Dismissing Historical Misogyny & Hollywood Luridness
Review of the Yale University Press paperback (October 17, 2023) of the original Yale University Press hardcover (November 1, 2022).

She continues to fascinate us to this day. The final ruler of Egypt before its annexation to the Roman Empire is known to us as Cleopatra (c70 BCE - 30 BCE), but was actually Cleopatra VII of the Ptolemic Dynasty. She was a descendant of Ptolemy I (367 BCE to 282 BCE), one of Alexander the Great's Greek Macedonian generals who ruled Egypt as one of the several successor kings who carved up their conquered empire after the death of their leader.

Because of some gaps in the knowledge of her parental lineage, there is speculation that she may have been of mixed race. This has resulted in recent controversies such as the reaction to the Netflix documentary (2023) and the possible casting of the mixed race actor Zendaya in a rumoured future feature film.

Francine Prose gives a "feminist reinterpretation" of both the ancient historical accounts and the later Hollywood film depictions. All of these emphasize her as a diabolical temptress and seducer who led "noble" Romans such as Julius Caesar and Marc Antony astray. Those early accounts were written by Roman historians of course, often well after the actual events. These accounts often ignore the fact that she was the ruler of Egypt and sought to protect her children and the independence of Egypt for the future. She unfortunately allied herself with the losing forces who were either assassinated such as Caesar or committed suicide such as Antony. Cleopatra herself chose to commit suicide rather than be paraded through the streets of Rome by Octavian (later known as Emperor Augustus).

Sidenote: A lot of this reminded me of the blackening of the reputation of the last Plantagenet-Yorkist King Richard III in the later Tudor accounts such as Shakespeare's play. Recent history has sought to restore that reputation. Mystery fans should read Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time (1951) for a fictional reexamination of the murder of the princes in the Tower of London.

Back to Cleopatra. In any case, Prose makes an interesting argument for reading those early accounts with a grain of salt and remembering who they were written by and for whom. Hollywood of course takes the most extreme stories and builds on them even further. So we have bizarre stories handed down such as Cleopatra being presented to Caesar after being rolled up in a rug and later committing suicide with the aid of an asp being smuggled in a basket of figs.

See photograph at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Kleopatra-VII.-Altes-M...
Bust of Cleopatra VII in the Altes Museum Berlin. Image sourced from Wikipedia where it is described as a Roman sculpture of Cleopatra wearing a royal diadem, mid-1st century BC (around the time of her visits to Rome in 46–44 BC). For an interesting video on What Did Cleopatra Look Like? based on extrapolating from this bust, see Trivia below.

See graphic at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Kleopatra-Cesarion-god...
Cleopatra introduces her son Caesarion to the Egyptian falcon-headed god of war Montu. Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons.

I enjoyed this reinterpretation of the life of Cleopatra and look forward to reading more of the Ancient Lives series from Yale University Press. I had previously read Sarah Ruden's Vergil, The Poet's Life (2023).

Other Reviews
Francine Prose dispels the sexualized mythology surrounding a powerful ruler by Allison Arieff, Datebook SF Chronicle, October 31, 2022.

Trivia and Links
See a video of What Did Cleopatra Look Like? at the Royalty Now YouTube channel here.

Read an excerpt from the book at The Legend of Cleopatra at Yale University Press.

Cleopatra: Her History, Her Myth is part of Yale University Press's Ancient Lives series which currently includes: Marcus Aurelius: The Stoic Emperor (expected publication February 2024), Vergil: The Poet's Life (2023), Ramesses the Great: Egypt's King of Kings (2023), Julian: Rome’s Last Pagan Emperor (2023), Crassus: The First Tycoon (2022), and Demetrius: Sacker of Cities (2022). ( )