The Cleopatra of this early alchemical dialogue is not the famous Cleopatra VII (69-30 BC), last queen of the Ptolemy dynasty and lover of Mark Antony. Along with Mary Prophetess and Zosimos's Theosebia, this Cleopatra occupies a high place in alchemical lore as one of very few ancient female adepts who possessed the secret of the philosopher's stone. She thus became a revered authority widely cited in alchemical literature, and to her the invention of the alembic is sometimes attributed. The following Dialogue of Cleopatra is from the Book of Komarios (Komarios being the reputed teacher of Cleopatra), one of many surviving Greek alchemical manuscripts. The author of this Dialogue and others featuring Cleopatra probably lived in the first or second century AD and was perhaps part of the richly eclectic culture of Graeco-Roman Alexandria. He invests his work with elements from earlier Egyptian culture: for example, the legendary Ostanes, whom Pliny regards as the introducer of magic into Greece (Natural History 30:1), is presented as a participant in the dialogue. But pervasive allegory and symbolism are its most distinguishing features, lightly concealing the alchemical content beneath; as Ostanes says to Cleopatra, “In thee is concealed a strange and terrible mystery. Enlighten us, casting your light upon the elements.” Cleopatra's response figures forth several highly visual motifs that were to become alchemical commonplaces: the analogy between the plant kingdom and the distillation process, or that between human birth and the formation of the philosopher's stone, or the death-resurrection motif, as applied to materials within the alchemical vas.