Antiquities Exhibits

 The "real" Cleopatra? Cleopatra is barely mentioned in De Bello Alexandrino, the memoirs of an unknown staff officer who served under Caesar. The writings of Cicero, who knew her personally, provide an unflattering portrait of Cleopatra although it actually sounds more like Cicero did not feel he was greeted by her as one of the most important senators of Rome.  I found this imagined letter between Cicero and J.W. Worthy, late professor of philosophy at John Tarleton Military Academy, based on Cicero's writings, interesting: "I do not wish to be unfair to the graecula.  She is clever beyond words, no denying it.  You may understand my impatience with her if I remind you that, although she chatters on in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Greek of course, Parthian, Median, Egyptian (she is said to be the first Ptolemy to master that), Ethiopian, and Trogodyte, all with marvelous fluency so they say, she was unable to receive me in Latin!  Or claimed to be unable to do so,...

Phoenician, Roman, and Byzantine cultural remains at the archaeological site of Tipasa, Algeria. Among honeyed beaches, shady pine trees, and gently rolling hills, the sweeping turquoise sea serves as the backdrop for a layered history of golden ruins overlooking the coastal cliff.  Colonized several times over between the 6th century BC and the 6th century AD, Tipasa originated as a trading center for the Phoenicians of Carthage.  The site features a comprehensive Punic necropolis, ancient toilets, another theater, and a Christian religious complex fitted with thermal baths, basilicas, and tombs.  The most notable structure is the nearby royal mausoleum, Kbor er Roumia, which is the funerary monument of Berber King Juba II and Queen Cleopatra Selene II (Cleopatra and Marc Antony’s only daughter). Ancient remains of the tomb of Juba II and Cleopatra Selene (Cleopatra VII and Marc Antony's daughter) near Tipasa, Algeria.  Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. ...