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.

Photographs and text provide a comparison of lives of the ancient Egyptian queens to those of the pharaohs, and covers the role of the pharaoh's wife, and features the lives of Tiye, Nefertiti, Kiya, and others.

"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?"--

Celebrated in literature and Hollywood movies, the lives of the Ancient Egyptian queens have become synonymous with power, beauty, and glory. Cleopatra, Nefertiti, Nefertari and Hatchepsut are familiar names today, although the women themselves are not known as well as the mythology around them. The wives, mothers, or daughters of pharaohs, their influence on three thousand years of ancient Egyptian history is indisputable. This book offers a unique and heretofore unexplored insight into the key role they played and unveils the true nature of their political and spiritual influence, which was very different from the cliched portrayals most readers are familiar with. Some of the questions answered in this book include: What was the real status of the Egyptian queens? What was the status of second wives and concubines? What was their role in religious celebrations? What was their beauty regime?

She was the last ruler of the Macedonian dynasty of Ptolemies who had ruled Egypt for three centuries. Highly educated (she was the only one of the Ptolemies to read and speak ancient Egyptian as well as the court Greek) and very clever (her famous liaisons with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were as much to do with politics as the heart), she steered her kingdom through impossibly taxing internal problems and railed against greedy Roman imperialism. Stripping away preconceptions as old as her Roman enemies, Joyce Tyldesley uses all her skills as an Egyptologist to give us this magnificent biography.