Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt, came to Rome and lived for more than a year in Julius Caesar's villa on the far bank of the Tiber. Roman society was scandalised and fascinated. Cicero visited and later wrote that he hated the queen and her arrogance. Meanwhile Caesar, with the help of an Egyptian astronomer, had just given Rome a brand-new calendar: the one we still mostly use. The words are imagined.