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Editorial Reviews
The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt.
Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator.
Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped 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 with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and--after his murder--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, Cleopatra's supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff 's is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.
Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator.
Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped 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 with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and--after his murder--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, Cleopatra's supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff 's is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.
Related Reviews
A fuller, deeper, much more interesting take on Cleopatra.
Masterfully researched and written biography of a great woman
Stacy Schiff took a great risk when she wrote "Cleopatra: A Life." Can a woman branded a "whore" by the Great Bard himself, ever really have a reputation as anything else? Directly challenging 2,000 year old assumptions that were enhanced by the likes of Dante, and director Joseph Mankiewicz, is a tall order for even the most accomplished writer. Ms. Schiff brilliantly rises to the task.
Ms. Schiff brings to vivid life a very different Cleopatra from the one depicted to us by playwrights and movie directors. Instead of a wanton seductress relying solely upon her looks, Cleopatra was one of the most authoritative rulers in the history of humanity, inheriting at the age of 18 one of the greatest kingdoms ever known, during a time in history when women had about the same social stature as farm animals.
Furthermore, Ms. Schiff is a wordsmith extraordinaire. In beautifully constructed prose that reminded me more of Nabokov than your typical biographer, Ms. Schiff paints a lovely, nuanced portrait of a great and vastly misunderstood woman. And what life the author brings to ancient Egypt too! The descriptions of the ancient world in which Cleopatra lived were so vivid that you would think the author was Cleopatra's contemporary, and not her 21st century biographer.
Ms. Schiff had a tough act to follow with herself; all her previous books have won, or been nominated for, just about every pretigious literary award you can think of.
I wouldn't be surprised if she at least gets on the short-list for the Pulitzer with "Cleopatra: A Life."
Ms. Schiff brings to vivid life a very different Cleopatra from the one depicted to us by playwrights and movie directors. Instead of a wanton seductress relying solely upon her looks, Cleopatra was one of the most authoritative rulers in the history of humanity, inheriting at the age of 18 one of the greatest kingdoms ever known, during a time in history when women had about the same social stature as farm animals.
Furthermore, Ms. Schiff is a wordsmith extraordinaire. In beautifully constructed prose that reminded me more of Nabokov than your typical biographer, Ms. Schiff paints a lovely, nuanced portrait of a great and vastly misunderstood woman. And what life the author brings to ancient Egypt too! The descriptions of the ancient world in which Cleopatra lived were so vivid that you would think the author was Cleopatra's contemporary, and not her 21st century biographer.
Ms. Schiff had a tough act to follow with herself; all her previous books have won, or been nominated for, just about every pretigious literary award you can think of.
I wouldn't be surprised if she at least gets on the short-list for the Pulitzer with "Cleopatra: A Life."
Reading an excerpt of this book I came across this passage on page 5 : " Cleopatra's was a world in which you could visit the relics of Orpheus'lyre, or view the egg from which Zeus' mother had hatched (it was in Sparta)."
I did a double take and read it again, I hadn't misread. Sorry? Zeus' mother was Rhea and had no connection with an egg whatsoever. The egg that, according to Pausanias, was visible in a temple in Sparta was believed to be the one from which Helen of Troy was born.
I am no specialist historian, just someone familiar with Latin and Greek from studying both languages for 5 years in high school, just the fact that such an egregious mistake hasn't been spotted and corrected in the writing or editing stage makes me very distrustful of an historical work that relies heavily on knowledge of and familarity with the Greek and Roman world.
I did a double take and read it again, I hadn't misread. Sorry? Zeus' mother was Rhea and had no connection with an egg whatsoever. The egg that, according to Pausanias, was visible in a temple in Sparta was believed to be the one from which Helen of Troy was born.
I am no specialist historian, just someone familiar with Latin and Greek from studying both languages for 5 years in high school, just the fact that such an egregious mistake hasn't been spotted and corrected in the writing or editing stage makes me very distrustful of an historical work that relies heavily on knowledge of and familarity with the Greek and Roman world.
Yes, this book is about a fascinating subject, and yes, I often found myself absorbed in the story. But this is a classic example of post-Pulitzer syndrome. Her editors were apparently too overawed to edit her. Nobody took out the pencil and pointed out all of the passages that are overwritten, impossible to support or simply don't make sense.
Here's one example, from page 159, about Cleopatra making a grand entrance into Tarsus:
"In the annals of indelible entrances -- the wooden horse into Troy; Christ into Jerusalem; Benjamin Franklin into Philadelphia; Henry IV, Charles Lindbergh, Charles De Gaulle, into Paris; Howard Carter into King Tut's tomb; the Beatles onto Ed Sullivan's stage -- Cleopatra's alone lifts off the page in iridescent color, amid inexhaustible, expensive clouds of incense, a sensational, simultaneous assault on every sense."
Where should an editor have started? Maybe with, "How about we just choose one -- let's say Henry IV -- for Paris. And, I'm not sure, but was Ben Franklin known for his 'indelible' entrances? And that Beatles thing - weren't they already just sort of, standing there on stage when Sullivan introduced them? And even if there was a Beatles grand entrance I'm forgetting about, do we really need to drag the Beatles into a book about an empress on barge 2,000 years ago?"
This passage is not an isolated example. There's an eye-roller on almost every page, at least in the first half. Even a Pulitzer-winner needs a tough editor -- especially if she wants to ever win another one.
Here's one example, from page 159, about Cleopatra making a grand entrance into Tarsus:
"In the annals of indelible entrances -- the wooden horse into Troy; Christ into Jerusalem; Benjamin Franklin into Philadelphia; Henry IV, Charles Lindbergh, Charles De Gaulle, into Paris; Howard Carter into King Tut's tomb; the Beatles onto Ed Sullivan's stage -- Cleopatra's alone lifts off the page in iridescent color, amid inexhaustible, expensive clouds of incense, a sensational, simultaneous assault on every sense."
Where should an editor have started? Maybe with, "How about we just choose one -- let's say Henry IV -- for Paris. And, I'm not sure, but was Ben Franklin known for his 'indelible' entrances? And that Beatles thing - weren't they already just sort of, standing there on stage when Sullivan introduced them? And even if there was a Beatles grand entrance I'm forgetting about, do we really need to drag the Beatles into a book about an empress on barge 2,000 years ago?"
This passage is not an isolated example. There's an eye-roller on almost every page, at least in the first half. Even a Pulitzer-winner needs a tough editor -- especially if she wants to ever win another one.
This Kindle edition is incomplete :(
While the actual text of the book was good and offered great insights into Cleopatra's time, the kindle edition was a bit of a disappointment. At the end of the book there is a credit page for the illustrations in the book but the illustrations themselves were not including in the kindle edition. The only illustrations included were a few maps. I really think Amazon should be more forthcoming and inform kindle users if a kindle edition is complete or not. While I would have given the text of the book 4 stars because in essence I received an incomplete book I will only give 2 stars. I have contacted Amazon with this info to see if they can explain why I was sold an incomplete book.
Great book - didn't like the kindle version
I love biography and this is a good one. The descriptions of Alexandria and daily life in this time period are more compelling than the descriptions of Cleopatra herself in some ways, just because are very few records about her. I thought the second half of the book more compelling than the first...still find myself unsure of the balance between wisdom, shrewdness, love, guile, etc with Cleopatra and Mark Antony. I guess we'll never really know but the author does a good job helping us understand the motives behind some of the historical writings that do survive.
Recommended, but I hated reading this on kindle. The maps are hard to decipher and I'm not sure if there are any illustrations at all -- I can't see them, though there's a guide to illustrations at the end, so I think I've missed something important.
Recommended, but I hated reading this on kindle. The maps are hard to decipher and I'm not sure if there are any illustrations at all -- I can't see them, though there's a guide to illustrations at the end, so I think I've missed something important.
