Kathleen Martinez Berry is not your typical lawyer. While many attorneys find fulfillment in their legal careers, Martinez, a highly sought-after criminal lawyer from the Dominican Republic, channeled her intellectual curiosity into an entirely different realm: Egyptology. Her journey, sparked by a moment of boredom and fueled by an unyielding passion, transformed her from a successful lawyer into a self-made Egyptologist on a quest to solve one of history’s most intriguing mysteries – the location of Cleopatra’s tomb.
Martinez’s story is a testament to the power of pursuing one’s dreams, regardless of how unconventional they may seem. It began during a period of quietude, a stark contrast to the bustling courtroom dramas she was accustomed to. While living in Madrid as her husband pursued cardiology studies and caring for her infant, Martinez sought intellectual stimulation. This led her to pursue a master’s degree in finance, an endeavor that showcased her inherent drive to learn and conquer new challenges.
However, finance was just the beginning. Later, while tending to her second child, another moment of downtime ignited a long-held fascination with archeology, specifically with Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt. This wasn’t a fleeting interest; it blossomed into a full-blown obsession. For Kathleen Martinez, the lawyer, this new path meant delving into ancient texts, historical biases, and the enduring enigma surrounding Cleopatra’s life and death.
This quest propelled Kathleen Martinez from her established career as a prominent criminal attorney in the Dominican Republic into the world of Egyptology. Her legal background, honed through years of critical thinking, strategic planning, and relentless pursuit of truth, became surprisingly valuable in her archaeological endeavors. She approached the mystery of Cleopatra’s tomb with the same analytical rigor and determination she applied to her legal cases.
Speaking at the Higher Colleges of Technology’s Festival of Thinkers event in Abu Dhabi, Martinez shared her extraordinary journey, urging Emirati students to chase their aspirations and never accept limitations. Her life story is a powerful embodiment of this philosophy.
Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Kathleen Martinez was nurtured in an intellectually rich environment. Her parents, a French-English mother and an attorney father, cultivated her intellectual growth. Her father’s Sunday salons, gatherings of the Dominican Republic’s leading intellectuals amidst their vast private library, exposed young Kathleen to profound debates and diverse perspectives from a young age. This early immersion in intellectual discourse laid the foundation for her inquisitive mind and her later pursuits.
Beyond academics, Martinez excelled in various fields. She was a chess champion, a skilled swimmer, and proficient in judo, karate, and piano. Her insatiable hunger for knowledge was evident from preschool. On her first day, presented with drawing materials, five-year-old Kathleen inquired, “Is there anything you can teach me?” This led to rapid academic advancement, culminating in her law school graduation at just 18.
The Dominican legal system mandates practical experience for law students. Martinez tackled a politically charged case involving a wrongly accused banker – a case established lawyers avoided. Her success in this challenging case demonstrated her legal acumen and courage. Following graduation, she joined a leading criminal attorney who promised to further refine her legal skills.
From Law Firm to Ancient Mysteries: A New Chapter
After two decades of building a successful law practice and establishing her own firm, Kathleen Martinez reached a point where many would rest on their laurels. Even after a five-year break in Madrid, her return to her Dominican Republic law firm was seamless. “My clients came back. It was just like before,” she recalls. However, her inherently restless mind yearned for something more. A past conversation with her father resurfaced, sparking a new direction.
In 1990, browsing her father’s extensive library, she picked up Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Her father dismissed Cleopatra as a mere political schemer, unworthy of historical significance. This sparked a challenge in Kathleen. “Why do you speak of the queen like this?” she questioned. “How do you know? What are your sources?”
This simple exchange ignited a quest to uncover the truth about Cleopatra. In a pre-internet era on a small Caribbean island, this was a formidable task. “I read everything, Plato, Socrates, especially the Romans,” Martinez explained. She recognized the inherent bias in Roman accounts, understanding that history is often written by the victors. “Of course, the Romans hated the Egyptians. They attacked her beauty – she was plain, but it does not matter. Then I looked for Egyptian sources, and they described a different person. They said she was the greatest of her dynasty. She ruled the most important country in the world. She was the most important woman on earth. She was a queen when she was 18 years old. I concluded that Cleopatra was a special woman. She spoke nine languages, wrote about the law and medicine. Every day I got more and more interested in this woman.”
Martinez delved deeper, seeking to understand Cleopatra beyond historical biases, focusing on her as a woman and a mother. This perspective illuminated Cleopatra’s political strategies and personal choices. Even the famous anecdote of Cleopatra’s entrance to Julius Caesar, concealed in a rug, Martinez views as a stroke of military and strategic brilliance.
“Cleopatra was on the run, hiding in the desert and learned Caesar was in Alexandria,” she explained. “She needed to meet him, but how? She came up with a plan, arranging for a rug to be presented as a gift from her. Now, this was a Roman general. The most protected man. If she were caught, she would be dead in an instant. It was incredible. Imagine [sneaking] into Barack Obama’s office. I became an admirer of hers.”
While maintaining her law practice, Martinez dedicated her free time to Cleopatra research. She began formulating a groundbreaking theory about why Cleopatra’s tomb, believed to be filled with treasures, remained undiscovered. She posited that historians had overlooked a crucial element: Cleopatra’s belief in herself as the living embodiment of the goddess Isis, and her perception of Marc Antony as Osiris. She considered their deaths in the context of Isis and Osiris’s mythology.
“I studied how she died,” Martinez stated. “In that time, death was a critical moment and very meaningful. She used a cobra to kill herself. A snake was smuggled to her in a basket, hidden underneath figs. I have visited many jails in the Dominican Republic. It would have been difficult to smuggle something in, especially a snake. Why not have a small vial of poison brought in? There are three goddesses in the form of a snake, and Egyptians used a cobra to protect the pharaohs. Her death was a message to her followers. She wanted to die as a goddess.”
