Family relationship between Alexander the Great and his sister Cleopatra (of Mac

Question:

Family relationship between Alexander the Great and his sister Cleopatra (of Macedon)?

Hello,

I read about Alexander and his full blood sister Cleopatra and I am very curious on whether they might have been very close. I read in the book Child of a Dream that he adored her but that is at best entertainment. Is there a good, authoritative book mentioning the brotherly-sisterly love they had for another? And I'm also interested in anything mentioning any, repeat any events of their childhood together. Thanks!

Please, please no answers about Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt! I already know they are two different people!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I don't know that there are any good, factual sources of information about Alexander's relationship with his sister. Most of the historical information we have on Alexander comes from sources that were writing about him long after his death, and usually with a specific political slant because they had an axe to grind.

A fictionalized account of Alexander's childhood and youth can be found in Mary Renault's book "The Fire From Heaven." Renault was generally considered to have researched and reasoned her material pretty thoroughly by respected historians. In her book, she concludes that Alexander and his sister didn't have a close relationship, mostly because their roles as male and female in the time in which they lived were very different. Alexander was destined from birth to be a warrior, strategist and politician, while Cleopatra was destined from birth to be used as a pawn in a political marriage to cement an alliance with another royal family somewhere in the Greek world.

I can strongly recommend Renault's fictional trilogy on Alexander: "The Fire From Heaven," which covers his childhood and youth; "The Persian Boy," which covers the time of his conquests and empire, up to his death in Babylon in 323 BC; and "Funeral Games," in which what happened to his empire after his death is dealt with. "Fire From Heaven" and "Funeral Games" both include his sister Cleopatra as a character.