I have never been moved enough in any direction to a write a review. This was simply a painful book to plow through. I felt like I was back in school and had to do my reading from my text book. I know that it has garnered much praise from the literary world, but I just don't get it. Boring and over annotated.
This book has been understandably impugned for not being "about" Cleopatra. In many respects this is an accurate and fair conceit. There is probably not enough extant information about her with which to write a conventional biography. So, as even the author admits, this is more a contextualization of Cleopatra than a day-by-day accounting of her life. The book places her in the sea hurricane of the violent, chaotic late Roman Republic, and illustrates how, surfing wave-to-wave in a constantly changing environment, she and Eqypt survive-- for a time. The charm of the book is in its depiction of how this charismatic, cultured, intelligent woman contends with some of the the most compelling men of that period, and prevails; Men like Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, Brutus, Cassius and Herod the Great all seem to come out on the short end of the stick in their dealings with her. Even the man most responsible for her demise, Octavian, never manages to get a firm hold of her.
Yes, the book may seem to be more about Rome than Egypt, but at this time in its history Rome was the unpredictable, schizophrenic, meat-eating gorilla in every Mediterranean room. Stacey Schiff deftly shows how an extraordinary woman held it at bay.
Yes, the book may seem to be more about Rome than Egypt, but at this time in its history Rome was the unpredictable, schizophrenic, meat-eating gorilla in every Mediterranean room. Stacey Schiff deftly shows how an extraordinary woman held it at bay.
Schiff creates a fascinating portrait of one of the most elusive women in history
Award winning author Stacy Schiff likes to take the path less traveled; she never wants to write the same book twice which means she journeys far and wide in terms of the subjects for her biographies. CLEOPATRA: A LIFE allows Schiff to dig into the world of antiquity and she gathers the best known facts about Cleopatra dismissing the fiction wherever possible although she'd admit that it's hard to separate sensationalism of the time, myth and fact about one of the best known and most wealthy women of the known world.
Schiff mixes biography, history and gathers from contemporary reports as well as historians over the years trying to sort out that fact from the fiction and opinion of the time.
Schiff's book is more a collison of history and biography because so little is known about Cleopatra from contemporary sources. The author provides us with the context of history to understand Cleopatra's role as the last great Queen of Egypt and what her allure would have been to Caesar and Marc Antony the two Romans that became both allies and lovers.
I'll admit that I'm not an expert on this period nor about Cleopatra herself but did take a number of classics classes in college and have continued to read up on the subject over the years. From that perspective, I found Schiff's book to be informative, entertaining to read and occasionally enlightening with new facts that I had either forgotten or missed in the my past reading. She also debunks a number of myths that grown around Cleopatra over the years through (such as the fact that she committed suicide by the bite of an asp).
We really don't know what Cleopatra looks like (aside from her profile on coins and statues that might possibly be her but as with many portraits from that time there's a very good chance they are incorrect)from the time which may not be a "true" portrait of her)some of the things we do know is that she was of Greek descent. There's nothing beyond a single line that was written by her that survives. Heck, she wasn't the FIRST Cleopatra but the seventh. She's a fascinating figure because she demonstrated the intelligence, wit and style that fascinated the known world of the time AND captivated both Ceasar and Antony. Schiff paints a vivid portrait of Cleopatra giving us context as well--there's plenty of history here about her family and the assassinations that would keep people like her in power.
Schiff digs in deep pulling from a variety of sources going back to those who were contemporaries of Cleoopatra (such as Cicero who didn't care for her)Strabo as well as Appian, Dio, Plutarch sifting through their opinions, the bias of many historians and more contemporary scholars as well. As Schiff points out this is her work so any mistakes are strictly hers as are some of the observations and opinions she brings up about Cleopatra based on her research.
I did expect her style to be a bit more breezy in nature but it is difficult to accomplish that with such a complex subject and, to her credit, Schiff accomplishes it most of the time although occasionally the book gets sidetracked as part of the author's attempt to document everything fully.
Schiff's book is well written and, like her other biographies, well sourced (and footnoted)giving us a taste of the world of her subject and the challenges she faced from Rome and her own family. Recommended.
Schiff mixes biography, history and gathers from contemporary reports as well as historians over the years trying to sort out that fact from the fiction and opinion of the time.
Schiff's book is more a collison of history and biography because so little is known about Cleopatra from contemporary sources. The author provides us with the context of history to understand Cleopatra's role as the last great Queen of Egypt and what her allure would have been to Caesar and Marc Antony the two Romans that became both allies and lovers.
I'll admit that I'm not an expert on this period nor about Cleopatra herself but did take a number of classics classes in college and have continued to read up on the subject over the years. From that perspective, I found Schiff's book to be informative, entertaining to read and occasionally enlightening with new facts that I had either forgotten or missed in the my past reading. She also debunks a number of myths that grown around Cleopatra over the years through (such as the fact that she committed suicide by the bite of an asp).
We really don't know what Cleopatra looks like (aside from her profile on coins and statues that might possibly be her but as with many portraits from that time there's a very good chance they are incorrect)from the time which may not be a "true" portrait of her)some of the things we do know is that she was of Greek descent. There's nothing beyond a single line that was written by her that survives. Heck, she wasn't the FIRST Cleopatra but the seventh. She's a fascinating figure because she demonstrated the intelligence, wit and style that fascinated the known world of the time AND captivated both Ceasar and Antony. Schiff paints a vivid portrait of Cleopatra giving us context as well--there's plenty of history here about her family and the assassinations that would keep people like her in power.
Schiff digs in deep pulling from a variety of sources going back to those who were contemporaries of Cleoopatra (such as Cicero who didn't care for her)Strabo as well as Appian, Dio, Plutarch sifting through their opinions, the bias of many historians and more contemporary scholars as well. As Schiff points out this is her work so any mistakes are strictly hers as are some of the observations and opinions she brings up about Cleopatra based on her research.
I did expect her style to be a bit more breezy in nature but it is difficult to accomplish that with such a complex subject and, to her credit, Schiff accomplishes it most of the time although occasionally the book gets sidetracked as part of the author's attempt to document everything fully.
Schiff's book is well written and, like her other biographies, well sourced (and footnoted)giving us a taste of the world of her subject and the challenges she faced from Rome and her own family. Recommended.
I love a good bio as much as anyone and after reading the glowing encomiums about this book, I picked up a copy. My bad. Slogging through this bio is like a 300-mile trek through wet sand. Page after page after page of essentially nothing. We learn a lot about the history of the Ptolemies, first century Alexandria, but next to nothing about the woman whose life this book purports to be about.
Another problem for this reviewer is Schiff's writing style, which may work for Vanity Fair or a gossip tabloid but falls flat when writing a serious biography. She also sees fit, for some odd reason, to bring up and excoriate Elizabeth Taylor several times for playing Cleopatra in the movie. What this has to do with Cleopatra's life, this reviewer is at a loss to imagine.
One wonders, while reading the book, if Schiff was trying to write a biography, a historical novel, or a Vanity Fair essay, and couldn't make up her mind either way. Taken any way you want, the book is boring and derivative. Even the cover picture threw me off; I kept thinking where had I seen that picture before until it hit me: danged if that pose wasn't a dead ringer for the cover photo of Andrew Morton's recent "unauthorized" biography of Angelina Jolie. Is Schiff trying to give us an intimation of what's to come? Rumor on the street is that Schiff has been paid a bajillion smackers for the film rights to this book to have Jolie playing the title role. If this really is the case (and I'm betting it isn't), a remake of the movie with Jolie playing the title role couldn't help but be an improvement over this book -- unless they have Brad Pitt playing Mark Antony. "Mr. and Mrs. Smith in Alexandria" would be one sequel too many.
Judy Lind
Another problem for this reviewer is Schiff's writing style, which may work for Vanity Fair or a gossip tabloid but falls flat when writing a serious biography. She also sees fit, for some odd reason, to bring up and excoriate Elizabeth Taylor several times for playing Cleopatra in the movie. What this has to do with Cleopatra's life, this reviewer is at a loss to imagine.
