Cleopatra the Great: The Woman Behind the Legend

by Joann Fletcher

“Joann Fletcher has the good grace and specialist knowledge to do away with Roman romances. This book’s bedrock is Egyptology. . . . Cleopatra was, indeed, not just a ‘baleful beauty;’ she was great.” — History Today   World-renowned Egyptologist Joann Fletcher offers an extraordinary look at one of Egypt's most intriguing leaders—the legendary Cleopatra. In the tradition of biographies by Stacy Shiff, Duane Roller, and Adrian Goldsworthy, and drawing on astonishing new evidence about Cleopatra’s life—including tax records, personal correspondence, and the discovery of her palace quarters beneath the Mediterranean Sea—Fletcher presents Cleopatra’s life in glorious detail, revealing the woman behind the myths.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Egypt, Ancient History, Africa, Roman History

464 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 2008

About the author

Dr. Joann Fletcher is Honorary Research Fellow at York University and consultant Egyptology at Harrogate Museums and Arts. She specializes in the history of mummification and has studied mummies on site in Egypt, Yemen and South America as well as in museum collections around the world. Recently she led groundbreaking work in Egypt's Valley of the Kings to re-examine three royal mummies, one of which may be that of Nefertiti - news that has attracted international coverage.
She has made nuerous appearances on television as well as radio, and writes for both The Guardian newspaper and the BBC's History Online website. Her publications include Egypt's Sun King: Amenhotep III, The Egyptian Book of Living and Dying and The Oils and Perfumes of Ancient Egypt, and she has contributed sections in several major guide books to Egypt.

























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Reviews

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started reading this and then was struck by a sense of familiarity. I checked and found that, sure enough, I've partly read another book by Fletcher. Widely criticised for her sensational claims about Nefertiti, and to my mind horribly self-aggrandising -- if I pick up a book about Nefertiti, I want to learn about her, not about Joann Fletcher. And I find it somewhat suspicious that Fletcher supports theories that most other accounts dismiss as unlikely or even ridiculous, and that her wild claims actually caused her to be banned from Egypt. My impression has been that Joann Fletcher is far more interested in Joann Fletcher than in Nefertiti, or Cleopatra, or even Egypt as a whole.

This might be unfair, but I found Fletcher presumptuous in what I read of this book. I don't know how anyone can claim to know Cleopatra's thoughts and feelings so exactly based on archaeology and research, and Fletcher's introduction emphasising the relative dearth of Cleopatra research gave me a sinking feeling too -- I'm sure she said as much in The Search for Nefertiti, too.

Not gonna risk more time with this. I have another biography of Cleopatra to read, and countless other things. i do think, though, that Fletcher would definitely be convincing enough in style and tone to write a novel about Cleopatra...

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book embarks on a project of drawing a real portrait of the life and times Cleopatra, sifting out a true picture, from the Roman propaganda Shakespearean fantasy.

Because Cleopatra restored Egypt to it's former glory by building an empire to Rome's detriment, her achievements were written out of history by the Roman propagandists, with most of the documentary evidence deliberately destroyed.

The author reveals the great impact and influence of Cleopatra, and traces her descent from Alexander the Great. Cleopatra was of Macedonian decent.
We also learn of Cleopatra's great intellectual acumen and her great knowledge of science and medicine.
The author gives us a detailed picture of religion, medicine, clothes, food and religion in Egypt and the Mediterranean at this time.
The author disproves some of the popularly believed legends disseminated in popular belief through false Roman accounts.
The author also gives evidence that Cleopatra unveiled herself before Caesar, rather than being unrolled in a carpet.
The book examines Cleopatra's influence on Caesar, and much of it involves Caesar's assassination and the civil wars that followed it.
We read of how Antonius gave vast swathes of land in the Levant to Cleopatra, and how her relationship with Antonius helped her to build a revived Egyptian Empire.
I learned from this book that the Idumean Arab king of Judea Herod was incensed by the friendship of Cleopatra with the Alexandra, the mother of Herod's Jewish Queen, and had planned to have Cleopatra assasinated, but abandoned those plans
We learn that while Cleopatra was often quite ruthless, Octavian had given her the chance of keeping her throne if she had Marcus Antonius killed.
I am not convinced by the author's claim that Cleopatra did not kill herself by holding an asp to her arm or breast, and that she rather had the poison extracted and injected with a pin.
I believe she did indeed hold an asp to her body.
Finally the book traces the aftermath of Cleopatra's death and the fate of her children including Cleopatra Selene who became Queen to Numidia's king Juba II of Numidia.
I found this book an intriguing and informative read into the life and times of this great ruler.

