• Cleopatra

  • A Life
  • By: Stacy Schiff
  • Narrated by: Robin Miles
  • Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (1,589 ratings)

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Cleopatra  By  cover art

Cleopatra

By: Stacy Schiff
Narrated by: Robin Miles
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Publisher's summary

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt.

Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator.

Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and—after his murder—three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since.

Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra's supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff 's is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.

©2010 Stacy Schiff (P)2010 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Stacy Schiff does a rare thing: She gives us a book we'd miss if it didn't exist."—Wall Street Journal

"A masterpiece."—Daily Beast

"Captivating...Ms. Schiff strips away the accretions of myth that have built up around the Egyptian queen and plucks off the imaginative embroiderings of Shakespeare, Shaw and Elizabeth Taylor. In doing so, she gives us a cinematic portrait of a historical figure far more complex and compelling than any fictional creation, and a wide, panning, panoramic picture of her world."—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

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What listeners say about Cleopatra

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Save your credits

I can't believe I wasted a credit on this book. It reads like a dull history book, yet isn't even based on facts. I would love nothing better than to get my credit back :(

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very captivating.

Where does Cleopatra rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is great because it is informative yet novel-like.

What did you like best about this story?

This story is mostly informative. It is mostly a defense for Cleopatra, but it tries to summarize everyone's point of view about her (including negative views). The author is mostly unbiased about Antony, Cleopatra and Caesar. She may be biased against Octavian, but she talks little about him.

What about Robin Miles’s performance did you like?

Enjoyable

Was there a moment in the book that particular moved you?

Yes, of course. The Battle of Actium, the tale of Antony fishing and the final moments of Antony and Cleopatra.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous - Greatly Exceeded Expectatiions

The author's maticulously researched and written work not only well portrayed the events of two thousand years ago but also described the characters thoroughly. The narrator skillfully place emphasis and paced the reading pleasingly. I have recommended this audiobook to my friends enthusiastically.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

I wanted to love this book, and I fully expected to. Given all the glowing reviews, and the subject, it seemed like a slam dunk to me, and I downplayed any uncomplimentary reviews.

Well, an hour and a half into listening, and I reluctantly have to say that it is hugely disappointing. I appreciate the writing and, as a window on the world as it was back then, it has its place. But to center it as the story of Cleopatra is to take a short story and stretch it into a full length biography by padding page after page after page with sidebar comments and allusions.

It is what it is. No problems with that. But it is not what it claims to be. Too bad!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Fact overload

If you're a big fan of biographies, perhaps this is the book for you ---- way too many facts and even those seemed it bit embellished. Good material but so much is unknown about Cleopatra's life that the holes and missing details caused the story to lose some life.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Comprehensive and Entertaining History

This is an excellent historical biography of Cleopatra, that great Egyptian Queen who has inspired our fantasies throughout the ages. I cannot speak to any images/photographs included since I listened to the Audible audiobook, but Robin Miles' narration is perfect and expertly weaves through Schiff's superb sentences.

Delve into the rise of Cleopatra as an icon, a clever politician, showman and goddess during her reign, sift through the Roman intrigue that significantly defined her, and wallow in the emotional circumstances leading to the fall of Alexandria. Where does she lie now? Next to Marc Anthony, in the analogs of history and literature, and in the hearts and minds of all who encounter her.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Not a good listen

I walk when I listen to books and this one just didn't make it for me. The listening is very intense. If my mind wandered at all, I missed someone being murdered or some emperor taking over a country. Have a history buff friend who read the book and she loved it but said yes, she was going to her dictionary on a regular basis with this one. Not a good audible one for me.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

One of the Best

Definately one of the very best audible books I've listened to over the 8 years I've been listening. This book was not only fascinating but it was well written and well recorded. I totally loved it!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

BOOOOORING!!!!!

Bought this book, because the author was on Jon Stewart and seemed interesting. BIG mistake. Incredibly boring. Only buy if you need something to put you to sleep!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A little disappointed

There had been so much hype about the book that I had raised expectations. Cleopatra and the other "characters" seemed a little flat and not very exciting.

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1 person found this helpful