Like Helen of Troy, Cleopatra (69 – 30 b.c.), has always been one of the history’s famous beauties. But was she really beautiful? Modern historians claim to have evidence that Cleopatra wasn’t as physically striking as once believed.
The vast majority of ancient sources regarding Cleopatra were written by Romans. Since Romans disliked Cleopatra they painted her as a debauched temptress who used her beauty as political weapon.
Plutarch (45-120 a.d), the Greek biographer of Mark Antony, writing about a century after Cleopatra’s death, mentioned that Cleopatra’s beauty was “not altogether incomparable“ but her mellifluous speaking voice and her intelligence made her so desirable.
Cassius Dio (155-255 a.d) , the Roman historian of Greek origins, described her as “a woman of surpassing beauty and, at the time, being in her prime, she was conspicuously lovely. She also had an elegant voice and she knew how to use her charms to be attractive to everyone.”
There are only three head sculptures in classical style and few full-length statues in Egyptian style appearances that are also said to be of Cleopatra and to have been commissioned by her or by Egypt during her lifetime. These statues depict totally different women.
source: arjuna-vallabha, ancientromeru
Historians believe that she intentionally portrayed herself with her father’s strong jawline as a display of strength.
On the left side is Cleopatra AR Tetradrachm. 36 BC ( BACIΛICCA KΛEOΠATPA ΘEA NEWTEPA), depicted with diademed draped bust, and a dress embroidered with pearls. On the reverse side (ANTWNIOC AYTOKPATWP TPITON TPIWN ANDPWN), bare head of Marc Antony. In this coin, Cleopatra’s face was made to look like Mark Antony.
As we can see every coin she minted portrayed a different woman, depending on what she needed to gain politically at the time.
For Egyptian audiences, she commissioned portraits of herself in the traditional Egyptian style.
The image of the mixed race beauty is totally different to the image of Elizabeth Taylor or Sophia Loren that we were used to.
Her father, Ptolemy I was Alexander the Great’s general and possibly close relative of Alexander. The descent passed through six successor Ptolemies until it reached Cleopatra’s father. Cleopatra’s grandmother (the only known source of foreign blood in Cleopatra’s family) belonged to a dynasty which descended from the same Greek-Macedonian region as the Ptolemies
Like many royal houses in Egypt, members of the Ptolemaic Dynasty often married within the family to preserve the purity of their bloodline, and it’s possible that her own parents were brother and sister too. Cleopatra eventually married both of her adolescent brothers.
This fact makes me doubt about the result of the image of Cleopatra of mixed ethnicity that Sally Ann Ashton created.
She was speaking 9 languages, she involved with the two most powerful men of her time, she kept her country independent for 20 years. Her assets were so great that when the Romans pillaged Egypt after her death, they lowered taxes in Rome from 12 to 4 percent.
source: history
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Fascinating! Thanks for sharing!
Wow, fascinating! Thanks for sharing :)
Absolutely fascinating. Thank you.
The interpretations all look so different. It is safe to say that her enduring beauty eludes us all in our minds. Fascinating post!
Very interesting. Thank you. :)
Fascinating - but will the mystery ever be solved? Thank you for this interesting post
Thank You. This is an Older Article but I appreciate it being here the same. My Husband has told Me more than once that My Intelligence is sexy. Reading about Cleopatra makes Me Believe that the Men of her Day found Her Profound Intelligence to Be Very Beautiful ! It May have given Her something that every other Beauty Just Didn’t Possess. Therefore Making Her 10 times More Beautiful !
There is now also some reason to believe that her mother had African descent but I wish we could know more than we do on it. But I think there is something to it as it could have been an attempt to get on Egypts good side by having someone closer to their race after the ptolemys were wreckin the dynasty up.
thank you very nice work
But cheeeks real good