or at Pompey's villa in the Alban hills, busily working upon the senators by bribes or promises, and procuring the assassination of envoys sent from Alexandria to Rome; he then left Rome and went to Ephesus, and lived in the sacred precinct of Artemis. In the meantime Cleopatra Tryphaena is believed to have died in 57 B.C. of unknown causes, leaving the young Berenice sole queen in Alexandria. As a lone woman ruling Egypt, she was expected to marry and have a man as a co-regent. Her advisors first tried to arrange a marriage with two Seleucid princes, both descended from Ptolemy VIII. The first was a son of Cleopatra Selene of Syria: he died whilst negotiations were in progress. The second was a grandson of Tryphaena and Antiochus VIII Grypus called Philip (possibly Philip II Philoromaeus): he was forbidden by the Roman governor of Syria Aulus Gabinius to accept the invitation. The Alexandrines then, thirdly, arranged a marriage with a man called Seleucus, connected to the Seleucid royal house. He may have been another son of Cleopatra Selene of Syria, perhaps Seleucus VII Philometor; alternatively he may have been an illegitimate son of one of the Seleucid kings. When he arrived in Alexandria, the Alexandrines were shocked by his vulgar appearance and manners, and nicknamed him Kybiosaktes, "Salt-fish-monger". Berenice, after a few days of marriage, found she was unable to bear his coarseness and vulgarity, and felt that he could not command the respect of the populace: she had him strangled. The court then arranged a marriage with a Greek called Archelaus. Archelaus had been appointed prince-pontiff at the temple of the Great Mother at Comana in Pontus by Pompey, and claimed to be a son of King Mithridates VI of Pontus (and, if so, to be distantly related in blood to the Ptolemies). Strabo instead says his father was Archelaus, one of the chief marshals of Mithridates VI in the First Mithridatic War who defected to the Romans. At that time Archelaus was an associate of Aulus Gabinius, and had hoped to join with him on an expedition against the Parthians. Gabinius furthermore had become suspicious of Archelaus's associations with the Egyptians, and had him arrested. Persuaded though that Archelaus was no threat, and perhaps bribed, Gabinius voluntarily released him. In the winter 56‑55 Archelaus came to Egypt, married Berenice, and was proclaimed king. In the spring of