauded over and embellished as the truth and will have us ponder what the truth really is, even if like the great ruler herself-she remains just out of reach.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure it's possible to re-write history with speculations and inferences. While I would not dispute the "legend" of Cleopatra's death may not be accurate, I'm not confident this author has enough evidence to suggest an alternative ending to her life.

[Kate Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was all flash and little substance. I was hoping for a more fleshed out hypothesis with hard, corroborative evidence. Outside of the author's profile and some historical text interpretations, no corroborative evidence was provided. What little was presented was mildly interesting, but not convincing. Further, the way the text was written was overly simplistic and targeted for a complete novice lacking any information about ancient, modern Egypt, Greece or Rome; Not the audience one would target, or profile (pardon the pun), for this book.

This book offended me on two accounts. First, the author was paid to travel to these locations for the book development, right? I wonder what she actually found in these travels? Little was included in the text other than a couple of random facts that she could have learned from 30 minutes of Internet research. Second, she donned a hijab to fit in when visiting Egypt? Half of the Egyptian women don't wear hijab. How awkward and odd. That sends a very strange, culturally- awkward message to the world.

I found it interesting enough to purchase after reading a Goodreads review, but was extremely disappointed. There was less substance in this text than what one would find in a Smithsonian Magazine article. I wish it only took me that long to read it; although I did while in Egypt. It was tedious.

[Kim Heimbuch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pat Brown is a force to be reckoned with in the literary world, taking the stories and legends we have all grown up on and putting their accuracy to the test with nothing more than science and a fervent passion to uncover the truth for people like me, who love the old stories but question their validity.
“If Cleopatra was not one to ‘beat her breasts,’ and there is little evidence that there is any truth in this claim that she was, then one wonders why the story of such damage to her breasts exists. The only plausible explanation is that she was tortured for information.”
Read the FULL review at http://www.musingwithcrayolakym.com/3...

[Izabela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever read a story and, even though you know the ending, you are DYING to know what happens next? That is what The Murder of Cleopatra did for me. Pat Brown, a criminal profiler, examines the life and death of Cleopatra and makes a very compelling argument: Cleopatra did not commit suicide; she was murdered. Using modern techniques of profiling, Brown reconstructs the final days of Cleopatra's life and describes, using the facts, why she believes that the Pharaoh was murdered. For fans of ancient Egypt or any history, a fresh look at a cold case, The Murder of Cleopatra, will definitely make you take another look at what we believed to be the Egyptian queen's last days.

[Dominic Cassidy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pat Brown may well be talented in her field but she is completely out of her depth when it comes to Roman and Roman politics. She claims that Octavian is a coward, yet he enters the struggle for power knowing that if he is not successful he will be killed. She claims that Romans are afraid of Cleopatra as she is a powerful woman. To the Romans having a King is bad enough but being ruled by a queen is proof of how barbaric the Egyptians are. Far from being shameful suicide is seen as an honourable way out. Many of Caesar's enemies, e.g. Cato and Brutus, kill themselves. After Actium Cleopatra realises that she has failed twice to gain influence, her main hope, her son by Caesar, has been captured and will be killed by Octavian. She knows what a Roman Triumph is like, Caesar kept Vercingetorix alive during the Civil War for the express purpose of parading him through Rome and publicly executing the Gaul after his Triumph. I will propose a possible alternative scenario for her suicide. Cleopatra is an intelligent well educated woman, she would have been taught Greek philosophy and would have known of the death of Socrates. So she drinks Hemlock and then Calls for Octavian. By the time Octavian arrives it is too late and she can regale him

