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Antony and Cleopatra: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Colleen Mccullough
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
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Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 6998
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 576
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.9
ISBN: 1416552944
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781416552949
ASIN: 1416552944
Publication Date: December 4, 2007
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Product Description
A sweeping epic of ancient Rome from the #1 bestselling author of The Thorn Birds In this breathtaking follow-up to The October Horse, Colleen McCullough turns her attention to the legendary romance of Antony and Cleopatra, and in this timeless tale of love, politics, and power, proves once again that she is the best historical novelist of our time. Caesar is dead, and Rome is, again, divided. Lepidus has retreated to Africa, while Antony rules the opulent East, and Octavian claims the West, the heart of Rome, as his domain. Though this tense truce holds civil war at bay, Rome seems ripe for an emperor -- a true Julian heir to lay claim to Caesar's legacy. With the bearing of a hero, and the riches of the East at his disposal, Antony seems poised to take the prize. Like a true warrior-king, he is a seasoned general whose lust for power burns alongside a passion for women, feasts, and Chian wine. His rival, Octavian, seems a less convincing candidate: the slight, golden-haired boy is as controlled as Antony is indulgent and as cool-headed and clear-eyed as Antony is impulsive. Indeed, the two are well matched only in ambition. And though politics and war are decidedly the provinces of men in ancient Rome, women are adept at using their wits and charms to gain influence outside their traditional sphere. Cleopatra, the ruthless, golden-eyed queen, welcomes Antony to her court and her bed but keeps her heart well guarded. A ruler first and a woman second, Cleopatra has but one desire: to place her child on his father, Julius Caesar's, vacant throne. Octavian, too, has a strong woman by his side: his exquisite wife, raven-haired Livia Drusilla, who learns to wield quiet power to help her husband in his quest for ascendancy. As the plot races toward its inevitable conclusion -- with battles on land and sea -- conspiracy and murder, love and politics become irrevocably entwined. McCullough's knowledge of Roman history is detailed and extensive. Her masterful and meticulously researched narrative is filled with a cast of historical characters whose motives, passions, flaws, and insecurities are vividly imagined and expertly drawn. The grandeur of ancient Rome comes to life as a timeless human drama plays out against the dramatic backdrop of the Republic's final days.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Bring a massive saga to a close. December 14, 2007
Rebecca Huston (On the Banks of the Hudson)
40 out of 42 found this review helpful
Forget, if you can, all of the stories that you've read or seen about the fabled Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra, the last Pharaoh of Egypt. Try if you can, not to see her as a voluptuous Elizabeth Taylor or enchanting Vivien Leigh or as some grand beauty. She's not in these pages. Not at all.
Instead, Colleen McCullough's final epic in her multivolume tale of the end of the Roman Republic takes an entirely new spin on the story. Nor does she forget the rest of the vivid cast that populate the story, from Octavian -- now calling himself Caesar -- and his sister, Octavia, and Mark Antony, Julius Caesar's former friend and now determined to make himself just as great as slain dictator. But there are plenty of minor players as well, and all of them are given a voice in this sprawling novel that travels from Rome to Egypt, the mountains of Armenia and as far as Parthia in the East.
The novel covers from Antony and Cleopatra?s fateful meeting in Ephesus, and goes all the way to the final, fateful end for both of them. While the story is certainly familiar, in McCullough?s capable hands, it takes on entirely new forms. Most of all it?s Octavian that takes center stage, evolving into the man that history considers the first Emperor of Rome, and his friendship with Marcus Agrippa. There?s also his family, namely the two vital women in his life ? Octavia, who might understand Octavian better than anyone, and the very clever Livia Drusilla, who most readers will remember from the 70?s BBC series, I, Claudius.
So begins a war of wills and manipulation by one of the more famous romantic couples in history. McCullough creates some of the most unusual characters that I've come across in a long time, and ones that forced me to fling aside all of my preconcieved notions of this often told story.
There are battles, conspiracies, romance, conniving, and some outrageous puns, all dished up in McCullough's style. This novel fits in very neatly with the rest of the series, and it's a grand, eye-opening adventure for the reader. While some of the action in the book is rather compressed -- most of the battles, including that of Actium towards the end -- the psychological base and giving a new spin on history is top notch.
This is what I really like about this series by McCullough. It's subtle, engaging and while she's not adverse about putting a bit of creativity in the story, she also knows her facts. It's here that makes her storytelling so good -- she creates characters that the reader can feel deeply about, and while you might not like them personally, they are compelling. Along the way, there's plenty of details about daily life, the way that the ancients looked at the world around them, and some deeply moving prose.
Indeed, one of scenes of the book is so heartbreaking that I broke down in tears. I don't do that very often and I had to set the book down and walk away for a moment before continuing to read.
For those who have managed to stay with the series from the begining, this one provides an adequate tying up of a lot of the loose strings from the previous work, The October Horse. While this book, as with all of the others, can stand well on its own, it really does help to know some of the previous action of the story. If the reader is already fond of novels set in Ancient Rome, this is simply one of the best.
