Cleopatra: A Biography

Women in Antiquity

by Duane W. Roller

Few personalities from classical antiquity are more famous--yet more poorly understood--than Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt. In this major biography, Duane Roller reveals that Cleopatra was in fact a learned and visionary leader whose overarching goal was always the preservation of her dynasty and kingdom.
Roller's authoritative account is the first to be based solely on primary materials from the Greco-Roman literary sources, Egyptian documents (Cleopatra's own writings), and representations in art and coinage produced while she was alive. His compelling portrait of the queen illuminates her prowess as a royal administrator who managed a large and diverse kingdom extending from Asia Minor to the interior of Egypt, as a naval commander who led her own fleet in battle, and as a scholar and supporter of the arts. Even her love affairs with Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius--the source of her reputation as a supreme seductress who drove men to their doom--were carefully crafted state she chose these partners to insure the procreation of successors who would be worthy of her distinguished dynasty. That Cleopatra ultimately lost to her Roman opponents, Roller contends, in no way diminishes her abilities.

"Roller tells his tale smoothly and accessibly....The resulting portrait is that of a complex, many-sided figure, a potent Hellenistic ruler who could move the tillers of power as skillfully as any man, and one far and nobly removed from the 'constructed icon' of popular imagination."
-- The New York Times Book Review

"A rich account of late Ptolemaic culture."
-- The New Yorker

"Offers a superb panorama of the society and culture of late Ptolemaic Egypt, with vivid sketches of the (remarkably vigorous) intellectual life of Cleopatra's Alexandria and the structural instabilities of the late Ptolemaic state."
-- Times Literary Supplement

"Besides providing a compelling story and breathing fresh air into a heretofore two-dimensional caricature from history, Roller's 'Cleopatra' provides an interesting commentary on the attitudes still prevalent towards women who rule."
-- Christian Science Monitor

"Compulsively readable."
-- Bookslut

"A definitive account of a queen of remarkable strength."
-- Publishers Weekly

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Egypt, Ancient History, Historical, Classics

252 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Historian, archaeologist, and classical scholar, Duane W. Roller is Professor Emeritus of Greek and Latin at The Ohio State University, and currently lives in Santa Fe, NM. He has excavated in Greece, Italy, Turkey, and the Levant. He is a three-time Fulbright scholar, most recently the Karl-Franzens Distinguished Chair of Cultural Studies at the University of Graz, Austria.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

This is a careful and sober book and as a result considerably less fun than Asterix and Cleopatra, there is simply too much pearl in my vinegar.

Roller discusses the sources, how we know, what we know about Cleopatra, his preferred source is Plutarch's life of Antonius (alias Mark Anthony etc) which was only written a hundred or so years after the events and as implied by that title it is about Antonius who eventually was Cleopatra's lover or husband, but she lived most of her life without him even though he was the father of her three youngest children. Apparently Cleopatra wrote her own memoirs too but these were lost in antiquity - both a Ptolemy family habit (it seems they were a careless bunch) nor were such losses particular to the Ptolemys, an autobiography written by Herod the Great is also missing leaving us for ever in the dark about how and why the High Priest of the temple that he didn't like, turned up mysteriously dead in the Herod's private swimming pool in his royal palace , however Roller claims that seven fragments of a book about Cosmetics were written by Cleopatra, even though only one was attributed to a Queen Cleopatra (and it was not a rare name among royalty even outside Egypt where there were at least seven) and one fragment could not have been written before the time of Emperor Nero (pp50-1). The Cosmetics book included cures for baldness which made me smile as her first lover the Roman geezer Julius Caesar ,was famously folically challenged (although shown here with a good head of hair).

Some time is spent on interesting dead-ends: Roller praises her ability as a naval commander, but of course her most famous action as an Admiral was fleeing with her fleet from the battle of Actium, making certain the defeat of Antonius. He stresses her education , Rhetorical skills, and the number of languages she knew, but he does not provide any examples of her actually using these skills - apart from the book on cosmetics.

Roller opens with the family background of the Ptolemys. Their marriage habits led me to imagine the family tree as a dense scribble, it wasn't quite that bad, possibly because they made soap operas look tame, if they married one another freely, they were also uninhibited in having each other executed whenever they got a chance. Over time they were closely linked with Rome, although Egypt was a very wealthy kingdom with a royal income of between 6000 and 12000 talents (with one talent the equivalent of 35 kilos of silver) it seems to have been in financial troubles for some time, the currency was devalued over time, Cleopatra's father Ptolemy XII borrowed heavily from Romans to oust a brother and later his daughter from his throne, by the time Cleopatra VII became Queen there was still a debt of over seventeen million sesterces outstanding (each sesterce worth 10 grams of silver), indeed this debt was one of the reasons given by the Emperor Augustus for seizing the kingdom after Cleopatra's death. Ptolemy XII attempted to deal with the debt by making his Roman banker his finance minister, but his man was grossly unpopular and had to be bundled out of the country after a year.

All of which really is simply the background to Cleopatra VII, her financial resources were variable and constrained, her siblings were rivals for power, foreign and internal policy were tied to Roman interests, government officials seem to have held there positions on a hereditary basis, the royal textile mill was run by a Roman senator (p.105), a sign of the integration of Rome and Egypt, maybe a suggestion of the limits of independence of both, that particular senator was executed by Augustus after the take over of the kingdom by Rome. Given the game she was playing and the cards she was dealt, it is hard to imagine things working out differently, she pursued the same policies as her forebears had done - concentrating on managing the relationship with Rome, and she did fairly well, she was not deposed in flavour of a sibling, she was awarded extensive territories which had in the past been held by the Ptolemys, but which had been seized by rival powers over time.