[Andres · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read a few books about Cleopatra already but this was the very first one. It does an incredibly thorough job of detailing Cleopatra: her life, her death, and everything in between.

In the first two whirlwind chapters the author catches us up on the complicated 300 year history of Cleopatra’s family, and the region, so that you can better appreciate the political and military goings on that are key to understanding just how important she is when she comes into power. For the remaining ten chapters her story is told in chronological order with any necessary background information about people or places supplied when needed.

Fascinating but sometimes overwhelming are the very detailed descriptions of religious rites, dinner tables, the various gods and goddesses that are worshipped, perfumes, and much much more. The book does fine when it’s on a narrative streak but the frequent lapse into dense descriptive passages sometimes slows down the pace. Also, while I understand a lot really can’t be known about exactly what Cleopatra did, the text is sometimes blurry between what is being told as straight fact or (enormously) educated guess. After all is said and done, though, you will have a very thorough understanding of Cleopatra’s world. Those descriptions are worth it. As well, it seems that everything mentioned in the text has the source cited in the notes, which lends a great deal of credibility to everything.

I recommend this for the patient and interested reader.

Details of the book:
341 pages of text - 37 lines of text per page
74 pages notes
26 pages of bibliography
10 pages of index
2 maps
8 pages of color photos

[Nina Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a very good biography with an incredible amount of detail and history (300 years worth before getting to Cleopatra), with complicated politics and relations worth reading about. Some of the lengthy descriptions of palaces became tedious, including one whole chapter describing Cleopatra
and Julius Ceasar's site seeing along the Nile river, which however did sound incredibly beautiful.
It wasn't a particularly "easy" read, in that some of the elements took me more than once over a paragraph to fully absorb, but I liked it and would recommend it for anyone very interested in that time of history. The author did a wonderful job not only presenting the facts, but also making us aware of what was said to be that wasn't actually confirmed facts, leaving us to our own descernment. I'm glad I read it. What an amazing history our world has.

[Holly]

Although I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it turned out to be more a history of Egypt than Cleopatra. The author, clearly knowledgeable and passionate on her subject, tried to introduce the book as proof of Cleopatra's leadership and history-changing decisions. As it turned out, I thought that it seemed more like Cleopatra simply made clever marital decisions in order to keep her country from Roman rule, and left all the fighting and political moves to her husbands and their armies. While I have no doubt that she loved Julius Casear and then Marc Anthony, it does seem coincidential to me that she wooed them both, both of whom were rulers or co-rulers of Rome at the time and due to their marriages, they aided Cleopatra in her ruling of it, rather than try to bring it into the Roman Empire, as they undoubtedly would've done had the situation been different, or even if they had been able to manipulate her into allowing them to do so. Similarly, Cleopatra seems to have been better at throwing banquets and celebrations for herself and her family rather than make any political decisions about her country, until the end, when she must make decisions in Marc Antony's absence.



Having said that, I really did enjoy this book. The history of Egypt, their customs and beliefs was fascinating. It was very well written, not seeming to be a history book, but with more of a novelistic flair to it. I would recommend it to someone who wanted to know more about Cleopatra or Ancient Egypt, but I would warn them it doesn't necessarily prove those things it sets itself out to.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While painting a comprehensive picture of Cleopatra's world, the readability of "Cleopatra the Great", is inhibited by the lengthy descriptions of Egyptian temple rites and worship practices. Although the descriptions may inform the understanding of who Cleopatra was as a ruler, they functioned as kind of a sticky web--once you got in, it was hard to get out. Still, this book gives a balanced and interesting the portrait of Cleopatra.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very informative and chock full of information about not just Cleopatra, but also her ancestors going all the way back to Alexander the Great. Nonetheless, it was having all that information chucked at me that made this book a real chore to read. It was really hard to stick with as the author would go on and on about some obscure point before finally getting back on track. Plus, the occasional typo was also rather jarring.

[Louise Leetch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once you've read the Schiff biography, go out and get this book to compare. The Egyptologist, Fletcher, really knows Egypt and gives a slightly different slant to this grossly underrated woman.

[Guille Puerto · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the one hand, the author uses Cleopatra's life to explore many details of life in the first century BCE Mediterranean. On the other, Cleopatra's life is an excuse to talk about Caesar, Mark Anthony (refered as Antonius the whole time which I don't know felt elitist somehow).
I wish more things could be said with certainty about her life and her personality, but the analysis and speculation based on current research is still an amazing read.

