Antony and Cleopatra by Adrian Goldsworthy

Antony and Cleopatra Reviews

• 
  Ian

  During her own time Cleopatra was, politically at least, very much the junior partner in her relationship with Antony, and was entirely dependent on the goodwill of the Romans in order to remain in power. As the author points out though, in the modern world the fascination with Cleopatra far outdoes any interest in Antony. The latter is hardly ever mentioned except when his name is linked with hers. I have the same level of bias myself. When reading this book I found myself more interested in the sections featuring the Egyptian queen.
  
  In recent years there has been a lot of social media noise about Cleopatra’s ethnic background. Goldsworthy takes the traditional view that she was Greek and not Egyptian. We know her paternal ancestry was Macedonian Greek. We don’t know who her mother was, but it’s just speculation to claim, as some have, that she was part Egyptian or black African. Even if, for sake of argument, she did have some African ancestry, her language, culture, and education were Greek. She was apparently multi-lingual though, and could speak Egyptian, the first of her dynasty to do so.
  
  Cleopatra’s realm was wealthy and populous, but by the time of her rule Egypt was a vassal state of Rome. Goldsworthy explains that Cleopatra did not attempt to contest Roman dominance but sought to work with it. The Romans were often happy to rule though client monarchs and for a long period, Cleopatra was successful in persuading first Julius Caesar and then Mark Antony to support her as Queen of Egypt. Indeed Antony allowed her to add Cyprus, Crete, Cilicia and much of Syria to her realm. Interestingly Goldsworthy says that she also wanted Judaea but couldn’t persuade Antony to grant it to her, nor would he let her interfere with that Kingdom’s affairs. The reason was of course that Herod I “had proved a loyal and effective client” and it would have been a political blunder for Antony to have deposed him, even if Herod could not offer everything that Cleopatra could.
  
  The question arises of course, as to the motivations of all parties in the sexual relationships that Cleopatra had with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. I tend to the view that, at least to begin with, sex was part of a package that Cleopatra provided to get the two powerful Romans to do what she wanted. On their side, there must also have been a certain cachet to having the Queen of Egypt as your mistress. Goldsworthy is quite generous and believes there was genuine love and affection between Antony and Cleopatra, and I think Antony’s behaviour in later years tends to support the argument that Cleopatra had become emotionally important to him. The evidence is less clear on Cleopatra’s side, but Goldsworthy points that out that she had 3 children by Antony, arguing that this alone may have created emotional bonds between them.
  
  My rating reflects my personal enjoyment of the book. On the plus side I thought it was a fair-minded assessment, and one that leaves the reader with plenty of talking points. On the downside I found it quite a dry read. It took me a month to finish the book and there’s probably more about Antony than there was about Cleopatra. One thing for sure, it won’t be the last book written on arguably the two most famous lovers in history.
  
  
• 
  Jesús De la Jara

  "La ficción y el drama inventan y alteran libremente; pero en la historia real hubo ambición, orgullo, crueldad, dureza, celos, engaño, violencia y pasión de sobra: ni Antonio ni Cleopatra tuvieron vidas tranquilas. No dejarán de subyugarnos, su historia seguirá contándose una y otra vez, cada generación volverá a recrearla. Lo mismo puede decirse, casi en igual medida, de su retrato más famoso en la ficción, a la vista de diferentes estilos y escenificaciones adoptados en cada nuevo montaje de la obra de Shakespeare: nada que un historiador pueda decir detendrá nunca este proceso, ni falta que hace."
  
