For anyone interested in further reading on Kleopatra or the ancient world, here is a partial bibliography. I have starred some of my favorites for the general reader.
Adkins, Leslie and Roy. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. New York: Facts on File, 1994.
*Anderson, Bonnie S. and Zinsser, Judith P. A History of Their Own: Women in Europe from Prehistory to the Present, Volume I. New York: Perennial Library, 1989. (Originally published by Harper & Row, 1988.)
Architecture of the World. Edited by Henri Stierlin et al. Germany: Taschen Books.
—The Roman Empire
—Egypt
Bowman, Alan K. Egypt After the Pharaohs. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
Buchan, John. Augustus. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1937.
Cambridge Ancient History. Volumes VII, IX, X.
*Cantarella, Eva.
—Bisexuality in the Ancient World. Translated by Carmac O’Cuilleanain. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
—Pandora’s Daughters: The Role and Status of Women in Greek and Roman Antiquity.
Translated by Maureen B. Fant. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press:
1987. Originally published as L’ambiguo malanno by Editori Riuniti, 1981.
Cleopatra’s Egypt: Age of the Ptolemies. The Brooklyn Museum, 1989.
Drews, Robert. Chapter Thirteen of a manuscript-in-progress of Greek History.
Ellis, Walter. Ptolemy of Egypt. London: Routledge, 1994.
*Empereur, Jean-Yves. Alexandria Rediscovered. New York: George Braziller, 2000.
Firth, John B. Augustus Caesar and the Organisation of the Empire of Rome. New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1972. (First published as part of the Heres of the Nations series in 1902.)
Foreman, Laura. Cleopatra’s Palace: In Search of a Legend. New York: Discovery Books, 1999.
*Forster, E. M. Alexandria: A History and Guide. New York: Doubleday, 1961. (Third Edition)
Fox, Robin Lane. Alexander the Great. London: Penguin, 1986.
*Fraser, Antonia. The Warrior Queens. New York: Knopf, 1988.
Fraser, P. M. Ptolemaic Alexandria. Volumes I & II. Oxford: Oxford University Press at Clarendon, 1972.
Frazer, James George. The Golden Bough. New York: Macmillan, 1922.
Gager, John G. (ed.) Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Gelzer, Matthias. Caesar: Politician and Statesman. Translated by Basil Blackwell. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.
*Grant, Michael.
—Cleopatra. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1992. (Originally published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd., 1972.)
—Julius Caesar. New York: M. Evans & Co., 1992. (Originaly published in 1969.)
—From Alexander to Cleopatra: The Hellenistic World. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.
—Atlas of Classical History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
*Graves, Robert.
—The Greek Myths. Volumes I & II.
—The White Goddess.
Hamer, Mary. Signs of Cleopatra: History, Politics, Representation. New York: Routledge, 1993.
*Hughes-Hallett, Lucy. Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams and Distortions. New York: First HarperPerennial edition, 1991. (Originally published by Harper & Row, 1990.)
*Huzar, Eleanor Goltz. Mark Antony, A Biography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1978. *The best biography of Antony written in a century, but it is out of print and hard to find.
James, Peter and Thorpe, Nick. Ancient Inventions. New York: Ballantine Books, 1994.
Jones, A. H. M. Augustus. London: Chatto & Windus, 1970.
Kaster, Jospeh. The Wisdom of Ancient Egypt: Writings from the Time of the Pharaohs. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1993. (Originally published in 1968 asThe Wings of the Falcon.)
Kiefer, Otto. Sexual Life in Ancient Rome. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1993.
Licht, Hans. Sexual Life in Ancient Greece. New York: Dorset Press, 1993.
Macurdy, Grace. Hellenistic Queens: A Study of Woman-Power in Macedonia, Seleucid, Syria, and Ptolemaic Egypt. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1932.
Marrou, H. I. A History of Education in Antiquity. Translated by George Lamb. New York: New American Library, 1964.
Meier, Christian. Caesar. Translated by David McClintock. London: HarperCollins, 1995. Originally published in German by Severin und Siedler, 1982.
Nussbaum, Martha C. The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
*Pomeroy, Sarah B.
—Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Schocken, 1975.
—Women in Hellinistic Egypt: From Alexander to Cleopatra. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990. (Originally published by Schocken books, 1984.)
Richardson, Peter. Herod the Great: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans. Columbia, S. C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1996.
Roman Poetry and Propaganda in the Age of Augustus. Edited by Anton Powell. London: Bristol Classical Press, 1992.
Samson, Julia. Nefertiti and Cleopatra. London: Rubicon Press, 1985.
Shaw, Bernard. Caesar and Cleopatra, with “Notes to Caesar and Cleopatra” and “Better Than Shakespear?” New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1928. (Originally published in 1900.)
*Shelton, JoAnn. As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Sihler, E. G. Cicero of Arpinum: A Political and Literary Biography. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1914.
Tannahill, Reay. Sex in History. New York: Stein and Day, 1980.
*Tyldesley, Joyce.
—Daughters of Isis. London: Penguin Books, 1995.
—Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh. London: Viking, 1996.
*Volkmann, Hans. Cleopatra: A Study in Politics and Propaganda. Translated by T. J. Cadoux. London: Elek Books Ltd., 1958.
Wacholder, Ben Zion. Nicolaus of Damascus. University of California Publications in History. Volume 75. Berkely and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1962.
*Walker, Barbara G. The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1983.
*Walker, Susan and Higgs, Peter. Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth. London: The British Museum Press, 2001.
Weigall, Arthur. The Life and Times of Cleopatra: A Study in the Origin of the Roman Empire. New York: Putnam, 1924.
Witt, R.E. Isis in the Graeco-Roman World. New York: Cornell University Press, 1971.
Zanker, Paul. The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus. Translated by Alan Shapiro. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988.
ANCIENT SOURCES
(I am not a scholar; therefore, I do not generally recommend translations. But I have used the Loeb Classical Library editions of the ancient sources whenever possible. Penguin Classics editions are usually reliable, and for Euripides, I recommend the Greene and Lattimore translations.)
Appian. Rom an History: Civil War.
Apulieus. The Golden Ass. Translation by Robert Graves.
Cicero: Letters to Atticus
—The Phillipics
—On Moral Duties
—The Speeches, particularly For Caelius
Cassius Dio. The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus.
Julius Caesar. Civil War
Catullus. The Complete Poems.
Euripides. The Bacchae.
Herodotus. The History.
Homer.
—The Illiad
—The Odyssey
Josephus. The Jewish War.
Martial. Epigrams. Volumes I & II. Loeb.
Nicolaus of Damascus. Life of Augustus. Edited and translated by Jane Bellemore. Bristol: Bristol Classical Press, 1984.
Plutarch.
—Lives, Volumes I and II. The Dryden translation edited and revised b Arthur Hugh Clough. New York: Modern Library, 1992. (Especially Life of Caesar, Live of Alexander, Life of Pompey, and Life of Antony. The latter includes the only extent “biography” of Kleopatra from the ancient sources.)
—Selected Essays, edited and translated by T. G. Tucker. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913.
Gaius Seutonius Tranquillus. The Twelve Caesars. Translated by Robert Graves. London: Penguin Books, 1957.
Strabo. Geograpby. Volume III. Translated with notes by C. Hamilton and W. Falconer. London: G. Bell & Sons, 1915.
Thucydides. The Pelopponesian Wars.
Virgil. The Aeneid.
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