Cleopatra

This Egyptian Queen was a marvelously powerful seductress. She managed to wrest Egypt from the control of her brother Ptolemy to whom she had also been married, and to retain control of her nation in part by seducing Roman Generals for her lovers. She only did this twice, but in both cases he was one of the most powerful men of Rome and wound up devoted to her. This forged a political alliance with Egypt that would have otherwise likely been a war for control of the country. Cleopatra managed to use make-up, fancy boats, beautiful singing and sexual allure along with political power and competencies to make herself a well guarded boundary of the Roman Empire.

She figures into several of the book's chapters from the very beginning. She is a seductive type at first, and then she becomes important again when the author examines seductive methods...