Cleopatra helped inspire innovations beyond her border: Caesar returned to Rome to propose a public library, an official census, and dikes based on Egypt's engineering innovations.

Cleopatra is one of the most powerful women in history. She controlled the entire Eastern Mediterranean coast, the last great kingdom of any Egyptian ruler. But, a new book about Cleopatra dispels some of the most persistent myths about the queen.

She wasn't beautiful, for one, and in her time Egyptian women had the kind of property rights that would have been enviable centuries later. Stacy Schiff is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of the new biography, Cleopatra: A Life. Schiff spoke with David Wright at the Skirball Center, as part of their ongoing readings and lectures series.

Guest:

Stacy Schiff, author of new biography, Cleopatra: A Life.; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist