Cleopatra’s Sister: Have the Bones of Arsinoe IV Been Discovered?

An archaologist has claimed to have identified the bones of Cleopatra's sister in Western Turkey.

Livescience.com reported that there is evidence of bones that were discovered in Turkey linking to Cleopatra's sibling, Arsinoe IV who was murdered.

Hilke Thur is the archaologist behind the findings from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and she is the former director of excavations at the site where the bones were discovered. She said to livescience.com that a DNA test was attempted but the bones were moved and touched too much for the results to be uncontaminated.

"It didn't bring the results we hoped to find," Thur said to the Charlotte News-Observer.

Livescience.com reports that Arsinoe IV was the younger half sister of Cleopatra or sister, it is disputed. They both have the same fater, Ptolemy XII Auletes and it's not sure if they have the same mother.

"Ptolemic family politics were tough: When Ptolemy XII died, he made Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII joint rulers, but Ptolemy soon ousted Cleopatra. Julius Caesar took Cleopatra's side in the family fight for power, while Arsinoe joined the Egyptian army resisting Caesar and the Roman forces," reported Livescience.com "Rome won out, however, and Arsinoe was taken captive. She was allowed to live in exile in Ephesus, an ancient Greek city in what is now Turkey. However, Cleopatra saw her half-sister as a threat and had her murdered in 41 B.C."

Then in 1904 excavators were digging in a ruined structure in Ephesus and in 1926 a burial chamber there was discovered with the bones of a young woman, believed to be Cleopatra's sister. The skull of the bones disappeared during WW II but the rest of the bones were found in a burial chamber in 1985. The bones after analysis were found to be from a teenager between the ages of 15 or 16, which is young for Cleopatra's sister who played a major role in Rome, but the archaeologist, Thur, says that she doesn't believe in the criticisms.

"My specialty is interpreting buildings and monuments. The excavations of one monument, The Octagon, began in 1904. In 1926, a grave chamber was found inside The Octagon. The skeleton inside it has been interpreted to be that of a young woman about age 20," she said to The News Observer. "This academic questioning is normal. It happens. It's a kind of jealousy."