The Search for Cleopatra
The True Story of History's Most Intriguing Woman
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Cleopatra is wreathed by so many outsized myths that it is sometimes difficult to tell the woman from the legend. For centuries, historians have scarcely deviated from the occidental, Horatian portrayal of an Eastern temptress bent on bringing down the great men of Rome. Michael Foss looks through and beyond the myths, using fresh research to vividly bring to life the historical Cleopatra. A descendant of Alexander the Great’s Macedonian court, she struggled to hold her kingdom together at a time when the volatile clash of cultures threatened to shake Ptolemaic Egypt apart. Egypt’s decay coincided with the rise of Rome, and it is in the contest between the Eastern and Western empires that her story unfolds.
Rome cast Cleopatra as a threat to the order of its own crumbling republic. To them, she represented decadence, corruption, and temptation. Yet as Foss shows with clarity and insight, Cleopatra played her hand in the only manner she could. Determined that her kingdom survive, she was prepared to do whatever it took to retain power, and very nearly achieved dominance of the whole of the eastern Mediterranean world. When she finally surrendered her ambitions, it was with a larger-than-life flare that has since inspired ancient chroniclers. Fully-illustrated, and impeccably documented, The Search for Cleopatra sets before us the most absorbing figure of the ancient world.
Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Is there any historical basis to the myriad myths and legends surrounding the eternally fascinating Queen of the Nile? Foss (People of the First Crusade) believes there is, and his insightful biography re-creates not only her life, but also offers a panorama of ancient Egyptian history from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. to 30 B.C., when Cleopatra died. Foss's absorbing description of Egyptian politics, culture and religion in the two centuries of Ptolemaic rule preceding Cleopatra's birth is tightly packed with information, notable for its clarity and brevity. From the time she became queen at the age of 18, Cleopatra was a strong leader, ruthless with her enemies, including members of her own family, but careful to identify herself with the spirit of ordinary Egyptians. But Egypt was an unruly kingdom on the decline, and just as Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII were about to actually set to, the Roman legions marched in, setting the stage for Cleopatra's ascendancy and her romance with Julius Caesar. Cleopatra had good reason to suspect Rome's intentions toward her country, but had little option save to form an alliance. She stayed with Caesar until his murder in 44 B.C., and when the ensuing power struggle awarded Egypt to Marc Antony, history--and Cleopatra--repeated herself. While the art and myth of Cleopatra's life are extensive, the historical record is frustratingly limited. Still, Foss makes vivid use of what's available and, thankfully, without trying to shoehorn history into a political agenda. Illustrations.