A wonderful conclusion to the series, and worth the effort that it takes to get through it.
Five stars, and highly recommended, as are all of the Masters of Rome series.
Excellent continuation of the Masters of Rome series November 27, 2007
S. Crouch (Tuggeranong, A.C.T. Australia)
34 out of 35 found this review helpful
Colleen McCullough has again produced an enthralling novel of first century BC Republican Rome in "Antony and Cleopatra". If you want a book that accurately tells it the way it probably was then this is the one to get.
The drama of Antony and Cleopatra must be one of the most common historical stories told and there have been many novels and films about this era. One of the recent additions was the visually impressive but historically questionable TV series "Rome". There are a variety of interpretations of the story, some having Octavian as the villain and others Antony and Cleopatra. Octavian in this work is largely the good guy with Antony coming across as a skilled soldier but generally a pretty unimpressive character who is constantly manipulated by a scheming Cleopatra. Cleopatra is also pictured as being slightly naive without a real understanding of the Roman world as she ruthlessly pursues the interests of Caesarion, her son by Julius Caesar. McCullough also takes the view that Cleopatra was physically rather unattractive which is supported by her coin portraits. This view is still unproven but no one, of course, will ever know the complete truth.
There is a lot of detail here and it takes careful work to follow all the characters, relationships and military campaigns. There are plenty of maps though and the usual glossary at the end to help.
Overall a very good historical novel which I highly recommend.
Captures the very essence of ancient Rome December 8, 2007
Gordon Eldridge (Southport, Australia)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
Historical fiction always has the seeming disadvantage that the reader already knows the story, at least in broad strokes, and worse still, knows the outcome. This is no handicap whatsoever to Colleen McCullough. She has fashioned the historical figures into thoroughly vibrant and believable characters. Though the story is narrated in the third person, the reader is regularly treated to short passages in the first person that allow insights into the characters and their motivations. These insights sweep us into the lives of these famous figures. We are horrified along with Antony's generals at the machinations of Cleopatra, yet at the same time we empathize with his feelings for her. We are shattered along with Cleopatra at the realizations and the decisions she is forced to make towards the end. We share Octavian's hopes and dreams and, though horrified by some of his acts, we understand their roots. The glimpses inside the minds of these people of the ancient world allow us more than just an understanding of their character. Woven through their thoughts, words and deeds is masterful portrayal of ancient Rome herself and the ideas and concepts that sustained one of the world's greatest empires. McCullough builds such a tangible depiction of ideas like dignitas, auctoritas and mos maiorum, that we understand them without the need of the handy glossary she has provided. The novel is a masterpiece.
 Disappointing Conclusion to a Great Series February 9, 2008
J. Fuchs (Los Angeles, CA United States)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
I'm a huge fan of Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, and the First Man in Rome remains one of my all-time favorite books. Some of the books in the series were not as strong as the others and so it was with great delight that I started reading this one and saw that McCullough appeared to be back in form. Unfortunately, my pleasure did not last.
This book should more aptly be titled Antony and Octavian, because what it is really about is the battle for control of Rome between these two strong men. Events start out shortly after the battle of Philippi, as Octavian, Antony and Lepidus form the second triumvirate and divide up the Roman Empire, ostensibly as equals. We are introduced to the historical figures who played a significant part in the lives of Antony and Octavian, including Sextus Pompeius, the outlawed, pirate son of Pompey the Great, and Octavian's second-in-command Agrippa, whose military and engineering genius propelled Octavian to greatness. The women get plenty of time in this novel, particularly Octavia (Octavian's sister) and Livia Drusilla, Octavian's power-hungry wife, in addition to Cleopatra.
