Jan. 23rd, 2011

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Some of the most wonderful descriptions in the new Cleopatra book by Stacy Schiff are those of the lavish banquets Cleopatra would put on, especially the mood-setting scents -- cinnamon, cardamom, and balsam, cassis (I assume the author means cassia?), myrrh, and cinnamon... And the decorations - stones such as agate, lapis, ametyhst, carnelian, garnet, malachite, and topas set into richly-gleaming bright yellow gold.

Cleopatra was a goddess (Isis, Venus, and more) and had the confidence and intelligence you'd expect from one so raised - unflappable and witty.  I've never read Shakespeare's take on Cleopatra, and perhaps I should.

PS - Did you realize that when Cleopatra reigned, the Sphinx was invisible to her, having been buried under shifting sands for nearly a thousand years?

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