Fear of a black Cleopatra

[Ex Lurker]

The new Netflix docudrama “Queen Cleopatra,” produced and narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith, has already elicited a passionate response, though perhaps not the kind that publicists hoped for. Since news broke that the series would star the British actress Adele James, fans, Egyptologists, scholars of Greco-Roman antiquity and Arab and Greek news outlets have been debating whether the series willfully distorts history. The reason? “Queen Cleopatra” depicts the legendary monarch as Black.

Netflix’s casting was informed by the views of Shelley Haley, a renowned classicist and Cleopatra expert, who claims that, although evidence of her ancestry and physical attributes are inconclusive, Cleopatra was culturally Black.

Dr. Haley has said that she was struck by the experience, early in her life and career, of encountering Black American communities that seemed to view Cleopatra as one of their own. Building on that experience, Dr. Haley’s academic work on Cleopatra adopts a more complex criterion for racial identification than skin color alone. “When we say, in general, that the ancient Egyptians were Black and, more specifically, that Cleopatra was Black,” Dr. Haley wrote, “we claim them as part of a culture and history that has known oppression and triumph, exploitation and survival.

Her point is that we are not limited to considering only representations of what Cleopatra looked like or descriptions of her ancestry. We can also use what we know of her life, reign and resistance to understand her race as a shared cultural identity. Dr. Haley argues that Cleopatra’s experience was part of a history of oppression of Black women. Reclaiming Cleopatra as Black and choosing to portray her now as a Black woman highlights this history — and is consistent with contemporary Egyptians or Greeks identifying with Cleopatra on the grounds of their own shared culture. Unlike racial assignments based on physical characteristics, which seek to distill people into rigid and recognizable categories, shared cultural claims can easily coexist.

To recognize Cleopatra as culturally Black is not to pretend that skin color is meaningless now — in the manner of recent figures like Rachel Dolezal and Jessica Krug, who claimed a cultural identity that was not theirs. In our society, race and racism are deeply entwined with skin color and other inherited physical traits. We cannot understand modern forms of oppression without understanding how phenotypical difference contributes to them, and we cannot legitimately claim a racial history without having lived it.

Cleopatra lived it. And it’s that experience, not her physical attributes, that should determine how we imagine her life.

https://dnyuz.com/2023/05/10/fear-of-a-black-cleopatra/

The critics who claim blackwashing need to sit down

[stopdiggin]

1. found this informative and interesting

There are probably a lot of voices/opinion that will be hard to be swayed to the concept of Cleopatra as 'culturally black.' But .. so be it. At least I have a better understanding ...

[FSogol]

2. Wow, wait until they find out Jesus was a person of color too!

[CTyankee]

3. Oh, I thought she looked like Elizabeth Taylor...

[Aristus]

4. Cleopatra was Greek.

It doesn’t mean she was white. Certainly not as white as a Scot, for example. But she wasn’t black, or even African at all.

She was a member of the Ptolemy family, the family of the Greek general who took over Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great.

Sub-Saharan black Africans founded a number of highly sophisticated, cosmopolitan civilizations that they can be proud of. And certainly, there were a number of black African Pharoahs of Egypt originating from modern-day Sudan.

But Cleopatra VII, as her regnal name goes, was Greek.

[Act_of_Reparation]

6. Accurate, but does it matter?

I'm a big history nut, but I really don't think it is terribly important who portrays historical figures in movies or television shows.

[Aristus]

8. It only matters because they are deliberately misrepresenting her.

Cultural appropriation is wrong, no matter who is doing it.

The truth is, skin color isn’t very important in this discussion. People in the ancient world rarely made distinctions based on skin color. Only language. The black Pharoahs I mentioned above; Ancient Egyptian writers rarely mentioned their skin color; just that they didn’t speak Egyptian.

[Skittles]

27. she'll be fine

I tend to think of Cleopatra as looking EXOTIC and Ms. James fits the bill nicely....

[Dr. Strange]

9. Well...

who portrays historical figures in movies or television shows.

agreed on the whole movies or television show thing, but if you're going to claim to be a documentary then accuracy becomes a little more important.

[Johonny]

15. It doesn't really matter. I mean, for starters Adele James is of mixed ancestry herself

And be no means was Cleopatra "Greek". She was a product of mixed ancestry as her family had intermarried into the Persian empire. If it married into other African based prominent families? It's likely, although not certain. Culturally the rulers of Egypt by her reign had appropriated much of Egyptian culture and the tombs from this time period see a clear mixture of Egyptian and Greek culture. Certainly Cleopatra portrayed herself as an Egyptian of that time period.

