cleopatras legacy survives in the play antony and cleopatra
what is said about cleopatra is not always what one would normally say about a ruler the image that is created makes the audience expect to see on stage not a noble sovereign but a dark dangerous evil sensual and lewd creature who has harnessed the captains heart
 the historians strabo velleius valerius maximus pliny the elder and appian while not offering accounts as full as plutarch josephus or dio provided some details of her life that had not survived in other historical records