Though Greeks might be permitted to instruct the royal children in knowledge, the Egyptians would not yield the right to their religious education.

The leech Olympus--you know the good old man--had insisted that the delicate Cleopatra must spend the coldest winter months in Upper Egypt, where the sky was never clouded, and the summer near the sea in a shady garden.

The little palace at Kanopus was devoted to this purpose.
"When we moved there it was entirely unoccupied, but the princesses were soon to be brought to us.

During the winter Olympus preferred the island of Philae, on the Nubian frontier, because the famous Temple of Isis was there, and its priests willingly undertook to watch over the children.
"The Queen would not listen to any of these plans.

Leaving Alexandria and spending the winter on a lonely island in the tropics was an utterly incomprehensible idea.