Cleopatra and Nefertiti: Beyond Their Beauty and Seduction Cleopatra and Nefertiti are both known for their beauty. They are also known for traits having to do with their womanhood: the men with whom they were romantically involved, their ability to seduce. This book gets beneath this surface to give a more complete picture. Cleopatra was ambitious and smart, while Nefertiti was much more active in her husband's reign than was usual for her time. Cleopatra's alliances were much more than romances, but played major roles in the global politics of the time. She was poised, with Antony, to command a large portion of the Mediterranean world. For her part, Nefertiti played a key role in the worship of the Sun God Aten and a shocking switch from worshipping many gods to just one. Michael Klein details the careers of these fascinating women and explores how many important events they were instrumental in. With thorough research, Cleopatra and Nefertiti: Beyond Their Beauty and Seduction will open your eyes to the strength and audacity of these two queens. Gain insight into Cleopatra plotting against at least one of her siblings; how she won a bet against Antony; and Nefertiti driving her chariot down the streets of Egypt. You'll come away with a new respect for these historical figures.

"Explores the lives of six remarkable female pharaohs, from Hatshe psut to Cleopatra--women who ruled with real power ... What was so special about ancient Egypt that provided women this kind of access to the highest political office? What was it about these women that allowed them to transcend patriarchal obstacles? What did Egypt gain from its liberal reliance on female leadership, and could today's world learn from its example?"--

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A “compulsively readable” (Diana Gabaldon) novel teeming with love, betrayal, and religious conflict that brings ancient Egypt to vivid life, from the author of Cleopatra’s Daughter “Meticulously researched and richly detailed . . . an engrossing tribute to one of the most powerful and alluring women in history.”—The Boston Globe Nefertiti and her younger sister, Mutnodjmet, have been raised in a powerful family that has provided wives to the rulers of Egypt for centuries. Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh. It is hoped that her strong personality will temper the young ruler’s heretical desire to forsake Egypt’s ancient gods. From the moment of her arrival in Thebes, Nefertiti is beloved by the people, but she fails to see that powerful forces are plotting against her husband’s reign. The only person brave enough to warn the queen is her younger sister, yet remaining loyal to Nefertiti will force Mutnodjmet into a dangerous political game—one that could cost her everything she holds dear.

In this stunning novel of passion, power, and redemption, a forgotten princess in ancient Egypt must overcome her family’s past and remake history—from the internationally bestselling author of Nefertiti and Cleopatra’s Daughter. “Moran’s careful attention to detail and her artful storytelling bring these people to vivid life, imbuing ancient history with suspense and urgency.”—The Boston Globe The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the Eighteenth Dynasty’s royal family—with the exception of Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former queen, Nefertiti. The girl’s deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. But this changes when she is taken under the wing of the Pharoah’s aunt, then brought to the temple of Hathor, where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen. Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the Crown Prince, and despite her family’s history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity sets the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful Pharoah in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history.

Cleopatra the Great tells the story of a turbulent time and the extraordinary woman at its centre. She was Greek by descent – the last, and greatest, Egyptian pharaoh. But our understanding of her has been obscured by Roman propaganda, Shakespearean tragedy and Hollywood, with little attempt to tell her true story – until now. In the first biography for over thirty years, Joann Fletcher draws on a wealth of overlooked detail and the latest research to reveal Cleopatra as she truly was, from her first meeting with Julius Caesar to her legendary death by snakebite. Bringing the ancient world to life, Cleopatra the Great is full of tantalising details about the Pharaoh’s infamous banquets, her massive library, her goddess outfits, beauty regimes and hairstyles. Joann Fletcher discovers the real woman behind the myth.

The incredible untold story of the children of Cleopatra, Egypt’s most powerful and notorious ruler—a novel that “brims over with rich details of Roman life, historical personages, and political turmoil” (Romantic Times)—from the internationally bestselling author of Nefertiti “Fast-paced, intriguing, and beautifully written.”—The Boston Globe The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony’s rival, Octavian, sweep into Egypt. When their orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome, only two—the ten-year-old twins Selene and Alexander—survive the journey. As they come of age, they are buffeted by the personal ambitions of Octavian’s family and court, by the ever-present threat of slave rebellion, and by the longings deep within their own hearts. Recounted in Selene’s youthful and engaging voice, Michelle Moran introduces a compelling cast of historical characters: Octavia, the emperor Octavian’s kind and compassionate sister, abandoned by Marc Antony for Cleopatra; Livia, Octavian’s bitter and jealous wife; Marcellus, Octavian’s handsome, flirtatious nephew and heir apparent; Tiberius, Livia’s sardonic son and Marcellus’s great rival for power; and Juba, Octavian’s watchful aide, whose honored position at court has far-reaching effects on the lives of the young Egyptian royals. Based on meticulous research, Cleopatra’s Daughter is a fascinating portrait of imperial Rome and of the people and events of this most tumultuous period in human history. Emerging from the shadows of the past, Selene must confront the same forces that destroyed her mother and struggle to meet a different fate.

Joann Fletcher, presenter of BBC2's 'Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings' has written an enthralling account of Nefertiti, one of Egypt's most compelling and mysterious figures. Wife of the controversial pharaoh Akhenaten, she lived through perhaps the most tumultuous period in the country's long history. The so-called Amarna Period has long held a fascination - not just for the enormous changes it brought to the religion, art and administration of Egypt, but for the many mysteries which surround it. Mysteries, that is, until now. Leading Egyptologist Dr Joann Fletcher has taken a fresh eye to the evidence and arrived at one of the most dramatic discoveries in recent times. Working with a team of leading experts, she has identified a long-forgotten mummy as the body of a female pharaoh of the Amarna Period, whom she believes is Nefertiti herself. Lying for over three thousand years in an unused side chamber of Tomb KV.35 in the Valley of the Kings, it tells a story which will forever change the way in which we view Nefertiti - and indeed women throughout Egyptian history. Now at last we see the full significance of her role as co-regent and later Pharaoh of Egypt, as well as understanding the astonishing luxury and decadence of her life in Amarna - a life she led as the country around her began to disintegrate.

An illustrated study of the queens of ancient Egypt ranges from the early dynastic period to the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC, offering a biographical portrait of each queen, along with information on the era in which she lived and her influence on Egyptian history.

For over a decade Nefertiti, wife of the heretic king Akhenaten, was the most influential woman in the Bronze Age world; a beautiful queen blessed by the sun-god, adored by her family and worshipped by her people. Her image and her name were celebrated throughout Egypt and her future seemed golden. Suddenly Nefertiti disappeared from the royal family, vanishing so completely that it was as if she had never been. No record survives to detail her death, no monument serves to mourn her passing and to this day her end remains an enigma - her body has never been found. Joyce Tyldesley here provides a detailed discussion of the life and times of Nefertiti, Egypt's sun queen, set against the background of the ephemeral Amarna court.