Jerusalem: The Biography

* This Syrian Greek scholar became Herod’s confidant as well as Augustus’ personal friend. He must have been a supple courtier indeed to survive the murderous courts of both Cleopatra and Herod. He later wrote biographies of both Augustus and Herod, for which his chief source was Herod himself. Nikolaus’ Herodian biography has vanished but it provided Josephus’ main source and it is hard to imagine a better one. As for Nikolaus’ former royal pupils, Augustus had Caesarion, the son of Caesar and Cleopatra, murdered. But the other three children were brought upin Rome by the emperor’s sister, Antony’s ex-wife Octavia. The eventual fate of the boys is unknown but the girl, Cleopatra Selene, married Juba II, King of Mauretania. Her son King Ptolemy of Mauretania was executed by Caligula. There ended the Ptolemaic dynasty 363 years after Alexander the Great.