There are few ancient women as well-known as the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. However, most of what we know about her comes from sources that were edited and censored by her enemies. She has been portrayed as a manipulative seductress whose influence destroyed her powerful lovers, but is that actually accurate? Tune in and find out how Hollywood flops, cadaver theft, and centuries of incest play a role in the story.

Here is the amazing entrance scene from 1963’s Cleopatra:

 Works Cited

Ashton, Sally-Ann. Cleopatra and Egypt. Blackwell, 2008.

Lucan, and Susanna Morton. Braund. Lucan: Civil War. Oxford University Press, 1992.

Lucanus, Marcus Annaeus., and Robert Graves. Pharsalia: Dramatic Episodes of the Civil Wars. Cassell, 1961.

Miles, Margaret Melanie. Cleopatra: a Sphinx Revisited. University of California Press, 2011.

Plutarch, et al. The Complete Works of Plutarch. Crowell, 1910.

Preston, Diana. Cleopatra and Antony: Power, Love, and Politics in the Ancient World. Walker & Co., 2010.

Roller, Duane W. Cleopatra: a Biography. Oxford University Press, 2012.

Sax, Boria. The Mythical Zoo: Animals in Life, Legend and Literature. Duckworth, 2014.