One wonders, while reading the book, if Schiff was trying to write a biography, a historical novel, or a Vanity Fair essay, and couldn't make up her mind either way. Taken any way you want, the book is boring and derivative. Even the cover picture threw me off; I kept thinking where had I seen that picture before until it hit me: danged if that pose wasn't a dead ringer for the cover photo of Andrew Morton's recent "unauthorized" biography of Angelina Jolie. Is Schiff trying to give us an intimation of what's to come? Rumor on the street is that Schiff has been paid a bajillion smackers for the film rights to this book to have Jolie playing the title role. If this really is the case (and I'm betting it isn't), a remake of the movie with Jolie playing the title role couldn't help but be an improvement over this book -- unless they have Brad Pitt playing Mark Antony. "Mr. and Mrs. Smith in Alexandria" would be one sequel too many.
Judy Lind
To be fair, I really did learn a lot. Cleopatra was always more of a mythological figure to me than a historical one, more story than fact. This went a long way toward (a) rectifying that, while also (b) explaining why she's been more mythology than fact for most of the time between her life and mine.
But... it was dry and sometimes tedious. I got tired of the suppositions even though I knew they were necessary. I wanted to see some pictures, even if they were artists' renderings. Were there pictures in the actual book, and the Kindle version just didn't have them? That might have livened the book a bit.
By way of context, I think I'm an above average reader who generally appreciates smart books written at a high level, but there just wasn't much here to get excited about -- again, due largely to the fact that half the sentences in the book contained some form of "She must have [done such thing]" or "Cleopatra most likely [would have felt such way]" or a similar variant.
But... it was dry and sometimes tedious. I got tired of the suppositions even though I knew they were necessary. I wanted to see some pictures, even if they were artists' renderings. Were there pictures in the actual book, and the Kindle version just didn't have them? That might have livened the book a bit.
By way of context, I think I'm an above average reader who generally appreciates smart books written at a high level, but there just wasn't much here to get excited about -- again, due largely to the fact that half the sentences in the book contained some form of "She must have [done such thing]" or "Cleopatra most likely [would have felt such way]" or a similar variant.
I love history and had such high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, with the historical record of Cleopatra so thin, the writer is forced to speculate on so much. While one has to admire the author's attempt to create a more accurate picture of Cleopatra, what emerges is not biography but hagiography.
The men around her are all flawed, weak, venal characters, all rather pathetic, while she, despite a variety of murders, extravagant excesses, and ultimate failure, is wise, just, brilliant, a scholar, a true leader, and so on and so on. One wonders how Caesar and others ever succeeded without her, or how Octavian could have bested her. Oh yes, on that last point, he only succeeded because Antony was such a failure.
Certainly the story of Cleopatra told by her political rivals and by men uncomfortable with a truly superior woman was terribly distorted, but this fawning homage, while revealing some interesting facts about Cleopatra's family and Alexandria, doesn't give us a truly balanced view of the queen either.
The men around her are all flawed, weak, venal characters, all rather pathetic, while she, despite a variety of murders, extravagant excesses, and ultimate failure, is wise, just, brilliant, a scholar, a true leader, and so on and so on. One wonders how Caesar and others ever succeeded without her, or how Octavian could have bested her. Oh yes, on that last point, he only succeeded because Antony was such a failure.
Certainly the story of Cleopatra told by her political rivals and by men uncomfortable with a truly superior woman was terribly distorted, but this fawning homage, while revealing some interesting facts about Cleopatra's family and Alexandria, doesn't give us a truly balanced view of the queen either.
I read the first 200 pages and am now resisting continuing. What can one say about Cleopatra? A million book clubs will want to read a new take on the beauty queen who wasn't really; she was a bona fide intellectual and a true queen, in this account. The most fascinating thing about Cleopatra - to me - is Alexandria. I only wish there was more about Alexandria in this book. I really enjoyed reading the eminently readable and far more fascinating book The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern World right before I started in on Schiff's Cleopatra.
I am not sure what it is about the Cleopatra book that's not quite clicking in for me. Perhaps it's the no win bind Cleopatra is in, as Rome takes over the world. There is nothing she can do to stop it and protect herself and her country. But it's also the writing in this book. I admire the scholarly research Schiff has put in on Cleopatra, but the book just starts to become repetitive at this point. There's nothing but palace intrigues and military campaigns, in spades. One longs for something deeper and more intimate to break through, but this starts to read like a chess match and the queen is not going to make it to mate no matter how many Roman leaders she herself mates with.
If you are interested in Cleopatra's world, and that would mean, to me, Alexandria, I found the DVD Agora compelling viewing. It's about the 5th century learned woman professor/philosopher Hypatia and in it the filmmakers have very successfully recreated in dazzling detail the world of Alexandria in its glory days. I recommend it. Far more interesting subject matter, too - as it deals with the change in paradigm that the destruction of Alexandria led to...(i.e. creation of the Dark Ages by religious zealots).
I just wish Cleopatra had been dealt a better hand. She plays hers as well as anyone could, but it's a losing battle all the way. It does arouse a bit of feminist wrath, though, just thinking about those Romans, who were the true barbarians, and how they refused to buy into any form of female power. Cleopatra is worth reading; just don't quite believe all the hype about how fantastic this book is. It's good, but...it's overhyped.
A WEEK LATER - Well, it's a week later and I have finished the last of this book. I am tempted to say it's a fraud! I think it's a weird way to look at Cleopatra. Essentially, this book is written by a biographer, who is not a classical scholar, and who specializes in individual biographies. The essence of Cleopatra's situation is a clash of empires. It is the story of an entire culture. It is not well understood as an individual tale. Cleopatra and everything that she does is consistent with Ptolemaic rulers in Alexandria. In her lifetime, Rome is devouring the Mediterranean world and it does not matter whether the leader of Egypt is a king or a queen.
This book continually reeks of being the concoction of a book agent and a publishing house - and bring in the author.
Schiff gets into the most interesting part of what could have been a fascinating book (to me) only at the very end, when she touches lightly on gender in Hellenistic Egypt and Rome as well. This meaty subject is dealt with in pithy but inaccurate metaphors such as "Cleopatra got a promotion as well, from pretext to punctuation point." (Page 295) Sometimes being glib obscures what you might actually be trying to say. Only a few lines earlier, we have been tantalized with a nod to Cleopatra perhaps elevating the position of Roman women without any evidence being cited. It's hard to know what to believe about this broad statement - one longs to hear the real story.
"The personal inevitably trumps the political and the erotic trumps all" (p 299) on the myth of Cleopatra as beauty queen and femme fatale, Schiff says, towards the final pages of the book. Perhaps the real story here is that the political trumps all - and that story is not the one we get here.
I am not sure what it is about the Cleopatra book that's not quite clicking in for me. Perhaps it's the no win bind Cleopatra is in, as Rome takes over the world. There is nothing she can do to stop it and protect herself and her country. But it's also the writing in this book. I admire the scholarly research Schiff has put in on Cleopatra, but the book just starts to become repetitive at this point. There's nothing but palace intrigues and military campaigns, in spades. One longs for something deeper and more intimate to break through, but this starts to read like a chess match and the queen is not going to make it to mate no matter how many Roman leaders she herself mates with.
If you are interested in Cleopatra's world, and that would mean, to me, Alexandria, I found the DVD Agora compelling viewing. It's about the 5th century learned woman professor/philosopher Hypatia and in it the filmmakers have very successfully recreated in dazzling detail the world of Alexandria in its glory days. I recommend it. Far more interesting subject matter, too - as it deals with the change in paradigm that the destruction of Alexandria led to...(i.e. creation of the Dark Ages by religious zealots).
