Cleopatra

Why are we still interested in Cleopatra? She has that eternally attractive combination of sexual allure, political power – even divine status – and personal wealth. She had by any standards an eventful life and an unforgettable death. She very nearly tipped the balance of power at a crucial moment in had she and Antony succeeded in maintaining their empire in the east, our cultural life might be very different today. In this concise, readable, well-illustrated book, Susan Walker and Sally-Ann Ashton look at the historical Cleopatra, at images of Cleopatra as a Greek queen and as ruler of Egypt, at contemporary perceptions of her and at how we see her today. We see how Roman propaganda depicted her as a threatening woman with non-Roman qualities of excessive behaviour and emotional manipulation, a view that has come down through Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra and forms the basis of our understanding of her over two thousand years later.