The point of this is how we see someone like Adele James is mostly a product of our own logical constructs. Her skin in black, she is black. It tell us little about her acting skill. And frankly if it gets people to google Cleopatra's ancestry then the maker of the documentary probably made a good choice.

[muriel_volestrangler]

29. Her known ancestry was about 90% Greek

There's a few from the Syrian area, but mainly it was a pretty inbred family of Greeks.

[Johonny]

60. They don't even know who her mother was

She could be anywhere from 25 to 80 percent Greek depending on who her mother was. But such information is lost to history.

[Happy Hoosier]

19. What if a white guy portrayed Shaka of the Zulu?

I think when talking about these people as historical figures, reasonable fidelity to who they actually were is desirable.

[LeftInTX]

20. Lol

[Act_of_Reparation]

26. That's a bit different.

Not because the white actor doesn't look like Shaka Zulu, but because we'd be taking a leading role from an underrepresented group.

[Happy Hoosier]

35. I disagree....

I’m not a huge fan of colorblind casting in realist genres. This is a docudrama. It’s supposed to be a representation of who Cleopatra actually was. She was NOT an African. Likewise, Shaka WAS an African.

Stuff like this hurts the discussion IMO.

[PatSeg]

46. I agree

For years we've complained about white actors playing native Americans or Asians. I can't see any good reason to cast a black actor as a historical figure of Greek descent. Plus, this is suppose to be a documentary, all more the reason to try and be accurate.

[inthewind21]

86. It's

a DocuDRAMA. The Drama in the word docudrama is your clue.

[inthewind21]

85. Well

Then there'd be a Hollywood production of a white guy playing Shaka of the Zulu.

[RobinA]

52. It Matters

because many people get their history knowledge from the mass media. It behooves them to get at least the major points rightish.

[pinkstarburst]

72. So you'd be okay with a white guy portraying MLK?

We are now at a point where we recognize that such things are not best practice and are in fact harmful representation. It's not okay to say, who cares, just because the person committing cultural appropriation is Black. It's still wrong.

[jimfields33]

5. I was hoping it made the top 10 on Netflix but so far not a day since it was released.

Queen Charlotte is holding its own though. I’m liking it so far.

[Tetrachloride]

7. Cleopatra as culturally black, leaving aside color.

1. Egypt takes its archeology seriously. Recent discoveries in Alexandria are dramatic.
2. Upper Egypt is Qena, Luxor. ( the south). Lower Egypt is Cairo, Alexandria, the Nile Delta, Suez and Sinai, geographically. Culturally, I have spotted differences.
3. Egypt has 10-30 ethnic groups, depending on who I talk to. A wide range of facial colors, structure, height. Once in a while, I see ethnic Sudan or Nubians.
4. I look forward to asking my Cairo and Alexandria friends for their reaction.
5. Although analysis of Cleopatra as a rebel against ( fill in the blank), her ruling class status carries the most weight in my mind. The American Founding Fathers is a comparison in my mind.

“Culturally black” has a lot of loaded math. I findd the concept of Cleopatra as culturally black as a reach.

If I find something to add or subtract from my paragraphs, i will endeavor to post.

Encyclopedia Brittanica

https://www.britannica.com/place/Egypt/People

[Locutusofborg]

11. The problem with that is

The REAL history of Egypt is that the Ptolemaic dynasty brought Greek culture to Egypt not the other way around. I am an African-American who was an undergraduate history major. What I would love to see that has never been done is a film or a series on the 25th dynasty of Egypt when sub-Saharan black Africans from Nubia conquered Egypt and became its rulers for 100 years.

[Celerity]

31. +1

[PatSeg]

47. I agree

That would be fascinating.

[Renew Deal]

10. What in Rachel Dolezal is this?

Now I see why the Egyptians are upset. This justification is far worse than anything I could have imagined. I thought they would justify it the same way Washington is portrayed in Hamilton. But to redefine Cleopatras race based on some perception about how Americans view Cleopatra is absurd. Shelley Haley has no right to apply her American perceptions above historical accuracy in a case like this. She outs herself as an American that is ignorant about the world.

