Books with title The Cleopatra Case

Cleopatra VII was more than the last Macedonian Queen of Egypt. She was a femme fatale of epic proportion, ensnaring the two mightiest Romans of her time, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, with her famed beauty and intelligence. The story of Cleopatra reads like a modern thriller. From her murderous family, who were not averse to killing parents, siblings, and their own children, to the civil wars between Pompey, Caesar, Octavian Augustus, Brutus, and Mark Antony, the tale of this last queen of Egypt is filled with high drama, tension and, ultimately, tragedy. It is a story which, once started, is almost impossible to put down. This is possibly master storyteller Jacob Abbott’s finest book.

Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek family of Macedonian origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemies spoke Greek throughout their dynasty, and refused to speak Egyptian, which is the reason that Greek as well as Egyptian languages were used on official court documents such as the Rosetta Stone.

Cleopatra is renowned as one of the most famous female leaders in all of history, but often her importance as the Macedonian dynastys last queen is obscured by her reputation for a lavish life and her tumultuous, high-profile romances with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Countless books, movies, plays, and operas have highlighted the drama and downplayed her keen political acumen and dedication to increasing Egypts power. Cleopatra, who began ruling Egypt when she was only eighteen years old, was a witty, stimulating conversationalist who was able to use her charm and intelligence for the good of her country.

A fascinating biography of Cleopatra. Of all the beautiful women of history, none has left us such convincing proofs of her charms as Cleopatra, for the tide of Rome's destiny, and, therefore, that of the world, turned aside because of her beauty. Julius Caesar, whose legions trampled the conquered world from Canopus to the Thames, capitulated to her, and Mark Antony threw a fleet, an empire and his own honor to the winds to follow her to his destruction. Disarmed at last before the frigid Octavius, she found her peerless body measured by the cold eye of her captor only for the triumphal procession, and the friendly asp alone spared her Rome's crowning ignominy.