I just wish Cleopatra had been dealt a better hand. She plays hers as well as anyone could, but it's a losing battle all the way. It does arouse a bit of feminist wrath, though, just thinking about those Romans, who were the true barbarians, and how they refused to buy into any form of female power. Cleopatra is worth reading; just don't quite believe all the hype about how fantastic this book is. It's good, but...it's overhyped.
A WEEK LATER - Well, it's a week later and I have finished the last of this book. I am tempted to say it's a fraud! I think it's a weird way to look at Cleopatra. Essentially, this book is written by a biographer, who is not a classical scholar, and who specializes in individual biographies. The essence of Cleopatra's situation is a clash of empires. It is the story of an entire culture. It is not well understood as an individual tale. Cleopatra and everything that she does is consistent with Ptolemaic rulers in Alexandria. In her lifetime, Rome is devouring the Mediterranean world and it does not matter whether the leader of Egypt is a king or a queen.
This book continually reeks of being the concoction of a book agent and a publishing house - and bring in the author.
Schiff gets into the most interesting part of what could have been a fascinating book (to me) only at the very end, when she touches lightly on gender in Hellenistic Egypt and Rome as well. This meaty subject is dealt with in pithy but inaccurate metaphors such as "Cleopatra got a promotion as well, from pretext to punctuation point." (Page 295) Sometimes being glib obscures what you might actually be trying to say. Only a few lines earlier, we have been tantalized with a nod to Cleopatra perhaps elevating the position of Roman women without any evidence being cited. It's hard to know what to believe about this broad statement - one longs to hear the real story.
"The personal inevitably trumps the political and the erotic trumps all" (p 299) on the myth of Cleopatra as beauty queen and femme fatale, Schiff says, towards the final pages of the book. Perhaps the real story here is that the political trumps all - and that story is not the one we get here.
Cleopatra: Unique and Magnificent
For a reader who feels the need to brush up on history, there is nothing like a good biography to provide a person with lively look at the past. A biography is centered on a certain person, but it presents other characters, places, and events, as it reveals the person's life. Often the person is riveting, and the events take second place. Sometimes, the opposite is true. In Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff, offers the story of a woman who lives in ancient times. And as she comes to life under the Ms. Schiff's marvelous and scholarly writing, the reader is thrilled to be seeing life as it was.
The story of course is a familiar one. Cleopatra, Caesar, and Mark Anthony are characters in many stories and plays. The history of Rome and the Roman Empire are also well studied because of their central place in the history of the entire world. But in Cleopatra: A Life, the reader is able to glimpse Alexandria and the life that a royal princess would have. Cleopatra is a resourceful, powerful, and canny person even at a young age. Her meeting with Caesar still strikes the reader as an amazing act. As she matures, the world stage also grows, and the book allows us to see how these ancient empires reacted with each other.
I highly recommend the book because of the depth of the research that is presented. To be able to come home after work in the 21st century, and to pick up a book such as Cleopatra: A Life, allows a person to be completely transported to a world that is lively, deadly, beautiful, treacherous, and compelling. It's been a while since a story has left me breathless with its political machinations, romantic interludes, flawed heroes, and despicable villains.
The story of course is a familiar one. Cleopatra, Caesar, and Mark Anthony are characters in many stories and plays. The history of Rome and the Roman Empire are also well studied because of their central place in the history of the entire world. But in Cleopatra: A Life, the reader is able to glimpse Alexandria and the life that a royal princess would have. Cleopatra is a resourceful, powerful, and canny person even at a young age. Her meeting with Caesar still strikes the reader as an amazing act. As she matures, the world stage also grows, and the book allows us to see how these ancient empires reacted with each other.
I highly recommend the book because of the depth of the research that is presented. To be able to come home after work in the 21st century, and to pick up a book such as Cleopatra: A Life, allows a person to be completely transported to a world that is lively, deadly, beautiful, treacherous, and compelling. It's been a while since a story has left me breathless with its political machinations, romantic interludes, flawed heroes, and despicable villains.
A Perfect Match of Gifted Biographer and Legendary Subject
As a huge fan of Vera, the biography of Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov that won Stacy Schiff the Pulitzer Prize, I expected to like Cleopatra, but even the genius of that earlier book did not prepare me for the stunning breadth, depth, and vision of this biography that goes beyond the legend fashioned by men over the centuries to discover the real woman who gave rise to the various and competing myths.
The scope of Schiff's research is breathtaking. She seems to have read every original source, though she makes clear that the so-called original sources were all written after Cleopatra's death, and secondary work on the subject. And she does not merely tell us what these conflicting accounts say, but weighs them judiciously. Reading Schiff's Cleopatra is taking a crash course in how to evaluate historical evidence and approximate truths we will never know for certain.
Schiff also manages to bring the ancient world to vivid, even cinematic life. We see the gorgeous splendor of Alexandria. We understand the devilish dynamic of Roman politics. Just when we think nothing can top the bravura eye-witness account of Cleopatra's trip up the Nile with Caesar, she treats us to a ringside seat at the glorious spectacle that was Cleopatra's welcome to Mark Antony.
But the real heart of the biography is Cleopatra herself. As Schiff points out, we do not even know what the ancient queen looked like. Nonetheless, Schiff manages to tear off the masks that have been affixed to her over the centuries and guess at what the richest individual in the world at the time was really like. They are guesses, as the author admits, but they are grounded in historical facts and informed by psychological acumen. They are also alive with Schiff's razor-sharp wit and uncanny eye for analogies between the ancient world and our own. Schiff makes Cleopatra, and more important, the way Cleopatra has been portrayed, relevant to the twenty-first century.
Schiff has never been a simplistic writer. Her language is not only felicitous and subtle, it is freighted with meaning. I occasionally found myself going back to reread a sentence, because I had got the substance but not the suggestion beneath it. But even with those rereadings, I gobbled up the book in two could-not-put-it-down sessions. Those looking for a facile and superficial read, a Cleopatra for Dummies, will probably not like Schiff's book. But for those who want a compellingly readable, dazzlingly insightful, and intelligently provocative biography of the woman who was Cleopatra, this biography is the one.
The scope of Schiff's research is breathtaking. She seems to have read every original source, though she makes clear that the so-called original sources were all written after Cleopatra's death, and secondary work on the subject. And she does not merely tell us what these conflicting accounts say, but weighs them judiciously. Reading Schiff's Cleopatra is taking a crash course in how to evaluate historical evidence and approximate truths we will never know for certain.
Schiff also manages to bring the ancient world to vivid, even cinematic life. We see the gorgeous splendor of Alexandria. We understand the devilish dynamic of Roman politics. Just when we think nothing can top the bravura eye-witness account of Cleopatra's trip up the Nile with Caesar, she treats us to a ringside seat at the glorious spectacle that was Cleopatra's welcome to Mark Antony.
But the real heart of the biography is Cleopatra herself. As Schiff points out, we do not even know what the ancient queen looked like. Nonetheless, Schiff manages to tear off the masks that have been affixed to her over the centuries and guess at what the richest individual in the world at the time was really like. They are guesses, as the author admits, but they are grounded in historical facts and informed by psychological acumen. They are also alive with Schiff's razor-sharp wit and uncanny eye for analogies between the ancient world and our own. Schiff makes Cleopatra, and more important, the way Cleopatra has been portrayed, relevant to the twenty-first century.
Schiff has never been a simplistic writer. Her language is not only felicitous and subtle, it is freighted with meaning. I occasionally found myself going back to reread a sentence, because I had got the substance but not the suggestion beneath it. But even with those rereadings, I gobbled up the book in two could-not-put-it-down sessions. Those looking for a facile and superficial read, a Cleopatra for Dummies, will probably not like Schiff's book. But for those who want a compellingly readable, dazzlingly insightful, and intelligently provocative biography of the woman who was Cleopatra, this biography is the one.
