Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth

Book Overview

Fabled for her sexual allure and cunning intelligence, Cleopatra VII of Egypt has fascinated generations of admirers and detractors since her tumultuous life ended in suicide in 30 B.C. The last of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691088357
• ISBN13: 9780691088358
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 11.5" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent primary resource on Cleopatra VII

This is THE book that try to find the real Cleopatra VII. It has tons of photographs on historical artificts, either they were real portraits of her, image inspired from her, or artificts long mis-identified the image as her, or the artificts from her time, this book carries the invaluable information that is hard to find them anywhere else. And this book carries scholars essays that analyse and discuss all the aspects about this famous pharaoh. Great refernece book for anyone who wants to find historical, non-fictional information about her.

Cleopatra Comes To Life Again, After 2000 Years

This book, I would say, is the best book I have read, (and that's a lot) on the Ptolemaic Period and Egypt's last and fateful Macedonian Queen, who died for her ambition, and desire to restore her country as major power. She was brave enough to challenge the enslaving and powerful force of Rome, and dreamed of an independant Egyptian Empire. But her attempt to achieve her goal cost her her life, and her country. After her death, the Romans destroyed most representations of her. They overlooked, however, the many exquisite Egyptian-style statues of the queen, however, and instead destroyed what would have been the many classical depictions of her, which are lost to the Romans wrath. But fortunately, the Egyptian art survived the centuries, and with these gorgeous and mysterious representations of the living goddess herself, Susan Walker, with the help of the British Museum, has pieced together an accurate and enthralling portrait of her eventful life. The sections, on subjects such as Alexandria, The Ptolemies, and Cleopatra and Rome, this book contains dozens of well-written and powerful essays on the monarch's life and relationship, and also Egypt at the time. Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of full color images of Egyptian style artwork depicting the queen, and also many statues of the people that influenced her life such as her lovers Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, and her nemesis, the enigma Octavian, later to be Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. I recommend very strongly this book to anyone at all interested in Egyptian, Greek, or Roman history, and art. An unearthly account of the last years of Egyptian power.

Great resource for Cleopatra

If pressed, I'd almost say that this is the single best book on Cleopatra. Granted, there are critical biographies, historical accounts, and all sorts of other sources, but this massive book is unique in that it shows nearly every sculpture, coin, or papyrus that can be tied directly to Egypt's last independent ruler. Its fascinating to finally see how Cleopatra presented herself to her subjects -- in traditional Egyptian style for the local population, in Greek style to the Greco-Roman world at large. It's also sobering to see how little remains of her reign. The Romans went after her Greek-style statues, but since they didn't understand Egyptian art, many works of art in that style survive. Besides the impressive visuals, the book includes important essays on many different parts of Cleopatra's reign, life in Alexandria, and the legends that have swirled around Cleopatra after her death. A good comprehensive look at this famous queen, scholarly and readable. But boy, those visuals...!