Cleopatra : Last Queen of Egypt
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"'Tyldesley's strength has always been her storytelling, and here she is on top form.' Sunday Telegraph 'A very readable account of the life of Cleopatra VII, and one that goes some way to redress the way in which she is often viewed... Intriguing insights into life and society in the Egypt of the Ptolemies.' THES 'Magnificent... strips away preconceptions to provide a rich, absorbing picture of a country and its Egyptian Queen.' Belfast Telegraph"
Sunday Telegraph
`Tyldesley's strength has always been her storytelling, and here she is on top form.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Joyce Tyldesley's 'Cleopatra' is a remarkable book; highly readable, clever and humorous, the biography offers a wealth of information and detail on Cleopatra and 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 and opposition, and ends with her death and legacy. Her much-discussed liaisons with Caesar, Pompey and Marc Antony also merit significant attention.
Throughout the course of the biography, Tyldesley sustains the interest by examining all the most famous myths about Cleopatra, and then systematically authenticating or debunking them. We discover how far we can trust the accounts of Cleopatra rolling herself theatrically from carpets, or dissolving priceless pearls in wine. We find out how likely it was that the queen was actually hook-nosed and prominent-chinned, and that far from being careless and flippant, she was shrewd and politically astute.
The most fascinating part of the story for me, having studied Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, was the chapter that dealt with their famous relationship. Anyone who knows the play at all would find the explanation of Antony's scandalous past, for example, extremely enlightening. It is also interesting to see how far Shakespeare adapted and 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.
Really, though, this biography might appeal to anyone, simply because Cleopatra is such an intriguing and 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 and surprising.
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 and opposition, and ends with her death and legacy. Her much-discussed liaisons with Caesar, Pompey and Marc Antony also merit significant attention.
Throughout the course of the biography, Tyldesley sustains the interest by examining all the most famous myths about Cleopatra, and then systematically authenticating or debunking them. We discover how far we can trust the accounts of Cleopatra rolling herself theatrically from carpets, or dissolving priceless pearls in wine. We find out how likely it was that the queen was actually hook-nosed and prominent-chinned, and that far from being careless and flippant, she was shrewd and politically astute.
The most fascinating part of the story for me, having studied Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, was the chapter that dealt with their famous relationship. Anyone who knows the play at all would find the explanation of Antony's scandalous past, for example, extremely enlightening. It is also interesting to see how far Shakespeare adapted and 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.
Really, though, this biography might appeal to anyone, simply because Cleopatra is such an intriguing and 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 and surprising.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I usually steer away from historical biographys - often they are dry as dust, fairly inaccessible and frankly, boring. This was different. Not only is it written in a lively and engaging way which talks to you, it also yields so much more than a story of one of the worlds greatest queens. I know the story of Cleopatra very well but i loved the fact that this book taught me more. It does speed up as we near the end and the battle of Antioch seemed a little 'skipped over.' But thats is a minor complaint, the book is pitched exactly right. I found the use 'our cleopatra' to distinguish between others being talked particularly inclusive...and friendly. This book will teach you a lot, its easy to read (without being at all patronising) and most of all, it really is interesting. This lady might have just changed my perception of the historical biography. For those of you that want a cracking read about cleopatra, follow the link with this reviewThe Memoirs of Cleopatra
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
First of all, I would say that overall I enjoyed the book. This is the first biography of Cleopatra I have read and my knowledge of her is limited to her relationships with Caesar, Mark Antony and her legendary acts such as suicide by an asp bite, dissolving pearls in wine or wrapping herself up in carpet to seduce Caesar.
Joyce Tyldesley does much in this book to verify, or debunk, many of the above. Tydesley does show that Cleopatra was much more than the legendary beautiful queen, using her feminine charms to seduce Caesar and Mark Antony in turn. She emerges as an astute politician, sometimes ruthless and ambitious too. She is also seen as a caring mother, a competent queen who acts both as a traditional Egyptian and Hellenistic ruler (she had to given the multi-ethnic make-up of Ptolemaic Egypt). As such she used both Egyptian culture, iconography, coinage and art to portray herself as Egypt's lawful 'Pharaoh', as well as demonstrating herself in Hellenistic dress and poses to appeal to her Greek subjects. Above all, I think Tyldesley has shown Cleopatra to be a survivor, until overtaken my the more resourceful Octavian.
However, as I said in my title, I think the book is a bit light-weight. This concerns the personal side of Cleopatra. I do not feel as though I have learnt much about Cleopatra the woman, her likes, dislikes, her traits etc. A lot of the book is taken up with discussions on matters that do not have any direct link to Cleopatra. Some sections have an indirect, or tenuous, link to her, but i think about 35-40% of the book is not really relevant to a Cleopatra biography, and gives an impression of padding out the book.
Overall, this was ok.
Joyce Tyldesley does much in this book to verify, or debunk, many of the above. Tydesley does show that Cleopatra was much more than the legendary beautiful queen, using her feminine charms to seduce Caesar and Mark Antony in turn. She emerges as an astute politician, sometimes ruthless and ambitious too. She is also seen as a caring mother, a competent queen who acts both as a traditional Egyptian and Hellenistic ruler (she had to given the multi-ethnic make-up of Ptolemaic Egypt). As such she used both Egyptian culture, iconography, coinage and art to portray herself as Egypt's lawful 'Pharaoh', as well as demonstrating herself in Hellenistic dress and poses to appeal to her Greek subjects. Above all, I think Tyldesley has shown Cleopatra to be a survivor, until overtaken my the more resourceful Octavian.
However, as I said in my title, I think the book is a bit light-weight. This concerns the personal side of Cleopatra. I do not feel as though I have learnt much about Cleopatra the woman, her likes, dislikes, her traits etc. A lot of the book is taken up with discussions on matters that do not have any direct link to Cleopatra. Some sections have an indirect, or tenuous, link to her, but i think about 35-40% of the book is not really relevant to a Cleopatra biography, and gives an impression of padding out the book.
Overall, this was ok.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
