The Importance Of Cleopatra's Reputation

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Cleopatra’s Reputations

Reputation has been defined by the LASDE(1) as the “opinion held by others (about someone or something)” (517). While OED(2) has defined it as “A widespread belief that someone or something has a particular characteristic”. According to these definitions, we can realize that reputations are created by the way people act, look, talk and described by others. In fact, while making a reputation about someone, we must be objective by not engaging our feelings and opinions and act like detectives, examining people’s motivations and assumptions while describing others, we must not judge anyone; therefore, we should also suspect our own motives. That is how historian must work to avoid being judgmental and subjective,
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Even Shakespeare wrote about her in his book ‘Antony and Cleopatra’. in these productions, the most beautiful actress played her roll such as: Elizabeth Taylor and Katy Perry. And when we focus on her body language we can notice that she is on a bed most of the time so that indicates her sexual appeal, beauty and magic. That is how Hollywood pictured her as a seducer or temptress without mentioning her mentality. She had the best teachers in the world. They did not mention that she spoke 9 languages (Gill), or she knew philosophy and history or she was a great mathematician and a great politician, or how she could play many musical instruments as she had a great voice too. (Rajendrakumar). Even Alexandria, it was described by its wealth, luxurious and magic. Without mentioning that it had the best and the biggest library and university in the world, it was “The only general collection of the ancient writings that ever had been made”(Abbott …show more content…
For more than 2 thousand years, Romans have created a wrong bad picture of Cleopatra, unlike new historians, who viewed the true picture by the new historical evidence. With each new time period, Cleopatra’s reputation changes, and her portray is colored with more details.

Cleopatra’s reputations varied from ancient Rome, ancient Egypt and Modern World due to their view. Moreover, her reputation has been changing over time influenced by new historical evidence and new theories wither it is reliable or unreliable, whether historians were objectives or subjective. Day by day, our picture of Cleopatra is getting clearer and clearer through the discovery of new pieces of

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