The Search for Cleopatra

Rating:
Summary: Good readable overview of fascinating person
Review: Bought this book after seeing the TV Cleopatra mini-series. Well written, it moves along nicely without heavy academic footnoting et al that can turn a good read boring.

Almost as fascinating is the rather peculiar debate over Cleopatra's race in the reviews here. One writer erroneously observes that no historical writers ever write who her mother was. Well, actually, most writers have identified her mother as another in the Ptolemy family (intermarriage was the rule rather than the exceptoin among Ptolemy dynasty). The only real question is the identity of her grandmother. And even there the preponderous of evidence is that she was probably Macedonian or Jewish. There are no contemporary descriptions of her as "black" or even dark. Try reading history that does not have a PC ax to grind and you will learn much though it may hinder the silly PC ranting and raving.

Anyway, a good informative read here.

Rating:
Summary: Cleopatra
Review: Cleopatra was,in fact, a woman of color. Why is that so hard to believe? I really think it's sad that, in the 21st century, this historical fact continues to create such controversy. To those who find this fact so unacceptable,maybe you need to examine your reasons. People of color contributed to civilization also. In fact, the first man discovered was of African descent.

Rating:
Summary: The Power and the Glory
Review: I like the author's philosphy of history: in the first chapter of "The Search for Cleopatra," Foss writes that our picture of the past "is not some absolute of historical truth founded on a mountain of small certain facts." Rather, history "reveals itself in drama, passion, elemental conflict, emblematic events that become the basis for mythologies."

Cleopatra was a fascinating character, a myth in life and death. She was more brilliant than beautiful, a consummate politican and a ruthless leader. She was the mistress of the two most powerful Roman leaders of her era, partly because she wanted her Ptolemaic dynasty to survive and partly because she seems to have been genuinely devoted to her two lovers.

The "Search for Cleopatra" is not a biography as such. Rather, it tells the story of a pivotal time in which Cleopatra played a central role. Foss sketches all of the major protagonists--Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, Octavian and a host of lesser characters--against the background of the Roman civil wars and Cleopatra's skilled but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to come out on top in a very high stakes game.

Was Cleopatra a cruel, calculating woman, a person who did not hesitate to execute her younger brother and sister in order to rule unchallenged? Or was she a loving mother, concerned about the welfare of her children and genuinely in love with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony? As with any complex character, the answer may be "both," and this well-written book does an excellent job of making a powerful woman and a dangerous time a bit more understandable to the modern reader.

If you are interested in the life and times of Cleopatra, you might also want to pick up "Alexandria: City of the Western Mind" by Theodore Vrettos. Vrettos devotes a substantial part of his book to telling the story of Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, but he also describes how Alexandria transmitted Greek culture to the modern world. Another interesting view of the subject is "Not by a Nose," an essay by Josiah Ober in "What If? 2," which ponders how the world might have been different if Antony and Cleopatra had defeated Octavian at the Battle of Actium.

Rating:
Summary: Cleopatra Queen of the Nile
Review: I thought this book was VERY good gave an insight veiw oh who cleopatra was and her descendants who were not of the black skin colour. Cleopatra was of Egyptian and Roman Decsent. Alexander was where her line started The Phtolomey Dynasty. Egyptians were NOT black people they had the skin colour of a normal red skin Arab. and in Cleopatras Days in Alexandria most people would have been a "Lialy white skin" because alexandria was a greek city. So my friend from OHIO you "Get over it" .

Rating:
Summary: A historian trying to clear the air
Review: This is not the best, nor the worse book on Cleopatra. The author gives some insights on Cleopatra that have been written before. Kind of a "been there, done that" kind of thing. But for a new reader to the subject this would be a good book to start with. As to the debate about her color...many people in the Med. are of color, aka have an olive skin tone. Just because she was Greek doesn't mean she was blonde and blue eyed. Many people from Greece and from Italy were/are even this complexion (olive/tan). The Jews at this time were not all white either. Many ended up white because of the mixing that occurred in other countries (i.e. slavic countries and elsewhere). And lets not forget that there are Jewish people all through the world, so some were probably of mixed origin. I definately think she was not pure white, but rather of olive complexion as many Greeks were. If she did have some Egyptian blood in her that too would have added to a tinge in her skin tone.

Rating:
Summary: Feminine Wiles; Oriental Guile
Review: Whether or not Cleopatra would qualify as "black" by contemporary definitions (and unless we magically got a DNA sample, that possibility simply can't be ruled out, given the limited information about her antedecents), we can be sure of two things: first, that she was vilified as have most other powerful women throughout the ages; second, that she was despised by the Romans as representing an alien, "Oriental" culture. Foss writes well, and by judicious use of the limited source material he re-tells the epic tale of the Queen of the Nile. The main elements (Caesar, Antony, asp, etc.) are thanks to Shakespeare, famous; less well-known are the tortured politics of Hellenistic Egypt. Cleopatra's family, the Ptolemys (the Macedonian dynasty which inherited the pharoah's throne from Alexander the Great) would satisfy any modern definition of "dysfunctional." With their unique blend of habitual incest, infidelity, profligacy, fratricide, patricide, matricide and perennial regicide, it took a political genius just to survive in the Ptolemy family, and Foss infers from Cleopatra's relative longevity that she was just such a genius. Provided you can get your head around relationships like "wife-mother" and "uncle-husband," this is a great yarn.

Rating:
Summary: Why Do You Care?
Review: Why do you care if Cleopatra was African or Caucasian or mixed? Does it matter? You should not be thinking about the colour of her skin, more about the things she accomplished in her life! I look at the reviews above, and all I see is raving controversy instead of reviews (I am not a hypocrite...) I found this book to be extremely interesting, and insightful into the life of a great queen. Anyone who is interested in the Queen of the Nile should take a moment to read this.