“It came to me: Cleopatra’s tomb has never been found because she wasn’t buried in a tomb. She and Marc Antony were buried in a temple to Isis and Osiris. There has to be a temple. But which one?” This pivotal realization marked the beginning of her archaeological adventure.
The Temple of Taposiris Magna: A Lawyer’s Instinct
By 2002, maps of Egypt, particularly those detailing temples dedicated to Isis and Osiris, covered every available surface in Martinez’s home. After years of relentless research from afar, she planned her first trip to Egypt. Despite repeated attempts to gain official permission to visit restricted temple sites, her requests went unanswered.
“I went anyway,” Martinez declared, her characteristic determination unwavering. “My family cried, they said the Egyptians would kill me. But when I think to do something, I go all the way until I get it.”
Her arrival in Cairo was fraught with unexpected challenges, resembling a scene from a spy thriller. Detained at immigration due to a passport issue, Martinez found herself in a tense situation. However, her quick thinking and resourcefulness, honed from her legal career, came to the fore. Suspecting she was not being taken to her hotel as claimed, she strategically stalled for time and sought refuge in a travel agency within the airport. There, she arranged for a car, driver, and crucially, a Spanish-speaking guide, using a credit card to ensure a traceable record for her family’s peace of mind.
This seemingly overreactive measure proved serendipitous. Her guide happened to have connections to the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities’ scheduling secretary, leading to an unexpected 10 a.m. appointment the very next day. In a mere two minutes, Kathleen Martinez, the lawyer turned aspiring Egyptologist, passionately presented her case for exploring restricted temples. To her astonishment, she secured a two-month permit.
Armed with her meticulously prepared temple maps, Martinez and her cousin traversed Egypt. After visiting numerous sites without a breakthrough, they arrived at Taposiris Magna Temple, near Alexandria. Despite centuries of excavation and its ruined state, Martinez felt an immediate and profound connection.
“The instant I entered I knew,” she recalled. “It was only ruins, but in my mind I had the imagination. I knew. I thought, how come no one sees this?” The realization that this could be Cleopatra and Marc Antony’s long-lost tomb was overwhelming. The possibility that her years of unwavering dedication, pursued against all odds from a distant island, might yield results brought her to tears.
The immensity of the challenge ahead also became apparent. Securing an excavation permit as an unknown researcher with an unconventional theory seemed nearly impossible. “I sat against the remains of a column and I cried,” Martinez confessed. “Why? I am a citizen of the Dominican Republic. I am not a famous archeologist. I don’t have a big school like Harvard behind me. I thought, ‘I have come this far but no one will listen, no one will give me permission.’ Then I stopped crying and thought, ‘I have to fight until they tell me yes, if it takes the rest of my life.’”
From Theory to Excavation: The Lawyer’s Tenacity
Returning home, Martinez prepared to return to Egypt and present her case formally. She garnered support from a university in Santo Domingo and addressed her passport issue with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Remarkably, she was appointed the Dominican Republic’s first Minister of Culture to Egypt and received a diplomatic passport.
Six months later, Kathleen Martinez, now carrying a diplomatic passport and the weight of her nation’s cultural representation, found herself again before the Egyptian Supreme Council on Antiquities. In another high-stakes, two-minute pitch, she declared, “I think I found the tomb of Cleopatra.” Her conviction and audacity captured the official’s attention. Impressed by her scholarship and unwavering resolve, he granted her the opportunity to present her proposal to the excavation permit committee.
The odds were stacked against her – only 150 permits granted out of 2,000 annual applications. Undeterred, Martinez presented her case and returned home, facing skepticism even from her own family. Her father and others doubted her chances of success. However, her uncle offered a stark warning and encouragement: “If you are not right, your career will be over. You cannot go back.”
Three weeks later, the unexpected news arrived: her project was approved. However, instead of the typical year-long permit, she received only two months to find evidence to support her theory. Despite the immense pressure and limited timeframe, Kathleen Martinez was ready to wager her career on her dream.
Facing another hurdle – a lack of funding and a team – Martinez initially used her own resources. Partnering with the Egyptian government and the esteemed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, she returned to Taposiris Magna in 2004 and began excavations.
From the outset, the dig yielded remarkable discoveries. Six burial chambers, previously unknown in temple architecture, were unearthed, reshaping understanding of ancient temple and tomb designs. The site also revealed 40 coins bearing Cleopatra and Marc Antony’s images, an alabaster head of Cleopatra, and metal plates, all reinforcing Martinez’s theory.
Zahi Hawass acknowledged the significance of the findings, stating, “The discovery of the tombs inside this temple shows that someone important was buried here. We are excavating a theory. If we discover the tomb of Marc Antony and Cleopatra, it would be the most important discovery of the 21st century. If we don’t discover the tomb of Cleopatra and Marc Antony, we’ve still made major discoveries here, outside and inside the temple.”
For Kathleen Martinez, braving tunnels inhabited by snakes and scorpions is a small price to pay for potentially walking in Cleopatra’s footsteps. Her journey from Dominican Republic lawyer to leading the search for Cleopatra’s tomb is an extraordinary tale of intellectual curiosity, relentless determination, and the transformative power of pursuing one’s passion.
“I am 80% of the way to prove my theory,” Martinez concludes. “We have proved that it is a temple to Isis and Osiris. We need to find the tomb; we need to excavate the rooms. In the beginning, people laughed at us and made fun. Now, they respect the work we do. It’s been worth it.” Kathleen Martinez, the lawyer who dared to dream beyond the courtroom, continues her quest, driven by the same unwavering resolve that defined her legal career, now aimed at unveiling one of history’s most enduring secrets.