Roller does not plainly state, but implies in places, that Cleopatra was not so tightly linked to Antionius politically or romantically as Shakespeare or Taylor & Burton played. This struck me as interesting but naive, Cleopatra's son and heir (otherwise know as Ptolemy XV), associated together as Isis and Horus on Egyptian temples, Caesarion was generally accepted as the so of Julius Caesar and so the cousin of Augustus, while her other children had been fathered by Antonius who at the same time had been married to Augustus' sister. Aside from the potential rival and the insult to family honour, Egypt was rich, a breadbasket that commanded a valuable trade route to India. In the end Augustus took the obvious course of action and made Egypt an Imperial province. Caesarion was persuaded to return to Alexandria from upper Egypt and was unsurprisingly killed before he got there, the other children were taken to Rome, Roller does not suspect foul play but two of them died there, the last child Cleopatra Selene was married to a Roman client king in North Africa, she died at a young age, but the two had a son, perhaps inevitably named Ptolemy. By which time Cleopatra and Antonius were both long dead by their own hands.

All of which left me feeling that Cleopatra was a considerably less interesting person in history than I did prior to reading. I wondered about the points that made Cleopatra stand out from her peers and her ancestors. One was that she was said to be the first in her family to speak the Egyptian language, her mother may have been from the family of the priests of Ptah (although that family may also have been married into the Greek elite for generations) certainly she appeared on the walls of temple complexes as the Goddess Isis. We can't know how the different populations of Egypt at the time reacted to this, perhaps it did help to shore up her position against potential rivals. She did not marry (apart possibly from her brothers Ptolemy XIII & XIV, both children at the time) perhaps that suggests a certain independence and political astuteness as a husband presumably would have wanted to rule the kingdom. About one hundred of her officials are known by name from which it seems that government offices where inherited, some of the scholars active in Alexandria during her time are known by name but they generally seem, with apologies, to be an undistinguished bunch.

The difficulty that this book has is that it has to find meaning and insight from books in which Cleopatra herself was never the main focus, as a result we get a competent but pedestrian story, Cleopatra maybe needs somebody else with different perspectives to be really brought to life, maybe to be appraised in terms of colonial and post-colonial societies and politics. This book is part of a series focusing on famous women in antiquity, a challenge to write as the evidence will I guess almost always come from works focused on men, perhaps Cleopatra is more difficult to write about because she was on the loosing side of a propaganda war and from a culture which was both viewed as the opposite of Rome - the decadent and effeminate east - and which in turn became the source for the politics of extravagant display seen in the late Republic and Empire.

[Katherine 黄爱芬 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Butuh waktu berbulan-bulan utk menyelesaikan buku ini. Terus terang buku ini membuat diriku mengalami stagnansi akut utk membaca buku non fiksi. Bukan karena isinya tidak bagus atau kurang informatif, sebaliknya cara penyajian isi bukunya membuat saya tidak mampu menelan informasi yang terlalu berlebihan dan terlalu banyak utk nama-nama tokoh dan tempat kejadian, tidak beraturan kronologis ceritanya, dan semuanya dijejalkan seluruhnya dlm buku ini, yang malah mengakibatkan tidak enak dibaca. Ibarat koki masakan, pengarang gagal dalam penyusunan data-data sejarah sehingga saya tidak bisa mengunyah dan menikmati informasi-informasi dari buku ini. Gambaran ttg sejarah tokoh kontroversial Ratu Cleopatra ini menjadi berantakan akibat tidak jelas dan tidak sistematis dlm penuturan kisah hidupnya. Sangat disayangkan sebenarnya, sebab tokoh ini memiliki daya tarik yang masih tetap terpancar hingga saat ini.

Cleopatra adalah Ratu Mesir terakhir dari Dinasti Ptolomeus, moyangnya adalah Jendral Ptolemy, salah satu tangan kanan yang setia dari Alexander Agung dari Yunani. Setelah kematian Alexander, Ptolemy lari ke Mesir, mengalahkan dinasti sebelumnya dan membangun Dinasti baru, Ptolemeus. Sampai bergenerasi-generasi selanjutnya, melalui hubungan incest ataupun hubungan famili yang masih dekat hingga penyatuan dengan Dinasti Seleukos (juga didirikan oleh salah satu Jendral anak buah Alexander) menjadikan Cleopatra VII ini kuat kedudukannya dan dihormati oleh kawan maupun musuh politiknya.

Bukan Cleopatra jika tidak punya ambisi. Cleopatra berniat memperluas wilayah kerajaannya. Sama dgn cara ayahnya, Cleopatra mengerahkan kekuatan politiknya dengan meminta bantuan dari Romawi, yang pada masa itu adalah kerajaan yang paling berpengaruh di sekitar Laut Tengah. Dan Cleopatra tidak hanya berhasil mengekspansi wilayah kerajaan, dia berhasil menyingkirkan saudara-saudarinya yang mengancam takhtanya, mempengaruhi dan memikat Julius Caesar, konsul tertinggi di Romawi, yang akhirnya terlena dgn kepiawaian dan kecerdasan Cleopatra.

Dan pada saat Julius Caesar dibunuh, Triumvirat yang terdiri dari Antonius, Oktavianus dan Agrippa, yang di kemudian hari pecah menjadi perseteruan antara Antonius vs Oktavianus. Antonius yang awal kedatangannya di Mesir utk menyampaikan berita dukacita, malah terpikat juga pada Cleopatra. Kedua orang ini memiliki kemiripan sifat utk hedonis, boros luar biasa dan memiliki kesenangan pada kemewahan yang tidak pada tempatnya. Takdir tampaknya tidak berpihak pada pasangan sensasional ini. Walau mereka berusaha membangun kekuatan dengan aliansi-aliansi dengan negara-negara sekutu mereka (yang paling terkenal adalah Herodes, yang mengganyang bayi-bayi pada saat kelahiran Yesus), takdir sudah menentukan bahwa Oktavianus lah yang unggul daripada pasangan ini. Belakangan keturunan Antonius mendominasi kerajaan Roma (Claudius, Caligula, Nero adalah keturunan dari Antonius), sayangnya setelah kematiannya, patung-patung Antonius dihancurkan oleh pihak Oktavianus, dan beruntunglah Cleopatra, patung-patungnya masih terselamatkan, karena tampaknya Oktavianus memandang dari segi history nenek moyang Cleopatra.