  Primero que nada decir que si nos dejamos guiar por la sinopsis o si queremos encontrar una historia del gran amor de Marco Antonio y Cleopatra en este libro probablemente no lo encontrarás y hasta tendrás un amargo sabor de boca. A pesar que me demoré meses en terminarlo, me gustó bastante porque el libro cumple con lo que quería: tener conocimiento de una etapa o mejor dicho de unos personajes que sabía algunas cosas las más importantes pero quería conocer mucho más. El libro te lo da y lo hace muy bien documentado. Aunque debo decir es tan riguroso en sus fuentes que puede hacer la lectura un poco tediosa, pero no se confundan, el libro es entretenido y tiene un buen hilo de la historia, pero por lo menos las anotaciones me distraían mucho porque eran más que todo de la fuente y poco de información interesante extra.
  El libro más que todo nos cuenta las biografías de ambos primero por separado por lo que está en continuo paralelismo y en la etapa real cuando se cruzan sus destinos nos da muchos datos basado en muchas fuentes antiguas con lo cual se construye la historia. El objetivo del autor es presentar estos datos y a veces eso puede marear un poco. El resultado final es real y provechoso pero puede ahogar algunos mitos románticos e incluso de valor y proezas. Tengo que resentir solamente que me pareció un poco corta la guerra final contra Octavio y la descripción de las batallas a lo largo de todo el libro.
  Entre las situaciones que fueron nuevas para mí fue lo bien detallado que el autor nos presenta el ambiente de la Roma de MArco Antonio, de la influencia de su nacimiento y apellido, así como nos da bastantes luces de cómo era el crecimiento de un varón romano a lo largo de su carrera tanto militar como política, te señala las proezas de Marco Antonio, en qué fue sobresaliente, y después también sus más grandes errores y debilidades. En cuanto a Cleopatra la hace ver como una descendiente griega, que de hecho lo era, alejada de la idea de "nacionalismo egipcio" que probablemente nunca tuvo aunque es muy tentador representarla como una real egipcia con todo su misterio y orientalismo. Así mismo sus disputas realmente salvajes con sus hermanos y hermanas y la traición siempre presente.
  Desde luego por el lado de Antonio también sus defectos y vicios con el alcohol son tratados, su violencia y hasta crueldad en algunos aspectos, hubo muchos actos que me sorprendieron un poco como el asesinato de los hijos de Cleopatra por Octavio, o las ejecuciones traidoras luego de ofrecer el perdón de ambos lados. Octavio, desde luego al que siempre he odiado jeje, es pintado realmente como lo fue alguien que supon manejar bastante bien la política de la cuarta guerra civil presentando a Antonio como un débil que era manejado por una egipcia y que se dejaba llevar por su pasión importándole muy poco la grandeza de Roma. Lamentablemente el curso de los acontecimientos y la gran catástrofe del ejército de Antonio del cual no tuvo la suficiente fortaleza para reponerse así como su grado de postración y el recurrir a Cleopatra para reconfortarse me ha decepcionado ahora que conozco realmente la historia. Incluso la idea de la traición de Cleopatra hace que esta biografía sea realmente realista y como digo puede echar abajo algunos mitos (por supuesto no es el único que ya lo ha hecho entre los biógrafos). Aunque como dice el autor en la frase que he copiado, esa realidad exacta nadie la necesita, sobre todo por el impacto que ha tenido la historia a través de generaciones.
• 
  Ton

  This is Goldsworthy’s most recent, most populist – note that the chapter about Lepidus being dropped from the Triumvirate is dubbed “and then there were two” – and (perhaps consequently) least interesting book to date. I’ve read all his works, aside from the shorter to-go editions, and I found this one lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. Perhaps it’s because the couple in the title evoke a certain passion, and Goldsworthy sets out explicitly to squash everything that has been invented about the couple. This shouldn’t surprise me, because his standard approach is to return to the sources and cut through the flights of fancy and invented traditions that generally come with ancient history, from the Punic Wars to Caesar to Antony and Cleopatra. Still, it felt as though his heart wasn’t really in it.
  
  The narrative meanders a bit towards the end, almost as if Antony’s supposed lethargy had a sympathetic effect on the author. Goldsworthy wanted to make this book accessible to a larger audience, and this means that he doesn’t always have or take too much time to explain theories or backgrounds. This is traditionally one of his strengths, but this time he seems to have sacrificed it for pace. As anyone with any position of responsibility knows, you can’t please everyone, and I think that Goldsworthy tried to please too many people, in the end definitely not pleasing me. Perhaps the sales-figures have justified this approach (or will), but I can’t help but wonder.
  
