Few personalities from classical antiquity are more famous-yet more poorly understood-than Cleopatra VII queen of Egypt. In this major biography Duane Roller reveals that Cleopatra was in fact a learned & visionary leader whose overarching goal was always the preservation of her dynasty & kingdom. Roller's authoritative account is the first to be based solely on primary materials from the Greco-Roman period: literary sources Egyptian documents (Cleopatra's own writings) & representations in art & coinage produced while she was alive. His compelling portrait of the queen illuminates her prowess as a royal administrator who managed a large & diverse kingdom extending from Asia Minor to the interior of Egypt as a naval commander who led her own fleet in battle & as a scholar & supporter of the arts. Even her love affairs with Julius Caesar & Marcus Antonius-the source of her reputation as a supreme seductress who drove men to their doom-were carefully crafted state policies: she chose these partners to insure the procreation of successors who would be worthy of her distinguished dynasty. That Cleopatra ultimately lost to her Roman opponents Roller contends in no way diminishes her abilities. Roller tells his tale smoothly & accessibly... The resulting portrait is that of a complex many-sided figure a potent Hellenistic ruler who could move the tillers of power as skillfully as any man & one far & nobly removed from the 'constructed icon' of popular imagination." -The New York Times Book Review "A rich account of late Ptolemaic culture." -The New Yorker " Offers a superb panorama of the society & culture of late Ptolemaic Egypt with vivid sketches of the (remarkably vigorous) intellectual life of Cleopatra's Alexandria & the structural instabilities of the late Ptolemaic state." -Times Literary Supplement " Besides providing a compelling story & breathing fresh air into a heretofore two-dimensional caricature from history Roller's ' Cleopatra' provides an interesting commentary on the attitudes still prevalent towards women who rule." -Christian Science Monitor"