Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Oct 23, 2024 | strategypage.com | Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

by Lloyd Llewellyn-JonesNew York: Basic Books, Hachette, 2022. Pp. xvi, 431+. Illus., map, stemma, personae, biblio., index. $15.59. ISBN: 1541604237 The Ancient Persian EmpireIn Western history, Persians are exotic and malevolent “Others.” The fantasy film 300 (2006) is an extreme example. For many modern Americans, Persians are the Bad Guys.

Aug 6, 2024 | fivebooks.com | Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones |Catherine Fletcher |Roger Crowley |Tabitha Stanmore

Where I live, it’s now high summer. I’m always aware that my book choices reflect my personal interests, but that’s perhaps even more true than usual. These are books that have been published in the UK since April and I’ve gravitated towards reading over the holidays. Apologies in advance for all the excellent books I’ve missed out. One of my favourite places to be is the ancient world and judging from the number of books published about it, I’m not the only one.

Jun 6, 2024 | washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com | Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

The name Cleopatra immediately conjures an indelible image — the raven-haired beauty, the sultry temptress portrayed in thousands of representations, from Shakespeare to Elizabeth Taylor to Netflix shows being produced today.

May 22, 2024 | thefederal.com | Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Mae West’s succinct summation of the life of Cleopatra focuses, naturally, on the queen’s infamy – something that Mae West knew all about (her co-star W.C. Fields, incidentally, once described West as ‘a plumber’s idea of Cleopatra’).

May 1, 2024 | literaryreview.co.uk | Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

In 1983, the BBC broadcast an eight-part dramatisation called The Cleopatras. I dimly remember the actor Richard Griffiths commanding the small screen as a shaven-headed Ptolemy VIII (‘Potbelly’). The series posed as a palace drama akin to the BBC’s earlier I, Claudius. Despite focusing, like that series, on what has been labelled ‘a tribe of fairly repellent people’, it did not meet with the same critical acclaim and has not been reshown.