  As for the book itself, it’s not a bad book. It faithfully tracks the lives of Antony and Cleopatra, starting with their ancestors (Antony’s grandfather, and Ptolemy I for Cleopatra). This part of the book is still quite good, and I found the introduction to the Ptolemies and Ptolemaic Egypt particularly insightful.* It was also thoroughly confusing, considering their incestuous dynastic policy. Goldsworthy always takes pleasure from debunking invented traditions, and this book is no exception. He takes the time to point out that the Ptolemies were Greeks from a Greek tradition, and that we do not know what Cleopatra really looked like. Another point he repeatedly makes is that Cleopatra was utterly dependent upon Roman backing, which is why she attached herself to Caesar and Antony. Augustan propaganda has muddied the waters insofar as it served Octavian to paint a picture of Antony as held in thrall by an alien female monarch (three words to send any Roman aristocrat into apoplexy), and Antony himself did not help himself with his increasingly erratic behavior. Furthermore, Goldsworthy points out that luck and opportunity played a part in Antony’s career (for instance he happened to be consul, i.e. in power, when Caesar was murdered) which helped to obscure the fact that he was not as capable as he would like to present himself. Antony seems to have dropped the ball after the disastrous campaign against Parthia, in a way that is hard to explain without giving the impression of lethargy.
  
  In the end, this is a reasonable retelling of a famous episode from ancient history. Goldsworthy is definitely capable, and this book is not bad. However, I don’t think it’s particularly engaging either, which is a pity.
  
  
  * If you who read this review know of a good book on this subject, feel free to let me know.
  
• 
  Liviu

  An excellent historical account of Anthony, Cleopatra, their world and relations, trying hard to distinguish between fact, supposition and fiction and highly recommended for that, though one can still enjoy the many novels with different takes on those times - also very readable and as much of a page-turner as it gets in historical non-fiction books
• 
  Rob Atkinson

  A great dual biography by one of today's leading Classicists, appropriately focusing on the internecine struggle for dominance over the Roman state which led to the collapse of the Republic, and Antony and Cleopatra's role in that struggle. I read this work immediately after Stacey Schiff's much lauded biography of Cleopatra (both were released in 2010) and ultimately found Goldsworthy's a much more satisfying work. Schiff tried to focus exclusively on Cleopatra as her subject, giving the complex terrain of Roman politics a very abbreviated treatment; but the fact is that understanding Cleopatra as the political animal she essentially was requires an in-depth understanding of how dependent the rulers of Ptolemaic Egypt were on Roman patronage, and how that required much fancy footwork on Cleopatra's part to remain sympathetic to whomever was dominant in that ongoing struggle. Both she and her father Ptolemy Auletes owed their thrones to Roman interventions, and their hold on power was backed up by Roman legions; and as the client-queen ruler of the East's richest and most fertile realm, she had constant demands placed on her by the conflicting sides in the ongoing Roman Civil Wars (Pompey vs. Caesar, Octavian and Antony vs. Caesar's murderers Cassius and Brutus, and finally Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus) vs. Antony. After successfully navigating these dangerous waters, she was brought down by her close association -- now rendered largely irrevocable by their three children -- with Antony, which proved a losing gamble. Even so, Goldsworthy sees a more machiavellian Cleopatra trying to play both sides as Antony's fortunes plummeted after his defeat at Actium, and he makes a compelling argument. While popular with his men, Antony appears to have been rather hapless as a General, and Cleopatra was inevitably more an accessory than a deciding factor in both the fate of Rome, and the fate of Egypt itself. Goldsworthy's astute anlysis makes this clear, and while it may disappoint romantics who wish to rehabilitate Cleopatra's role in history, is likely much closer to the truth.
  
  
• 
  Mujerlechuga

  Excelente, como todo lo de Adrian Goldsworthy. Muy ameno y bien documentado.
• 
  Kavita

  I really started reading this to learn about Cleopatra (and Egypt) and her relationship with Rome and specifically, Antony. Instead, I was treated to mindnumbingly endless Roman politics and wars. It's probably well-researched but the subject simply could not hold my interest. I've been struggling with it for about a year now. Time to say goodbye.
• 
  Jerome Otte

  A well-written, well-researched and accessible work, more history than biography.
  
