Cleopatra: A Life

“Cleopatra stood at one of the most dangerous intersections in history: that of women and power.”

Schiff makes clear the basis of her critical approach: evaluating how primary sources, and all subsequent works that unquestioningly drew from them, approach the notion of a powerful woman. Schiff’s positioning of women and power as “dangerous” strongly suggests the patriarchal basis of these sources, introducing the theme of Female Leadership in a Male-Dominated World.

“To restore Cleopatra is as much to salvage the few facts as to peel away the encrusted myth and the hoary propaganda.”

Schiff here illustrates the major challenge of the work, which is centered upon The Construction and Deconstruction of Historical Myths. Concrete facts about Cleopatra are indeed scarce, as the sources are few, and those that can be found, Schiff suggests, are buried beneath misinformation and bias. Schiff’s use of the words “myth” and “propaganda” also suggest modes of information utilized by hierarchical bodies, speaking to the notion of a controlled narrative, rather than organic fact.

“Cleopatra goes down in Caesar’s history for one reason alone: she was good and obedient.”

This passage is an example of Schiff’s advocacy for a critical reading of history. Rather than accepting Caesar’s narrative at face value, Schiff suggests the patriarchal nature of Caesar’s view of Cleopatra: It is reductive, likely incorrect given her personality, and illustrates the commonly held view of The Dynamics of Power between her and Caesar.