Life of the Party: Celebrating Cleopatra

by Editorial November 10, 2011

written by Editorial November 10, 2011

Capitol Archeological Institute at GW fetes Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author Stacy Schiff’s for “Cleopatra, a Life.”
By Kate Faherty

Deborah Lehr, Stacy Schiff And Eric Cline. (Photo by Shmulik Almany, Image Link Photography)

Though she might not have had WikiLeaks or a smart phone, the power structure of Washington today is not that different than that of the famed reign of Egyptian Pharaoh Cleopatra. As Pulitzer Prize winning author Stacy Schiff notes in her new bestseller, Cleopatra is more relevant to our world today than many believe. Even 2,000 years after her death, audiences are still interested in Cleopatra’s life and political skills.

Schiff recently met with some of Washington’s top leaders to discuss the topics in her book – the “passion, politics and power” that made Cleopatra the legendary leader we remember. FOX News Anchor Jim Angle interviewed Schiff about her best selling book Cleopatra, a Life to discuss what aspects of Cleopatra’s political savvy are still relevant today. The event was co-hosted by the Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Capitol Archeological Institute at George Washington University.

Egyptian Ambassador Sameh Shoukry , Chairman of the Capitol Archeological Institute Deborah Lehr, Lorne Craner, President of the International Republican Institute and his wife, and Margaret Tutwiler, former Ambassador to Morocco just a few of the powerful politicos in Schiff’s audience. Perhaps it is not surprising that so many influential Washingtonians stepped out to celebrate Schiff – even millennia later, the Queen of the Nile fascinates.