Cleopatra had the rare distinction of connecting three great cultures. She was born of an ancient Greek dynasty that stretched back to the time of Alexander the Great, and as the last Pharaoh of Egypt she ruled before the once mighty kingdom became a vassal state under the all-powerful Roman Empire ...

Cleopatra had the rare distinction of connecting three great cultures. She was born of an ancient Greek dynasty that stretched back to the time of Alexander the Great, and as the last Pharaoh of Egypt she ruled before the once mighty kingdom became a vassal state under the all-powerful Roman Empire in the first century BCE.

She is regarded as an astute, resilient leader who survived at a time of male domination, with her fame also as a wily lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony forever immortalized by Plutarch's Lives and through them, in the plays of William Shakespeare. This new book provides a riveting insight into this famous leader, with a new introduction and fascinating, curated primary and secondary texts.