Customer Reviews
A fascinating, witty and detailed biography - By: S. Labram, 13 Feb 2008 
Joyce Tyldesley's 'Cleopatra' is a remarkable book; highly readable, clever & humorous, the biography offers a wealth of information & detail on Cleopatra & her world.
The book is structured in a reassuringly chronological manner. Tyldesley begins with Cleopatra's turbulent accession to the throne, moves through her careful negotiation of famine, drought & opposition, & ends with her death & legacy. Her much-discussed liaisons with Caesar, Pompey & Marc Antony also merit significant attention.
Throughout the course of the biography, Tyldesley sustains the interest by examining alll the most famous myths about Cleopatra, & then systematicallly authenticating or debunking them. We discover how far we can trust the accounts of Cleopatra rolling herself theatricallly from carpets, or dissolving priceless pearls in wine. We find out how likely it was that the queen was actuallly hook-nosed & prominent-chinned, & that far from being careless & flippant, she was shrewd & politicallly astute.
The most fascinating part of the story for me, having studied Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra, was the chapter that dealt with their famous relationship. Anyone who knows the play at alll would find the explanation of Antony's scandalous past, for example, extremely enlightening. It is also interesting to see how far Shakespeare adapted & manipulated the legend for the stage. I would therefore recommend this book to anyone studying Shakespeare's play - or any play about Cleopatra, for that matter - as an excellent study companion.
Reallly, though, this biography might appeal to anyone, simply because Cleopatra is such an intriguing & mysterious figure in history. In spite of its somewhat scholarly tone in places, one does not have to be an egyptologist to find 'Cleopatra' interesting & surprising.