  Goldsworthy’s narrative is pretty reasonable, and he doesn’t try to romanticize Antony and Cleopatra’s relationship, which was a political disaster from the start. He instead focuses on their ambitions and political calculations, and how they maneuvered for both power and survival in unstable political environments, and he does his very best job to bring these people to life. Antony comes off as an immature, naive, self-absorbed, entitled and not particularly gifted.
  
  Cleopatra was more astute politically, and aware that she could manipulate Antony into doing her bidding, but Goldsworthy argues that she wouldn’t have gone anywhere without Antony’s favor and power. “Whether we like it or not, Cleopatra was not really that important,” he reminds us. Goldworthy notes that, long before Cleoptra was born, the Ptolemids had become dependent on Roman power. “Cleopatra only became queen because her father was placed back in power by a Roman army. Even after that, she would have been dead or exiled by her early twenties were it not for Caesar’s intervention. Cleopatra only had importance in the wider world through her Roman lovers.” He describes how readily Egyptian leaders appealed to Rome for support in their disputes over the throne, how Egypt’s royal army supported Cleopatra’s brother, and how after the Alexandrian War her power was enforced mainly by Roman troops. He also suggests that Octavian found her death more convenient than upsetting.
  
  The narrative is engaging, Goldsworthy’s writing is clear, and he does a great job describing the history of republican Rome and Ptolemaic Egypt. He also does a good job explaining what we know about Antony’s life before he met Cleopatra. Goldsworthy stresses that so much of what was written down about Antony and Cleopatra was written at a time when Octavian was emperor, so he is cautious with the source material (some readers might find the book a little dull for that reason) As usual, Goldsworthy has a solid grasp of the ancient world’s history.
  
  At one point Goldsworthy writes that Octavian was born in August (not September?) and that Brutus was engaged to Caesar’s daughter Julia. This is possible, but is there any actual evidence? He also writes that Cicero was responsible for the death of Lepidus (it was Lentulus) There are also a few typos on the pictures and maps. But those are the only quibbles I had.
  
  A concise, insightful and entertaining work.
• 
  Johanne

  A hefty debunking of the Antony & Cleopatra myth. This book goes painstakingly through the lives of both of them and considers what real detail we have about them, their actions and their motivations. Where we don't have detail he discusses the theories and possible explanations making it clear that these are just possibilities. What he does do is to put both if them firmly in the political and social world of the late Roman republic and uses this information to explain why they operated as they did. Far from being a great love story this is a great political story about attempts to get & retain power in the turbulent end of the Republic. In between this story is also the tale of one on Antony's wives Fulvia - a woman who would make a good story in her own right having been deeply involved in many key events at the fall of the republic.
  Goldsworthy is firmly in the Cleopatra as Macedonian / Greek rather than Egyptian / African camp for reasons which he details and which seem most likely to me too. It uses good scholarship to do down the Cleopatra as murderer theory that Neil Oliver did a TV documentary on too. Although it should be said that Ptolemaic family relations are complex to say the least. All the good stories are here and discussed; Cleopatra's arrival to meet Julius Caesar, the snacking on the pear earring and of course the asp. Highly recommended
• 
  Ivy

  5 stars
  
  Nice to have a book written on Antony and Cleopatra. The author was very good at describing the information.
  
  Can't wait to read more of his books!!
• 
  Nikki

  Overall I was not a fan of the author's writing style. Not only does he awkwardly transition from topic to topic or even paragraph to paragraph, but he also makes it difficult to distinguish which "he" is referencing numerous times. His style was not always clear, often irritating to read and frequently repetitive. His preferred topic was also clearly military strategy, but that was not meant to be the focus of this book.
  
