'Brilliant' Antonia Fraser, Sunday Times

'This shimmering study ... brilliant and wily' Marina Warner, Observer

Winner of the FAWCETT PRIZE and EMILY TOTH AWARD

In the 2000 years since her death Cleopatra has been re-created over and over again by poets, artists and filmmakers, each time in a form that fits the prejudices and yearnings of the age that produced it. To Chaucer she was the model of a good wife, while to Cecil B.De Mille she was 'the wickedest woman in history'.

This book is about the real Cleopatra, the most powerful woman in her world, but also about the legion of imaginary Cleopatras and about the sexual, racial and political messages they carry.