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have enjoyed this book more if she had started with chapter 20. Chapter 20 is where she does the reconstruction of the murders. The author writes a bit like a "what I did on summer vacation" paper. She takes us through her journeys through Egypt and various pyramids/tombs/temples, etc. This would be much more interesting if the pictures included in the book weren't grainy black and white. Also, pictures of people looking at something, but not showing us what is being looked at, are kind of pointless. She talks a lot about the different places surrounding Cleopatra and the city of Alexandria. Again, this would be much more interesting if the maps included weren't tiny and in black and white. As she goes back and forth in her discussion of why Cleopatra couldn't flee to the ocean and where Octavius was marching in from, a good map with color coded routes and spots marked would have been perfect. As it is, if you're not familiar with the area, you'll find yourself googling the places to try to understand where everyone is at any given time. Overall, it isn't a bad book and if you're at all interested in Cleopatra VII, definitely give it a read. Maybe start with chapter 20 first.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author seems to get most of her exercise jumping to conclusions. She goes from 'Cleopatra had marks from beating her breast in grief' and interprets that as clear evidence that Cleopatra was tortured with a whip for information. Um. That does not necessarily follow. She also claims Cleopatra was strangled by Octavian after torture, and that this is a more likely explanation for her death than the original story. However, her theory accounts for even less of the evidence she claims to be looking at. She also completely ignores the evidence that Cleopatra was an expert in poisons and may have used something from her own stash on herself rather than a snake. (She's right, the snake doesn't make sense, but neither does her elaborate and unsubstantiated theory).

[Rosa Hallenbeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleopatra is one tough cookie

In-depth and methodically researched. No bullshit fairy tales, no Hollywood love story. A woman born to be a ruler, quick of wit, a keen sense of life (how to manipulate those around her in order to move her interests forward) with a strong no nonsense practicality and a tremendous sense of her own value and those with whom she needs to match her intelligence against to survive. Super great read.

[Maranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written and researched book that is a good companion to the television special. The theory of Cleopatra being murdered rather than committing suicide definitely seems plausible. There were several points made about the queen I did not agree with, but they came down to opinions on her personality.

[Jill Spampinato · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was gifted this book and wasn't sure if I would enjoy it because it seemed like something that would be difficult to read and hard to get through. On the contrary, it was actually very interesting and for the most part, easy to follow along. I feel like I learned a lot, but at the end, you find out a lot of it is just someone's guesses on what happened.

[Sandy G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pat Brown offered an interesting theory into the death of Cleopatra. as we all know history is written by the victor and in this case the victor was knowledgeable in propaganda and knew how to work the people. this would be interacting if there any truth to this theory then it would change the everything we know about Cleopatra and her death.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pat Brown's final line in The Murder of Cleopatra sums up her book succintly: "No longer seen as merely a seductive, overly emotional woman who made poor choices and ended up cowering in her tomb, Cleopatra can now take her rightful place as a political figure with brains and brawn, equal to any man of her time or in any century thereafter."

[Priscilla Pennington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing like a great murder mystery to get one out of their funk!

[Sivasamy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An image of snake draping a queen in a lavished bed is all I know about Cleopatra. It won’t be of any help to ascertain whether I know more about her even if I volunteer myself to examine further. So I decided to buy “The Murder of Cleopatra” by Pat Brown. It’s worth a penny for the details that come along with this book. It was no surprise to have lot of treachery in that era but what fascinated me is how an eighteen year old girl has been in reign for 18 years. It’s not her beauty alone triumphed over others but skills that she inherited from her father did a part.

It has details about how tomb built also reasons out why it would have not been Cleopatra’s suicidal or crime spot. She slowly explains about the lineage of Alexandria without delving much. One could get the sense of pride of Alexandrian, as they never carry out marriage outside the family, to secure the lineage. I suspect this could have diluted then presented to our generation.

Author dedicates a chapter each for Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Octavian that give more details about the era who they are and how they associated with Cleopatra. Brown had void many facts described by Plutarch with sensible reasoning. Glimpse of those to add your curiosity, Cleopatra wouldn’t have draped her in the mat to meet Caesar also it wouldn’t have been Cleopatra choice to end her life. Even my imaginary vision about Cleopatra has been destroyed to pieces.

You tend to know more other than famous “You too Brutus” after reading the conspiracy hatched to remove Caesar. Aftermath, how Antony rose to throne with his eulogy during funeral of Caesar is example to core how one turns adversary into his favour. You are sure to enjoy chapters about the decisive Actium war post how Cleopatra and Antony planned to flee Egypt.