Kelebihan buku ini disertai tahun-tahun kronologi dan peristiwa sejarah yang terjadi, ada appendix yang sangat informatif, tetapi gambar-gambar foto lumayan minim dan kurang memuaskan. Dan typo yang bertebaran serta terjemahan yang menurut saya lumayan buruk, makin memperparah keinginan utk membaca buku ini. Saran saya, lebih baik membaca buku ini secara fast forward, sebab terlalu banyak nama-nama tempat dan tokoh yang tidak penting, yang semuanya dimasukkan, membuat bias dan distraksi ketika membaca buku ini.

[Monica San Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Al contrario de lo que puede parecer por todas las historias que existen entorno a la reina Cleopatra, son pocas las fuentes directas que hay de este personaje histórico y muchas de las que nos han llegado contienen muchos de los prejuicios que arrastra una mujer gobernante (además en una dinastia como la tolomaica que se caracterizaba por sus guerras intestinas) frente al empuje del imperio romano; Duane Roller consigue armar una estupenda biografia (y no solo de Cleopatra sino también de Marco Antonio) sin dejarse arrastrar por el sensacionalismo y poniendo en su debido contexto,que además era bien complejo, la figura de esta mítica reina.

[Igor G. S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

¿Otro libro sobre Cleopatra? ¡Pero si ya está todo dicho! Bueno, no debemos tener claro quién era realmente Cleopatra VII si año tras año resurgen en Internet historias truculentas sobre cómo practicó felaciones a 100 soldados romanos en una noche… Y lo peor es que hay gente dispuesta a creérselo porque lo ha visto publicado en un medio “serio”. Cleopatra VII sabe bastante sobre bulos e informaciones falsas: tras su suicidio en el 30 a.C., diversos autores romanos, deseosos de favorecer a su recién estrenado emperador Octavio Augusto, presentaron a la última reina de Egipto como una arpía manipuladora que no dudaba en usar su cuerpo para lograr sus ambiciones, corrompiendo así a grandes líderes romanos como Julio César o Marco Antonio. Ya se sabe, la Historia la escriben los vencedores, y a la propaganda de Augusto siguió siglos después la pluma de Shakespeare, las exóticas y sensuales pinturas del Romanticismo decimonónico y, ya en el siglo XX, las superproducciones hollywoodienses, de entre las que destacó la mastodóntica película de 1963 protagonizada por Elizabeth Taylor. Teniendo todo esto en cuenta, es normal que Cleopatra VII se nos haya quedado algo “desdibujada”. Algunas de las ideas más extendidas sobre Cleopatra, como que murió dejándose picar por una serpiente, también son bulos; lo más probable es que la reina hiciese uso de su vastos conocimientos de medicina para preparar un veneno que acabase con su vida y la de sus dos leales criadas, Iras y Carmión.

Es por todo esto que este libro es esencial, ya que está escrito por un historiador experto como es Duane Roller, doctor en arqueología clásica que lleva años centrándose en investigar el papel de la mujer en la Edad Antigua. Él es la persona idónea para bucear en las fuentes de las que disponemos y trazar un retrato de Cleopatra VII más cercano a la realidad: una mujer carismática, inteligente y decidida a preservar la independencia de Egipto frente a la cada vez más poderosa Roma; una estadista que gobernó su reino sabiamente, buscando las alianzas que más le conviniesen y eliminando a aquellos elementos que pudiesen amenazar su poder (es decir, a sus dos hermanos-esposos y a su hermana Arsínoe); una mujer culta que hablaba doce idiomas, había leído a los grandes autores clásicos y podía conversar sobre temas tan variados como ciencia, medicina, estrategia militar o cosmética; una gobernante de ascendencia griega que se ganó el amor del pueblo egipcio, de hecho fue la única de su familia que se molestó en aprender la lengua egipcia; una madre de cuatro hijos (a Cesarión, hijo de Cleopatra y César, le siguieron dos hijos y una hija que tuvo años después con Antonio) que a su vez se presentó como madre de su pueblo, una "Nueva Isis", a la que algunos de sus súbditos veían como una figura casi mesiánica; una mujer compleja, humana y fascinante, en definidas cuentas, y no un arquetipo misógino de femme fatale.
Roller sabe separar la paja del grano, diferenciando lo que es pura propaganda y aquello que puede considerarse real (no en vano, algunos de esos historiadores romanos, a pesar de presentar a Cleopatra como “la mala”, habían contado con la valiosa información de Olimpo, médico personal de la reina, lo cual no deja de ser información de primera mano).

Para comprender del todo a Cleopatra, es necesario no solo contar su historia, sino comprender también cuál fue su contexto, el mundo en el que vivió. Para ello, Duane Roller se sirve de fuentes escritas, pero también de la arqueología, el arte y la numismática. Además de las batallas y las intrigas, este libro nos descubre cómo era la ciudad de Alejandría, cómo se gobernaba Egipto, la vida cotidiana, el ambiente cultural… Todo ello influyó y moldeó a Cleopatra, por lo tanto conocer estos datos nos ayuda a que el retrato que Roller ofrece de la reina sea más redondo.
Las representaciones de Cleopatra en el arte también nos permiten ver cómo la soberana se hizo representar de distintas maneras según el fin político que persiguiese en cada momento. Por lo menos en las monedas, solía predominar la estética greco-macedonia: el moño bajo y la cinta blanca típica de los gobernantes macedonios, algo muy alejado del típico disfraz de Cleopatra de Amazon. Sin embargo, no sería extraño que en ocasiones (especialmente en las religiosas) Cleopatra llevase atributos puramente egipcios, como pelucas con flequillo recto, coronas con forma de cobra o discos solares, atributos semejantes al dibujado en la portada de la excelente edición en castellano de este libro, a cargo de Despertaferro; diversas esculturas de la época también presentan a Cleopatra con un aspecto más “egipcio”, por así decirlo.
Los anexos que el autor añade al final del libro resultan interesantes y nos aportan información de temas diversos como el que acabamos de tratar, así como de otros más actuales y polémicos, como el de la identidad de la madre de Cleopatra VII, y por ende su raza (tema explotado de forma burda y politizada por Netflix y Jada Pinkett-Smith en una producción audiovisual recientemente).

