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Article: Cleopatra: From History to Myth.(various artists, British Museum, London, England)
- Article from:
- History Today
- Article date:
- April 1, 2001
- Author:
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CLEOPATRA ... `the most illustrious and wise of women', an unexpected endorsement from John, Bishop of Nikiu in Upper Egypt in the 7th century AD. In similar vein, the Arab historian Al-Masudi, writing three centuries later, describes Cleopatra as `the last of the wise ones of Greece.' How have we come to see Cleopatra as the embodiment of unfettered passion and intrigue, even in death clasping the asp in ardent embrace?
A special exhibition at the British Museum brings together for the first time a group of Egyptian-style statues that may be recognised as Cleopatra. They form the core of a substantial display of objects gathered from museums across Europe, North ...