Why their plan didn’t sail through their safety though Octavian is not par with Antony? Check out why Cleopatra couldn't prevent the disaster by grabbing a copy of yours. Beware, unlike “Da Vinci Code” it has different pace punctuated with author travelling details across Egypt and Rome.

[robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book might easily have been a long pamphlet rather than a short book, and the chatty sections that pad it out to book-length are really what bother me about it. There are passages of superficial reasoning that seem unnecessarily drawn out, and I assume it's to make up the length.

"Cold Case" intends to make a case for Octavian having murdered Cleopatra, rather than her having killed herself. It's certainly credible, once one learns about the culture of murder popular in ruling circles of the time. Cleopatra herself had apparently killed several relatives and spouses by the time she sat on the throne.

The real difficulty is that at this remove, there's just no way to really know; the reports are not given by eyewitnesses, they're written by historians of the time. So possibly, although it isn't mentioned in any of the accounts, someone picked up that snake and carried it out, and poof would go Brown's best proof of murder - her stance being that surely a soldier would have mentioned seeing or killing the snake that Cleopatra had smuggled into her room (be it a temple or a tomb), if there had really been one.

I think Brown gets a little too fanciful sometimes; I think the book itself is dry in some places, confusing in others (though it's not her fault that everyone in Cleopatra's family tree seems to have been named either Ptolemy or Cleopatra), and too chatty in yet others.

All that being true, it's still a quick read, and made me reassess the story I always knew, that of the languid femme fatale sprawled over a couch with an asp clutched to her breast.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally gave this 2 stars, but have upped it to 3. Ms. Brown is not a good writer. However, I give her kudos for tackling the subject in the 1st place. She certainly is thorough in her research and I'm not in the position to question her forensic skills. I remember seeing a TV special of hers several years ago where she tackles the Jack the Ripper case and announces at the end who she believes he was. So, I had this in the back of my mind when I began reading this book. She does introduce several interesting ideas about Cleopatra and Antony's demise which, if you stand back and look at it, how it's been portrayed through the centuries, does seem like a Hollywood movie. What a lot of folks today don't realize is that "political spin" is not a new invention. The writers/orators of ancient Rome, during this time period, were hard at work trying to discredit Cleopatra and Egypt in general. She was branded a harlot, sex-crazed man-eater when in fact she had a brilliant mind and loved her country and it's people and would do anything to protect it. Yes, she made poor choices in who she aligned herself with but she meant well. Ms. Brown also discusses certain "revisionist" ideas about Cleopatra and her lineage which I also give her credit for. Please read Stacy Schiff's wonderful bio - Cleopatra: A Life, for a much better picture of this fascinating woman and her circle.

[Ashley (Tiny Navajo Reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this was an interesting book. As most people in the world will tell you, the death of Cleopatra was a suicide by cobra. What this book depicts though, is that Cleopatra was instead murdered, and the story of a suicide was devised in order for Octavian to smoothly take control of Egypt.

I enjoyed reading this version of the death of Cleopatra, is just so that I could see what would drive a queen as ambitious as Cleopatra to want to kill herself. While I understand it is possible for someone of great ambition to want to just get things over with, this version portrayed by Pat Brown, a criminal profiler, shows how the story that we know may not be the actual story. How she does so also makes sense. Egyptian tombs are not meant to take people who are alive, yet her tomb is where Cleopatra is said to have committed suicide. There is no way possible for a cobra to make it out an Egyptian tomb as well, have you seen how well built those things are?

If you love ancient Egypt, and have a love for Cleopatra, I would suggest that this be your next book to read. You never know, you might find that Cleopatra didn't commit suicide.

[CharlieSz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to bail on this one. Even with the first few pages it was clear that this was going to be light on facts and heavy on supposition. Maybe that's what profilers do - decide up front how things must have been and then fit the facts to match the imagined picture.

