Cleopatra the Great: The Woman Behind the Legend

World-Renowned Egyptologist Dr. Joann Fletcher offers an unparalleled look at one of history?s most fascinating leaders?Politician, Mother, and Goddess?the legendary Cleopatra.

The subject of myth for more than two millennia, Cleopatra was a woman of passion, magnetism, and political genius, the last and greatest Egyptian pharaoh. In this mesmerizing biography, Egyptologist Joann Fletcher draws on a wealth of newly discovered information and research to reveal this vital woman as she truly was, from her first meeting with Julius Caesar to her legendary death by snakebite.

Cleopatra the Great tells the story of a turbulent time and the extraordinary woman at its center. A polymath monarch, she was also a potent combination of traditionalist and innovator, astute enough to realize what was necessary for Egypt?s continued prosperity and sufficiently ruthless to allow nothing to stand in her way.

Yet our understanding of Cleopatra has been obscured by Roman propaganda, Shakespearean tragedy, and Hollywood glamour. Cleopatra the Great pieces together the pharaoh?s ancient world with details about her massive library and infamous banquets, her relationships with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, and her skillful use of fashion and style to further her ambitions and her mystique. Intelligent and compulsively readable, here is an unparalleled biography worthy of its subject.

Dr. Joann Fletcher is an honorary research fellow at the University of York, where she teaches Egyptian funerary archaeology and mummification. As part of the university's Mummy Research Group, she has examined human remains from around the world, including Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Yemen, Italy, and Ireland. She is also consultant Egyptologist for Harrogate Museums and Arts. Fletcher makes regular television appearances, most recently as the lead investigator in the History Channel series Mummy Forensics. She is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Search for Nefertiti; Alexander the Great: Son of the Gods; Egypt's Sun King: Amenhotep III; and Oils and Perfumes of Ancient Egypt. She has also contributed to several guidebooks and to the BBC's History website, and she lectures widely. She lives in York, England.