The book is at its best when examining the characters of Antony, Octavian and Cleopatra, especially in the early days of their conflict, as Antony travels to his domains in the east and vows to defeat the Parthians, a task Julius Caesar never finished. McCullough presents a compelling account of Antony's disastrous campaign to take Phrapssus, and his subsequent descent into an alcoholic fugue, which only Cleopatra seems able to pull him out of. But shorly after this, however, when Antony takes up residence in the East, the book starts to fall apart. Here it begins to seem like McCullough is so interested in cramming in history, that she loses sight of her characters, who begin to flatten. In trying to reconcile the known historical facts with motivations that make sense but keep the characters likeable, McCullough loses her way. It's great that she tried to do this -- history brings us a Mark Antony and a Cleopatra who never seem like real people, and Octavian in his early years is generally depicted as quite a monster. So it's nice to see a portrait of Octavian that can be reconciled with his later self (as Augustus Caesar he led Rome to unparalled peace and prosperity) an Antony that is more than just an overly muscled ladies' man, and a Cleopatra that is something other than all-wise and all-seductive. That said, however, McCullough did a better job with a young Mark Antony in her earlier novels and Margaret George created a more rounded and believable Cleopatra in her excellent "Memoirs of Cleopatra." After a while, I didn't feel like I was reading either history or a great novel. McCullough was too busy rushing from set piece to set piece, and she really seemed to lose it in the transitions. I just finished reading the book last night and I can't really remember most of the second half, which seemed to consist largely of McCullough trying to create characterizations that allow the ending to make sense. Octavian muses about Rome, Antony wonders what happened to his luck, Cleopatra ruminates about Antony's failings as a general and her plot to make her son ruler of the world, when all of a sudden -- bam! -- there we are at Actium, without any sense of the book having led up to it, and with the battle itself seeming undramatic and anticlimactic, which is probably historically true, but isn't too interesting in a novel which purports to be about one of the most dramatic historical romances of all time. The ending itself is also disappointing, certainly nothing like the one Margaret George wrote or the one depicted in HBO's "Rome." McCullough makes Caesarion, Cleopatra's son by Julius Caesar, wise beyond his years, but never convinces us that he can't see Octavian's treachery coming. I know McCullough has done her research on ancient Rome better than anyone, but she just made me question the history in this book. Maybe she was just falling a little too in love with her characters, knowing that it might be the last time she would be writing about them. If so, however, she's done herself and us a disservice because this great series deserved a truly great ending and this wasn't it. I'll still take second-rate McCullough over just about anyone else, and if it were any other writer, I'd give it 4 stars. But for McCullough, from whom I expect better, this is only a 3 star effot.
Oh well... there's always the Pax Romana to write about.
 Interesting Take on the life of a Great Woman December 8, 2007
MMasiA (Montreal, Canada)
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
McCullough's series on the Masters of Rome is one of the finest tales of ancient Rome. Her perspective and unique telling of the loves and lives of Rome's great historical characters is impressive. However, I am surprised by her description of Cleopatra as ugly and politically naive. McCullough's take on Cleopatra, is not supported by the existing historical record. History tells us that from the machinations of her own family members and palace sycophants, through Rome's civil wars, Cleopatra successfully navigated through dangerous times. Her intelligence and political cunning saved Egypt from more than one calamity during her reign. By all historical accounts, Cleopatra was a very capable and effective ruler. Through her relationships with Caesar and Anthony, she expanded Egypt's territory and Egypt prospered under her rule. She spoke several languages and ancient texts on cosmetics and skin care have been attributed to her authorship. Following the death of Caesar, Cleopatra, effectively maintained order among Alexandria's Greek elite and restless urban populace. She was also revered and worshiped as pharaoh by ordinary Egyptians unlike her father and other Ptolemaic ancestors few of whom managed to secure the title of pharaoh. Following her suicide, Octavian found the treasuries and storehouses of Egypt overflowing with treasure. The Roman Peace of Emperor Augustus was paid for by Cleopatra's treasury!
As for her looks, while she may not have been a classic beauty, to describe her as downright ugly on the basis of one bad profile on a single coin seems unfair and contrary to the historical record that describes her as captivating and so mesmerizing, with a beautiful speaking voice that one had no wish to leave her presence. For anyone who watched the television series Rome, one of the series greatest achievements was the casting of Lindsay Marshall as Cleopatra. While the series took great artistic license on a number of historical facts, Lindsay Marshall was spectacular in the role of Cleopatra--she was presented in the television series as confident, sexy, unique and interesting looking with strong facial features, very intelligent and very ambitious. Furthermore, If Cleopatra was unattractive as McCullough suggests in her novel, how could she capture the hearts of the two most important men of her time? Cleopatra's relationship with Julius Caesar went beyond a brief infatuation. Both Plutarch and Suetonius inform us that Caesar was so captivated by her that he would not be parted from her and she left Egypt to live with him in his villa outside of Rome until his assassination. Caesar even went as far as placing a statue of her in his new Julian Temple in the forum. Marc Anthony loved her so much that he threw away everything he had achieved for her sake. It is hard to imagine that these great men would have felt so strongly for a woman that was anything less than remarkable both physically and intellectually.
Certainly Cleopatra's enemies, including Octavian and Cicero would have remarked on her lack of beauty if such was the case. Cicero wrote endless letters to his friend Atticus several of which are filled with diatribes against Cleopatra's arrogance and lamenting her unwillingness to gift Cicero with rare documents from the Alexandria library. Following Caesar's assassination, Cicero in one letter gleefully informs Atticus that Cleopatra suffered a miscarriage during her sea voyage back to Alexandria from Rome. If Cleopatra's appearance was anything less than attractive, the gossip monger Cicero would certainly have latched on and broadcast this fact to undermine her and mock Caesar. I understand McCullough may not have wanted to romanticize Cleopatra but in trying to create a fresh portrait of Cleopatra more realistic than the Elizabeth Taylor caricature, McCullough needlessly impugns the character of one of the most intriguing women in history. As a feminist, I expected a more favorable, well-rounded depiction of this very capable woman who thrived at a time when very few men dared challenge Rome's hegemony. But nonetheless, the book was entertaining and worth recommending.
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