En conclusión, esta biografía de Cleopatra VII de Duane Roller resulta a la vez amena y esclarecedora. Es cierto que tal vez no tenga ese tono novelístico que tenía la también meritoria biografía de la periodista Stacy Schiff, pero también es cierto que la investigación de Roller es más completa y aquellas florituras aquí estarían de más. El autor se apega a la información de distintas fuentes para ofrecernos una Cleopatra compleja, genial y humana, y nos sumerge en el un contexto histórico, político y cultural en el que vivió esta reina para que entendamos sus acciones (las acertadas y las que no lo estuvieron) y podamos descubrir las verdades ocultas tras tantos siglos de propaganda y bulos. Cleopatra fue y sigue siendo sinónimo de poder, una de las personas más importantes de la Historia. Este libro le hace justicia, y la presenta tal y como debería ser recordada.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished Roller's biography of Cleopatra on Mother's Day, which is appropriate given the importance of her role as mother to her four children, the eldest fathered by Julius Caesar and the younger three by Marcus Antonius. The plans she had in mind for these illustrious offspring did not come to pass, but the scope of her vision was "global." In the Donations of Alexandria, she divided much of the known world not under Roman control among her children. Had she and Antonius played the game of Roman politics with a little more skill, the history of the world would have changed substantially. Roller's greatest contribution in this work is his understanding of Cleopatra as a Hellenistic monarch whose devotion to her kingdom and territorial acqusitions owed as much to Alexander's vision of a unified world as to her personal pride and ambition. He has done a credible job of mining the limited, suspect, and often blatantly biased sources for information about his subject. In the end, Cleopatra as a person remains forever beyond our grasp, but Roller manages to give quite a good portrait of Cleopatra as politician. That she failed in her confrontation with Octavian is less important than that she preserved her rule for such a long time in a world dominated by Rome. Another mother cared for Cleopatra's three younger children after their mother's suicide -- Octavia, the sister of Cleopatra's nemesis, Octavian, who was also the wife of Antonius, the father of Cleopatra's children. Cleopatra failed in implementing her vision of a new world order, but in so doing she influenced the creation of the Roman Empire. Her daughter, Cleopatra Selene, created her own version of an enlightened Hellenistic kingdom while ruling Mauretania with her scholar husband, Juba II. Cleopatra will continue to inspire our imaginations, but we should be grateful to Roller for his careful research that has shown us how little we truly can know about the woman whose coins bore the imposing inscription, "CLEOPATRAE REGINAE REGUM FILIORUM REGUM."

[Gavin O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps my favourite book of 2023, I went into it with only the basic and pop-culture knowledge about Cleopatra VII and came away with nothing less than total admiration for this woman who was a worthy final successor of the Ptolomaic Dynasty and Pharoah of Egypt, perhaps the most able ruler Egypt had seen in over a century and a half. Highly recommended as a must read to anyone interested in women in antiquity or Cleopatra fans in general.

Duane W. Roller had dealt with Cleopatra in their book 'Cleopatra's Daughter' which also dealt with other female rulers of the Julio-Claudian age, for whom Cleopatra VII was the ultimate example. But here her character is given the full light of day, or as much as is possible based on the extant literary sources from antiquity. Roller begins their study with a review of Cleopatra in the pop-culture tradition, highlighting they will only be using those sources closest to her lifetime in order to present as close as possible Cleopatra as she was and not the icon that 21st Century society automatically thinks of, ie. an eastern beauty and despot who lured men to their doom. Indeed, the author highlights that many of the common tropes now associated with Cleopatra were formulated both in her own lifetime and after her death.

Roller provides the reader with a brief overview of the state of the eastern mediterainian world at the time of Cleopatra's birth, the situation of Egypt under her father Ptolomy XII and the legacy which she inherits, that of a divded Egypt, shrinking in the face of an encroaching Roman power. Having inherited the throne with her sibling Ptolomy XIII she is quickly driven into exile, the Civil War causing termoil for Egypt until she is restored by Ceasar, with whom she has a child, Caesarian. After Caesar leaves she gradually assumes full power over Egypt and would retain this until her death in 30BC. After this and the death of Caesar the relationship with Mark Anthony is discussed, as well as her children by him, and her political objectives, until finally her downfall and suicide.


Naturally the full book is more exciting than my very minor summary. But one thing that struck me almost from the beginning, was Cleopatra's sense of duty to Egypt and even more so to the Ptolomaic Dynasty, which also perhaps reflects her relationship with her father with whom she lived most of her life, and likely during his long exiles. Her own daughter Cleopatra Selene would do much the same when establshed as Queen of Mauretainia and attempt to revitalise her mothers memory. As Roller presents it, her sole goal in life was the preservation of that Dynasty and its rule over Egypt as well as its expansion and a return to the glory days of the Ptolomaic Empire.

