In Cleopatra: A Life, Stacy Schiff, a Pulitzer Prize profitable writer, has written a biography that not solely knowledgeable me about one among historical past’s most necessary rulers, but in addition gave me a perspective on the political, non secular, cultural, and financial circumstances of the many years previous and into the NT period that I beforehand didn’t have.
Cleopatra’s demise in 30 BC marked the top of each the Ptolemaic dynasty and the Hellenistic age. Hers was fairly a dramatic finish. However earlier than that ultimate scene, Schiff tells the story of an individual who lived an incredible life. From BC 48, till her demise, Cleopatra reigned because the queen of Egypt and the ruler over the best Ptolemaic empire for the reason that second century BC. All through her reign, she confirmed herself to be a superb politician, navy strategist, and conversationalist. Others had been consistently beguiled by her allure and her eloquence. Cleopatra presided over the richest empire on this planet—not solely by way of cash but in addition artwork, structure, science, and expertise. She spoke 9 languages (paradoxically Latin not being one among her greatest), outwitted essentially the most highly effective rulers of different nations, and bore kids to 2 of essentially the most highly effective males on this planet, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. In brief, she was a drive to be reckoned with.
Schiff is an astute historian and sumptuous storyteller. She attracts from a wide range of sources (Plutarch, Dio, Appian, Josephus, and quite a few others) to assemble Cleopatra’s story. Extraordinarily conscious of the holes, biases, and fictions that the sources current, Schiff is at all times cautious to judge them as greatest that she will be able to, whilst she constructs her story by way of them. The result’s a biography that’s fascinating to learn and deeply informative for non-specialists.
These within the NT will discover this ebook extremely related as a result of it immerses you within the tradition, politics, and faith of the age into which Jesus could be born lower than three many years after Cleopatra’s demise. You study, for instance, of the huge variations between Alexandria and Rome, east and west and the cultural clashes between them. You learn the way the Roman empire got here to dominate the complete Mediterranean area and eclipse the glories of the Hellenistic age. You study concerning the life and background and the rise to energy of Herod the Nice, and the half that he performs on this story. That is insightful background to have once you run throughout him within the NT. The identical factor might be mentioned of Octavian (later referred to as Caesar Augustus). By studying Cleopatra: A Life, you come to understand how the varied actors on this story—Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Octavian, Herod, and lots of extra—got here to after which fell from energy. All this historical past and tradition kinds the background, taken without any consideration information of the authors of the books and the those that we meet within the NT—Jesus, the apostles, and all of the others named within the Gospels and Epistles. If nothing else, it’s useful to get a glimpse into that world that’s gone and distant. Schiff has performed a implausible job opening that door for us.
