The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt

REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS Finally! An in-depth biography of not just one, but seven Ptolemaic queens named Cleopatra – and a few more besides. There is a plethora of books focusing on the most famous of these queens, Cleopatra VII, although – as the author comments – ‘the amount of misinformation that continues to be written about her is astounding’. Here she is seen outside the distorted lens of hostile Roman sources and modern fantasies, as the last in a dynasty of outstanding and capable female rulers who wielded absolute power. In the ‘stifling patriarchal world of antiquity’, ambition, determination, and ruthlessness were prerequisites for these queens in their role as