by Stephanie Dray | Jan 24, 2012 | Daughters of the Nile, Lily of the Nile, Research, Song of the Nile
In ancient history powerful women got a bad rap. This was especially the case for Rome’s first empress, Livia Drusilla, the wife of Augustus Caesar. She comes down to us as a sort of wicked step-monster of the Julio-Claudian family–one who murders, manipulates...
by Stephanie Dray | Jan 10, 2012 | Articles, Fun Stuff, Research, Song of the Nile
The heroine of my novels, Cleopatra Selene, is the daughter of the much more famous Cleopatra VII of Egypt, the notorious Queen of the Nile who is best known for having committed suicide by way of clutching a venomous serpent to her breast. There is some debate...
by Stephanie Dray | Jan 5, 2012 | Fun Stuff, Song of the Nile
If it’s good to be the king, it’s even better to be the emperor. At least in ancient Rome. Unless your guards are waiting for you with daggers, or an angry wife feeds you poisoned mushrooms, you get to be the center of the world…wherever you go. Now, when...
by Stephanie Dray | Jan 2, 2012 | Fun Stuff, Song of the Nile
SONG OF THE NILE, begins with the wedding of my heroine, Cleopatra Selene, to the man the emperor has chosen for her. Like any bride, she is nervous and excited about her future. Her groom is the newly made King of Mauretania, and she is about to become a queen...
by Stephanie Dray | Dec 1, 2011 | Articles, Daughters of the Nile, Lily of the Nile, Research, Song of the Nile
Ancient Rome was going to get a new theatre; this was never in any doubt. Julius Caesar acquired and cleared the land on the shore of the Tiber River. However, his grand designs for the place were frustrated by his untimely assassination. Still, what are a few fatal...
by Stephanie Dray | Nov 19, 2011 | Miscellany, My Works, Song of the Nile
To the ancient Romans, just about everyone was a barbarian. (Except the Greeks, who gave them the word in the first place, not to mention an inferiority complex to go with it.) Whether it was Blue Picts of Scotland or Gallic and Germanic hordes, the Romans generally...
