Of all the figures in ancient history, few have continued to capture the imagination like Cleopatra. Two thousand years after she reigned as the last pharaoh of Egypt she remains a character of intrigue and complexity. Was Cleopatra the beautiful and scheming seductress of popular culture? Was she as ruthless as Ancient Roman writers described her? Or was she the highly erudite, skilled politician and popular leader who Arab scribes recorded? Discover the truth about this extraordinary woman, a Greek queen from the Ptolemy dynasty, who embraced local Egyptian culture and drew on her education and ingenuity to advance her position in the face of the all-powerful Roman Empire.