Very informative, but very slow reading
I enjoy biographies that are fast-paced, well-written and historically accurate. Cleopatra: A Life, meets two of these criteria: it is historically accurate and informative, and it is well-written if one likes an academic approach to a biography. However, although I found it interesting, it was very slow reading, a conclusion shared by several of my friends who happen to be highly-regarded authors. Stacy Schiff is an excellent author and her research is impressive. I just wish I could have enjoyed the book more than I did; it was more labor than joy.
Not like anything I have read before
Cleopatra was chosen for my book club January book. It came highly recommended and yet I was the only one of the group of 12 to actually finish it. The first chapter was by far the worst in my opinion and I really struggled with it and then struggled to pick the book up and keep going. However, once I got used to Stacy's style of writing, I began to become more involved in the book. Her style is definitely unique and not like anything I have read before, that doesn't mean it is bad, just different. In the end I was asked to describe the book in one word and I said 'interesting' Does this mean I loved the book? No. Did I hate it? No. Would I rave about it to others? No. But, do I think it is an interesting read? Yes. I wouldn't put someone off reading it, but I would give them a warning that it is not a light read. On another note, completely fascinating that Cleopatra lived so long BC and what an advanced society the Alexandrians were.
Not exactly Elizabeth Taylor...
Cleopatra has been portrayed in numerous ways, but never in quite the fashion that Stacy Schiff has, that of a competent and very capable ruler. This fresh approach, somewhat at odds with Shakespeare's more colorful "creature of fire and air" is probably the main reason that this book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2010.
Schiff's Cleopatra is not the cruel child of Shaw's play, any more than she is the one of Shakespeare's imagining. Rather she is the product of what had to be one of the most dysfunctional families in history, the Ptolomys. These were the offspring of one of Alexander the Great's generals. They were Greek through and through and by the time Cleopatra came on the scene, their best days appeared behind them. Centuries of intra-family marriages were combined with a taste for murdering the members of their own family left the coffers of the last of the Hellenistic kingdoms empty and country in hock to the Roman Republic. The only thing that had prevented one of Rome's generals from conquering Egypt was the immense power that control of the kingdom conveyed. Such a bounty would arouse suspicion among the patricians of the senate.
Cleopatra emerges as a person who had to grow up very fast. She was already well experienced in things political when she met Caesar. From there she rose to rule alone. The members of her immediate family that the Romans did not eliminate, Cleopatra took care of herself, fairly routine for her time and her family.
Where Schiff excels is to explain and demonstrate Cleopatra's skills as a ruler. This involved balancing the concerns of the Greek and Egyptian members of her kingdom. She was incidentally, the first of her dynasty capable of speaking Egyptian with any fluency.
Schiff manages too to use the primary sources, all of which were written by the Romans to understand the truth and falsehood behind Cleopatra's previous biographers. The archeological evidence suggests that she was not quite as emotional as others have sought to portray her. She is far from the "wickedest woman who ever lived."
Her relationship with Anthony appears at first to be calculated and then it becomes more of a habit. Although it seems like a misstep, given the ultimate triumph of Augustus, is perfectly logical given that she was the mother of Julius Caesar's only male child.
Cleopatra's end is handled skillfully. No one really appreciated the importance of the Battle of Actium when it occurred and its rather mundane tactical characteristic makes it scarcely worthy of notice. Augustus won not because of Actium, but because he had already won the propaganda war before the battle even began, leading to the defection of Anthony's Roman troops and Cleopatra's Eastern potentate forces like Herod the Great. Schiff skillfully handles this aspect of the story and, at least in my mind, debunks the story of Cleopatra dying by an asp.
This work is a long overdue reexamination of the last of the Hellenistic rulers and it is no wonder that it has received the acclaim that it has.
Schiff's Cleopatra is not the cruel child of Shaw's play, any more than she is the one of Shakespeare's imagining. Rather she is the product of what had to be one of the most dysfunctional families in history, the Ptolomys. These were the offspring of one of Alexander the Great's generals. They were Greek through and through and by the time Cleopatra came on the scene, their best days appeared behind them. Centuries of intra-family marriages were combined with a taste for murdering the members of their own family left the coffers of the last of the Hellenistic kingdoms empty and country in hock to the Roman Republic. The only thing that had prevented one of Rome's generals from conquering Egypt was the immense power that control of the kingdom conveyed. Such a bounty would arouse suspicion among the patricians of the senate.
Cleopatra emerges as a person who had to grow up very fast. She was already well experienced in things political when she met Caesar. From there she rose to rule alone. The members of her immediate family that the Romans did not eliminate, Cleopatra took care of herself, fairly routine for her time and her family.
Where Schiff excels is to explain and demonstrate Cleopatra's skills as a ruler. This involved balancing the concerns of the Greek and Egyptian members of her kingdom. She was incidentally, the first of her dynasty capable of speaking Egyptian with any fluency.
Schiff manages too to use the primary sources, all of which were written by the Romans to understand the truth and falsehood behind Cleopatra's previous biographers. The archeological evidence suggests that she was not quite as emotional as others have sought to portray her. She is far from the "wickedest woman who ever lived."
Her relationship with Anthony appears at first to be calculated and then it becomes more of a habit. Although it seems like a misstep, given the ultimate triumph of Augustus, is perfectly logical given that she was the mother of Julius Caesar's only male child.
Cleopatra's end is handled skillfully. No one really appreciated the importance of the Battle of Actium when it occurred and its rather mundane tactical characteristic makes it scarcely worthy of notice. Augustus won not because of Actium, but because he had already won the propaganda war before the battle even began, leading to the defection of Anthony's Roman troops and Cleopatra's Eastern potentate forces like Herod the Great. Schiff skillfully handles this aspect of the story and, at least in my mind, debunks the story of Cleopatra dying by an asp.
This work is a long overdue reexamination of the last of the Hellenistic rulers and it is no wonder that it has received the acclaim that it has.
If you enjoy this book & would like to further explore the life of Cleopatra - read the biographies written by Michael Grant & Ernle Bradford. These were both published in 1972 - 40 years before Ms. Schiff's. They say basically the same thing about the notorious queen but seemingly didn't receive the same acclaim in their time. Both are excellent books & worth the read if they are still in print.
I really wanted to get into the flow of this book's style but never could and gave up half way thru. For me, it just wasn't an easy read.
Napoléon wrote that "History is fable upon which we all agree." Henry Ford was perhaps more direct when he remarked that "History is bunk." Both assessments are given ample support by this new work of Stacy Schiff.
The problem here is that, despite the subtitle, it is quite impossible to produce anything resembling a life of Cleopatra for the simple reason that no reliable sources exist. Contemporary accounts were written by her enemies and, thus, both sensationalised and largely fictional. And nothing at all was written about her youth since even royal childhood was considered uninteresting in ancient times. "Complete" histories were not even attempted until generations after her death. While Ms. Schiff grudgingly acknowledges these critical faults, she nevertheless continues to unabashedly create a biography based mostly on assumption and speculation.
What appears, then, is not the story of the life of Cleopatra but rather a chronicle of the events surrounding her life, which are much better documented. In this, Ms. Schiff succeeds fairly well, offering a most readable and, occasionally, fascinating account of a tumultuous period in Egyptian and Roman history. The nature of the young queen herself, even her likeness, remains lost in the sands of the Egyptian desert.
The problem here is that, despite the subtitle, it is quite impossible to produce anything resembling a life of Cleopatra for the simple reason that no reliable sources exist. Contemporary accounts were written by her enemies and, thus, both sensationalised and largely fictional. And nothing at all was written about her youth since even royal childhood was considered uninteresting in ancient times. "Complete" histories were not even attempted until generations after her death. While Ms. Schiff grudgingly acknowledges these critical faults, she nevertheless continues to unabashedly create a biography based mostly on assumption and speculation.
What appears, then, is not the story of the life of Cleopatra but rather a chronicle of the events surrounding her life, which are much better documented. In this, Ms. Schiff succeeds fairly well, offering a most readable and, occasionally, fascinating account of a tumultuous period in Egyptian and Roman history. The nature of the young queen herself, even her likeness, remains lost in the sands of the Egyptian desert.
Stacy Schiff may be a Pulitzer Prize winner, but this book was a disappointment. I sense that she was aiming for a breezy, cool feminist biography. In fact, the strongest aspect of the book is its analysis of how views about women and women's roles have shaped the telling of Cleopatra's story.
But aside from this much of the text is simply descriptive. It can be unfocused and confusing: the second chapter's review of Ptolemaic history is just one example.
Throughout the book, ideas can take pages (Kindle pages) to develop, not because they are nuanced and carefully argued but because Schiff seems to struggle to connect the narrative. There are stretches of description that, though helpful in bringing the times alive, feel like filler.
The effort to use modern idioms is sometimes clumsy--"For much of 57 the hot potato business of the day was how, if at all, to handle the deposed king's appeals"--or glib--""Berenice enjoyed the support of the native population but suffered from the consort problem..."
All in all, this book left me wanting to read a well written biography of Cleopatra.
But aside from this much of the text is simply descriptive. It can be unfocused and confusing: the second chapter's review of Ptolemaic history is just one example.
Throughout the book, ideas can take pages (Kindle pages) to develop, not because they are nuanced and carefully argued but because Schiff seems to struggle to connect the narrative. There are stretches of description that, though helpful in bringing the times alive, feel like filler.
The effort to use modern idioms is sometimes clumsy--"For much of 57 the hot potato business of the day was how, if at all, to handle the deposed king's appeals"--or glib--""Berenice enjoyed the support of the native population but suffered from the consort problem..."
All in all, this book left me wanting to read a well written biography of Cleopatra.
Cleopatra: A LIFE SERIOUSLY A LIFE EXCLAMATION POINT
The introduction sounds like the first chapter of A Tale of Two Cities -- from the broad declarations to the references to national character. ("Declaration! Another declaration, rhetorically linked! This country was doing something broad and vaguely personified! So was this one! Dramatic declaration!")
So, for the introduction, this was a great thing. And I was pretty excited. But then, there comes a point when one realizes "I am no longer reading the introduction to this book. This is the actual book. Oh." And it went from an exciting beginning to overwrought pretty quickly.
I think there's a lot to commend here -- things are clearly meticulously researched, and I think that socially we're kind of in the right place right now for a biography of Cleopatra with this particular bent (powerful woman does not necessarily = whore). I understand that the historical record of C. herself is patchy, and that this means that any lengthy discussion of her is going to tend towards generalization. However, I found a lot of the actual text frustratingly broad yet vague.
So, for the introduction, this was a great thing. And I was pretty excited. But then, there comes a point when one realizes "I am no longer reading the introduction to this book. This is the actual book. Oh." And it went from an exciting beginning to overwrought pretty quickly.
I think there's a lot to commend here -- things are clearly meticulously researched, and I think that socially we're kind of in the right place right now for a biography of Cleopatra with this particular bent (powerful woman does not necessarily = whore). I understand that the historical record of C. herself is patchy, and that this means that any lengthy discussion of her is going to tend towards generalization. However, I found a lot of the actual text frustratingly broad yet vague.
I kept waiting for this book to get interesting and it never did. Partly it was the many boasts that the author had discovered something new or uncovered distortions by past historians. I dunno. It just didn't get interesting. My dad had the same reaction
Cover as interesting than the book
Our book club is reading this based on all the hype (and the cover which is wonderful). After almost forcing myself through the first half of the book, I was rewarded during the second half. Truly this was an amazing woman who was living in amazing times. And, this just proves that people don't really change. The politics, greed, power, lust, love, and jealousy of the powerful affected the masses and forged history. Have times really changed?
The book reads at times like a college textbook, but at other times more like an interesting news article. Thankfully, the references are at the end and the footnotes are appropriate, only providing a bit of background information. However, the book could certainly have been enhanced by a few maps, a biographical listing of the many historical figures and a more thorough index. For example, Cleopatra's father is Ptolemy VII, but after first introducing him (confusing again because lots of Ptolemy's), he is referred to as Auletes. But later he might again be referred to as Ptolemy. If you have many breaks in the reading, total confusion. And, "Auletes" is not listed in the index as such but under Ptolemy. This could be chalked up as sloppy reading on my part, but remember it is hyped to "read as a novel." Places and names simply need more information.
In short, this is definitely an act of scholarship that is presented in an interesting manner. Cleopatra was a complicated woman so the book is complicated as well.
The book reads at times like a college textbook, but at other times more like an interesting news article. Thankfully, the references are at the end and the footnotes are appropriate, only providing a bit of background information. However, the book could certainly have been enhanced by a few maps, a biographical listing of the many historical figures and a more thorough index. For example, Cleopatra's father is Ptolemy VII, but after first introducing him (confusing again because lots of Ptolemy's), he is referred to as Auletes. But later he might again be referred to as Ptolemy. If you have many breaks in the reading, total confusion. And, "Auletes" is not listed in the index as such but under Ptolemy. This could be chalked up as sloppy reading on my part, but remember it is hyped to "read as a novel." Places and names simply need more information.
In short, this is definitely an act of scholarship that is presented in an interesting manner. Cleopatra was a complicated woman so the book is complicated as well.
A very interesting subject with an amazing amount of information but a "difficult" read. The author jumps around some and the vocabulary is immense. I'm glad I read it on Kindle so I had a dictionary available all the time. The characters were definitely brought to life and the reader felt like you were in ancient Rome and Alexandria.
Cleopatra Past and the Present
This was a difficult read for me. Alot of dates, facts and people to keep straight and try to undersdtand where she was and what was happening. I put the book down and picked it back up many times. I found I was thinking about the book the story and the this Unique Strong Woman and her world and compared her times to today. The economy, the political relations, the family and personal activities could very easily be set in todays arena of life. An interesting read that keeps the mind thinking even when not engaged in the actual reading.
I am reading this for my book group. I thought it was going to be more biographical. It reads like a college history text book....good for putting me to sleep. The writing style is complicated....some sentences going on for 5 or 6 lines. Some paragraph's run a full page in length. I have talked with some of the others in the group and they feel the same. I am laboring through it and am almost done.
In Cleopatra: A Life, Pulitzer Prize-winner Stacy Schiff acts too much the would-be wit, for my taste. Her wry observations rustle rather than ring; like plastic coins in a wooden box. So the narrative's momentum suffers. A mountain of scholarship looms above it, though.
I normally do not read nonfiction, but have always been interested in ancient Egypt and Cleopatra in particular. Lured by critical raves, I purchased the Kindle version and frankly was disappointed.
While there were glimmers of brilliance, they were lost among the verbiage which, to me, slowed the story down. Also, I, too, was surprised that the book finished early, listing numerous references to illustrations that, unfortunately, are not available to Kindle users. And while I accept this shortcoming in my electronic reader, I would have liked to have known that up front.
Cleopatra was, and is, a facinating figure in history. From my perspective, Ms. Schiff's book falls short of telling her compelling story in a compelling way.
While there were glimmers of brilliance, they were lost among the verbiage which, to me, slowed the story down. Also, I, too, was surprised that the book finished early, listing numerous references to illustrations that, unfortunately, are not available to Kindle users. And while I accept this shortcoming in my electronic reader, I would have liked to have known that up front.
Cleopatra was, and is, a facinating figure in history. From my perspective, Ms. Schiff's book falls short of telling her compelling story in a compelling way.
Get the audio book for this one!!