[False · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started off wanting to really like this book, but in the end, I didn't. If you think about it, how much can truly be known about Cleopatra. Yes, you will get some reporting from the Romans (who hated her,) but so much is just not known due to the antiquity of the subject. What I truly loathed about this book was describing Cleopatra's life in more modern terms...and by "life," I mean the way she would have been dressed on a specific occasion, or her makeup, or what she ate. Speculation based on generalities at best. I'll give you an example. The author was describing a feast (one of many described,) and so many of the dishes were alien to whatever we would eat now--some emu stuffed with 30 squab, the Egyptian equivalent of turducken. One dish mentioned was celery in raisin sauce, and I thought, "Now wouldn't it be a nice aside if she described how that dish was actually made?" Even as a footnote?

So....I googled it. Sure enough, there is a website (at the time of this writing) called Nemeton: Home of Ancient Recipes, and they had a recipe for Celery in Raisin sauce--not only the way it would have been made "then," but how you would make it "now." They even cite the source they got the information from: "Original recipe from Lucius Moderatus Columnella (4CE to circa 40 CE) was a Roman writer on agriculture who after a career in the army (as a tribune in Syria,) was noted for his 12-volume "de Re Rustica," (On Agriculture) which has been completely preserved."

Here is the updated version of the recipe:

1 head of celery
100 g raisins
660 ml red wine vinegar
60 ml sapa (or defritum)
2 tsp dried onion flakes
1 tsp spelt flour (spelt is a forerunner of modern wheat flour. An equivalent would be half wheat and half ground almonds)
sea salt to taste

Soak the raisins in a combination of sapa and vinegar for at least an hour, until they plump up. Meanwhile roughly chop the celery, put in a steamer and steam until tender. Drain and pour into a blender. Add the raisins and soaking liquids, blend and serve.

Now. WHEN did Cleopatra eat this dish exactly? Who knows. For all we know she loathed raisins.

[Purvika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book caught my attention when I saw it in the hands of one of my father's colleague. As, ancient world fascinates me I asked to read this book with the hopes of knowing all that was claimed. But rather it was more like a college text book. No doubt it was thoroughly researched but I somehow felt, the research was more done on what she may have worn etc. Though I wanted an insight in her living style but too much of everything spoils the fun. Also, she isn't introduced until the one-third of the book which is wholly dedicated to her ancestors. The writing was very descriptive but not imaginative as I couldn't picture the ancient Egypt that I wanted to from the words that were written.... But nevertheless it was an okay read for me.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always loved Cleopatra, and since my English Teacher is 'encouraging' us to read non-fiction, this seemed like a good place to start.

This was a facinating look at Egypt's last and most famous Pharaoh (Who was actually Greek, and most likely a red-head). She was undeniably brilliant (she spoke more than 10 languages fluently, and mastered math in her early teens), and, what's more, a woman and a mother of great moralistic-ness (is that a word?)

**Cleopatra the Great: The Woman Behind the Legend, rated ages 13+ (it gets a bit complex, and there are slight mentions of sex), rated an even 4/5 stars.

[Jessica at Book Sake · Rating 3 out of 5]

The biography of Cleopatra was a very historical look at one of history's most famous queens. The book was very difficult to get started as it read like a history textbook on the subject. The author took several chapters to go over Cleopatra's ancestors and then you began to read about the queen. Overall this would be a great resource for a historian, or someone doing a research paper on Cleopatra, however it isn't an enjoyable casual read.

Reviewed by Gabi for Book Sake. http://booksake.blogspot.com

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough biography of Cleopatra. I liked the detail about Egyptian and Roman life. With all the Ptolomies having similar names, she did a good job of keeping the family history relatively clear. Her analysis of the political climate of the Roman empire and Egypt's relative position was excellent.

I read this in e-book format. I really wanted some pictures of things, I don't know if the paper version has pictures.

[Elia Princess of Starfall · Rating 3 out of 5]

(

Cleopatra
The Woman behind the Myth
Author:
Joann Fletcher
An Egyptologist that focuses on the Queens of Ancient Egypt

There are many, many biographies of the infamous ‘Queen of the Nile’ Cleopatra Thea Philopater VII, infamous for being the last Pharaoh of ancient Egypt and for having two scandalous love affairs with two of the most powerful roman generals and Triumvirs of the age, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Her life and legacies are legendary and have been passed down through the centuries often through hostile and propagandist historical sources. As Shakespeare says in his play Antony and Cleopatra, “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety…” and this has been true throughout history as Cleopatra still looms large and provocatively in both the historical record and in popular culture. So, shouldn’t such a fascinating and intriguing Queen have a biography that mirrors her in this manner?

