Cleopatra cover art

Cleopatra

A Life

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Cleopatra

By: Stacy Schiff
Narrated by: Carole Boyd
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About this listen

Cleopatra’s palace shimmered with onyx and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Though her life spanned fewer then 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 and she poisoned the second. 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 Anthony, two of the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a son with Caesar and - after his murder, three more with his protégé.

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 the supple personality has 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 a generation before the birth of Christ. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff’s is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.

©2011 Stacy Schiff (P)2011 Random House Audio Go Ancient Egypt Historical Middle East Military & War Politicians Politics & Activism Royalty Women Africa Middle Ages Ancient History Ancient Egypt War Ancient Greece Military Greek Mythology

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All stars
Most relevant
i really struggled with the audiobook format for this. i zoned out so many times. i wish i had the physical book.

doesn’t work very well as an audiobook

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really enjoyed the story of one of the most powerful women in history and learnt so much. shame the editor fell asleep towards the end. there's a section where the narrator makes a mistake and appoligies, starts the sentence again and it made the final cut.

poor editing

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I found this book incredibly helpful for learning about Cleopatra. Really easy to understand and well written.

Excellent for studying Cleo

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I have read this book in physical form but couldn’t get the information to stick. So I’ve tried listening to it too but I’m not sure it’s helped. I really enjoyed both the beginning and the end sections where we stay close to Cleopatra, but for much of the book we spend much more time in the battlefield with various Roman generals. It seems that there is little direct historical information about Cleopatra out there so, like a black hole, you can only tell she is there by what’s going on around her. Worth listening to for Carole Boyd’s sublime voice.

What a beautiful voice!

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Captivated and beautifully read - history full. I’ve learnt so much. A true women of power.

Captivating

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