Cleopatra: Fact and Fiction

by Barbara Watterson

Cleopatra is one of the greatest romantic figures in history, the queen of Egypt whose beauty and allure is legendary. We think we know her story, but our image of her is largely gleaned from the film starring Elizabeth Taylor or from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. Shakespeare himself was inspired by Plutarch, who was only sixteen years old when Cleopatra died. So her story was never based purely on fact.In the middle of the first century BC, Cleopatra caught the attention of Rome by captivating the two most powerful Romans of the day, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. She outlived both and attempted to suborn a third, her mortal enemy, Octavius Caesar, the first of the Roman Emperors. Having failed to do so she destroyed herself.We can tell that Cleopatra was highly intelligent and politically astute and that she wielded great power. But Roman histories heaped opprobrium upon her. Cleopatra’s detractors claimed that she used her feminine wiles to entrap Caesar and Antony. She came to symbolise the danger of female influence to the safety of Rome – and indeed to the male-dominated world.Plutarch observed that Cleopatra’s actual beauty was apparently not in itself so remarkable. It was the impact of her presence that was irresistible. Cleopatra: Fact and Fiction sheds fascinating light on the woman behind the image.The fact that Cleopatra’s legend still burns bright today is proof of Shakespeare’s description of her as a lady of infinite variety whom custom cannot stale.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

304 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2018

Reviews

[Stephanie (Bookfever) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weirdly enough I haven't read a lot of nonfiction books about Cleopatra. I've seen lots of documentaries but books, not so much. But even so I can say that this one was an excellent read. Not too short, not too long. Pretty much perfect in length. And as far as content goes, it was also really good. I found out so much more about Cleopatra herself, the men who were in her life and just in general about the ancient world as well.

The title already says it but this book is divided in the fact and fiction about Cleopatra. The fact obviously tells us about her life and the fiction is about the people who wrote about her, made plays and movies about her. I'm very glad to say that I really enjoyed both of these parts. It was all very interesting.

I also loved that at the end of the book there was a list of the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman gods. I think this will be extra fascinating to those who don't know that much about them but even I really enjoyed reading that part as well. There were also beautiful photographs about ancient Egyptian and Roman artifacts and buildings. They were so great to look at and I might go back ever now and then to do just that.

It wasn't a big surprise to me that I ended up loving Cleopatra: Fact and Fiction but it was a surprise that I learned so much more about this enigmatic last ruler of ancient Egypt. Barbara Watterson has gained a new fan in me.

[mia evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

honestly this wasn’t really my cup of tea but i suppose that’s my own fault for not looking further for an actual biography of cleopatra. this was more a surface level review of her life and the women who played on stage and in film.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a struggle to pick up sometimes. Interesting and informative. Definitely not a good introductory book to someone just starting to explore these topics. Numerous terms that seemed to be frequent in this field weren’t defined, but I got enough out of the book as a whole. Diagrams of the family trees might have been useful, or just a list in the back.

[Paul Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially three books in one: a modern history of the Ptolemy reign and Cleopatra, a brief history of the portrayal of Cleopatra in art, theatre and modern culture with then extensive historical appendices. As Spike Milligan once said (of Puckoon):"A book of bits or a bit of a book".

[Erin Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

3⭐️