'Cleopatra' burns with passion, both personal and political

Cleopatra may have died more than 2,000 years ago, but the Egyptian queen still has the sizzle, as Stacy Schiff's delectable new biography proves. Little wonder Angelina Jolie has been tapped for the plum starring role in the film adaptation of Schiff's love-on-the-Nile epic.

But the true story, as told by her new biographer, is more complex and less of a male fantasy than the one laid down by Cicero , Shakespeare and that 1963 Liz Taylor/Richard Burton budget buster.

Schiff, a Pulitzer Prize winner for her biography of Vera (Mrs. Vladimir) Nabokov , goes beyond the libidinous legend to depict an intelligent female ruler trying to navigate a world dominated by power-mad Roman men who craved the wealth and wheat Egypt could provide, not just its ruler's body.

Cleopatra's country would become a Roman province after her death. But Schiff depicts its last ruler as the ancient world's equivalent of England's Elizabeth I , a woman ready to employ every wile personal and political to keep her kingdom safe.

Hollywood casting aside, it turns out that while the historical Cleopatra dressed beautifully, the short, dark Macedonian was not a great beauty like Liz or Angelina. But she could top Cecil B. DeMille in her ability to put on a show.

Schiff is at her best in conveying the physical lushness of Cleopatra's exotic world with its glittering sun and sand. Her city of Alexandria was more sophisticated than Rome, and no river is more fertile or mysterious than the

Schiff traces a life so dramatic it has inspired writers for centuries.

As for the men in her life ... First there was Julius Caesar ( Russell Crowe ?). Schiff writes that Cleopatra was 21 and a virgin (despite her marriage to her younger brother) when she was smuggled in a sack to meet the ruthless 52-year-old Roman invader.

Cleopatra bore his only son, which provided protection for herself and Egypt until Caesar's assassination plunged Rome into a civil war.

Her next love affair, with Caesar's ally, the wildly virile, impetuous and married >Mark Antony (calling Brad Pitt !), would end in death for him, the queen and her kingdom when Rome's future first emperor the brother of Antony's wife invaded.

Mixing contemporary sources, beautiful writing and psychological insight, Schiff makes us empathize with the heroine of this tale of togas, territorial conquest and hot love.