  I will say this, Goldsworthy included more information on Antony than other books including him I have read to date. But his treatment of Cleopatra was frustrating, especially as she is right there in the title but does not come into play very often in the book. When she is mentioned, it is often in a repetitive nature, such as insisting she needed Rome to maintain power but never really going beyond this. He also at one point says that Cleopatra was "uncritical" and lively with regards to Antony. I'm sorry but this just sounds like some cliche male fantasy of what a woman is and not how one actually is. Cleopatra, ruler of a nation, was apparently just a party to be around. Okay. He also does what I hate in NF, which is making assumptions on the people's part. He says things like the relationship was passionate but mostly political, Antony did not intend to never see Octavia again, he did not mean to stay with Cleopatra and so on and so forth. He also addresses Cleopatra and Antony's relationship as being shallow but much of the data put forth says otherwise. Listen, we cannot determine the real realities of other people's relationships even today with Twitter and FB and all that, yet authors continue to believe they can speak for beings from 2,000 years ago. Just stop.
• 
  Giekes

  Wat mij betreft het minst goede boek dat ik al las van Goldsworthy. Het lijkt op een essay over de mythe van Cleopatra en Marcus Antonius dat enorm is aangevuld met fragmenten die de auteur al eerder gebruikte. 'Marcus Antonius en Cleopatra' geeft mij een beetje een kunstmatige indruk in vergelijking met andere boeken van de auteur.
  Waar bij 'Caesar' het plezier van het schrijven, vertellen en onderzoeken duidelijk bleek, vind ik dit hier minder terug. Het blijft natuurlijk een erg goed gedocumenteerd, geschiedkundig verantwoord en beredeneerd geschreven werk dat bijvoorbeeld de lezer steeds duidelijk maakt hoe weinig we eigenlijk weten van de historische Cleopatra (een veelgebruikte Macedonische/Hellenistische naam trouwens).
  
  Ik heb dit boek wel met plezier gelezen, maar geef 'slechts' drie sterren, vooral wegens de overlapping met 'Caesar', wat ik een beter boek vond en 'Augustus' van dezelfde auteur - dit is een persoonlijke keuze. En misschien ben ik ook wel beïnvloed door het feit dat de historische figuur Caesar veel intrigerender en interessanter was dan Marcus Antonius. Ik heb de indruk dat dit boek er vooral gekomen is op aandringen van de uitgeverij... Wie nog niets anders van Goldsworthy las, kan gerust een ster 'bijtellen' bij mijn rating.
  
• 
  Omar Amer

  The book was a nice read. I'd read the Punic wars for Adrian Goldsworhty before and had really enjoyed it. The main draw back was the lack of prose. I believe both Mary Beard and Tom Holland have a certain style that's far more engaging than MR. Goldsworthy. I do, however, believe that many of the analysis presented in this book was very revealing especially in Cleopatra's relationships. She was no pathetic client ruler, she was a survivor. And was willing to do everything in her power to stay in power.
  
  I had never read enough about the mythological Antony being a brilliant general. I only knew he was one of Caesar's close subordinates. That's why I didn't have a hard time getting to know the real Antony.
  
  All in all, I wish the book was more engaging. I have to give credit to the twin narratives, giving each of the title characters a chapter, until they finally intertwine.
• 
  Elysium

  Book was well written and informative but strayed from the topic too often. It told about general political situation in Rome and stuff. I don't know much about Rome and all the names just got me confused.
• 
  Edward

  Adrian Goldsworthy writes some of the best biographic ancient histories and this book is no different. It covers the tandem lives of Antony and Cleopatra, entwining both stories gradually in alternating chapters before combining when the two spent more and more time together. What is really admirable about this account, and the rest of Goldsworthy's accounts, is how plain and realistic he is concerning the ancient sources. Plutarch, Arrian, and Suetonius don't all agree and those points they do agree on may be based on some earlier source lost to us today. Evidence for Cleopatra's upbringing and lifestyle is scant. What Goldsworthy is able to write, though, is extraordinary in bringing together these different fragments and using some base conjecture to make educated guesses concerning the nature of the girl's life. In many ways, this does take away from the overall biographies. There aren't well-documented anecdotes, nor is there a titanic clash between decorated generals.
  
