Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt

Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt

by JoyceTyldesley (Author)

Synopsis

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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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Edition: Main
Publisher: Profile Books
Published: 24 Jan 2008

ISBN 10: 1861979657
ISBN 13: 9781861979650
Book Overview: 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?

Media Reviews
4 Stars: [A] sympathetic biography... she is able to place Cleopatra securely in Egyptian culture and history. * Mail on Sunday *
Tyldesley's strength has always been her storytelling, and here she is on top form. * Sunday Telegraph *
Joyce Tyldesley's magnificent Cleopatra strips away many of our preconceptions to provide a rich, absorbing picture of a country and its Egyptian queen. * Belfast Telegraph *
(A) lucid summary of the Queen of the Nile's historical context and eternal allure...Over the past few years Tyldesley has established herself as perhaps the foremost popular writer on the rulers of Ancient Egypt... (T)his is a very readable account of the life of Cleopatra VII, and one that goes some way to redress the way in which she is often viewed. It also provides intriguing insights into life and society in the Egypt of the Ptolemies and the position of Egypt in the world-system of its time. * Times Higher Education Supplement *
An engaging new biography... to regard Cleopatra as an Egyptian ruler instead of a male myth and to assess her using scholarly and archaelogical tools is a worthy goal. It seems long overdue. -- Louisa Thomas * Newsweek *
Author Bio
Joyce Tyldesley's books include acclaimed biographies of Rameses the Great, and the Queens Hatchepsut and Nefertiti, and of Egypt: How a Lost Civilization was Rediscovered, which accompanied a major BBC television series. They have been published all over the world. She lives in Bolton, Lancashire.