Sophia C. reviewed on 1/14/2012 + 289 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

Cleopatra: A Life brings this mythical figure back to human proportions, in a good way. Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Stacy Schiff restores this last queen of Egypt from her infamous beauty and sexuality to reveal a powerful, educated, and popular female ruler who presided over the most prosperous realm in the ancient Mediterranean world. Without new sources and two thousand years in the interim, this book isn't a detailed account of what Cleopatra thought, said, or felt, but instead interprets classical sources in a sensible light. Starting with her ascent to the Egyptian throne by dispensing of members of her incestuous, murderous Ptolemaic family, it chronicles her involvement with first Caesar and then Mark Anthony in the context of ruling a dazzlingly sophisticated empire in the unstable last days of the Roman Republic. I learned a lot about the Roman world and the differences between the ancient East and West in this book whose style might be too much dry first century BC history for some. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a serious look at a remarkable woman who lived at dawn of the modern world.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details