A new biography of the Macedonian ruler attempts to debunk many
myths surrounding her legacy.Egyptologist Tyldesley (Egypt: How a
Lost Civilization Was Rediscovered, 2006, etc.) digs deeply into
Cleopatra's life, piecing together a unique portrait of her
successes and failures. In chronological fashion, the author covers
the major historical issues surrounding Cleopatra, but she wisely
avoids lingering too long on well-traveled ground. Tyldesley
examines many of the burning questions that continue to puzzle
historians - Was she black? Did she marry her brother? Was she
beautiful or ugly? - and that have helped create such a beguiling
picture of the queen. Many biographers focus too much on
Cleopatra's reputation as a temptress, but Tyldesley gamely
analyzes her politically astute nature at work against the backdrop
of the bloody, brutal times in which she operated. However, the
author doesn't shy away from discussing the many apocryphal tales
that swirl around the Ptolemaic ruler: the queen smuggling herself
in a roll of linen sheets (or, in more common myth, a carpet) in an
attempt to reach Caesar; the presentation of Pompey's severed and
pickled head to Caesar as a gift, etc. The various stories about
Cleopatra's relationship with Antony are thoroughly dissected, and
Tyldesley supplements these with a neat examination of
Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. The most absorbing passages
concern her relationship with Antony and her subsequent demise,
which are interspersed with (sometimes conflicting) quotations from
fellow historians. Tyldesley also includes a welcome guide to the
individual characters that Cleopatra encountered during the
Ptolemaic period.A satisfying blend of historical fact and strong,
informed opinion about one of history's most captivating figures.
(Kirkus Reviews)
The Romans regarded her as 'fatale monstrum', a female Saddam
Hussein. Pascal said the shape of her nose changed the history of
the world. Shakespeare and Tiepolo (and Elizabeth Taylor) portrayed
her as an icon of tragic beauty. But who was Cleopatra, really?She
was the last ruler of the Macedonian dynasty of Ptolemies who had
ruled Egypt for three centuries. Highly educated (she was the only
one of the Ptolemies to read and speak ancient Egyptian as well as
the court Greek) and very clever (her famous liaisons with Julius
Caesar and Mark Antony were as much to do with politics as the
heart), she steered her kingdom through impossibly taxing internal
problems and against greedy Roman imperialism. Stripping away our
preconceptions, many of them as old as her Roman enemies, Joyce
Tyldesley uses all her skills as an Egyptologist to give us a rich
picture of a country and its Egyptian queen in this magnificent
biography.
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