In Professor Duane Roller’s new biography of Cleopatra, he theorizes that there was actually some small part native Egyptian blood flowing through Cleopatra’s veins. But even if that were not the case, there is no way to overestimate the reach of Hellenistic culture into Alexandria. Nor can we ignore that Macedonian Greeks comprised the ruling class into which Selene was born. It is plausible that Selene identified as Greek.

However, because Selene’s mother was also fierce nationalist, I chose to have her identify as an Egyptian. Her mother, Cleopatra, identified herself primarily as the Queen of Egypt. She honored the native gods and customs, and was the first of her dynasty to learn the language.

Remember too that the old Macedonian empire had by now been eclipsed by the Ptolemies in Egypt, and what remained of its glory was entombed within Alexander’s coffin in Cleopatra’s capital city. This synthesis of cultures–not to mention the multicultural nature of Alexandria itself–didn’t seem to trouble Cleopatra and may even have been a source of pride. In fact, at the later end of Cleopatra’s rule, she adopted the title of Philopatris (lover of her country). Therefore I portrayed Selene to be an Egyptophile like her mother.

I believe this was the right choice because when Selene was a transplanted Queen in Mauretania, she used her coins to glorify not the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty alone but also the Egyptian Pharonic legacy of her homeland with images of crocodiles, ancient Egyptian gods. This is in striking contrast to more usual Ptolemaic coinage which usually bore the Greek images of cornucopiae and the Ptolemy Eagle on their reverses. (See Nina H. Berkhout, Cleopatra VIII Selene, Last of the Ptolemaic Queens.)