  Goldsworthy admirably rejects the many romanticised accounts of Cleopatra on account of evidence. Was she beautiful? We don't know. She had some coins stamped, and they showed typical Ptolemaic characteristics (hooked nose etc.), but were these political? We don't know. What about her skin colour? We don't know. We know she was descended from Macedonian nobility, and that, due to lots of incest, her bloodline was pretty narrow. But what did ancient Macedonians look like? We don't know. Did she take on the Roman Empire? No, she was a client Queen who relied on marrying two of her brothers to help keep her throne. She also relied on the two Roman men in her life to keep her Kingdom. First, Caesar, who intervened in her civil war and restored her. And, second, Antony, who was a triumvir, and held the greatest power of any man in the east. Keep his favour, and she can keep her kingdom.
  
  If anything, I learnt far more about Antony from Goldsworthy's account. His upbringing, lack of father figures, youth drinking and debauchery. He was a "victim" of lucky circumstances. It just so happened that in the year Caesar was assassinated, Antony was co-consul (and had a province and army). That made him a power player, and his ruthless exploitation of the circumstances of the following years propelled him to become one of the most powerful men on the planet. Antony, at the end of the day, was an incompetent general. By the time of Actium, it was clear he was suffering from depression. Goldsworthy makes the point that Cleopatra, and the love Antony had for her, was the only thing keeping him going.
  
  The writing of their respective deaths is very touching and respectful. Both Antony and Cleopatra separately requested that they be interred alongside one another's ashes. There they should stay.
  4/5.
• 
  Noah Goats

  I've read a couple of Goldsworthy's other books about ancient Rome and I really enjoyed them. He's a good writer, and in Antony and Cleopatra he has interesting subjects. Objectively speaking this book seemed fine, and yet, somehow it didn't click with me and opening it up seemed like a chore sometimes. It might be my fault as a reader, I didn't love this one.
• 
  Igor

  In reality not much information about Antony, specially, Cleopatra, to justify a book so long. Half would have done. Most of the material is concerning contextualization. Which is always good, but this time I found it longer than necessary.
• 
  Becky

  Antony and Cleopatra with an emphasis on Antony. I do not usually read non-fiction. I thought the book would be more about Egypt and Cleopatra. Apparently Cleopatra is not Egyptian, she is Greek and not as significant in history as I thought. She is more of a lover of highly important Roman political figures. The book was mostly about Roman history. While I did not particularly enjoy this read, I learned alot and gave it four stars. The book was well written and very informative.
• 
  Tony

  As numerous other commentators have stated, "Antony & Cleopatra" is not principally about Antony or Cleopatra. For instance, these individuals do not even enter the narrative until roughly 20% into the book. Rather, this is a far more general history of the end of the Roman republic and the civil wars that followed. The book offers a few interesting insights on these events--e.g., explaining how Antony had far less military experience than is generally believed--but is generally unremarkable.
• 
  David Elkin

  Good overview
  
  A well researched account of the two figures. No sensational portrayals just what facts known and unknown. His scholarship remains outstanding.
  
• 
  Dillon S

  Great perspective on the different lives of Antony and Cleopatra without all the bloated hollywood made-up drama. Goldsworthy provides a perspective from as many different sources as he can, and tells Antonys and Cleopatra's story in an easy to follow way. Definitely recommend reading his book on Augustus right after this to get a full story of the events.
• 
  Derek Weese

