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Cleopatra and Antony : power, love, and politics in the ancient world / Diana Preston.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: New York : Walker & Co., 2009.Edition: 1st U.S. edDescription: viii, 333 p. : ill. (chiefly col.), map ; 25 cmISBN:
  • 0802717381 (hardcover)
  • 9780802717382 (hardcover)
Subject(s):
Contents:
I. Dynasty of eagles. Keeping it in the family ; Siblings and Sibylline prophecies -- II. Romulus' cesspit. The race for glory ; "Odi et amo" ; Crossing the Rubicon -- III. Queen of Egypt, mistress of Rome. Like a virgin ; The Alexandrian War ; "Veni, vidi, vici" ; "Slave of the times" ; The Ides of March -- IV. Isis alone. "Flight of the queen" ; Ruler of the East -- V. Taming Heracles. Mighty Aphrodite ; "Give it to Fulvia" ; Single mother ; "The awful calamity" -- VI. Gods of the East. Sun and Moon ; "Theatrical, overdone, and anti-Roman" ; "A woman of Egypt" ; The Battle of Actium ; After Actium ; Death on the Nile ; "Too many Caesars is not a good thing" -- Postscript: "This pair so famous" -- Appendix: Putting a face to a famous name -- Who was who in the first century BC.
Summary: The story of the world's best-remembered celebrity couple, set against the political backdrop of their time. In 30 BCE, the 39-year-old queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, took her own life rather than be paraded in chains through Rome by her conqueror, the future first emperor Augustus. A few days earlier, her lover of eleven years, Mark Antony, had himself committed suicide. Historian Diana Preston explores the lives and times of a couple whose names--two millennia later--still invoke passion and intrigue. Preston views this drama as an integral part of the military, political, and ideological struggle that culminated in the rise of the Roman Empire. Cleopatra ruled Egypt with political shrewdness. Her affair with Julius Caesar linked Egypt with Rome; in the aftermath of the civil war following Caesar's murder, her alliance with Antony, and his split with Octavian, set the stage for the end of the Roman Republic.--From publisher description.
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Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 932.021 P937 Available 33111005637034
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The story of the world's best-remembered celebrity couple, set against the political backdrop of their time.

On a stiflingly hot day in August 30 b.c., the thirty-nine-year-old queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, took her own life rather than be paraded in chains through Rome by her conqueror, Octavian--the future first emperor, Augustus. A few days earlier, her lover of eleven years, Mark Antony, had himself committed suicide and died in her arms. Oceans of mythology have grown up around them, all of which Diana Preston explores in her stirring history of the lives and times of a couple whose names--more than two millennia later--still invoke passion, curiosity, and intrigue.

Preston views the drama and romance of Cleopatra and Antony's personal lives as an integral part of the great military, political, and ideological struggle that culminated in the full-fledged rise of the Roman Empire, joined east and west. Perhaps not until Joanna in fourteenth-century Naples or Elizabeth I of England would another woman show such political shrewdness and staying power as did Cleopatra during her years atop the throne of Egypt. Her lengthy affair with Julius Caesar linked the might of Egypt with that of Rome; in the aftermath of the civil war that erupted following Caesar's murder, her alliance with Antony, and his subsequent split with Octavian, set the stage for the end of the Republic.

With the keen eye for detail, abundant insight, and storytelling skill that have won awards for her previous books, Diana Preston sheds new light on a vitally important period in Western history. Indeed, had Cleopatra and Antony managed to win the battle of Actium, the centuries that followed, which included the life of Jesus himself, could well have played out differently.

Originally published: London : Doubleday, 2008.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [315]-318) and index.

I. Dynasty of eagles. Keeping it in the family ; Siblings and Sibylline prophecies -- II. Romulus' cesspit. The race for glory ; "Odi et amo" ; Crossing the Rubicon -- III. Queen of Egypt, mistress of Rome. Like a virgin ; The Alexandrian War ; "Veni, vidi, vici" ; "Slave of the times" ; The Ides of March -- IV. Isis alone. "Flight of the queen" ; Ruler of the East -- V. Taming Heracles. Mighty Aphrodite ; "Give it to Fulvia" ; Single mother ; "The awful calamity" -- VI. Gods of the East. Sun and Moon ; "Theatrical, overdone, and anti-Roman" ; "A woman of Egypt" ; The Battle of Actium ; After Actium ; Death on the Nile ; "Too many Caesars is not a good thing" -- Postscript: "This pair so famous" -- Appendix: Putting a face to a famous name -- Who was who in the first century BC.

The story of the world's best-remembered celebrity couple, set against the political backdrop of their time. In 30 BCE, the 39-year-old queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, took her own life rather than be paraded in chains through Rome by her conqueror, the future first emperor Augustus. A few days earlier, her lover of eleven years, Mark Antony, had himself committed suicide. Historian Diana Preston explores the lives and times of a couple whose names--two millennia later--still invoke passion and intrigue. Preston views this drama as an integral part of the military, political, and ideological struggle that culminated in the rise of the Roman Empire. Cleopatra ruled Egypt with political shrewdness. Her affair with Julius Caesar linked Egypt with Rome; in the aftermath of the civil war following Caesar's murder, her alliance with Antony, and his split with Octavian, set the stage for the end of the Roman Republic.--From publisher description.

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