I'm John Batcher, visiting with Daisy Dunn, the author of The Missing Thread,

a women's history of the ancient world.

These Romans all know the Greek stories.

They know the Greek drama.

The Greeks are very serious.

The Roman theater is nowhere near as serious.

Rome likes farce. Rome likes comedy.

Caesar has comic moments, but not recently. Caesar defeats Pompey, and Pompey runs to Egypt,

where his wife tries to have a successful reunion with him. However, Pompey's murdered by a man who thinks he's under orders to kill Pompey.

Caesar mourns it, mourns Pompey's death.

And then, because he's walked into Alexandria, which is the breadbasket of the Mediterranean,

he's in a palace and someone brings in a rug.

Yes, it's real true.

It's not a theatre piece.

It's a rug and it's unwrapped before him.

And who emerges from the rug, Daisy?

It is a young Cleopatra.

And she's Cleopatra the seventh.

We have to remember there are other Cleopatra who ruled Egypt before her. And she's come before Caesar. And this is a great sort of piece

of theatre. She is unwrapped. And she essentially meets with him and is determined to have a conversation

with him because the rule in Egypt is very,

very difficult at that moment. In Egypt, it's the customary that you marry your brother in that

...