  Adrian Goldsworthy is, possibly, the best classical historian out there. Being British his writing style is superb and he refuses to write in an elitist manner without losing sight of the fact that he is a Ph.D and so is also expected to know what he's talking about and to analyze it thoroughly without losing sight of the fact that history is a story. And this book: 'Antony and Cleopatra' is no exception.
  Rather than a book which focuses on the military exploits of the period, though those are good too, or a book that focuses on the cut-throat nature of ancient politics (CNN would have had a field day) this book rather focuses on the lives of two of the more interesting characters in the time period of the fall of the Roman Republic and the Birth of Empire.
  Marc Antony was a man born in to the Antonian noble family in Rome, hence he became eligible to run for senatorial offices which he did. He is a fun figure, on the surface, to read about. Brash, direct, vulgar, lacking in refined intellect but full of ambition and aggression as well as one hell of a ladies man Antony would have fit in well in modern American society. (Perhaps why the many Europeans like to point at us and call us the new Rome...) He serves, albeit without distinction, under both Gaibinus and Julius Caesar as a subordinate commander though Caesar does reward richly for his service rendered. Despite the story told in the Elizabeth Taylor movie 'Cleopatra' Antony spent more time as a politician and a rabid fornicator than he does as a soldier. And as a soldier Goldsworthy points out that Antony was at best a mediocre commander of men.
  Cleopatra is the last in a long line of Macedonian Pharaohs who have ruled Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Ptolemy was one of Alexander's finest subordinate generals and upon Alexanders death his Empire is split into several large pieces known as the Successor States who then pick up the past time of beating each others brains in for the next two centuries until both Persian (Parthian) and Roman power destroys or envelopes them. The Ptolemy's, however are survivors. And when Rome conquers Greece itself in 149 BC and then smashes the armies of the Seleucids in battles in Turkey and Lebanon and Palestine (which allows the Persians to take out the rest soon thereafter) the Ptolemy's are still there. Albeit they only control Egypt, parts of modern day Lebanon and Israel as well as the Gaza Strip and the Island of Cyprus. Cleopatra is therefore Macedonian in her ethnicity as is her entire ruling family who had the nasty habit of being largely inbred...Cleopatra herself is a well educated, attractive and ambitious young woman. Her own story is actually more interesting than Marc Antony's seeing as how Antony was, largely, a subordinate of someone far more intelligent than he was. Eventually the two find each other and either form a relationship based upon mutual benefit or there really was love involved...hard to say with certainty.
  Regardless it's a story for the ages and it ends spectacularly tragically. All in all a great book and one I reccommend. Then again, anything Goldsworthy writes is darn good.
• 
  Jim Coughenour

  I picked up this book for two "literary" reasons – as background for reading Shakespeare's play, and (more distantly) because of Cavafy's
  haunting poem (which Leonard Cohen transformed into
  an equally haunting song). Goldsworthy definitely enriched my understanding – and although he's writing history, not literature, it's history of a high order. Antony comes off as even more of a lunk than I'd imagined (Shakespeare, Cavafy and Richard Burton all did him a favor), but it's impossible not to sympathize with Cleopatra, who was "more intelligent, and certainly far better educated, than Antony." She was the end of the Ptolemies, and personified the end of an era as Rome finally consolidated its empire under Octavian. She did what she had to do, brilliantly for the most part, and failed spectacularly. Goldsworthy's book is satisfying from beginning to end.
• 
  Andrew

  I have not gone wrong with Adrian Goldsworthy yet. A highly enjoyable read about two epic intertwining lives at a crucial moment in history ... minus the myth-making, propaganda, and romanticising.
• 
  Come Musica

  Prima volta che leggo questa tragedia.
  Toglie il fiato.
  Shakespeare è un grande.
• 
  Fern

  Rather stodgy history with occasional flashes of male condescension in the depiction of Cleopatra.
• 
  William Lawrence

  I'm really enjoying this book; Antony and Cleopatra. Mark Antony was one of Julius Caesars top lieutenants, or legates, during the Gallic Campaigns and would rise to basically being second in command with Caesar. In fact, later during the Civil War, when Caesar went off to Egypt to chase down a defeated Pomey and the traitors to the Republic, he left Mark Antony behind to run the capital, Rome itself. Although a questionable decision as Antony was a far better solider than politican/statesman, it does nonetheless, highlight Caesars abiding trust in the man. After Caesars death, he would gice a rousing speech and oration that led the masses of Rome into a huge riot where the citizenry roamed the streets looking for any trace of his murderers, setting fires and general mayhem, even burning down the Senate House. Concluding one of histories most ill-planned crimes against one of of histories greatest leaders, and humanities greatest asset, next to Jesus Christ, of course.
  
