Cleopatra

Cleopatra

Review by Thomas R. Martin Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra—can there be any more famous names from Greek and Roman antiquity? Not only the events of their lives but even the controversial circumstances of their premature deaths have placed them among history’s most familiar figures. It is no surprise, then, that books about them proliferate. It is a surprise when a new volume brings something novel and worthwhile to the story of one of these much-written-about celebrities of the past. Joyce Tyldesley’s biography of Cleopatra does just that. The special contribution that she makes comes from her knowledge of Egyptology, an invaluable expertise in illuminating Cleopatra’s history. Previous historians who have written about Cleopatra have usually come from the ranks of experts on Greece and Rome because Egyptian history in Cleopatra’s time belongs not to the era of the indigenous pharaohs but to the waning years of the Greco-Macedonian kingdom of the Ptolemies, of whom Cleopatra was the last to rule Egypt before it fell to Octavian, Rome’s first emperor-to-be. As Tyldesley’s subtitle reminds us, however, Cleopatra was a native of Egypt, and, although a Macedonian by descent, embraced the traditional culture of Egypt. Not only was Cleopatra the first Ptolemy to be able to speak Egyptian, she presented herself as the incarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis. Tyldesley’s distinctive scholarly competence allows her to construct a vivid recreation of the social, religious, artistic, and political context of Cleopatra’s Egypt. She is particularly adept at reconstructing ancient Alexandria, Cleopatra’s capital. In her narrative, Tyldesley skillfully intertwines the background of the Egypt of the pyramids and the warrior pharaohs with the foreground of Ptolemaic Egypt following the conquest by Alexander. She demonstrates how Cleopatra made Egypt’s hallowed past an integral part of her attempt to create an independent role for her now desperately weakened land in a world dominated by the imperial ambitions of Rome’s rulers. Cleopatra’s attempt ended in failure and suicide, but it nevertheless revealed her brilliance as a politician and diplomat, as she won the support first of Julius Caesar and then of Mark Antony, two of Rome’s most powerful generals ever. Cleopatra’s notoriety stems in large part from the accusations that she shamelessly used sex to gain political and military support. Tyldesley offers a fair-minded assessment of this and other controversies about Cleopatra. Her interpretation is convincing because it recognizes the spectrum of ability that Cleopatra displayed in her rule, without idealizing the queen as a faultless heroine. She is especially honest in acknowledging how ruthless Cleopatra could be. Wearing her expertise lightly, Tyldesley informs without ever becoming pedantic. In her final chapter, she offers a concise description of the many differing accounts of Cleopatra’s character that the queen’s tragic life has continued to generate since ancient times. Her own book is a stylish and spirited introduction to why Cleopatra never ceases to fascinate.

Hardcover: 304 pages

Publisher: Basic Books Inc. ( September 01, 2008 )

Item #: 65-6971

ISBN: 9780465009404

Product Dimensions: 6.125 x 9.25 x 0.77 inches

Product Weight: 17.0 ounces