The Bottom Line
Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth, edited by Susan Walker and Peter Higgs, is a lovely coffee table book and guide to the British Museum's exhibit on Cleopatra and her times.
Pros
- Covers unusual aspects of Cleopatra's life
- Beautiful British Museum photographs
- An all-in-one source on Cleo and family
Cons
- Too physically heavy to carry around as a guide book
- Too much Renaissance and modern Cleo
Description
- Eleven essays on the historical Cleopatra, her family, relations with Rome, and her modern image.
- Art history lessons for the public on looking at Ptolemaic art.
- Explains the development of the lopsided reputation of the famous queen.
Guide Review - Book
Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth, edited by Susan Walker and Peter Higgs, is a
collection of eleven essays and photographs of hundreds of artifacts, that represents a collaboration between the Egyptian and Greek and Roman Departments at the British Museum. With 364 full-color plates and 261 black-and-white illustrations, Cleopatra of Egypt is a lavish book meant to be perused at leisure.
Photographs present a wide variety of artifacts from statues of the early Ptolemies to Renaissance paintings of the Egyptian queen's suicide. Suggesting the era rather than the principal characters of the Cleopatra saga, pottery, jewelry, and floor mosaics show the skill and magnificence of the times. Reading through the British Museum's descriptions of the artifacts provides a grounding in the terminology used to describe Egyptian art of the Ptolemaic Dynasty.
