The Egyptian Babylon, Minoan Crete, and among the Hittites. The main character of the novel is named after a character in an ancient Egyptian text commonly known as the "Story of Sinuhe". The original story dates to a time long before that of Akhenaten: texts are known from as early as the 12th dynasty. Supporting historical characters include the old Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his conniving favorite wife, Tiy; the wife of Akhenaten, Nefertiti; the listless young Tutankhamun (King Tut), who succeeded as Pharaoh after Akhenaten's downfall; and the two common-born successors who were, according to this author, integral parts of the
Ancient Egyptian race controversy may have been part Syrian, in line with the precedent of Persian and Syrian blood in the Ptolemaic line, continuing that Cleopatra "almost certainly had olive skin and dark eyes." Michael Grant also argues that Cleopatra's paternal grandmother may have been mixed Syrian and Greek, continuing that "certainly she was not an Egyptian," noting there is only one known Egyptian mistress of a Ptolemy and no known Egyptian wife of a Ptolemaic king. He goes on to say Cleopatra probably had not a drop of Egyptian blood and that she "would have described herself as Greek," adding that if Cleopatra