If your only impressions of Cleopatra are like mine - an Elizabeth Taylor like seductress - prepare to be educated! Stacy Schiff has written a lively, intelligent, researched based biography of the Egyptian Queen. While there is much that is not known about her life, Schiff manages to make it all work by her intense research of that era that provides a rich setting for the action. Cleopatra was born 70 years before Christ into the Ptolemy dynasty. The strongest traditions in her family included sibling murder and incest. That the woman managed to grow to adulthood is a testament to her intelligent and cunning ways. She ascends the throne of Egypt with the help of Julius Caesar at the age of 18. She successfully rules that country for the next 22 years. No uprisings, no famines, no court intrigue. She is beloved by her people. In this time before Christ the Roman Empire ruled throughout the Mediterranean and beyond; Cleopatra's skill in navigating a successful course for Egypt was masterful. She visited Rome, was Caesar's lover and the mother of his only child. Following Caesar's death she and Mark Anthony fall into a 15 year relationship where she bears him three children. In the end Mark Anthony is defeated in Egypt by a Roman rival Octavian. History has blamed Cleopatra for seducing Anthony and diverting him from his military and civil tasks. The author does a good job of sorting out the prejudices of the historians (mostly Roman or Roman clients) who have tagged Cleopatra with this persona.
I learned a lot reading this book. I had only the vaguest understanding of the history of this period. I loved the descriptions of Hellenic Egypt and the excesses that the Ptolemy's brought to kingship. Also well done were the descriptions of life in Rome at this time. I am visiting Rome in April and will look at the Forum with new interest after acquiring this background. This book completely changed my perspective on this queen. As I said I thought she was a fairly one dimensional character who played a minor role in the Roman story. I now think she might have been one of the strongest female rulers in history, widely misunderstood and wrongly criticized.
As I noted above the prose in this book is splendid but the reading that Robin Miles does in the audio edition is marvelous. She has just the right intonations for this entertaining prose. I am often undecided as to whether reading or listening is the most enjoyable for me - not with this one. Get the audio book!
I learned a lot reading this book. I had only the vaguest understanding of the history of this period. I loved the descriptions of Hellenic Egypt and the excesses that the Ptolemy's brought to kingship. Also well done were the descriptions of life in Rome at this time. I am visiting Rome in April and will look at the Forum with new interest after acquiring this background. This book completely changed my perspective on this queen. As I said I thought she was a fairly one dimensional character who played a minor role in the Roman story. I now think she might have been one of the strongest female rulers in history, widely misunderstood and wrongly criticized.
As I noted above the prose in this book is splendid but the reading that Robin Miles does in the audio edition is marvelous. She has just the right intonations for this entertaining prose. I am often undecided as to whether reading or listening is the most enjoyable for me - not with this one. Get the audio book!
This is an extraordinary book. Not so much a biography as a commentary on the life of Cleopatra VII, Schiff's book engages in two processes simultaneously. First, Schiff pursues an historiographical critique of the classical historians - all men, all sympathetic to Rome - who compiled the earliest versions of Cleopatra's life. She argues persuasively that these writers were motivated by a desire to protect the reputation of Julius Caesar (and to a lesser extent, of Mark Antony); by Roman distaste for Ptolemaic and Alexandrian cultural "excess"; and of course, by misogyny. Second, she "reinterprets" key episodes in Cleopatra's life from a woman's perspective. Rather than simply admonishing the classical historians, Schiff seeks to demonstrate how Cleopatra deployed her femininity to achieve the sexless ends of power and diplomacy. Schiff's Cleopatra thus remains the alluring siren of lore, but one whose motivations were above reproach.
Schiff's style throughout Cleopatra: A Life seems calculated to evoke her supple, sinuous subject. Points emerge at the end of beautifully-written paragraphs in which the groundwork for her argument is built obliquely, much as Cleopatra would have approached her own objectives. Since I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading Schiff's other work, I'm not sure whether this is intentional, but it is certainly effective and evocative.
Schiff walks a fine line in Cleopatra. Although her broad argument is persuasive - that Cleopatra should be understood as a supreme geopolitical actor who happened to be a woman at a time when the boundaries of femininity were tightly drawn - this is revisionism with an agenda. In seeking to rescue Cleopatra from the gender and Roman chauvinism of Plutarch, Appian, Suetonius and the rest, Schiff could also be accused of choosing her facts to fit her prejudices. Indeed, Schiff's Cleopatra appears never to have put a foot wrong, in sharp contrast to the oversexed and short-sighted Romans with whom she interacted. In the end, however, Schiff is persuasive, and Cleopatra is rescued by a woman who is clearly her equal in eloquence.
Schiff's style throughout Cleopatra: A Life seems calculated to evoke her supple, sinuous subject. Points emerge at the end of beautifully-written paragraphs in which the groundwork for her argument is built obliquely, much as Cleopatra would have approached her own objectives. Since I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading Schiff's other work, I'm not sure whether this is intentional, but it is certainly effective and evocative.
Schiff walks a fine line in Cleopatra. Although her broad argument is persuasive - that Cleopatra should be understood as a supreme geopolitical actor who happened to be a woman at a time when the boundaries of femininity were tightly drawn - this is revisionism with an agenda. In seeking to rescue Cleopatra from the gender and Roman chauvinism of Plutarch, Appian, Suetonius and the rest, Schiff could also be accused of choosing her facts to fit her prejudices. Indeed, Schiff's Cleopatra appears never to have put a foot wrong, in sharp contrast to the oversexed and short-sighted Romans with whom she interacted. In the end, however, Schiff is persuasive, and Cleopatra is rescued by a woman who is clearly her equal in eloquence.
Cleopatra : A Life by Stacey Schiff
What can I say? A powerhouse of a book, fascinating, revelatory, and highly enjoyable read for anyone interested in ancient history or the legend that Cleopatra has become. Extremely informative in it's revelations on how contemporary scholars revised history from the very start, to fit cultural mores of the day, and how history is still being revised to suit our male dominated society! I highly recommend it!!!!
I found Schiff's book to be absolutely amazing on one hand, but a flop on the other. From the perspective of someone who is involved in research, it must have taken an incredible amount of time to dig through the various conflicting accounts of Cleopatra's life, piece them together as best as possible, and draw some conclusions.
Unfortunately, I found Schiff's style of writing to be a major distraction. She does not use commas at the end of introductory phrases in sentences, which leads her audience to have to reread sentences to get to the bottom of their meaning. I do not care to waste time when reading, so I found this to be insurmountably frustrating. In short, who was the copy editor? He/she should be fired!
Had the book been better written, I would have given in nothing but accolades.
Unfortunately, I found Schiff's style of writing to be a major distraction. She does not use commas at the end of introductory phrases in sentences, which leads her audience to have to reread sentences to get to the bottom of their meaning. I do not care to waste time when reading, so I found this to be insurmountably frustrating. In short, who was the copy editor? He/she should be fired!
Had the book been better written, I would have given in nothing but accolades.
This is a biographical sketch of a very complicated time in history. The internecine struggles of the Romans and Ptolemies, in Italy and Alexandria respectively, play out in just a bit more than 300 pages. The author has demonstrated a comprehensive knowledge about what history is knowable, and what is not. Most accounts of this period were written long after the events covered; first-hand information is lacking.
What is clear is that an intelligent, educated, probably beautiful and seductive Cleopatra held her own in Egyptian and Roman politics in times of civil strife and peace in both societies. That she shared her charms with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony definitely adds spice and thickening to the plot. Her concern for Antony was obviously more heartfelt than that for Caesar and plays into the denounement of each of their lives.
Commonly held beliefs about the method of suicide committed by Cleo are largely debunked by the author, Stacy Schiff. Even Shakespeare bought into what probably did not happen.
Schiff's scholarship is to be praised but her writing style is not. This was a difficult book to read; it is not always clear to whom pronouns are referring. Chronology is confusing.
I recommend this book if one is interested in this period of history and wishes to gain insight into Roman and Alexandrian politics. However, if one is choosing a book for pleasure reading, try something else.