Well, its bit more complicated then that when it comes to the work of Egyptologist Joann Fletcher and her own biography of the infamous Cleopatra.

Fletcher’s bio on Cleopatra VII has its pros and cons. It is a detailed, informative and at times highly interesting read but at other stages it is a dense, passively written and dull tome that goes off an information tangent unconnected to the story of Cleopatra. It follows the life and legacies of Cleopatra along with an introductory chapter on Alexander the Great and the reign of Cleopatra's bloodthirsty and diabolical family, the Ptolemies which I found to be the best written and interesting section of the book. There are six sections roughly divided on different parts of Cleopatra and her life from her early reign, her relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, her governance of Egypt as sole Queen and finally her death. It follows a chronological layout, with an extensive bibliography although my copy of Fletcher's bio lacked footnotes in the main text (there was a footnote section at the back which makes me wonder if my copy simply lacked notes in the main texts as the result of the publishing mistake).

Would I recommend this bio on Cleopatra? Yes and No. This book is flawed from certain biographical and historical perspectives, it is informative and accessible with interesting historical info from the author but this is diluted by the going down certain strange and non-historical routes or tangents that aren’t directly connected to Cleopatra. There is an overemphasis on how Cleopatra felt and what she believed which detracts from the historical objectivity of the book. This is situation can lead to the book becoming boring, long-winded and difficult to follow.
All in all, this is an alright bio on Cleo that follow her from birth to death that should only be read by those with some background info on her or those already deeply interested in her life and story. The general public might find the random tangents a bit off putting. Honestly. I would give it five out of ten. It has some good points but overall, its flaws really drag it down.

[Snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m giving this biography of Cleopatra 2.5 starts rounding up to 3. I understand that the author wanted to show Cleopatra in a more favorable light than has historically been the case. And I think the author did achieve that by showing cleopatra to be intelligent, intuitive, theatrical when needed, and above all, focused on strengthening Egypt’s positioning and land holding on the “global” stage.

While this was a positive recounting of Cleopatra’s life, it was too bogged down with the never ending temple descriptions, including all of the rituals observed by that temple. There was also too much conjecture about things Cleopatra “may” have done rather than focusing on what is known.

The cumbersome descriptions weren’t limited to temples. Lists of names seemed endless. Clothing descriptions took up multiple pages. Even actual events that are confirmed to have occurred were wordy.

I did appreciate the author’s ability to provide relative historic details and information alongside the information about Cleopatra. I would have enjoyed reading this book if it had focused more on Cleopatra, rather than Cleopatra and everyone she may have been related to or had an affair with.

I picked this up in the “Under $5” section of Apple Books, so I feel this book provided value for the $1.99 I paid. I’m torn as to whether to recommend this one - part of me appreciated the positive lens through which Cleopatra’s life and actions were examined; - but part of me doesn’t want to subject anyone to the monotony of slogging through all of the unrelated and onerous details to get to the actual biography.

[Patrick Wikstrom · Rating 2 out of 5]

A considerably more interesting Egyptian ruler than I had previously known. While much of the mythology about her revolves around her relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony she appears to have been much more than a seductress. From the beginning of the introduction the author lets us know that much isn’t really known about Cleopatra but this doesn’t stop Ms. Fletcher from serving up endless pages of conjecture about her goings and comings. I found myself scanning down many pages until I got to some new definite historical event rather than the endless “she might have said this” or “might have journeyed there” Even the often told story of her death by snake bite is just speculation and the author proposes that she may have used cobra venom delivered by a pin used to hold her hair in place. But then again a book of educated guesses can still be worth reading if well written and this one was done fairly well. 2½**

[Kasey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleopatra is by far one of my favorite historical figures in history. She is often portrayed on a shallow surface as the woman who seduced Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and really not much else to her character. True, she was known for her seduction abilities, but there is so much more to (dare say) one of the first feminists. She spoke seven languages, learned Egyptain when all of her previous ancestors didn't care to, and she truly cared for her country and providing the most that she could. Yes, I am an admirer of the woman, that is a given. This book explains quite a bit about her childhood up to her end days with Mark Antony. Overall a good read and really gives someone an eye opening view to why she did what she did for her children and her country.

