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Book Review of The Top 5 Most Famous Queens: Nefertiti, Cleopatra, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, and Queen Victoria

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Nefertiti:  Probably the most important thing to happen during her reign was the change of one deity for another.  Her husband, Akhenaten, an Egyptian Pharaoh, created a religious revolution, in which they worshipped one god only, Aten, or the sun disc.  They lived during the 14th century B.C. and promoted Egyptian artwork that was radically different from its predecessors.

Cleopatra:  I've always had trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that Cleopatra was not Egyptian, but Macedonian.  She was a child of the Ptolemaic dynasty founder, Ptolemy, a Greek companion of Alexander the Great.  The family certainly seemed to believe in fratricide (killing brothers or sisters to clear a path to rule).  Cleopatra VII was the last ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom.

Elizabeth I:  She was the Queen of England and Ireland for about 45 years. One of the important aspects of her reign is the fact that she was the last (of five:  Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I) monarch from the House of Tudor. 

Catherine the Great: She was really Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, not a Russian noble.  She was the longest-ruling female leader with 34 years as Empress.  She became Empress by overthrowing her husband, Peter III, a weak and childish person of questionable intelligence.
 
Victoria:  She was queen for over 60 years and even gave her name to the age:  Victorian Era.  She is often called the Grandmother of Europe because so many of her children became royals in other European countries.  

Thank you to the authors for including photos, art, and maps to this book.  They added so much to the understanding of the people and actions. The biographies were very readable and interesting.