Cleopatra: The Last Queen of Egypt

By Joyce Tyldesley
Basic Books

The name Cleopatra generally conjures up the same images for many of us: beauty, sexuality, power, immorality, defeat, death. Joyce Tyldesley, however, begs to differ. In her new work, Cleopatra: The Last Queen of Egypt, she asserts that the mythology that has come to surround Cleopatra is not based in reality. Not only that, but such notions about the queen are damaging because they obscure the real Cleopatra - an intelligent woman who was a powerful ruler during an age when men ruled the world.

It is interesting to note that Cleopatra's sexuality and romantic relationships with men dictate how we categorize and view her, irrespective of her great accomplishments. (One might argue that capable women still suffer from this today. Many Americans, for example, have voiced the opinion that Hillary Clinton only got so far in her bid for the presidency because she is Bill Clinton's wife.) It is indeed true that Cleopatra was involved with two great Roman leaders: Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Yet there is no evidence that Cleopatra had multiple affairs with other men; in fact, Tyldesley suggests that Cleopatra may have only had two sexual relationships throughout her life.

So where did we get all of our misconceptions about Cleopatra, if not from history? The answer is from Octavian, better known to us as Augustus Caesar, the nephew and legal heir of Julius Caesar who conquered Antony and Cleopatra. Upon their deaths, Octavian embarked upon a great propaganda campaign to smear the queen's name and exalt his own. Politically, it was in his best interest to encourage the idea that Cleopatra was a foreign, immoral woman who corrupted Roman men like Antony. He also had her image destroyed in various temples, which makes it hard for us today to even know what she looked like.

Tyldesley's work is surprisingly readable for those of us who are not Egyptologists and historians. It makes the reader feel privy to the exciting battles, intimate moments and private life of the queen. Though there are still many holes in her story, Cleopatra: The Last Queen of Egypt is one of the best introductions out there. Feminists, in particular, may draw inspiration from the way Cleopatra fulfilled a "man's" role fearlessly and intelligently, and how her mark on history is still felt to this day.

Review by April Boland