[GrapesOfWrath]

25. Spot on

Agree 100%

[Bucky]

39. Distorting history through an American cultural frame

... is an essential component of American culture. Indeed it is my right as an American.

[EX500rider]

12. Yeah I'm not buying that in the least bit

All cultures around the world that have known oppression are therefore black?

That sounds silly to me.

Not to mention during this time. I don't think sub-Saharan Africa was getting much oppression as it was widely unknown and unexplored to other cultures.

And how was the Pharaoh oppressed exactly?

Wasn't she a living God waited on hand and foot?

[Me.]

13. Cleopatra Was A Ptolemy

“A member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great”

[speak easy]

14. "Cleopatra's experience was part of a history of oppression of Black women"

Except that Cleopatra’s family were the oppressors, the Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt after it was conquered by Alexander the Great.

[EX500rider]

36. Yeah calling a Pharaoh of Egypt "oppressed" is beyond a stretch IMO

[WarGamer]

16. We discussed this about a month ago here...

She was obviously NOT black in real life.

She was most certainly Greek/Macedonian looking... with pale olive skin but dark hair and probably a prominent nose.

But... as long as they're not pushing it as a documentary... who cares what color the actor is.

Hamilton, right?

[Sympthsical]

18. They are pushing it as a documentary

That's why it became a shitfest.

[WarGamer]

22. Then they deserve the controversy and comments.

[Bucky]

40. "deserve"?

Hell, they're counting on the controversy to bring in ratings. That's how they get paid

[Celerity]

32. the purported 'documentary' portrays the royal family & most of Graeco-Egyptian population as black

based off Shelley Haley, the problematic. Afrocentric revisionist historian Shelley Haley.

She and many others (like the two white professors who wrote the article) falsely try to apply 21st century American standards and constructs on race to events from 2000 years ago (and shaped before that for 3000 more years).

from the OP article:

Haley argues that Cleopatra’s experience was part of a history of oppression of Black women.

Smdh, she was from centuries inbred Macedonian Greek stock, and she also was the royal head of a thousands of years in duration slave (far from just black slaves) civilisation.

Netflix, btw, for extra spiciness, casts a pale white, English, former EastEnder (lolol), John Partridge, as Julius Caesar


My thoughts: (as a black women and also as an academic with formal training in history) the whole thing is pseudo history, revisionist and designed to virtue signal, and is not helpful.

This is the type of ahistorical falsely revisionist dross (as it IS supposedly a documentary) that feeds fuel to the MAGAt fuckers, the 'anti-wokesters'

I also find the OP's statement:

The critics who claim blackwashing need to sit down

more than a little, shall we say, problematic.

[Sympthsical]

34. Oh, it's a mess

I have a degree in history, but didn't want to get into the problematic nature of Haley's afrocentric pseudohistory because . . . eh, I didn't think that conversation would go over very well here, lol.

And the thing is, if it had just been a fictionalized movie or television show, it would've been fine. Bridgerton and the extended universe are well-loved shows, because they never claim to be anything other than what they are.

I think what bothers me about Haley and others is that there are so many amazing Black historical figures who could be highlighted and celebrated. Where is the Lewis Hayden movie, damnit?! The man stood on his porch and threatened to blow up his house and everyone around them with barrels of gunpowder to protect fugitive slaves. The script writes itself.

Instead there's this grasping for appropriation. Like she and others want to steal historical clout. It's kind of weirdly submissive for people who are reaching for Black pride. That the only people who matter are famous historical figures known or celebrated by white people. It almost feels like they're saying Black historical figures aren't particularly worth knowing or exploring or giving a new platform.

The posture is just weird to me across the board.

[PatSeg]

48. Excellent point

There are so many extraordinary black stories that are yet to be told. You don't have to look hard to find them. There is plenty to be "proud" of and it is part of real history.

[Igel]

37. A lot of kids pay more attention to this kind of thing

than to what actual documents and history say.

And that's a problem. A big mis-/disinformation problem.

Then again, a lot of people know this and rather like the problem.

[inthewind21]

87. It's

a docudrama. A bit different that a documentary.

[Sympthsical]

92. Trailer says otherwise

They make affirmative claims in it.

They knew they were starting stupid shit. They didn’t realize no one was in the mood.

[Takket]

17. what does it mean that someone is "culturally black"?

