Title | : | Cleopatras Palace: In Search of a Legend |
Author | : | |
Rating | : | |
ISBN | : | 0679462600 |
ISBN-10 | : | 9780679462606 |
Language | : | English |
Format Type | : | Hardcover |
Number of Pages | : | 201 |
Publication | : | First published February 16, 1999 |
Cleopatras Palace: In Search of a Legend Reviews
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This is a Discovery Channel coffee table book, full of great pictures and an entertaining if not entirely reliable text.
As an introduction to Cleopatra you can’t do too badly reading this book, but know going into it that the story told here isn’t particularly concerned about exploring the truth behind the legend. If it’s a choice between the dramatic and the probabilistic, the text goes for the most dramatic. It’s a forgivable move, though, when you have all those great pictures and illustrations to surround the tabloid version of Cleo’s life.
The icing on the cake, and the point, really, for this book existing are the haunting underwater pictures of the Alexandrian harbor where remnants of Cleopatra’s world are being found piece by piece. The pictures of statues eerily waiting in the murky water, statues that haven’t been seen by anyone for at least 1500 years, will send chills up your spine. The accompanying text explains how the underwater excavations work, with plenty of pictures to illustrate how items are located, tagged, recovered, copied (by silicon molds), etc. The book goes a long way towards debunking the idea that all of ancient Alexandria is now underneath the harbor.
Great book for the pictures, mostly okay for the text. And seeing as how this book came out when the excavations had just started and is already 13 years old, a natural follow-up would be
Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt. That book is essentially a catalog of the items found in the harbor (and other locations) that have made it into a currently touring museum exhibit focusing on Cleopatra. -
Coffee table perfection!
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Discovery of Ancient Alexandria is chronicled in this well created volume. Covering Alexandria before and since the tragic queen walked its beaches.
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Most of the book was intresting although I didnt care for the ending.
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My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.