A mysterious tomb structure, a scandalous murder, a world in upheaval – in Ephesus, one of the most magnificent cities of the ancient world, Cleopatra’s sister Arsinoë was murdered and buried. Who were the key players, and what role did the political transformations of the first century BC and CE play?
The essays in this volume explore cultural-historical questions concerning the central actors of the time – Caesar, Mark Antony, Augustus, and Cleopatra. The latest findings from Austrian archaeological excavations in Ephesus complement the perspectives of archaeological, historical, and cultural studies.
The result is a multifaceted panorama of an interconnected ancient world in which cultural “codes” were consciously employed to secure power – a world where the means of power were diverse and murder was an everyday occurrence.

• Exhibition, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Neue Hofburg, 20 October 2026 to 29 March 2027
• New insights into the so-called Octagon in Ephesus
• Sculptures, inscriptions, funerary reliefs, and manuscripts tell of intrigues and power struggles in antiquity