She stretched my credulity several times. First when when she decided the outcome of the case based on a hasty reading of books about Egypt in a local bookstore. Then when she fixated on the tomb idea and visited tombs inside the pyramids (built in 2200 BCE) to figure out what it would be like to live in a tomb in 30 BCE. And decided that a tomb was a poor place to live. Seriously? Perhaps she missed the part where the tombs in the Valley of the Kings were inhabited, quite comfortably, by various people over the millennia. The last straw was when she "examined" the crime scene based on paintings of the death of Cleopatra, which were created 1500 years later by artists who painted what they thought it "should" have looked like.

Granted, there are questions about the events around Cleopatra's Death. This book is not the one to answer them.

[Amber]

This book was an intriguing new perspective on the death of Cleopatra, written by a criminal profiler. Often the reasoning appeared specious and inconsistent, and the author lost credibility in my mind by the lack of a good proofreader. (The style varied from an attempt to be scholarly--but with too many intensifiers, mixed metaphors, and awkward sentences--to colloquial.) She argued some points, such as whether Cleopatra took refuge in a tomb or a temple, far beyond the point of convincing this reader, while other points, more important to her thesis, received very little in the way of supporting arguments. She also, in my opinion, gave the customs of the time insufficient weight when they failed to suit her convenience.

Although I found the arguments not entirely convincing, neither could I disregard them altogether. All in all, it was an interesting read which opened up new possibilities in the understanding of that period of history, but they remains exactly that: possibilities.

[Karen]

The author has some interesting theories about the true motivations of Cleopatria, Marc Antony and Octavius vs. the historical record. Although this is important for the background story, she only really discusses the murder in the last chapter. It's not an entirely new theory to suggest that Cleopatra did not commit suicide from a poison asp, as far as I know. The author heavily quotes Plutarch. This is meant to be a tie-in to a Discovery TV show on the same subject. She also talks about filming the show and her trips to Egypt and Rome. Rather interesting, but it's a bit unfocused. Is it a travelogue? History?

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a bit more of "I think this because it makes more sense than the other... " than I'm completely comfortable with in a book purporting to be an "investigation" of a cold case, which Brown sells this as being.

But though she necessarily only skims the history of the era, she puts a case together for the idea that the traditional theory of Cleopatra offing herself is bull. All in all, a pretty entertaining read, whether you buy her premise or not.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to be echoing some other reviews here. The author is clearly a better profiler than she is a writer. She is also not a historian or a psychoanalyst, which makes her theories about the "murder" of Cleopatra and Antony... just that, mere speculation. This case is so cold that, in the absence of the smoking gun or any physical evidence, it's just not going to be solved conclusively. She does a great job of debunking Plutarch's obviously staged description of Cleantony's demise, though.

[Scott M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's all speculation with no real facts to support it. The author's entire argument boils down to "because I don't like the way it ended." So she wrote a book changing the ending. Only, there won't be any historians lining up to rewrite the history books based on Pat Brown's reasoning. And there's a very good reason for that. Because Brown clearly doesn't understand the Roman world.

[Kelly Proulx · Rating 2 out of 5]

I originally was drawn into this book because of Brown's appropriate balance of personal journey and interesting theories. While she gave a good history of the Roman rulers of the time, she did not tie the information to her original thesis. She also did not spend enough time talking about the "murder", the interesting concept that made me pick up the book.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concept. I doubt I would have finished the book if I wasn't extremely interested in the topic. Although poorly written, the author offered a possible, perhaps probable, manner of death for the great queen. Men won. Men wrote the history. Men would not allow for a strong queen. So have her commit suicide in the history books.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This earns three stars instead of two stars only because the beginning and the ending were interesting. The writing is kind of horrible, and the author is so far into the weeds at points in the story that the reader forgets what the point is.

[Linda]

Reviewed for Publishers Weekly

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't feel that there was any new info in this book. I did enjoy reading it but found no 'earth shattering' new evidence.

[Krisa Stroot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but a little dry