Arsinoe's Dream

Arsinoe lay in her room in the Sanctuary of Artemis, in the arms of a deep sleep. In her dream, she was running from someone. She hid behind walls and marble columns, looking around with anxious eyes, yet she could see no one. Although Arsinoe was used to fleeing in real life too, for several years now she had been safe from danger in Ephesus, in the sanctuary of the goddess Artemis. Yet because she could never truly feel safe, someone was chasing her in almost every dream.

But this dream was different from the others, for it was very real. As she looked around, breathless, she saw before her the statue of Artemis, the goddess of Ephesus. Artemis, who for years had protected her from her elder sister, Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, stood before her eyes in all her glory. Arsinoe began to run toward the goddess she trusted so deeply. She was certain that the goddess was present inside her statue at that very moment with all her power and energy, and that she would protect her once again. Just as she was about to reach the statue of Artemis, a pit opened beneath her feet, and Arsinoe tumbled into darkness before she could take refuge with Artemis.

Arsinoe woke up screaming, drenched in sweat. She took deep breaths, trying to shake off the dream. After putting on her everyday clothes and slipping her leather sandals onto her feet, she left her room and went out into the Sanctuary of Artemis. Just behind her stretched the wondrous temple of Ephesian Artemis, and the rays of the rising sun were painting the temple’s columns gold.

What was this? One of the eunuch priests of Artemis was already awake. Smiling, he was walking toward Arsinoe between the two columns at the temple entrance. Arsinoe smiled back, but she had never seen this priest at the temple before. Or had she, and simply could not remember? “Hello,” she said to the priest as he came up to her. But instead of a reply, the priest answered with the blow of a dagger. Princess Arsinoe, of the Ptolemaic dynasty that had taken over the rule of Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great, who had conquered it, sank to the ground, bathed in her own blood, with the dagger plunged into her chest by an assassin who had slipped into the temple disguised as a priest of Artemis. The man who had stabbed her said, “Marcus Antonius,” and hurried away.

Arsinoe now knew who had ordered her death, and she was not surprised. As she slipped away from life, alone, everything she had lived through until that day flashed before her eyes. After her father, Ptolemy XII, she had wanted to rule Egypt herself, but her elder sister Cleopatra had no intention of allowing it. With the help of her lover, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra had defeated her sister and her supporters and sent Arsinoe to Rome as a captive. Later, however, Caesar had allowed Arsinoe to go to the Sanctuary of Artemis in Ephesus as a refugee. Deep down, Arsinoe knew that her sister, Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, would kill her sooner or later, and she could find no peace even in her dreams. And now, at last, what she had feared had come to pass: Cleopatra had persuaded her new lover, the Roman Marcus Antonius, to have Arsinoe killed. As she breathed her last, Arsinoe thought of Egypt, where she had been born and raised, and of Artemis, the ancient goddess of Ephesus. As her eyes closed, a cool breeze blew, and Arsinoe, not yet even twenty, followed that breeze into the unknown.

Note: After the death of Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, the lands he had conquered were divided among his generals, and Egypt fell to Ptolemy. Arsinoe IV, of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the younger sister of Queen Cleopatra VII, laid claim to the throne of Egypt but was defeated in her struggle for power against her elder sister. Granted refuge at the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, where she lived for seven years, Arsinoe was murdered in 41 BC. It is believed that she was killed by Cleopatra’s lover, Marcus Antonius, or on his orders.

Written for the Ephesus Foundation by author and archaeologist Özlem Ertan.