Cleopatra the Great

“Joann Fletcher has the good grace and specialist knowledge to do away with Roman romances. This book’s bedrock is Egyptology. . . . Cleopatra was indeed not just a ‘baleful beauty;’ she was great.” —History Today Cleopatra the Great tells the story of a turbulent time and the extraordinary woman at its center. Intelligent and compulsively readable this is an unparalleled biography worthy of one of history''s most fascinating leaders: politician mother and goddess the legendary Cleopatra.The subject of myth for more than two millennia Cleopatra has long been obscured by Roman propaganda Shakespearean tragedy and Hollywood glamour. Yet Cleopatra was a woman of passion magnetism and political genius the last and perhaps the greatest Egyptian pharaoh. In Cleopatra the Great world-renowned Egyptologist Joann Fletcher draws on a wealth of newly discovered information and research to reveal this vital woman as she truly was—a polymath monarch; a potent combination of traditionalist and innovator; an astute futurist; and a ruthless opportunist who would let nothing stand in her way.