History has branded Cleopatra as a temptress who led men to their doom, though as Roller points out, this is unfair. She only had two relationships in her life, that we know of, and both of these were calculated, to say nothing of double standards relating to these men. In choosing them she demonstrated an awareness, probably clear in her mind before hand, that Egypts survival would not be won by military means, those days were long gone. Her courting the most powerful Romans of the day were, in her eyes, really the only means at this point for security. Indeed many men also gained favours through close personal relationships with Caesar, Anthony and Octavian.

Historians have frequently belittled her success at reviving breifly the Ptolomaic Empire through the 'Donations of Alexandria', pointing to it more as a sexual exploit than a political or diplomatic coup. But again, this seems unfair compared with civil strife, bloodshed and economic ruin. In once sense the end justifies the means, but also this was a calculated manaeuver and at the time had no reason not to work.

Often characterized as the ultimate female despot, she was actually more concious of her Egyptian subjects than many Ptolomies had been and though continuing to show favour to Greeks this was hardly anything new and in many ways was a neccessity at this point as opposed to a sign of her poor rule. Her extravagance in gifts and parties simply lived up to the Greek and Macedonian ideal of the Basileus and what was expected of a ruler. Again, double standards at play.

Indeed, Cleopatra is very much a tragic character. Her flight from Acteaon is of course one of her most famous moments and no historian has really been able to present a final arguement on why she fled on that day, though this is due to the lack of sources and literary topois of cowardice on her part and Anthonies weakness for her. In the end her bravery is displayed in her willingness to die if it meant her dynasty would continue, even if reduced and her utter refusal to be cowed by Octavian, remarking 'I will not be led in a triumph'. It is remarkable that, for all the bad things the ancients have to say of her, not even the pro-Augustan literary circles could withhold their admiration for this defiant Basilissa who, from the moment of her death, left an undying spirit which still intrigues readers of all ages, cultures, races and genders to this day.

Rollers book is an excellent read and will leavve you looking at the character, deeds and life of Cleopatra in a wholly different manner, one that does honor to the last Queen of Egypt.

[Marta Heidemane]

Kleopatra ir ikona

[Jennifer de Guzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated that Duane W. Roller was committed to using historical sources about Cleopatra, deftly elucidating the point of view and possible prejudices of these sources, and largely ignoring subsequent cultural embellishments of the queen's life and character. He spends a chapter on the possible intellectual and scholarly influences on Cleopatra -- as well as her own influences and accomplishments in these areas -- which is something that other biographies I've read don't address in any great depth. Cleopatra lived in and ruled from the center of scholarly life in the ancient world, after all, and was recognized in her time for her intellectual brilliance.

Roller also places Cleopatra in the context of her position as the most powerful of Roman-friendly monarchs, which include Herod the Great of Judea, as well as Cleopatra's relatives in the Seleucid Empire. Cleopatra was determined to restore the Ptolomaic Empire to its greatest historical boundaries, and she nearly succeeded. Roller paints her as a ruler intensely focused not just on her personal legacy but on maintaining the power of her lineage to safely pass her kingdom on to her children. The deaths of her sons after her suicide, so matter-of-factly reported by Roller are nevertheless infused in the text with a sense of tragedy. Roller recognizes Cleopatra as a devoted mother who wanted to ensure her children's futures. (Her role as mother was also politically helpful, he points out, as it strengthened her ties to the Egyptian deities Isis and Hathor.) The continuance of her line, through her daughter Cleopatra Selene, who became queen of Mauritania, is also placed with in this context. (Roller writes unsentimentally about Cleopatra Selene's obvious emulation of her mother, which makes the details he includes all the more touching.) Roller also asserts that Cleopatra's cultural influence on Rome is palpable -- from her style of governance to her style of mausoleum.

The weakness of this biography lies in the somewhat dry writing (there is a weird over-reliance on the transition "yet" that I found distracting, too). And Roller may be committed to those historical sources, but for some reason he never quotes them within the text of the book. He has some in the appendices, but I found some of his choices strange. For example, he writes that Cicero intensely disliked Queen Cleopatra. But why? And how does he know? I know that there exists a letter in which Cicero writes to a friend, "How I hate the queen!" but Roller does not quote from it or even mention it. It is not sensational to include this -- it is simply good scholarship and writing to quote a strong primary source document.

In fact, it seems that Roller assumes that his reader is familiar with the relevant primary sources -- he does not quote from Plutarch, but the way he writes about Plutarch indicates that he anticipates that his reader knows the passages and works he refers to. He also assumes that the reader has knowledge of the history, culture, and politics of Cleopatra's time. None of this is unreasonable, but I mention it to point out that this is not a really a biography to begin in learning about Cleopatra.

Still, this is a strong biography with a point of view that adds to the library of strong biographies of Cleopatra.

[Elevate Difference · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cleopatra is a cipher, an enigmatic and historically remote figure reimagined until she has become, for much of the world and for much of modern history, the apotheosis of desire, representative of the potency of feminine allure. As with the search for the historical Jesus, separating the real figure from the myth is complicated not only by our fascination with all the artistic interventions and the millennia of (mis)representation but also by the paucity of hard evidence. The slender record that remains is complicated by the bias of her contemporary observers (mostly suspicious and resentful Romans) and the tangle of political agendas that surrounded her reign.

Distinguishing reality from the myth is Duane Roller’s project in his new biography of Cleopatra. He marshals the modest amount of fairly reliable biographical information, supplemented by a helpful sketch of the political and social world of Ptolemaic Egypt in the first century BCE. But was Cleopatra, well, Cleopatra?

Sources disagree about her physical attractiveness, although it seems likely that she was relatively short. The book offers an array of physical images from statuary and contemporary coinage, but there is little commonality among the images, so her actual appearance remains mysterious. The record of her ascent to the throne and involvement in Roman politics would seem to confirm her reputation as ruthless and Machiavellian, although her supposed suicide by snakebite is almost certainly fictional, as Joyce Tyldesley, who covers much of the same ground in her new book Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt, has convincingly demonstrated.

