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Apollodorus the Sicilian

Apollodorus the Sicilian (died 30 BC) was a courtier of Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. He was the spymaster of Ptolemaic Egypt under Cleopatra, and, during the Alexandrine Civil War, he had informants as far afield as Memphis, Letopolis, Giza, and Faiyum.

Biography[]

Apollodorus the Sicilian was born in Sicily to a Greek family, and he became a loyal follower of Queen Cleopatra during her power struggle with her brother, Ptolemy XIII. In 48 BC, he smuggled Cleopatra into the royal palace in Alexandria in a rug, presenting her to Julius Caesar so that the two could form an alliance; they would later become lovers. Apollodorus remained loyal to Cleopatra during the Alexandrine Civil War, during which his informants across Lower Egypt helped him track down Ptolemy's main agents; he then had the medjay Bayek track down and assassinate these figures to sabotage Ptolemy's regime. During the Siege of Alexandria in 30 BC, he tricked Mark Antony into killing himself, as he had lied about Cleopatra's death in order to deceive Antony. He then had Antony taken to Cleopatra, who killed herself as well. Apollodorus took poison, and Octavian had the perfume-scented poison tested on a badly wounded solider soon after, finding it quaint.

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