She had Roman bodyguards, the other soldiers saw her at public events, and the senators and officials dined with her. The face on the coin was nothing like that of Elizabeth Taylor. And all the ancient writers unanimously call her good-looking. who was Cleopatra: who was the real Cleopatra beautiful and intelligent queen of Egypt: queen Cleopatra of Egypt. Death Masks: The Real Faces of 12 of Your Favorite Historical Figures, 11 European Countries Where People Rock Their Traditional Clothes (In Pictures), Cleopatra Selene: Cleopatra’s Daughter in 12 Facts. Writing another two centuries after Cleopatra’s reign, the Roman historian Cassius Dio describes Cleopatra as “a woman of surpassing beauty” who was “brilliant to look upon.” Yet Greek historian Plutarch, writing more than a century earlier than Dio, maintains that “her beauty… was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her.” She was clever and had sex appeal and knew how to … After all, both were notorious womanisers and would surely not have fallen for Cleopatra on the basis of sex alone. From portraits painted and coins issued during her reign, we can assume that Cleopatra had quite a long nose, protruding chin and that she looked ”rather majestic than beautiful”. bcfadmin January 18, 2021. When you consider how deeply involved both Caesar and Antony became with her, it is obvious that there must have been something more at play than just a sexy young body. Cleopatra is often depicted as an exceedingly beautiful woman, perhaps in part because she was able to successfully ensnare both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. There were public, realistic paintings of her in the Roman world. From Statues and Coins, Amazing Kenya Like You Have Never Seen It (In Pictures), Hiroshima and Nagasaki After the Bomb (In Pictures). She had an affair with Julius Caesar. Cleopatra more than beautiful was charismatic, elegant and carried herself as a king and not like a queen. As if that were not enough, she knew how to dress for impact. Despite not being ethnically Egyptian, Cleopatra embraced many of her countrys ancient customs and was the first member of the Ptolemaic line to learn the Egyptian language. Cleopatra was born Cleopatra VII Philopator in Egypt as a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek family of Macedonian origin. In fact, she was apparently not very beautiful at all. Antony and Cleopatra, Orion Publishing Group. She was a perfect combination of beauty with brains and was very talented. The archaeological evidence, Debate still rages over date of Thera eruption at ancient Akrotiri, Unmasking Tutankhamun : the figure behind the fame, World’s oldest shipwreck reveals incredible cargo, Tongwancheng – Capital of the Xia kingdom, Augusta Bilbilis – Birthplace of the Roman Poet Martial, Ancient Amazonian Farmers Fortified Valuable Fertile Land, Archaeologists Discover Evidence of Iron Age Inhabitation on Remote Island of St Kilda, Human Eye Beats Machine in Archaeological Colour Identification Test, The Roman Penises Carved into Hadrian’s Wall. Cleopatra wasn’t just some incredibly beautiful woman hellbent on having affairs with Roman rulers. It seems likely that Cleopatra’s physical appearance was not more or less attractive than the next woman, yet through her wit, charm and daring she captivated not only two of the most powerful men of the ancient world, but the collective imagination of the entire world for all centuries that followed. The message is clear: Cleopatra’s allure had little to do with her physical appearance and a lot to do with her intellect, character and, apparently, the tone of her voice. During the height of the Greek Bronze Age, a volcano erupted on the ancient Greek island of Thera (modern Santorini). c. 200 CE. He was moved by the beauty of the damsel, which was enhanced by the fact that, being so fair, she seemed to have been wronged.”, “She [Cleopatra] would have assailed [Julius] Caesar’s unyielding ears in vain, but her expression bolstered her entreaties and her evil beauty pleaded the case for her.”, “Caesar, upon seeing her and hearing her speak a few words was forthwith so completely captivated…”, “As soon as he saw her beauty and realized the charm and subtlety of Cleopatra’s conversation, he knew at once that such a woman, so far from having anything to fear from Antony, would probably gain