Cleopatra: A Life
by Stacy Schiff
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Near Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0316001929
- ISBN 13
- 9780316001922
- Seller
-
Arlington, Virginia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Little, Brown and Company, November 2010. First Edition, fourth printing. Near Fine book in a Near Fine jacket. Unmarked. Top front corner bumped. Two dog-eared pages. Spine straight and tight. Jacket clean and bright. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. 368 pages.
The life of the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt. Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and--after his murder--three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since. Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra's supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order.
The life of the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt. Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and--after his murder--three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since. Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra's supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [345]-347) and index.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Books of the World (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- RWARE0000003812
- Title
- Cleopatra: A Life
- Author
- Stacy Schiff
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition, fourth printing
- ISBN 10
- 0316001929
- ISBN 13
- 9780316001922
- Publisher
- Little, Brown and Company
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- November 2010
- Pages
- 368
- Size
- 8vo
- LCCN
- 2010006988
- Dewey
- 932/.021092
- Keywords
- history, biography, Cleopatra, Queen, queens, rulers, Egypt
- Bookseller catalogs
- Africa; Politics & Government; History; Biographies; Erotica; Feminism, Women's Studies, and Gender Issues;
Terms of Sale
Books of the World
30 day return guarantee, with full refund if an item arrives mis-described or damaged.
About the Seller
Books of the World
Biblio member since 2017
Arlington, Virginia
About Books of the World
Finding new homes for the library I collected over five decades of travel around the world.
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- Fine
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This Book’s Categories
- Countries & Cultures Africa
- History African History
- History History by Period Ancient History Ancient Egypt
- Erotica & Adult Erotica
- Social Sciences Gender Studies
- Family & Relationships Relationships
- Politics, Government and Law United States Politics
- Politics, Government and Law Government
- Biography & Essays Biography & Memoirs