Readers hoping to find some account of the controversy over Cleopatra’s racial identity, that has been such an exciting and often public part of contemporary academic discussion, will be disappointed. Further, Roller’s diction seems dated (“the marriage produced no issue” and his use of B.C., for example). What would solidly justify this project is a “new” Cleopatra, one firmly rooted in newly discovered or reinterpreted documentary evidence and grounded in the historical context in which she moved. The same constraint that excludes the mythic elements from this study also seems to prevent a newly and sharply imagined Cleopatra from emerging here.

The closest the author comes to a revisionary portrait is in his account of Cleopatra’s public oratory, and particularly in her apparent authorship of treatises on stunningly banal subjects such as treating dandruff or curing baldness. In 'The Cosmetics,' a collection of writing attributed to her, we see a leader not exclusively concerned with war and geopolitics, but also with the everyday welfare of her people.

Roller’s approach can tell us the types of boats that sailed on the Kydnos River and the apparel Egyptian queens would have worn. But it misses the spiritual force of that figure still resplendent and still threatening two millennia later.

Review by Rick Taylor

[Ricardo Rodríguez Martín · Rating 5 out of 5]

Con diferencia, la mejor biografía que he leído de Cleopatra VII. Tiene un maravilloso manejo de las fuentes, tanto escritas, como epigráficas y numismáticas. Super super recomendable.

[Arnab Das · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duane W. Roller and Mark Ashby are both esteemed scholars of Classics, with Roller being an Emeritus Professor of Classics at Ohio State University and Ashby an Associate Professor of Classics at Stanford University.

Their book, Cleopatra: A Biography, is an exhaustive examination of the life and legacy of one of the most renowned women in history.

Summary of Chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction - This chapter provides an overview of the historical context of Cleopatra's reign and the difficulties of reconstructing her life from the limited and often biased sources that have survived.

Chapter 2: The Ptolemies - This chapter examines the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt during Cleopatra's lifetime and the influence of their Greek heritage on their rule.

Chapter 3: Cleopatra's Early Life - This chapter delves into Cleopatra's upbringing and her early years as a member of the Ptolemaic court.

Chapter 4: The Assassination of Julius Caesar - This chapter discusses the events that led to Julius Caesar's assassination and Cleopatra's role in the aftermath.

Chapter 5: Cleopatra and Mark Antony - This chapter investigates Cleopatra's relationship with Mark Antony and their joint rule over the eastern Mediterranean.

Chapter 6: The Battle of Actium - This chapter examines the events that led up to the Battle of Actium and Cleopatra's role in the defeat of Mark Antony.

Chapter 7: Cleopatra's Death and Legacy - This chapter examines the circumstances of Cleopatra's death and the impact of her reign on subsequent generations.

Chapter 8: Cleopatra in Literature and Culture - This chapter explores the various depictions of Cleopatra in literature and popular culture and the ways in which these depictions have shaped her reputation over time.

Chapter 9: Conclusion - This chapter summarizes the key themes and arguments of the book.

Overall, Cleopatra: A Biography is a comprehensive and nuanced study of the life of one of history's most renowned women. The authors, Duane W. Roller and Mark Ashby, offer a vivid and intricate portrayal of Cleopatra through their meticulous analysis of historical sources and thoughtful consideration of cultural representations of her. Their captivating depiction of this fascinating figure continues to capture the imagination of the public even two millennia after her death.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this while researching a final paper for a college course.
This biography of Cleopatra was an interesting, in-depth look into the life of one of Egypt's most famous leaders. The information was presented in an easy-to-understand was and was incredibly useful for my research.
This book takes a fascinating historical leader and shines a light on her life in a way I have yet to see in other pieces about Cleopatra.
I would highly recommend that anyone who is interested in Cleopatra or Egyptian history, reads this book.

[yaiza · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a biography of Cleopatra but an account of what Men were doing while she was alive. I understand there's not much source material to work with, but if I had wanted to read a history book about the Ptolemaic Troupe, Uncle Jules, Daddy Anthony and Cousin August, I would have done so.

[Jonne]

Very nice historical view

[emma! · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5; i mean it wasn’t bad but i’m never gonna read it again b/c it was assigned for class

[Eleanor Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good at sticking to the historical evidence rather than the bs the media portrays about her

[Kaylie Langtry · Rating 5 out of 5]

“She did not approach Caesar wrapped in a carpet, she was not a seductress, she did not use her charm to persuade the men in her life to lose their judgement, and she did not die by the bite of an asp…Yet other important elements of her career have been bypassed in the post-antique recension: she was a Skilled naval commander, a published medical authority, and an expert royal administrator who was met with adulation throughout the eastern Mediterranean, perhaps seen by some as a messianic figure, the hope for a future Eastern Mediterranean free of Roman domination.”
― Duane W. Roller, Cleopatra: A Biography

I did skim through this book as it was gifted to me and history books can sometimes lose my attention (only because I read long non-fiction texts like this for grad school everyday and use reading as an escape). However, this book opened my eyes to how amazing Cleopatra was and how she did a lot of what men couldn't do. The media represents her as a women of beauty who was also a seductress, but it is unfair to label her just as that - she was a force to be reckon with. <3

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am quickly becoming addicted to this series of biographies about ancient women. Some of them describe women who often overlooked by scholars of antiquity, but this one is clearly not that kind of book. Most of what we think we know about Cleopatra from antiquity is shrouded in myth and skewed by Roman propaganda and the seemingly omnipresent sexism that arises any time a woman has power. Roller aims to cut through the myths and give Cleopatra a fair viewing. This biography avoids unjustified speculation or overly dramatic story telling. There may be more interesting biographies of Cleopatra out there, but they aren't better.

