After providing a clear, succinct background to events, Goldsworthy's tactic is to weave the two stories into a single thread by moving seamlessly back and forth from Rome to Egypt. It works beautifully. His mastery of the sources is commendable, his historical judgement sure-footed and, as ever, he brings a winning lucidity to the description of often quite complex situations - the perfect accompaniment to any, especially Mediterranean, holiday—Peter Jones , The Tablet His talent for narrative is also showcased by the skill with which he handles the twin strands of his biography , coiling the lives of Antony and Cleopatra around one another, until finally they become fused—Tom Holland , Mail on Sunday excellent in puncturing the myths of Antony as a great Roman military tactician and an experienced soldier ... He is also refreshingly frank about the unimportance of Cleopatra herself—Mary Beard , Financial Times thoughtful, deeply satisfying work —Yale University Press tells this story of this dynasty with huge skill , successfully navigating the narratival rapids posed by the fact that almost every member of it was called Ptolemy, Cleopatra, or Arsinoe ... In all, it is an exotic family story of incest, greed and assassination , whose collective impact is to prompt further surprise: that Cleopatra was not only beautiful but obviously smart. Why, after 250 years of sustained in-breeding, she didn't dribble and have six fingers is completely beyond me—Peter Heather , BBC History Magazine does a splendid job of putting their lives in context and forcefully reminding us of the most salient aspects of their story while dispersing the romantic fog that has clung to them—Christopher Silvester , Daily Express Goldsworthy's strengths as a military historian are on full display —Times Literary Supplement well-written biography shows, the two failures have become more than a sum of their parts. They have been transformed into the world's most famous lovers—History Today Plenty of intrigue —Catholic Herald could not have wanted for a more capable biographer —Good Book Guide shows a real enthusiasm for making history accessible to all —Big Issue in the North a rising star on the historical scene —Washington Times understands military matters —Anthony Everitt , Independent
Readers who recognize Goldsworthy (How Rome Fell) as Britain's most prolific and perhaps finest popular historian of Roman times will find him once again at his best. Shakespeare and Hollywood portray Antony and Cleopatra as star-crossed lovers, but historians understand that Antony (83–30 B.C.E.) was Julius Caesar's right-hand man, ruthless and ambitious. Cleopatra (69–30 B.C.E.) was not Egyptian but Greek, descended from Ptolemy, whose family had ruled Egypt for three centuries. She became Caesar's mistress in 48 B.C.E. In the Roman civil war that followed Caesar's assassination four years later, Antony shared power with Caesar's adopted son, Octavian (later emperor Augustus), until they quarreled. Antony and Cleopatra first met in 41 B.C.E. and ruled Egypt together for three years until Octavian's invading armies approached, at which point they both committed suicide. Unlike many competing authors, Goldsworthy never disguises the scanty evidence for many historical events. Some of his best passages review surviving documents, discuss their biases, draw parallels from his vast knowledge of Roman history, and recount what probably happened unless, as he often admits in this thoughtful, deeply satisfying work, even speculation is impossible. Maps. (Sept.)
"Adrian Goldsworthy is one of our most promising young military historians today."—Sir John Keegan, author of The Iraq War
"[Goldsworthy] tells the story of [Cleopatra's] dynasty with huge skill. . . . Carefully interweaved into this extraordinary tale is another: the rise of Rome from tatty city state to Mediterranean domination."—Peter Heather, BBC History Magazine
BBC History Magazine - Peter Heather
"Goldsworthy's strengths as a military historian are on full display."—Times Literary Supplement
Times Literary Supplement
The book has considerable advantage over most of the other ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ histories on the shelves, providing a very detailed political and military account of the development of the two most important centers of the ancient world.”—The National Interest
"Outstanding: filled with fascinating details of personality, power, sex and death. This is the best book I've read on Antony and Cleopatra—gripping and flamboyant yet scholarly and magesterial."—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Young Stalin and Jerusalem : The Biography
"Goldsworthy admirably succeeds in highlighting the 'lost years' of Antony's life, and in offering an appraisal of the extant sources on Cleopatra that provides much of interest both to students and scholars. . . . Goldsworthy's history should be considered essential reading for anyone interested in the rise of Octavian and the birth of the principate. . . . Goldsworhty's book has most use for the undergraduate and graduate students of Roman history."—Lee Fratantuono, Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Bryn Mawr Classical Review - Lee Fratantuono
"[Goldsworthy] is excellent in puncturing the myth of Antony as a great Roman military tactician. . . . He is also refreshingly frank about the unimportance of Cleopatra herself. This was a world in which the power of Rome ruled."—Mary Beard, Financial Times
Financial Times - Mary Beard
"Highly recommended."—H. Chang, Choice
"[The] distinguished biographer of Julius Caesar . . . reproduces the claustrophobia of a brutal culture dependent on slavery and enslaved to ambition."—Judith Thurman, The New Yorker
"Goldsworthy is a rising star on the historical scene and has a number of well-regarded books to his credit. This will likely add to his growing reputation . . . [as] a first-class historian."—Washington Times
Goldsworthy reveals that Antony and Cleopatra were far more complex, interesting, and ultimately human figures, than ancient propagandists or modern theorists have made them out to be. My guess is that they would approve, and so will readers.”—Guy MacLean Rogers, Wellesley College
"Essential reading. . . . Goldsworthy's book is written in engaging prose that flows with charm and flair. . . . Goldsworthy has almost created a new genre of classics/ancient history titles: works that comfortably inhabit a middle ground between the unscholarly and the hyper-scholarly."—Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
"[Goldsworthy] does a splendid job of putting their lives in context and forcefully reminding us of the most salient aspects of their story while dispersing the romantic fog that has clung to them."—Christopher Silvester, The Express (London)
The Express (London) - Christopher Silvester
The New Yorker
Highly recommended.—H. Chang, Choice
— H. Chang
[Goldsworthy] does a splendid job of putting their lives in context and forcefully reminding us of the most salient aspects of their story while dispersing the romantic fog that has clung to them.—Christopher Silvester, The Express (London)
— Christopher Silvester
[Goldsworthy] is excellent in puncturing the myth of Antony as a great Roman military tactician. . . . He is also refreshingly frank about the unimportance of Cleopatra herself. This was a world in which the power of Rome ruled.—Mary Beard, Financial Times
[Goldsworthy] tells the story of [Cleopatra's] dynasty with huge skill. . . . Carefully interweaved into this extraordinary tale is another: the rise of Rome from tatty city state to Mediterranean domination.—Peter Heather, BBC History Magazine
— Peter Heather
"[Goldsworthy] set[s] out simply and lucidly . . . [not just] the story of their affair . . . but also a portrait of the political and military world in which it took place."--Sam Leith, The Times (London)
— Sam Leith
In the read-around world more is always a good option and Goldsworthy and Schiff share a similar desire to recast myth. In elegant and fluid prose, Goldsworthy presents a dual history of Cleopatra and Antony that deftly acknowledges the lack of primary sources and reliable secondary sources for research yet still manages to craft a careful and persuasive portrait of the reign of Cleopatra. Goldsworthy's focus is decidedly political as he frames the Antony/Cleopatra relationship as one of dual necessity. Like Schiff's book, Goldworthy's work is also a biography of the times and takes readers through the back history that led to the rise of Antony and Cleopatra and the cultures and ideologies that gave birth to their driving ambitions. Other notable biographies to consider include Joyce Tyldesley's Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt (Basic Books), Duane Roller's Cleopatra: A Biography (Oxford), and Diana Preston's Cleopatra and Antony: Power, Love, and Politics in the Ancient World (Walker & Co.). Neal Wyatt, "RA Crossroads", Booksmack!, 11/4/10
Library Journal - BookSmack!
Goldsworthy follows up his admirable life of Julius Caesar (Caesar: Life of a Colossus) with a joint biography of two of Caesar's protégés. The record shows that Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, and Mark Antony, the Roman triumvir, didn't meet till 41 B.C.E., well into their busy lives, when she was 28 and he 43, although some (this reviewer included) may suspect that they encountered each other earlier during Cleopatra's visits to Caesar in Rome. Both from elite, cosmopolitan families of the Mediterranean world, Antony and Cleopatra made an ill-fated alliance, political and romantic, against the forces of Caesar's heir Octavian/Augustus. Goldsworthy credits the eventual victory of the unsoldierly Octavian to his PR savvy and his general, Agrippa, who outclassed Antony as a military leader. VERDICT Because Goldsworthy must retell the history of the civil wars of the first century B.C.E., his book could easily be called Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra. With limited source material, he constructs a plausible portrait of two practical romantics whose storied love followed the path of political advantage. Unlike Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra, Goldsworthy's book is not packaged to attract readers of bodice rippers, but these two titles are probably more alike than different: good serious books, though not necessarily for scholars or specialists.—Stewart Desmond, New York