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating!
Most of us are familiar with the histories between Cleopatra and: Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.
Dr. Joann Fletcher, University of York honorary research fellow, teacher of Egyptian funerary archaeology and mummifcation, offers us the intense biography of Cleopatra VII - Pharoah/ King (Queen) of Egypt, as she attempts to recapture the vast land and sea territory previously amassed by her relative Alexander (the Great).
although packed with names and dates, the book is surprisingly readable.
An expansive depiction of a remarkably strong ancient ruler!

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A hard to read “biography.” There were a few typos which were somewhat confusing particularly one concerning a date (556 BC instead of 56 BC). So much detail on what I would classify as boring minutia but I suppose her professorial approach would be better suited for a text book. A few interesting fact were revealed some of them were hard to follow due her choice of using multiple names of places and people.

[Ivan Koma · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Cleopatra could do this could do that" - motto of this book.
The book is incredibly drawn out with detailed descriptions of temples, clothing, etc. (tedious descriptions could have saved the pictures, but unfortunately they are not). Most of all, I did not like the overly stretching of the book - apparently the more pages in the book, the more expensive it is, right?

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

An authoritative, detailed, and passionate reexamination of the life and influence of this most famous woman of antiquity, fleshed out with lots of interesting details about religious practices, fashions, and culture.

[Barbara Stoner · Rating 3 out of 5]

CLEOPATRA THE GREAT
Cleopatra the Great , by Dr. Joann Fletcher, is a history of probabilities. Dr. Fletcher weaves the few known facts about Cleopatra with what scholars and archaeologists have been able to discover about the life, habits, and customs of Egyptians in general and Egyptian royalty in particular at the time. And so the book is full of “widespread customs,” “it is likely that"s, and “she no doubt would have”s.

One might at first be put off by these – my own reaction was “so what makes you think she did – but I quickly got over the quibble. What Dr. Fletcher does give us is a picture of Egyptian and Roman life in the first century BCE, and a working idea of how Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and Antony would probably have fitted into the scene.

That scene includes all of the civilized Mediterranean of the time, and gives us tidbits of information such as:

"…face veiling dates back thousands of years … it was a widespread custom amongst elite women from Assyria in the east right through to the Greek colonies of Asia Minor and even in Athens … [to] 'wrap their heads in their himatia such that the garment seems to cover the whole face like a little mask; the eyes alone peep out…'"

Even the idea of “war criminals” is ancient. "On hearing of the terrible massacres which had accompanied his conquests of Gaul and Germany, [Caesar’s opponents in Rome]…demanded he face trial as a war criminal…" Apparently, the objections to such massacres were drowned in the face of the benefits of the conquest itself, something else that might strike a familiar chord.

And in a scenario with which we are all too familiar, "when hard times come, the blame is shifted to foreigners, to outside influences." At times, the wording cuts a little too close to the bone: "It was certainly not lost on the Republicans, who had long blamed anything they didn’t like on the nearest 'non-Roman' source, be it Greek or Egyptian." Republican, in this case, referring to those who insisted on returning to the original idea of the Roman Republic, fearing the “big government” of the Caesarian faction.

And if you still aren’t convinced that they is us, here is an ancient description of drinking protocol at a banquet:

"Three bowls of wine were regarded as the limit for any gathering, since Dionysus himself claimed 'the fourth krater is mine no longer, but belongs to hubris; the fifth to shouting, the sixth to revel, the seventh to black eyes, the eighth to summonses, the ninth to bile and the tenth to madness and people tossing furniture about'."

[Hal · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seemed like a couple of bios on Cleopatra came out around the same time and I had never thought much about reading one even as much as I like biographies. I ran across an article that talked about her and it got my interest so I picked out this particular book. The article that mentioned she was probably a polymath and this prompted me in wanting to know more about her.

The book was OK and certainly covered the specifics surrounding the historical events but not as much about her personality and persona, as much as I was looking for in any event. This could be that not as much is known about her as we might like. I obviously had much to learn because I thought she was Egyptian and I found she was really more of Macedonian origin. No question she was certainly highly intelligent and capable, in a world where lives of even the powerful could be snuffed out in an instant. Egypt comes across to me as an advanced society for this time as women like Cleopatra could rise to positions of power and respect, something that took many centuries for our own culture to come to grips with.

I found it interesting that the author pointed out her much fabled death by asp was probably myth like much in history and religious origin. Her speculation was that Cleopatra was fairly advanced on poisons and chemistry of the time to know what and how to apply want she needed to escape nefarious plans of Octavian. Not a snake bite that fits in more conveniently with the romance of legend.