The picture of Cleopatra that emerges is a pragmatic, powerful ruler who also happened to be a woman. Cleopatra had 4 children from three pregnancies, and while most historians have focused on the potential paternity of her progeny, Roller points out that it must have taken careful planning in order to maintain a stable rule and bring these pregnancies to fruition. This is all the more impressive given how unstable things were all over the Mediterranean at this time.

As with many of the other biographies in this series, this book spends a lot of time describing the world that Cleopatra lived in. The book paints a picture of a crumbling Ptolemaic empire, a Roman republic in constant upheaval, and the rise and fall of small warlords in the Levant. It was a wild time, and Cleopatra's consistent presence at the forefront of events is enough to prove that she was a canny leader. The book offers pictures of other important figures from the period, including Ptolemy XII, Caesar, Marc Antony, Octavian/Augustus, and Herod "the Great," and Cleopatra's daughter, Cleopatra Selene. After reading this book, I am eager to dig into Roller's other books about Juba and Herod.

Roller is careful to scrutinize what his sources say abut Cleopatra and about events in general, because the victors wrote the histories, and those victors had a vested interest in blackening the picture of Cleopatra. Still, sometimes he seems to accept a fact that is hard to believe or hard to trust, such as Antony moping for 3 days on the prow of Cleopatra's ship after their escape from Actium. I found myself wanting Roller to explain the historiography and his choices a bit more. There is an appendix with selections from a few sources, but an overview of the sources and their reliability would have been welcome. But I am probably in the minority in wanting this. If you are looking for a concise, balanced biography of this famous queen, this is your book.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ptolemaic era of Egyptian history is one that usually holds little interest for me, and I've never really had much of an interest at all in Cleopatra, but I am very glad I checked this book out on a whim.

In the authors introduction he describes how hard it is to write about or even really know about Cleopatra since so much that we think if as "facts" about her are based on the writings of her enemies, who of course vilified and marginalized her for their own purposes, and the pop culture legend that has risen about her based on those writings.
Beyond that, very little was ever written about her directly as women were very rarely considered important enough to write about, even if they were influencing and shaping the events around them.

Considering the limited sources available, the author does a very credible job of bringing Cleopatra, the events and the world around her to life, and the author is very upfront and direct about the parts of the book where he has had to make assumptions or inferences about a moment in history based on what is known in other cases to fill in the blanks due to the lack of historical coverage on her life.

I wish more was honestly documented on Cleopatra as she seems like a fascinating and strong leader who did the best for her country (and her own rule) that she could, she just had the misfortune of becoming its leader at the time that Rome was starting to spread its influence and control of the world around it. And it was very interesting to see the ascendancy of Rome from a different perspective, from how it influenced, created and even destroyed other cultures and dynasties based on the needs of whoever was in charge at the time.

As stated above this has been a time period that never really interested me much, but after reading this book I think I will track down other sources, though I think I'll try to stick to the ones that deal with the other cultures of the time, not just Rome.

[Bob Finch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent look at a fascinating historical figure. The author has done a great job of sorting through myth and fact, a difficult task, as the former seems so much more abundant. He has also done so succinctly and in eminently readable fashion.

Few names in history evoke recognition the way Cleopatra does, and yet, so much of what we have come to "know" is based on dubious sources (most recently popular movie depictions, never a reasonable source for historical accuracy anyway). Prof. Roller eschews most modern treatments (though with the occasional nod), but must still sort through a plethora of Roman propaganda written during and well after Cleopatra's reign. It is remarkable to me how few contemporary Egyptian sources seems to have been available, many of those being fragmentary stella, temple carvings, and coinage; none of these contain narrative histories.

Like most propaganda, there are kernels of truth, which Roller does a nice job of trying to sort out and separate from the more obvious lies. And he does so with clarity by explaining his reasoning in coming to many of his conclusions. In the end, the reader is left with some doubts and maybe a little confusion. But that is certainly not Roller's fault, as there seems little hope of ever knowing many intriguing details of and surrounding Cleopatra's life with certainty.

Some readers might find the scholarly style a bit dry, and may be frustrated with leaving so many questions unanswered, or at least uncertain. Such readers might prefer a more compelling narrative with uncertainties either glossed over or ignored. I am not in that camp. I really appreciate Roller's honest approach. Cleopatra comes off as a believable ruler with certain clear motives - primarily to maintain her dynasty, at which, in the end, she failed. But her impact on history is unmistakable and indelible (though doubtfully as she would have wished).

[Bonnie_blu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forget everything you think you know about Cleopatra. She was not an evil seductress who led men to their destruction. As Roller makes clear, Cleopatra's reputation in the centuries after her death was formed first by Augustus who sought to vilify her for his own political goals, and then by Shakespeare and Hollywood, both of which took their cues from Augustus. Cleopatra was a brilliant, extremely well educated, talented ruler who wanted to preserve Egypt as an independent kingdom. She first allied with Julius Caesar and then Marcus Antonius in an effort to keep Rome from conquering Egypt. And as for the sex, well that was (and in some cases still is) the norm for cementing an alliance by producing an heir. For anyone who wishes to pierce the layers of propaganda about Cleopatra and see the woman, I highly recommend this book. BTW, I would have liked to give the book four and a half stars if Good Reads allowed it.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the best and most fascinating books written about cleopatra (in my opinion). the book paints cleopatra as she is and dispels much of the myth and fantasy surrounding the last great ruler of egypt. The narrative sucks you in until you are fully intrigued and confused by the twisted branches that make up the ptolemy. We start with such a great account of the birth of this dynasty...from the death of alexander the great himself. (im a total history nerd). What i loved about this book is that it is so matter-of-fact about cleopatra's extreme intelligence in places where history has painted her as a ruler able to succeed based on sexual cunning alone. This book was also great because it extends in the fall of the greek empire and the rise of the roman empire...better explaining why egypt was so indebted to rome.
loved it. def recommend it to anyone interested in knowing more about cleo and the insertion of the ptolemy family in egypt.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the reviews of this book that said it was accessible to lay people etc were misguided. This is a very scholarly work (albeit short) and many in my bookclub did not find it at all accessible. Nevertheless, we did have a great discussion about it precisely because Roller does explode many myths about Cleopatra. I learned a LOT from reading this. Before the meeting, I would have given it two stars. I had about 20 pages to go when I went to the discussion and I have to say I read those afterwards with deepened interest. The new popular book about her is getting great press but this one is the real deal in terms of scholarship.

