First Line Friday & The Friday 56: The Cleopatras by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

First Line Friday is hosted by Carrie @ Reading Is My Superpower.
The Friday 56 is hosted by Anne @ My Head is Full of Books while Freda @ Freda’s Voice is on hiatus.
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FIRST LINE FRIDAY

where each week we share the first line of our current read(s)

The first of the Cleopatras was a woman known to many of her contemporaries as Cleopatra Syra — ‘the Syrian’.

THE FRIDAY 56

where each week we share a snippet from page 56 or 56%

Following a mourning period that was as brief as Clytemnestra’s, Cleopatra III began ruling Egypt and its territories. The Greek historian Strabo suggests that she ruled unaccompanied in the period immediately following Potbelly’s death.

The definitive story of the seven Cleopatras, the powerful goddess-queens of ancient Egypt.

One of history’s most iconic figures, Cleopatra is rightly remembered as a clever and charismatic ruler. But few today realize that she was the last in a long line of Egyptian queens who bore that name.

In The Cleopatras, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the dramatic story of these seven incomparable women, vividly recapturing the lost world of Hellenistic Egypt and tracing the kingdom’s final centuries before its fall to Rome. The Cleopatras were Greek-speaking descendants of Ptolemy, the general who conquered Egypt alongside Alexander the Great. They were closely related as mothers, daughters, sisters, half-sisters, and nieces. Each wielded absolute power, easily overshadowing their husbands or sons, and all proved to be shrewd and capable leaders. Styling themselves as goddess-queens, the Cleopatras ruled through the canny deployment of arcane rituals, opulent spectacles, and unparalleled wealth. They navigated political turmoil and court intrigues, led armies into battle and commanded fleets of ships, and ruthlessly dispatched their dynastic rivals.

The Cleopatras is a fascinating and richly textured biography of seven extraordinary women, restoring these queens to their deserved place among history’s greatest rulers.

What do you think of the snippets I featured today?
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