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. The article seems to use it as "non-Roman"

It's true that the Romans, the most powerful people in the area, insulted her and looked down on her. But calling that "culturally Black" seems a stretch to me.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

51. Being insulted and looked down on by Romans, that's a big club

Maybe Cleopatra is a member, along with people of Gaul, Britain, Spain, Israel, Teutonic areas, etc. I don't think we can describe all of them as culturally Black.

Queen Cleo is ok as fiction, hardly a documentary.

[RobinA]

53. That Was A Question

I had. Nobody alive today except scholars have any idea what "culturally black" means in Cleopatra's time frame. If it even means anything in that era.

[ismnotwasm]

21. Cracks me up that white people get bent from this

Sure, historically she was probably brown, but people forget modern notions of race didn’t exist back then. It’s probably more valid for her to be culturally black rather than white, whatever that meant for the times, Because we ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT 2023, or even 1023. Jesus Fucking Christ.

In, fact she’s been portrayed as ‘white’ for many decades. I wish people would relax and learn to evolve.

[Renew Deal]

23. It's not white people that are upset

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-05-10/queen-cleopatra-black-egypt-state-media-netflix-african-queens

Though I can see why anyone would be upset. The justification by Shelley Haley is based on ignorance.

[ismnotwasm]

24. I can guarantee you, there is a segment of white people that are upset.

You can trust me, or you can wade into that mess on your own.

Once again. Nothing, absolutely nothing regarding race and culture in 2023 would mean anything to the people of Cleopatras time.

[inthewind21]

89. Me too

[misanthrope]

28. I thought this article showed how silly the entire kerfuffle is

"As with many such debates, the issues are shrouded in layers of myth and ideology. Much of the controversy arises from the desire to impose contemporary notions of race and identity, of whiteness and blackness, on an ancient world that thought very differently about such issues. Even identities such as “Egyptian”, “Greek”, “Macedonian” and “African” have significantly different connotations today than they did two millennia ago."

SNIP

"The ancients certainly divided humanity into different groups and recognised differences of colour. But they did not categorise people in racial terms as we do, nor attribute the same social meanings to human differences. Whether we are talking of Cleopatra or Aristotle, to portray them as “white” is to project a contemporary racial sensibility into the past."

More at the link:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/23/when-cleopatra-was-alive-she-wasnt-categorised-by-colour-of-her-skin

[DFW]

33. That's how I saw it, too

As a descendant of the Ptolemaïc line of Hellenic monarchs of Egypt, she probably resembled the few (very Greek) portraits of her on the contemporary coins of the period that survive. Julius Cæsar, who spoke fluent Greek, would most likely have spoken Greek with Cleopatra. According to one article I have read, she was quite the lingust, and knew, aside from ancient Greek, ancient Egyptian, ancient Persian, Hebrew, and several other languages of the greater region.

[misanthrope]

50. Essentially, it doesn't matter who she resembled

and those caught up in it are missing the point. This is just one more illustration how race is a social construct we have forced onto our species and most of us are so myopic and locked into our culture that it is difficult for us to see through it.

[DFW]

55. It's not just an American tendency

Many people(s) tend to think the current way(s) of looking at the world are perfectly logical to use when considering millenia past. It just doesn't work that way, and our ranting will never change they way it was in 50 BC. (or even 1800 AD). Egypt's main concern in 50 B.C. was their country being absorbed into the Roman Empire, not their Queen's DNA. If anyone had asked Anwar Sadat at Camp David if he was concerned about the Roman Empire, he would have told you to get back on your meds before asking him anything else.

[Bucky]

38. "culturally black"

is an American concept based on a uniquely American understanding of race which has absolutely no foundation or connection to understanding of race in Egypt in the First Century BCE.

People from the classical era understood race to mean nationality. There's a Greek race, Egyptian race, Hebrew race, Roman race, Carthaginian race... and none of it was related to skin tone.

Sorry, but this is Flat Earth caliber historical thinking. Cleopatra was ethnically Greek, but politically and psychologically deeply committed to Egypt as a person and as a leader. She was one of the first in her family to speak in the Egyptian tongue of the day. She was a political populist, not unlike her husband Julius, and committed nationalist and Egyptian chauvinist.

But keep in mind that Egyptians back then did not think of themselves as African. They thought of Ethiopians and other sub-Saharan Africans is different races from themselves. To them Egypt was the center of the world. So calling Cleopatra culture black makes about as much sense as depicting Jesus as a long-haired, blue-eyed, blonde Viking dude like you see in the schmaltzy American hippie Jesus paintings that anti-hippy American Christians love so much (but refuse to behaviorally emulate).

