Mystery solved in Vienna

“Indiana Jones story” about Cleopatra’s sister

In 1929, the skull was found in the excavation site of Ephesus - and has puzzled archaeologists ever since.

(Bild: Bartel Gerhard)

According to anthropology professor Gerhard Weber, the University of Vienna has finished telling a "real Indiana Jones story": Since 1929, archaeologists had been puzzling over whether a skull - found by Viennese at the Ephesus excavation site and stored in Vienna - could be that of Cleopatra's sister Arsinoë. 

The very beginning of the story is reminiscent of Steven Spielberg's archaeologist adventure films. It was 1929 when the Austrian archaeologist Josef Keil found the skull of a supposedly "very distinguished personality" in a striking tomb at the excavation site, which has always been under Austrian patronage, and promptly took it back to Vienna, where it was initially forgotten.

Mysterious tomb
The tomb found in the remains of the former Roman city of Ephesus was striking not only because of its octagonal shape and its location in the middle of the former urban area, but also because of numerous architectural details that alluded to Egypt - and not least because there were no funerary inscriptions or other references to the buried person. Decades of guesswork had begun in the global archaeology community.

Anthropologist Gerhard Weber from the University of Vienna with archaeologist and Ephesus expert Martin Steskal from the Academy of Sciences

(Bild: Bartel Gerhard)

Why everyone believed in Arsinoë
Over the decades, one speculation solidified into near certainty: Arsinoë was murdered in Ephesus in 41 BC in her 20s on the orders of the general Mark Antony. This was the wish of his lover at the time, Cleopatra, who had her own sister - like many from the Ptolemaic dynasty before her - eliminated as a potential rival. An "Egyptian" magnificent anonymous tomb in Ephesus - it could hardly be anyone other than Arsinoë!

Hoping for DNA trace to Cleopatra

The hope that the mortal remains are those of Arsinoë was also about her famous sister: where Cleopatra is buried is also unknown. However, if Arsinoë had been found, this could have provided a DNA trace to identify Cleopatra's grave.

Only advances in scientific investigation techniques have now put an end to decades of speculation and brought an unexpected twist: The skull must have come from a presumably Roman boy aged around 13, who probably suffered from a serious hereditary disease. The mystery surrounding Cleopatra's sister is thus replaced by a new one: Who was the boy? And why was he buried in a manner more suited to Egyptian rulers? Archaeologist Martin Steskal still does not want to rule out the possibility that Arsinoë was actually buried in the tomb monument.

The mausoleum was erected around 20 years after Arsinoë's death, that much was already known. According to the previous theory, this would have meant that her remains were transferred from a presumably secret grave to the mausoleum ten years after Cleopatra's death in order to pay her due honor posthumously as soon as this was politically possible again. The new theory is therefore that the wrong person was simply reburied during this exhumation around the year 20 BC - and Arsinoë's remains are still awaiting discovery in Ephesus. Indiana Jones stories have several consequences ...