What is clear is that an intelligent, educated, probably beautiful and seductive Cleopatra held her own in Egyptian and Roman politics in times of civil strife and peace in both societies. That she shared her charms with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony definitely adds spice and thickening to the plot. Her concern for Antony was obviously more heartfelt than that for Caesar and plays into the denounement of each of their lives.
Commonly held beliefs about the method of suicide committed by Cleo are largely debunked by the author, Stacy Schiff. Even Shakespeare bought into what probably did not happen.
Schiff's scholarship is to be praised but her writing style is not. This was a difficult book to read; it is not always clear to whom pronouns are referring. Chronology is confusing.
I recommend this book if one is interested in this period of history and wishes to gain insight into Roman and Alexandrian politics. However, if one is choosing a book for pleasure reading, try something else.
It's a truism that history is written by the victors. After her death, Cleopatra's story was told by men who had to figure out an answer to this conundrum: how could a mere woman have so deeply enthralled two of the most powerful men in Roman history? The historians who first wrote about her, men like Dio and Plutarch, tended to emphasize her sexual power. Stacy Schiff emphasizes her brains and her superior leadership skills as the last of the Ptolemies. After Cleopatra, Egypt belonged to Rome.
As Schiff acknowledges right from the start, the historical record is thin, and what is known about Cleopatra must be pieced together from differing accounts, inference, and even what is unspoken. Her account of Cleopatra also reconstructs the late Hellenistic world; if we can't know as much about Cleopatra as we would like to, we can know a lot about the world in which she moved. Schiff's depiction of Alexandria is compelling, the more so because much of the physical evidence of the city has been lost: to earthquakes, the Nile's changing course, and so on. In Cleopatra, Schiff pulls together the great deal that is known about this great ancient city, with its famous library, its lighthouse, and its diverse citizenry.
Schiff is well known for writing biographies that are not of the dry and dusty variety, and this one is no exception. Her breezy prose seems to belie the enormous amount of scholarly research that underlies this biography. She writes history for the well-read layperson, not just the specialist. Why this should inspire disdain in some reviewers, I have no idea. I wish there were more Stacy Schiffs writing histories that lots of people wanted to read. That said, I fear that the interesting cover art of a beautiful woman with pearls woven through her hair may lure some readers into buying a book that is not a light read but a serious one that demands close attention to its interesting argument.
I do have one regret. I would like to have known more about the lives of the ordinary Egyptian citizens who flicker through this biography as rioters and revelers, tax cheats and cooks in the royal kitchens, fig growers and shop keepers. However their lives, even more so than that of an unusual queen, were not considered to be the stuff of history. Not even Schiff could restore them to us.
Finally, Schiff writes wonderfully about the mystery of Cleopatra's death. Did she really do herself in with a snake or is the story of the asp just another variation on the tale of Eve? You'll have to read the biography to find out.
M. Feldman
As Schiff acknowledges right from the start, the historical record is thin, and what is known about Cleopatra must be pieced together from differing accounts, inference, and even what is unspoken. Her account of Cleopatra also reconstructs the late Hellenistic world; if we can't know as much about Cleopatra as we would like to, we can know a lot about the world in which she moved. Schiff's depiction of Alexandria is compelling, the more so because much of the physical evidence of the city has been lost: to earthquakes, the Nile's changing course, and so on. In Cleopatra, Schiff pulls together the great deal that is known about this great ancient city, with its famous library, its lighthouse, and its diverse citizenry.
Schiff is well known for writing biographies that are not of the dry and dusty variety, and this one is no exception. Her breezy prose seems to belie the enormous amount of scholarly research that underlies this biography. She writes history for the well-read layperson, not just the specialist. Why this should inspire disdain in some reviewers, I have no idea. I wish there were more Stacy Schiffs writing histories that lots of people wanted to read. That said, I fear that the interesting cover art of a beautiful woman with pearls woven through her hair may lure some readers into buying a book that is not a light read but a serious one that demands close attention to its interesting argument.
I do have one regret. I would like to have known more about the lives of the ordinary Egyptian citizens who flicker through this biography as rioters and revelers, tax cheats and cooks in the royal kitchens, fig growers and shop keepers. However their lives, even more so than that of an unusual queen, were not considered to be the stuff of history. Not even Schiff could restore them to us.
Finally, Schiff writes wonderfully about the mystery of Cleopatra's death. Did she really do herself in with a snake or is the story of the asp just another variation on the tale of Eve? You'll have to read the biography to find out.
M. Feldman
One of the best of 2010---history lovers rejoice!!
If you are an avid reader of nonfiction, then this book is one of the best. I love the story of Cleopatra, and Stacy Schiff did a brilliant job of sticking to the known facts and refuting long-promulgated myths. The life of Cleopatra reads like a modern-day soap opera, chock full of stealth manipulation, intrigue and death-bed tragedy (Mark Antony). I also really appreciate that Ms. Schiff writes with a crisp, concise style, and although many people are criticizing the advanced vocabulary she employs, I, for one, find it immensely helpful as she can distill meaning in less words and keep her paragraphs moving along at a quick clip. If you are not used to reading nonfiction, or if you do not have an advanced vocabulary, then this book may be a bit of a chore to read, since you would need to stop and look up definitions every few sentences. But, the story is so rich and colorful, that it is worth your efforts to attempt this book if for no other reason than to learn that Cleopatra is not the harlot portrayed in modern myth. She was a strong, thoughtful and calculated ruler, who survived two decades in power due to her intellect, wit and acute attention to detail. I applaud Ms. Schiff's book for bringing the real Cleopatra to life, especially considering how little documentation survives from her lifetime.
First time reading a Bio for fun
I never thought I would enjoy reading a biography. I just always thought bios would have the feel of a textbook. However, I found something intriguing about this book, so I decided to give it a shot - and I was pleasantly surprised. Not to sound like a complete dolt, but I read it on my Kindle which was great because of the dictionary feature. Clicking on unfamiliar words and instantly seeing the definition on the bottom was very helpful in understanding the story to its fullest. One bad thing is that the Kindle does not show the illustrations. I had to go to the bookstore and see the pictures that way. I don't really understand why Kindle can show a very detailed cover for the book, but not show the illustrations. Unless I missed something, I felt cheated with the lack of images. However, the story itself was great and I would recommend it.
Well written but the author is too biased against the Romans. She credits Cleopatra, who murdered all her siblings for one thing, as a pragmatic survivalist. Yet she holds the Romans to a double standard (particularly Octavian) when they are the same.
The Ancient World Comes to Life
Riveting. It would be hard to find a more interesting set of characters or settings. I couldn't put this book down until I finished it.
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The fact that Cleopatra lived through her 20's is a tribute to her intelligence alone, as I simply could not believe just how commonplace murder was for those with power in the ancient world. Then, to maintain her position as Egypt's sovereign, Cleopatra's circumstances dictated that she had to ally herself with the Romans, the world's greatest power at the time. For a time, Cleopatra maintained the upper-hand in the power relations with two of the most powerful Romans, Julius Caesar and Marc Antony; with both men she had much written about sexual relationships. In the end, Rome became her enemy, and they also became her biographer. After reading "Cleopatra: A Life", I get the sense that the patriarchal Romans couldn't bring themselves to write a narrative showing that two of their greatest leaders were outwitted by a woman. Imagine what a biography of Monica Lewinsky would be like if it were written by ardent supporters of Bill Clinton.
Now, on a separate note, I've read all the reviews thus far for this book, and I've noticed a trend in some of the negative reviews. Although "Cleopatra" was written more for a general audience than Schiff's prior biographies, this is still a work of serious scholarship. I doubt this is a book that most people could easily read at the beach. So with this in mind, if you love the intriguing stories of antiquity, but a book that will demand your attention, then this book is for you. If you want a historical version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" then you probably won't like this book.
In closing, I loved this book. I hope Stacy Schiff's next book is about an overlooked, or misunderstood woman.