Cleopatra :: Essays Papers

Cleopatra II. Summary: After the completion of the book, it had let me to believe the book was written for the general audience. Although the author provided many resources, the information was taken from literature that was written during the time. Therefore, some of the quotes were biased either against or favored Cleopatra. For an example of bias against her, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus called her a â€Å"wicked creature, who was a slave to her lusts, but she still imagined that she wanted everything she could think of, and did her utmost to gain it†¦. As for Antony, he was so entirely overcome by this woman that†¦ he was some way or other bewitched to do whatever she would have him do.† On the contrary, here is an example of bias in favor of Cleopatra: â€Å"a princess well versed in the sciences, disposed to the study of philosophy and counting scholars among her intimate friends. She was the author of works on medicine, charms, and other divisions of the natural scie nces.† This was taken from a tenth-century Arab historian Al Masudi. The author allowed his readers to conclude their own interpretation of Cleopatra by stating both sides of the story. The book was broken down into eight chapters. These chapters spanned the time from 332 B.C. to 30 B.C. In the beginning of the book, it began the story of Cleopatra with Alexander the Great liberating Egypt from Persian control. However, the bulk of the chapters concentrated at 69 B.C. and ended 30 B.C. with the birth and death of Cleopatra. The story of Cleopatra began with her rein over Egypt as queen. This was when she allied and companioned with Caesar in attempt to strengthen her power. It was not long before Caesar was assassinated and his close friend and a powerful general Mark Antony denounced the conspirators. Not long after Caesar’s death, Antony and Cleopatra fell in love and ruled Rome and Egypt together. Together, they had formed an alliance strong enough to take down the most powerful force in the world at the time, Rome. The fall of Antony and Cleopatra began when they were defeated at Actium in Greece against Octavian’s Roman army. Towards the end of the book, the author went into details on the true love that existed between Antony and Cleopatra.