Book Reviews
‘Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt’
Who was Cleopatra? British historian Joyce Tyldesley tries to tell us.
By Randy Dotinga | November 14, 2008 edition
Randy Dotinga talks with author Joyce Tyldesley.
With the help of everyone from William Shakespeare to Elizabeth Taylor, history has found plenty of ways to depict the ancient world’s most famous woman. Who was Cleopatra? Take your pick: Fearless leader. Sly seductress. Brazen hussy.
Separating the truth from myth about Cleopatra is no easy matter. British historian Joyce Tyldesley makes a valiant attempt in her new biography, Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt, but she has trouble giving us a full portrait of this most mysterious of monarchs.
The challenge lies in the scarcity of reliable accounts of Cleopatra’s life, including her flings with Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, two of the most powerful men on earth. Much of what we think we know about Cleopatra comes from Roman historians with axes – or asps – to grind.
“There are simply too many details missing” to write a conventional biography of Cleopatra’s life, Tyldesley admits.
Even so, Tyldesley notes that some basic facts of the queen’s life seem clear, although perhaps not well-known amid two millennia of speculation about her love life.
Cleopatra was “ambitious and ruthless,” as Tyldesley puts it; she most likely had two of her siblings killed. Smart and savvy, and hardly the emotion-driven female of history, she ruled as a living incarnation of the goddess Isis. And while she’s known for her supposed lusty liaisons, it appears she had no intimate relations with men other than Caesar and Anthony.
There are other surprises. It turns out that the queen probably wasn’t much of a looker; depictions on coins show a woman lacking natural beauty by ancient or current standards. But she was rich, intelligent, and powerful, and all these things made her irresistible.
While Tyldesley provides occasional doses of wit, “Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt” is a bit of a slog at times, especially when Tyldesley delves into the complicated politics of ancient Egypt. Readers must cope with 15 Egyptian kings named Ptolemy – Cleopatra alone co-ruled with three of them – and a slew of royals also named Cleopatra. (The queen in question was No. VII.)
Tyldesley is careful to avoid turning Cleopatra into a doomed romantic, noting that it’s impossible to know whether she and Anthony shared “genuine passion.” But this cautious approach saps life from the Queen of the Nile, turning her into an interesting but remote character, one whose motivations may be forever veiled by time and myth.
Ultimately, the most vivid and fascinating version of Cleopatra will always be found in our imaginations.
Randy Dotinga is a freelance writer in San Diego.
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Comments
3. Ahmed | 11.14.08
I don’t think Cleopatra will remain a mysterious figure to us, and we have to admit that historical figures like her can’t be really “known”. So I believe she would continue to be remote unfortunately, but we should be able to acknowledge it.
To Marilyn: Did you mean politically incorrect?
4. Nehla Zikria | 11.16.08
I believe that ancient figures like Cleopatra or Queen of Sheeba
will forever be surrounded by kind of myth. I have learned from
Randy Dontiga’s review that Cleopatra was not really so lustful
as history makes her out to be;she has only two intimate relationships
in her lifetime. She was nonetheless quite ambitious and ruthless.
I believe that Cleopatra was more complicated in nature than what
history depicts her to be. I also find it interesting that Cleopatra
also wanted to connect East and West by wanting to unite western Greece
with eastern Persia.
5. Nehla Zikria | 11.16.08
I think that there will always be a myth surrounding ancient
figures such as Cleopatra. I think it is interesting that Randy
Dontiga points out that Cleopatra was not as lustful as one
may assume. She has only two intimate relationships with
Caesar and Mark Anthony. However, she is ruthless and and quite
ambitious.
6. Marilyn Ong Siew Ai | 11.17.08
To Ahmed : I stand by “politically correct” - politically correct according to Octavius a.k.a. later as Emperor Augustus.
To Nehla Zikria : It was not Cleopatra VII who had the vision to unite the civilisations of Greece and Persia but Alexander The Great. He married the daughter of the King of Persia and she bore him a son whom he regarded as his heir. There is much speculation as to what happened to this heir after the death of Alexander. Alexander’s men were unable to accept that his heir was not pure Greek. Alexander’s vast empire was divided up between his military generals; Egypt fell to Ptolemy. Thats how a Greek dynasty arose in Egypt. In fact, it is believed that the embalmed body of Alexander was kept in Alexandria, the capital. Since he was regarded as a god by the Egyptians, we can only speculate what the Romans would have done to the body if it had remained till that date. But what is certain is Octavious did not spare the offspring of Cleopatra VII with Julius Ceasar and Mark Anthony - she had children from the two of them. They posed threats to his claim as Julius Ceasar’s heir.
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1. Marilyn Ong Siew Ai | 11.14.08
The grand human drama and tragedy of Cleopatra’s life and story has eclipsed the civilisational significance of Cleopatra VII. Incidentally, the name “Cleopatra” is a Greek name, in fact, the name of Alexander The Great’s sister. She was the namesake of all the Egyptian Cleopatras of the Ptolemic Dynasty. Cleopatra VII inherited the political legacy of Alexander, who had the vision to unite western (Greece) and eastern (Persia) civilisations at the time. If we must resort to our imaginations to speculate on her motivations, I would pefer to ascribe to her so called “ambitions”, a higher motivation - to not only keep alive Alexander’s vision, but to also extend it to Rome and Egypt, the two great civilsations in Cleopatra’s time. If we do not do so, and we perpetuate the labels of “seductress” and “hussy” upon her, then the tragedy of Cleopatra continues into our contemporary times. We do not have to perpetuate the views of male Roman historians of the time who obviously had to record politically correct views or suffer Emperor Augustus’ wrath. Historical justice should be an objective of modern history biographic writing. I hope I find it in this book when I read it.
Marilyn
University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
omarilyn@feb.unimas.my
ong_msa@yahoo.com