Casting a black actor as Cleopatra is as legit as casting Willem Dafoe as Jesus.

[Bucky]

41. I'm okay with this casting

John Wayne as Genghis Khan didn't bother me either.

[Goodheart]

43. Didn't really bother me, either... but he looked ridiculous.

[Bucky]

44. and the acting was for shit

It was a John Wayne movie. You might as well complain that a Meg Ryan movie doesn't offer healthy examples of romantic entanglement or that a Chuck Norris movie doesn't realistically depict a coherent response to the threat of narcoterrorism. You bought your ticket and you got what ya paid for.

[TheProle]

54. Was it billed as a documentary?

[Johonny]

56. Yes, but most of the crap on history channel

claims to be accurate too. Infotainment.

The director clearly had an artistic agenda. But what artist doesn't.

[TheProle]

59. I was responding to John Wayne as Genghis Khan

[EX500rider]

68. Hey at least they tried to make him look the part lol

?r=1665670651471

[Goodheart]

42. I would not watch it simply for the reason I would not watch a series on George Washington

if George were portrayed as black. I like historical dramas... as long as actual history is respected.

[Bucky]

45. *laughs in Bridgerton*

I think you underestimate Denzel's talent

[Happy Hoosier]

77. Bridgerton is clearly fictional though...

... despite its historical setting, it's clearly a fictional retelling of history.

For me, the casting needs to make sense. There are REAL black people in history. Tell their stories.

[Bucky]

78. I can't argue against your last paragraph. Yes, our arts should tell a full range of world stories

And they should take particular care to emphasize the underrepresented stories from our American and global cultures

I can only tell you I support the right of the producers of the docu drama about Cleopatra to cast who they want to cast AND the right of its critics to castigate what they want to castigate.

History is rarely a simple truth from the past. More often it's an argument about what we're trying to learn from the past. The whole point of having academics is to argue about what is or isn't right. It shouldn't bother us when someone makes an argument we don't agree with. I only have a problem with people who don't want to hear all the relevant good faith arguments on a given question

[Happy Hoosier]

79. We mostly agree... I just hope...

than instead of shoehorning black performers into roles ona "color-blind casting" basis, it's better to expose white people to stories ABOUT black characters.

I find this "culturally black" argument rather insulting to actual sub-Saharan African cultures. Cleopatra was NOT a black person in a white body. She was a white colonial overlord. By making her black, the film-makers are potentially erasing that elemnt of the Ptolemy's rule of Egypt. (Full disclosure, I have not seen the show. I may, but not as of yet).

[Bucky]

84. Two of the Egyptian pharaonic dynasties were Nubian

A couple of others were from Mesopotamia and at least one was from the Levant. So I'd argue that being colonized by a conquerors was a feature of Egyptian culture, not an exception.

Her ancestors may have been a bit more imperial than she. She was after all at least the 10th generation of Helleno-Egyptians and her family had adopted a number of local customs, including sibling bonery. Is she herself was one of the first of her family to embrace the popular culture, speak the indigenous language, and not act entirely like a non-Egyptian. In her civil war with her brother vying for control of egypt, she definitely struck the same political poise of populist that her eventual husband Julius Caesar struck in his civil war.

So she was "imperialistic" only with a number of significant caveats.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

82. So you were a pass on Hamilton?

[Goodheart]

90. I've never seen it, but inasmuch as it's a musical I doubt it was meant to be very historical.

Unless Alex and Aaron and our founders had a different way back then of day-to-day communicating.

[sarisataka]

49. The real issue here is not

What color was Cleopatra's skin. It is about Americans and how they feel.

Historians, Arabs, Greeks and especially Egyptians need to realize Cleopatra must be viewed through the lens of a country that didn't exist until two millennia after she lived and a cultureunknownat the time.

We need to explain to them they need to listen to us about their history and culture. We will tell them what their history and culture was, what it means and, most importantly, how they should feel about it.





For centuries Egypt has been plundered by European nations. Since grave robbing has fallen out of fashion, America will settle for plundering their cultural identity.

[Sympthsical]

57. I enjoy how scathing this is

Sometimes a rant just works.