[Leigh-ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's not a lot of "book" to this title. It's 251 pages, but the body ends on page 156. The remaining third is comprised of footnotes, additional indexes, and short articles on topics like "Cleopatra in literature", "Cleopatra on currency", etc. It's unfortunate that ancient historians didn't pay much attention to the roles of women (even important ones) so there isn't much information to draw from, and Cleopatra doesn't come across as having much of a specific personality. I think the book could have benefited from having colour photos, and seeing as it was just published in April 2010, I'm surprised it didn't feature any images from the excavations at Alexandria.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es una biografía completa que se centra objetivamente en el estudio de la vida y muerte de quién ha sido una de las reinas más emblemáticas y sublimes de la historia. El autor plantea, sin ser tedioso, la historia de la reina y de sus antepasados Tolemaicos, entrelazando los hechos de forma magistral hasta llevar al lector a la muerte de Cleopatra y en el camino desmiente algunos bulos que se han creado sobre la reina debido a la propaganda de la República y posteriormente del Imperio romano. Solo queda por decir que no hubo ni habrá una mujer y soberana similar a Cleopatra VII

[Dido · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pesar de lo escaso de las fuentes, la machacona publicidad augústea para desprestigiar a la reina egipcia, y al romanticismo y a la multitud de mitos posteriores derivados del cine y del arte que nos han atravesado, el autor hace un grandísimo trabajo de crítica textual y reconstrucción, no solo de la vida de Cleopatra -poniéndola en todo momento en el centro de la acción- sino también del contexto general precedente lejano e inmediatamente anterior.

¿Qué cabría espera sino de un trabajo amadrinado y promovido por la grandísima Pomeroy?
Creo que lo que más me ha llamado la atención ha sido el tomar consciencia realmente de que todas y cada una de sus decisiones, así como las de César y Antonio, estaban guiadas por la geopolítica. Todas. Eran auténticos animales políticos que ponían huevos en todas las cestas (¿verdad Pompeyo?). No por nada dominaron el panorama político contemporáneo.

Además, el contexto tolemaico egipcio y de otros territorios levantinos resulta muy útil para comprender que todos esos “grandes enemigos de Roma” no fueron más que una extensión de aquella. Es decir, Cleopatra era egipcia (griega culturalmente), pero no era ajena a Roma, ni exótica, ni desconocida en la época. Ella misma tenía la ciudadanía y sus ancestros habían mantenido estrechas relaciones de dependencia con la urbe. A veces tendemos a ver los acontecimientos y personalidades separadas unas de otras y a invisibilizar las conexiones, y esos árboles no nos dejan ver el bosque.
Cleopatra, retirados todos los sesgos, aparece pues como una auténtica estratega muy formada que no daba puntada sin hilo, y cuya ambición última fue devolver a su reino a sus máximas extensión y gloria, a cualquier precio; pero que al mismo tiempo fue maternal y protectora de sus hijos. Lo que me queda claro después de leer el libro es que no escogió a César por su increíble talento literario, ni a Antonio por su genio militar.

“Con el establecimiento de aquel vínculo con Antonio, Cleopatra seguía la misma pauta de comportamiento que había guiado sus pasos con César, es decir, se alió con el romano más prominente del momento, algo que los tolomeos llevaban haciendo desde hacía más de un siglo”, p. 86.

En cualquier caso, el impacto de Cleopatra sobrepasó con mucho el de sus contemporáneos (incluido el del malnacido de Augusto), perpetuándose el culto de Cleopatra “hasta, como mínimo, el 373 d.C” (p. 183). Es una pena que esos detalles no se nos hayan transmitido tanto como otros mitos falsos tales como la famosa serpiente. Como bien dice Duane,

“Cleopatra constituyó una fuerza que ni siquiera la muerte consiguió sofocar” (p. 189)

[Francisco Javier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro tiene una cosa muy buena y otra muy mala. La buena es que es un intento brillante de elaborar una biografía de la reina egipcia sin caer en los numerosos tópicos que ya existen desde los romanos. La mala es que, en la práctica, para algunas etapas de la vida de Cleopatra VII se ha tenido que depender del punto de vista romano.

No obstante los aspectos positivos predominan sin duda sobre los negativos. Un libro de lectura obligatoria para todo aquel que quiere conocer a la auténtica Cleopatra, y no a la femme fatale manipuladora, egoísta y hambrienta de sexo del cine.

[Annalesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book on Cleopatra. It's difficult to escape the fictionalized image of her as an evil seductress that was created by her enemies before and after her defeat. I've even watched documentaries that uncritically supported that version of Cleopatra. But this book deals with the facts - scarce as they may be at times - to paint a very realistic portrait of a queen trying to hold onto her dying kingdom against a growing empire.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cleopatra is such an intriguing figure! This book covers much of the Ptolemaic dynasty at least briefly, but focuses on her life and eventual reign as queen of Egypt. Lots of information, well sourced (not that I've researched other material, but the author included a great deal of source material) and very concise.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s difficult to rate a book such as this, read for facts, not anything literarily original or brilliant. Lots of insightful information, possibly not fact, but that complimented a stack of detail I didn’t already know.
Gotta love history, especially ancient history.