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Apollodorus the Sicilian (c. 90s BCE – 47 BCE) was a loyal follower and friend to the last Ptolemaic pharaoh of Egypt, Cleopatra. He was also an ally of and handler for the Medjay, Bayek of Siwa, during the latter's time serving Cleopatra.
Biography
Early Life
Born in Sicily, then part of the Roman Republic, Apollodorus came to Alexandria as a young adult, serving in the court of Ptolemy XIII.[1] Apollodorus befriended the pharaoh's older sister and co-ruler Cleopatra, becoming one of her close friends and later a loyal follower. When the Order of the Ancients manipulated the boy pharaoh to exile Cleopatra in 49 BCE, Apollodorus helped her to escape the city through the canals, wrapping her in a carpet to avoid Ptolemies attention.[2]
Having escaped Alexandria, Cleopatra would reside in Apollodorus' personal villa in the Kanopos Nome.[2] He then set up a network of informants across Egypt to keep him updated with comings and goings of the local Ptolemies who were oppressed by Ptolemy XIII. Sometime thereafter, Apolldorus returned to Alexandria, where he came upon a Greco-Egyptian woman named Aya, introducing her to Cleopatra and becoming her most trusted bodyguard.[1]
Fighting the Order of the Ancients
Together with Aya, Apollodorus worked to investigate the Order that was behind Cleopatra's exile and the murder of Aya's son, Khemu. In 48 BCE, Apollodorus uncovered the identities of one member of the Order, Actaeon, leading Aya to go after the member. However, her assassination, alnog with the killing of another member Ktesos, led the city's Phylakitai Gennadios to declare her a wanted woman. Her cousin, Phanos the Younger, sought his aid, leading Apollodorus to give Aya a hideout beneath the Library of Alexandria to hide in.[2]
At some point, Apollodorus entrusted one of his informants, Damastes, with a scroll meant for the Roman general Pompey. However, Damastes ship was sank by the Ptolemies, leading to his capture and the scroll lost in the waters. Apollodorus came across the Medjay, Bayek, Aya's husband who had assassinated Eudoros, the royal scribe and the supposed leader of the Order and came seeking for information. Apollodorus enlisted his aid to retrieive Damastes and the scroll. Bayek eventually does so and accompained Apollodorus to his personal estate, where the Medjay was introduced to the pharaoh.[2]
Along with Cleopatra and Pasherenptah, the High Priest Ptah in Memphis, Apollodorus explained that Eudoros, the man Bayek had killed, was known as the Hippo and was not the leader of the Order. The Snake was used to refer to the Order as a whole, who sought to use Ptolemy XIII as their puppet and had members controlling each major regions of Egypt, namely the Scarab controlling the Nile Delta, the Hyena controlling Giza, the Lizard controlling Memphis and the Crocodile controlling the Faiyum Oasis. Bayek thus dedicated himself to hunting down the Order, becoming Cleopatra's Medjay. To begin, Apollodorus directed Bayek to contact his informant in Sais, Harkhuf, who had information on the Scarab.[2]
Sometime after the assassination of the Lizard in Memphis, Apollodorus accompanied Cleopatra north to a villa in Herakleion, where they awaited the news of the Crocodile's death from Bayek. While there, Apollodorus captured Livius, an informant for the Order of the Ancients, and learned of an assassination plot on Cleopatra's life by the Gabiniani, a group of Romans left behind years ago in Alexandria to protect the Ptolemaic pharaohs and had now served Ptolemy XIII. After Bayek completed his mission and arrived in Herakleion, Apollodorus and Cleopatra dispatched him to investigate and eliminate the ones planning the plot.[2]
Alliance with Caesar
Aya, having returned from defending the seas with Phoxidas, met with Apollodorus and Cleopatra in the courtyard of the villa, where they were soon joined by Bayek, who foiled the assassination attempt. Shortly thereafter, the group were ambushed by the Gabiniani led by Venator, who led the assassination plot against Cleopatra. In the commotion, Apollodorus was injured in the process, leading Aya and Bayek to defend and elimnate Venator instead. With the Gabinianis eliminated, Aya and Bayek were then dispatched to find Pompey west in the shores of the Herakleion Nome, with Apollodorus and Cleopatra joining them shortly thereafter. They arrived too late to assist Pompey, who had been killed and beheaded by Lucius Septimius, a member of the Order in his own right. Having lost her support from Pompey's army, Cleopatra resolved to make an alliance with Julius Caesar instead, who was making his way to Alexandria in pursue of Pompey.[2]
In 47 BCE, Apollodorus, Aya, Bayek and Cleopatra boarded Phoxidas' trireme and set sail towards Alexandria. Despite facing numerous Ptolemaic ships, they were able to arrive in the harbor of the royal palace, which had been heavily guarded by Ptolemy's and Roman soldiers. As Cleopatra would be recognised straight away, she wrapped herself in a carpet and was carried by Apollodorus, who posed as a Phylakitai of Heliopolis while Aya and Bayek posed as servants. The group carried baskets of offerings and were escorted into the palace by a Roman legionary, where they came upon the sight of Ptolemy XIII's meeting with Caesar.[2]
Death
After the Battle of the Nile and the coronation of Cleopatra as sole ruler of Egypt, Apollodorus was ambushed by Flavius' men in the Tomb of Alexander the Great. Although Bayek and Aya came to his rescue, it was too late and he succumbed to his wounds. Before dying, he told them that Flavius took the orb and had gone to Siwa to finish what they started two years ago.
Gallery
Appearance
References