[BlackSkimmer]

66. Very well done.

[inthewind21]

91. Bravo

[NotVeryImportant]

58. It's interesting to watch these white supremacist's heads explode over this...

First thing's first, what is typically called "Egypt" is located in Africa, so that's the starting point.

It's high time we get a better understanding of this history...

[WarGamer]

61. You're not serious, right?

Let's start... Cleopatra wasn't Egyptian.

Born there, sure... but she came from an inbred line of Macedonian Greeks.

And the second part...

What you said, lol...

Maybe you're not aware, but not all Africans are black in the plainest sense of the word. Have you ever been to Egypt? The Mediterranean coast line is NOT sub-Saharan Africa.

Look at Egyptian art. Here are some Roman era burial mummy paintings.



So 2 things... Cleopatra was a product of Macedonian Greeks, not Egyptians. And even the Egyptians of that era were (mostly) not black except for the Nubians in their society.

?width=1400&quality=55

[BlackSkimmer]

65. Thank you.

Sometimes people don't realize what they've just shown us.

[Retrograde]

67. Ancient Egyptians portrayed Nubians

is their art as looking substantially different from those living along the upper Nile. Then again, based on what's on display at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC, they also often depicted Egyptian men as red and Egyptian women as an ocher yellow, so maybe it was an artistic convention. They also often made husband/wife statues with the husband several times larger than the spouse, so maybe realism wasn't all that important to them

I read the original op ed by the authors in the NYT, and it read like they were going for the gold in mental gymnastics. It's true that Africans and their descendants were often written out of history in the past: IMHO, this is the pendulum swinging over to the other side.

[prodigitalson]

75. It's not like there aren't any African actors

[DenaliDemocrat]

62. Except she wasn't Egyptian either.

A Macedonian from Ptolemic lines with some Syrian genes. This is stupid. Her ethnicity and ancestry is well documented

[WarGamer]

63. Yes, absolutely ridiculous.

Like casting Brad Pitt as Malcom X in a movie.

[Celerity]

73. We didn't land on Fight Club, Fight Club landed on us!

[Beacool]

64. As Patrick Moynihan said,

"You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts."

The real Cleopatra neither looked like Elizabeth Taylor or Adele James. I have no problem with having non-traditional casting, but to twist history and insist that a historical character was of a race that she wasn't, is arrogant and ignorant. Then again, Jesus has been portrayed as being of every race, mostly white, which is just as ridiculous.

[XanaDUer2]

69. Kick nt

[BannonsLiver]

70. Historical accuracy is passe in our world.

Look at Bridgerton. 🤷?♂️

[XanaDUer2]

71. True nt

[Celerity]

74. big difference though is that Bridgerton (great show btw) presents itself as alternative historical

fiction, whilst Queen Cleopatra claims to be a historical documentary/docudrama.

[BannonsLiver]

76. It still promotes the myth of a black aristocracy.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/05/20/opinions/queen-charlotte-bridgerton-netflix-britain-racism-armstead/index.html

[Celerity]

81. Fiction often deals with myths.

[Deep State Witch]

80. I Watched It

It was very well done. I think that the actress that they chose to play Cleopatra was excellent. I would have rather seen it as a mini-series rather than a documentary.

In reality, by the time the Ptolemies took over Egypt, it was a multi-cultural empire. They had Nubians, Berbers, Egyptians, Greeks, Jews, Arabs, and other Semitic peoples living in Alexandria. Cleopatra and her siblings were probably Greek because the family practiced sibling marriage. However, that's not to say that she didn't have African blood because of a concubine or second wife somewhere in her lineage. We'll probably never really know, because the documentary supposed that she and Antony were probably cremated according to Roman custom - and to prevent her tomb from being a rallying point for the Egyptian population.

[TheProle]

88. "We'll never know"

unless we look at coins struck during her lifetime with her image that would have been approved by her.



Cleopatra's official Ptolemaic coinage (which she would have approved) and the three Roman portrait busts of her considered authentic by scholars (which match her coins) portray Cleopatra as a Greek woman in style, including the Greek chiton, Hellenistic diadem, and Greek chignon.[12][13][46][16] Francisco Pina Polo writes that Cleopatra's coinage present her image with certainty and asserts that the sculpted portrait of the "Berlin Cleopatra" head from the Altes Museum is confirmed as having a similar profile with her hair pulled back into a bun, a diadem, and a hooked nose.[13]

[Bonx]

83. It doesn't help that the series is terrible.