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 history: 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.