Womens' History Month
The theme of Cleopatra, and her involvement in the transition of Rome from republic to empire, is the subject of “Cleopatra: Her History, Her Myth” (2022), by author Francine Prose. It is a story that never grows old. What makes this scholarly contribution to the legend worthwhile is that it proves a woman historian can be objective about a controversial historic woman. There is no bias to be found where it might be expected, nor prejudice where it wouldn't. Francine Prose is fair about incidents that scandalized Plutarch. As I read I thought -who is the prude? One might argue both sides, but to avoid pedantry I will play the role of pedant, instead. Following, therefore, is my iconography of visual works of art cited in “Cleopatra: Her History, Her Myth” (2022). Researching the works cited in the book, I quickly discovered there are many more examples of art on the subject of Cleopatra in the canon of fine art than are mentioned in the book. My list is limited to works of art cite...