[Paul Schulzetenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit ponderous in the beginning, with an Egyptian version of so-and-so begat so-and-so begat so-and-so, but this book really gets going when Cleo herself enters the scene. The point of the book is to try to evaluate Cleopatra through the lens of the contemporary sources, and thus try to eliminate the strong anti-Cleopatra bias that many of the later Roman sources have, after Caesar Augustus decided to alter the record to make himself look better. The book succeeds admirably at this.

It is very clearly meticulously researched, with annotations and citations throughout. The approach is also (necessarily) holistic. Because of the paucity of primary sources that are 2000+ years old, there is a healthy dose of extrapolation done, along the lines of "Perhaps Cleopatra's pearl earrings came from this pearl-harvesting region of Europe" or "The image of Cleopatra's regalia is likely presented in this way to recall her Macedonian ancestry." But, the book is very explicit when it makes these assumptions.

This book manages to balance between well-researched and good narrative, and succeeds admirably as an analysis of one of the great rulers.

[Georgianna Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really struggled with this book. For instance, in the electronic version, the first 12% of the book gives us details about Cleopatra's ancestors (and about the last 30%) is all notes and bibliography.

When we finally do get to Cleopatra, there seems to be incredibly detailed information but mostly about what she would have worn, how she did her hair and tons of description about the religious rites and ways in which Cleopatra "might have" adorned herself to personify specific gods. Besides the ridiculous amount of unnecessary and often repetitve description, most of the information is given as hypothetical or as it "may" have happened.

There is a good deal of historical information here, but the book itself reads like a college textbook. I understand that the writer simply doesn't have a ton of source material to work from, but I really don't feel that I learned much at all about the real Cleopatra in the 477 pages of this book.

[Ashleigh Parry · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable and detailed if somewhat meandering account of the life of Cleopatra VII which seeks to redress many of the wrongs done to her name.

Highlights that common fallacy of assuming that cultures distant in time and/or geography are or should be like our own. Fletcher shows this not only through the ways in which modern people have misunderstood the customs of the Ptolemaic dynasty and its individual pharaohs, but also how the Romans genuinely misunderstood. Fletcher also, of course, highlights the many instances of actually malicious Roman propaganda regarding this monarch and how they have been believed down the centuries. In doing so she also highlights how sometimes it is easy to lend an ear to a culture more like our own rather than another and that it is important to understand both the similarities and differences between one's own culture and another. There's an important lesson in that, especially for the times in which we now live.

[Bettie]

Description: Cleopatra the Great tells the story of a turbulent time
and the extraordinary woman at its center. A polymath
monarch, she was also a potent combination of traditionalist
and innovator, astute enough to realize what was necessary
for EgyptΓÇÖs continued prosperity and sufficiently ruthless
to allow nothing to stand in her way. Yet our understanding
of Cleopatra has been obscured by Roman propaganda,
Shakespearean tragedy, and Hollywood glamour. Cleopatra the
Great pieces together the pharaohΓÇÖs ancient world with details
about her massive library and infamous banquets, her
relationships with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, and her
skillful use of fashion and style to further her ambitions and
her mystique. Intelligent and compulsively readable, here is
an unparalleled biography worthy of its subject.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

p. 192: "... the Egyptian association between fish and reproduction is reflected in the words of a girl rising from the waters, inviting her lover to 'see the red fish playing between my fingers'."

p. 193: "... famous Roman delicacies such as dormice in honey or milk-fattened snails served in liquamen, a sauce made from fermented fish entrails. But liquamen was certainly a firm favourite with the Romans, who added it liberally to most savoury dishes and it was a stable of the dining table along with it's more concentrated version, garum."

p. 194: "It was certainly not lost on the Republicans, who had long blamed anything they didn't like on the nearest 'non-Roman' source, be it Greek of Egyptian."

[Gwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a little dry in places, with Fletcher just listing off things that happened in order. But to be fair, it covered so much ground I think that was unavoidable. I've never studied Cleopatra before and I think this was a really good introduction. Lots of interesting details, explanations of symbolism and systems of worship, and good focus on Cleopatra herself and her achievements without being told through the filter of jealous men. (Or women! I really liked the parts where Fletcher compared the interpretations of male and female historians.) Like most histories I think this is pretty biased in one direction, but rather than turning me off the subject, that has made me want to pick up some other books on the subject.