At the beginning of the year, I promised to write about women in history, and I was starting it off with Cleopatra. Because Cleopatra is awesome, I have a small obsession with ancient Rome, and she figures heavily in that.
But the long and short of it is: I didn’t carve out enough time. I was able to scramble it in for four posts, getting through her childhood to the death of her first lover, Julius Caesar. And that was it. Then books were due at the library and a rush of other things happened and it fell by the wayside.
So this is me, setting aside time. It will still be slow-going, I suspect, and maybe a little bursty. A handful of posts one week, none the next. I have another post drafted and ideas in my head for two more about Cleopatra. Those should come fairly quickly. The plan after that is to finish up her life and then move on to Elizabeth I.
Why Elizabeth I? Because she ruled ably over a very stable England for a very long time. And, in Wolf Hall, when Damien Lewis’ Henry VIII gets all angry about how “useless” Anne Boleyn’s child was because she was a girl… well. It got my dander up.
To summarize: I’m finishing up Cleopatra and then moving on to Elizabeth I. More soon.