The legendary Cleopatra the public knowsthe passionate, infinitely various woman of ShakespearesAntony and Cleopatraand the stylized beauty of the 1930s and 1960s filmshas little to do with the historical Cleopatra, and we can gain a sense of the historical woman by considering her alongside her predecessors, the earlier Ptolemaic queens. Such an account of the last Cleopatra, who ruled Egypt from 51 to 30 B.C., can also give us a wider understanding of both the late Ptolemaic period and, to some extent, her use of earlier traditions to support her aspirations. Here I shall examine how
