Customer Reviews

Cleopatra: A Sourcebook (Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture)

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Dr. Prudence Jones has in Cleopatra, A Sourcebook, compiled a volume quite valuable for teacher and scholar alike. Not only are the various Classical sources fully present, but the post-Classical life of Cleopatra is well represented, as found, for example in Chaucer Shakespeare, and Dryden. The views of female authors on Cleopatra, such as and Charlotte Bronte are represented. The "Egyptomania" of the nineteenth century ( e.g. Shelly's Ozymandias), Cleopatra in the Arabic tradition (including a passage in which Octavian dies, bitten by snake, soon after he learns of Cleopatra's death) and Afrocentric views of Cleopatra, and more modern Cleopatras, such as that of Barbara Chase-Riboud, are also represented. These passages are given brief introductions which provide the necessary context. There are also illustrations and even maps and genealogical tables. And because this book grew out of course Dr. Jones helped develop at Bryn Mawr, it is structured so as to be useful, not only for courses in Cleopatra or the Augustan Age, but for a wide variety of courses in Classics and the Classical tradition. I recommend it highly.

Cleopatra: A Sourcebook is a great collection of abridged sources regarding Queen Cleopatra VII. The evolution of her story is also an interesting read. My only problems with the book came from the charts and maps at the end. The Ptolemaic family tree, though abbreviated, is also inaccurate. The largest mistake shows Mark Antony as Cleopatra's brother! As for the map of Alexandria, the Western city walls are shown to be in the sea. This had to have been a computer design error, but it's kind of sad that no one caught it.