  Antony would go on from here to battle Octavius, later known as Augustus, and the Senate for control of the populares, the party of Caesar at this point and political control of Rome. This would climax with the battle of Actium, in which Octavius defeats Antony and Cleopatra in a lopsided Naval engagement, securing for Octavius, or the August one, the first citizen, control of and political domination of Rome. While he tried his best to pretend the Republic was still a functioning political entity, in reality, the Roman Empire had been born.
  
  This book highlights Mark Antonys roll in all this, starting with a brisk overview of his early life and family, his time with Caesar, and his time with the second triumverite, where he would take charge of the East, where he meets our second protagonist, histories most famous fem-fatal, hell histories most memorable and well known female, Cleopatra.
  
  Interesting side note, she had an earlier affair with Julius Caesar, in fact she was in Rome when he was assassinated, which led to the birth of a Son, one Caesar never officially recognized, but many knew was his son. She even named him after Caesar. Upon his death however she knew it was time to leave, and thus headed back to Egypt, where she would later meet, and spark a romantic relationship with Mark Antony. This event caused one of Octavius's most depraved acts, as he would kill the boy to ensure he didn't become a political rival down the line. Despite all the glorious and noble deeds of Octavius, this one is one of the few truly depravared acts he would commit.
  
  Read this book though, much of this review focuses on the history surrounding the events, and less on the events of the book itself. It's a real page turner by nonFiction/Historical's gold standard author, Adrian Goldsworthy. It covers with just the right amount of detail both of these fascinating people, still household names 2,000 years later. Not bad for the losers of Rome’s second great Civil War. Not bad for anyone really.
• 
  Annabelle

  I was eleven or twelve when I first came across Mark Antony in a Classics Illustrated comic book of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. And this being a comic book with a one-dimensional set of characters, a child naturally leans to sympathy for Caesar and scorn for the assassins, whose motives were never fleshed out (much later, having read a few books on Julius Caesar, their motives remain convoluted). It also follows that I took Marc Antony's moving eulogy ("Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears...") as gospel, historical truth. Many years and a couple of books on the Roman Empire later, and my disgust has replaced my admiration for the boor.
  
  Adrian Goldsworthy was able to write an informative and compelling enough book on Antony and Cleopatra in spite of limited historical and literary material to work with. The sibling-marrying-and killing Ptolomies were Macedonians, not Egyptians. And for romantics who continue to perceive Antony and Cleopatra as star-crossed lovers, know that Goldsworthy unmasks them for the manipulative opportunists they are. The partnership was anchored primarily on expediency and greed, passion secondary. After the death of her protector Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, a product of Macedonian generations of incestuous unions, replete with fratricide, sororicide, uxoricide, and mariticide--needed continued Roman support to secure Egypt from invaders, interlopers, and Alexandria home court uprisings. Enter Antony, given to excess and braggadocio, triumvir of Rome, invited to plunder, carte blanche, Alexandria and a willing queen. Goldsworthy also sheds light on Cleopatra's children with Antony, a subject I was most curious about after reading a snippet from an earlier book, which only mentioned she had twins, a boy and a girl, with Antony. The twins were named Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II, who went on to become queen of Mauretania. And they had a third child, Ptolemy Philadelphos. All three survived Cleopatra, who, contrary to Hollywood's Antony and Cleopatra, had actually survived Antony's death by a week; Goldsworthy seems to feel the jury is still out whether she and her two slaves died from an asp's sting, a cobra's bite, or poison.
  
  In most non-fiction and especially historical fiction I've read, I tend to stumble into something redeemable in the subject, whether this may go into explaining the character's motives and behavior, which history had long since labeled despicable. An example would be the oft-vilified Henry VIII. But I felt no spark of sentiment for these two: For Anthony, not after Actium. Ditto for Cleopatra, whose every move epitomized the inbred Ptolemy.
  
  Lastly, I've always found the Julius Caesar-Cleopatra love team more intriguing. This book validates my sentiments.