Cleopatra: A Biography (Women in Antiquity) - Softcover

Roller, Duane W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199829969 ISBN 13: 9780199829965

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, 2011

Synopsis

Few personalities from classical antiquity are more famous-yet more poorly understood-than Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt. In this major biography, Duane Roller reveals that Cleopatra was in fact a learned and visionary leader whose overarching goal was always the preservation of her dynasty and kingdom.

Roller's authoritative account is the first to be based solely on primary materials from the Greco-Roman period: literary sources, Egyptian documents (Cleopatra's own writings), and representations in art and coinage produced while she was alive. His compelling portrait of the queen illuminates her prowess as a royal administrator who managed a large and diverse kingdom extending from Asia Minor to the interior of Egypt, as a naval commander who led her own fleet in battle, and as a scholar and supporter of the arts. Even her love affairs with Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius-the source of her reputation as a supreme seductress who drove men to their doom-were carefully crafted state policies: she chose these partners to insure the procreation of successors who would be worthy of her distinguished dynasty. That Cleopatra ultimately lost to her Roman opponents, Roller contends, in no way diminishes her abilities.

"Roller tells his tale smoothly and accessibly. . ..The resulting portrait is that of a complex, many-sided figure, a potent Hellenistic ruler who could move the tillers of power as skillfully as any man, and one far and nobly removed from the 'constructed icon' of popular imagination."
-The New York Times Book Review

"A rich account of late Ptolemaic culture.

About this title

Review:

This is Cleopatra laid bare without any distractions: a good beginning for readers who know little about her and want to learn more. (History Today)

Roller offers a superb panorama of the society and culture of late Ptolemaic Egypt, with vivid sketches of....Cleopatra's Alexandria. (Times Literary Supplement)

About the Author:

Historian, archaeologist, and classical scholar, Duane W. Roller is Professor Emeritus of Greek and Latin at The Ohio State University. The author of eight books, including Through the Pillars of Herakles and The Building Program of Herod the Great, he has excavated in Greece, Italy, Turkey, and the Levant.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0199829969
• ISBN 13: 9780199829965
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 266