
Cleopatra's palace shimmered with onyx & gold but was richer still in political & sexual intrigue Though her life spanned fewer than forty years it reshaped the contours of the ancient world Famous long before she was notorious Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons Stacy Schiff boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order a generation before the birth of Christ Rich in detail epic in scope Schiff's is a luminous reconstruction of a dazzling life