skpatton's review
4.0
Stacy Schiff has given us a well researched retelling of one of the world's most famous women. After reading it, I realized how most of what I knew of her was legend based on the imaginations of great poets and playwrights. In reality, she became a queen at the age of eighteen, was loved by and had children with the two most powerful men of her time, and became the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean as well as the most influential women of an era.
library_of_artemis's review
5.0
If you ask someone to close their eyes and picture Cleopatra they will most likely describe her as beautiful, exotic, and sexy. In actuality Cleopatra was quite average looking, with a hooked nose and pronounced chin, and ethnically more Greek than Egyptian. The historical inaccuracies don’t stop with her looks. For centuries we’ve believed Cicero, Plutarch, and Dio when they said that Cleopatra was a temptress who used her allure to get her way. Schiff takes these subjective accounts of ancient writers and chips away at them using common sense and historical events to reveal the dazzling story of the real Cleopatra, one of the greatest queens who ever ruled. At the height of her power, Egypt controlled the majority of the eastern Mediterranean and held the Roman Empire in it’s pocket. This epic, and dense biography of the last Ptolomic ruler will transport you back to the first century BC and have you clamoring to stand alongside the Queen of the Nile.
kellyxmen's review
2.0
Mostly it’s not even about Cleopatra.
And the first chapter is mainly like a heads up like: hey we historians actually don’t know much about her at all so…
Here goes 300 pages for some reason.
And most of it isn’t about her.
And the first chapter is mainly like a heads up like: hey we historians actually don’t know much about her at all so…
Here goes 300 pages for some reason.
And most of it isn’t about her.
cbendito's review
4.0
Before reading Cleopatra- A Life, if you said Cleopatra to me, I would picture Elizabeth Taylor with her cat eye makeup or maybe one of those horrible lamé costumes you see on Halloween. It’s shameful really, because in truth, Cleopatra was an astonishingly amazing woman and it’s sad that her life and legacy has been so distorted.
It’s not strange though, that Cleopatra has been relegated to the slutty-hussy bin of historical figures. The men who wrote her story would never let the true woman survive without spinning her intelligence into manipulation and her political dealings into the desperate flailing of a love-struck woman. Powerful women, especially those in Cleopatra’s day, are rarely given the credit they are due.
Read more:http://wwwdiaryofabooknerd.blogspot.com/
It’s not strange though, that Cleopatra has been relegated to the slutty-hussy bin of historical figures. The men who wrote her story would never let the true woman survive without spinning her intelligence into manipulation and her political dealings into the desperate flailing of a love-struck woman. Powerful women, especially those in Cleopatra’s day, are rarely given the credit they are due.
Read more:http://wwwdiaryofabooknerd.blogspot.com/
sestrada's review
4.0
It took me a while to finally get into the book, but once I did it was an easy and fast read. I haven't read much about Cleopatra but found I knew many of the things in this book (Then again hard not to when dealing with such a historical figure). The book is slightly feminist, which is a nice change to the usual image portrayed of Cleopatra. The book is good but not the best. I learned from it but it's hard to get more in depth analyzes of a figure that has been so romanticized in history and we don't have so many actual facts to shape her better than this character that has been created, but that isn't the authors fault of course.