Ancient writers got out their hater brush for Cleopatra, running one of the ancient world’s most effective smear campaigns. Most Roman writers take pains to make her the villain of their stories. The Romans used her as a scapegoat to explain away two powerful Roman men’s actions – because there’s no WAY big top dogs Julius Caesar and Mark Antony would have done the crazy things they did with her unless she used her feminine wiles to lay down some sexy sorcery! The truth is that few women’s stories have been more brutally revised by sexist haters threatened by a woman’s right to rule. Didn’t she? That’s the Cleopatra the ancient Romans want us to see. Extravagant, self-serving, ruthless: this epic seductress used every magic trick in her lady arsenal to hold onto power, no matter the cost.
You can see her in your mind already, can’t you? Pretty and sultry with her cat-eye makeup, covered head to toe in shiny gold. Cleopatra, the last great queen of Egypt, doesn’t really need an introduction.
