Cleopatra: A Biography

R48.00
Out of stock
SKU
26270
Share
Login to earn BookBucks for sharing!
While her palace shimmered with gold, it was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and ingenious negotiator. Her life spanned fewer than 40 years but would reshape the contours of the ancient world.

She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex only with two men. They happened however to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, two of the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a son with Caesar. After his murder, she had three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since.

Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way the supple personality has been lost. In a masterful return to the original sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction, to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order, a generation before the birth of Christ. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff's is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.
More Information
AuthorStacy Schiff
PublisherLittle, Brown and Company
PlaceNew York
Year2010
ISBN9780316001922
BindingHardcover
ConditionVery Good
Dustjacket ConditionGood
0
Rating:
0% of 100
Write Your Own Review
Only registered users can write reviews. Please Sign in or create an account

How we describe the condition of our books

We are very proud of the condition of the books we sell (please read our testimonials to find out more!)

New: Exactly as it says.

As New: Pretty much new but shows small signs of having been read; inside it will be clean without any inscriptions or stamps; might contain a remainder mark.

Very Good: Might have some creases on the spine; no hard cracks; maybe slight forward lean and short inscription inside; perhaps very minor bumping on the corners of the book; inside clean but the page edges might be slightly yellowed.

Good: A few creases on the spine, perhaps a forward lean, bumping on corners or shelfwear; maybe an inscription inside or some shelfwear or a small tear or two on the dustjacket; inside clean but page edges might be somewhat yellowed.

Fair: In overall good condition, might have a severe forward lean to the spine, an inscription, bumping to corners; one or two folds on the covers and yellowed pages; in exceptional cases these books might contain some library stamps and stickers or have neat sticky tape which was used to fix a short, closed tear.

Poor: We rarely sell poor condition books, unless the books are in demand and difficult to find in a better condition. Poor condition books are still perfect for a good read, all pages will be intact and none threatening to fall out; most probably a reading copy only.