Looking for an article? the name is Cleopatra: what kind of woman was she anyway?

Question

Cleopatra: what kind of a woman was she, anyway?

Serpent of the Nile? Learned ruler? Sex Kitten? Ambitious mom? African queen? History is still toying with the poor lady's reputation



^^^^^^ thats what is started out with..it is from thr smithsonian and i cant find the WOHLE article on the internet!! does anybody know where i can read it? and DONT say a magazine!!

Answer 1

She’s a descendant of Alexander the Great. It’s known that he had conquered Egypt, an he let his offspring to rule it. She was a smart woman. She knew how to seduce Julius Creaser, and Mark Anthony, even though the 2 men had totally 2 different characters.

Answer 2

Here you go, here is a link to a copy of the article by Barbara Holland from the Feb 1997 issue of Smithsonian.
It is an amusingly written article I think...and points out some of the fallacies....I liked this bit pointing out the absurdity of the Roman propaganda-based image of her as a frivolous whore "So there sits our drunken harlot, with Caesarion and the twins in bed, working late by oil light, signing papyri, meeting with advisers, approving plans for aqueducts, adjusting taxes. Distributing free grain during hard times. Receiving ambassadors and haggling over trade agreements. She may hardly have had time to put eyeliner on, let alone loll in a ss’s milk...." (space left to avoid censor that doesn't understand it means a DONKEY)

I have a confession: as a child I became so obsessed with Cleopatra VII that I seriously believed I was her reincarnation and thought I was having flashbacks to ancient Alexandria!!

OK I was a strange kid.
But I still think she's a very amazing woman. One of the things I liked was that unlike the other rulers of her Macedonian family she was really into the Egyptian culture and religion, she did the rituals to become a real Pharaoh and she also was the first of them to learn the Egyptian language. (as well as many other languages.)

Edited for spelling

Answer 3

Try this one:
http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2007/april/cleopatra.php
Cleopatra has fascinated modern Americans all my life: just check out all the movies about her.
I really believe that Cleapatra was all those things...
When I studied Latin, several of the "ariticles" were about Cleopatra.