Chapters 1 through 12 Summary

The story opens with Cleopatra's memories of her mother's drowning. Though she was only three, she recalls the horror and the hands that held her down after her mother's death, though she'd longed for comfort. Her nurse takes her to the throne of the goddess Isis, where she's told that she is now the daughter of Isis. In chapter two, Cleopatra has sisters, an older sister who is also named Cleopatra and an older sister named Bernice. After her mother's death, her father remarries and she has a daughter, Arisonoe and two sons.

When Cleopatra is seven, her father has a banquet for the Roman Pompey the Great. Cleopatra pleads for the opportunity to attend the banquet and her father finally agrees but tells Cleopatra that they must do everything correctly in order to make sure the Romans feel the family...