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Cleopatra VII, who struggle for the throne with her brother Ptolemy XIII after the death of Ptolemy XII, went on a cruise on the Nile River with her Roman ally Caesar, with whom she had personal and political rapprochement, immediately after the Battle of Alexandria, which emerged as a civil war. The couple visited the settlements, mineral resources, quarries, and trade centers in Upper Egypt and ended the cruise before reaching Aethiopia. The fact that the cruise, which is not mentioned in contemporary sources, is mentioned in the works of non-contemporary authors such as Suetonius, Appian, Athenaeus and Lucan has led to controversy, and this situation has brought along the views that defend/doubt that the cruise took place. The main focus of this study is the purpose, scope and political and strategic objectives, especially the discussions about the Nile cruise. The study, which evaluates archaeological data, literary sources and modern views together, reveals that the cruise, which we have no information about because it is not included in contemporary ancient sources, was a discovery journey with political goals rather than a romantic honeymoon trip, and that it included more than what is described in ancient sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Early in the pandemic, cruise travel exacerbated the global spread of SARS-CoV-2. We report epidemiologic and molecular findings from an investigation of a cluster of travellers with confirmed COVID-19 returning to the USA from Nile River cruises in Egypt. Methods State health departments reported data on real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction-confirmed COVID-19 cases with a history of Nile River cruise travel during February–March 2020 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Demographic and epidemiologic data were collected through routine surveillance channels. Sequences were obtained either from state health departments or from the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Flu Data (GISAID). We conducted descriptive analyses of epidemiologic data and explored phylogenetic relationships between sequences. Results We identified 149 Nile River cruise travellers with confirmed COVID-19 who returned to 67 different US counties in 27 states: among those with complete data, 4.7% (6/128) died and 28.1% (38/135) were hospitalized. These individuals travelled on 20 different Nile River cruise voyages (12 unique vessels). Fifteen community transmission events were identified in four states, with 73.3% (11/15) of these occurring in Wisconsin (as the result of a more detailed contact investigation in that state). Phylogenetic analyses supported the hypothesis that travellers were most likely infected in Egypt, with most sequences in Nextstrain clade 20A 93% (87/94). We observed genetic clustering by Nile River cruise voyage and vessel. Conclusions Nile River cruise travellers with COVID-19 introduced SARS-CoV-2 over a very large geographic range, facilitating transmission across the USA early in the pandemic. Travellers who participate in cruises, even on small river vessels as investigated in this study, are at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Therefore, history of river cruise travel should be considered in contact tracing and outbreak investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]