the strongest influence over him…”, “She prepared as many gifts and as much money and adornment to take with her as befitted her great undertaking and royal status. What the Ancients Said About Her Looks, Simon Bolivar, This Is the Real Face of the South American Hero. Fantasies about Cleopatra’s beauty are just that. So when the historians wrote about the queen, they could rely on the testimony of witnesses. The British Iron Age is a conventional name to describe the independent Iron Age cultures that inhabited the mainland and smaller islands of present-day Britain. Roman writers tell us that Cleopatra was intelligent and charismatic, and that she had a seductive voice but, tellingly, they do not mention her beauty at all. Let’s find out if the ancient authors considered Cleopatra physically beautiful. Goldsworthy, A. While Cleopatra is depicted on the silver screen as a great beauty who seduced the Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, historians don't really know what Cleopatra looked like. Mary McMahon Date: January 03, 2021 Although Cleopatra was Greek, she was a pharaoh of Egypt based on the dynasty from which she descended. Bradford, E. 1971. Similar ideas are echoed by Cassius Dio, who claims that when Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) first met Cleopatra, “she was a woman of surpassing beauty, and at the time [48 BC], when she was in the prim… Dio, Roman History 42,34,5. Apr 4, 2019 Justina Howell. Was She? Was Cleopatra Beautiful? Flamarion, E. 1997. Tongwancheng was the capital of the Xia Kingdom, founded by the Xiongnu people at the southern edge of the Maowusu Sands of the Ordos Desert, in present-day Inner Mongolia. What’s more, casting Cleopatra as an evil beauty conveniently downplayed her competence and significance as a ruler. She had amazing beauty routines. To be honest, Cleopatra was not exceptionally beautiful in any way, at least according to present beauty standards. When her third husband, Julius Caesar, took Cleopatra back to Rome with him, she certainly caused a sensation. Asking whether Cleopatra was beautiful is perhaps then a fruitless question, if beauty is truly in the eyes of the culture in which it is beheld. In these images, she is depicted as anywhere from average-looking to hook-nosed and manly. Fictional novels such as H. Rider Haggard's Cleopatra (1889) and Théophile Gautier's One of Cleopatra's Nights (1838) depicted the queen as a sensual and mystic Easterner, while the Egyptologist Georg Ebers's Cleopatra (1894) was more grounded in historical accuracy. Cleopatra the Great: The Woman Behind The Legend, Hodder & Stoughton. Across the length of the wall corridor, and at military installations, 59 known etchings of male genitalia, otherwise known as a fascinus or fascinum were carved at various locations to symbolise the male phallus. What the Sources Say, What 15 Famous Romans Looked Like- Caesar, Pompey, Brutus, Octavia…. Asking whether Cleopatra was beautiful is perhaps then a fruitless question, if beauty is truly in the eyes of the culture in which it is beheld. His Roman soldiers, officers, and friends were stationed in Egypt with him. Cleopatra VII Philopator, commonly known simply as Cleopatra, ruled over Egypt during the century preceding the birth of Christ. Enter your email if you wish to be notified when someone replies to your comment. Foster, 1905. And, literally, hundreds of Roman senators visited him. Let’s have a look at what the historical and archaeological evidence tells us. They say so in their books. So, when a handheld colour-matching gadget came on the market, scientists hoped it offered a consistent way of determining colour, free of human bias. Plutarch, the Greek biographer of Mark Antony, … While Cleopatra was born in Egypt, she traced her family origins to Macedonian Greece and Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander the Greats generals. Accidentally discovered by a Turkish sponge diver in 1982, the remains of the 3,300-year-old Uluburun shipwreck lie 10km off the coast of southern Turkey. A ruler and scale can tell archaeologists the size and weight of a fragment of pottery - but identifying its precise colour can depend on individual perception. Cleopatra Had 4 Children- What Happened to Them? However, the Egyptian Cleopatra was the most powerful and most discussed even after she left this world. All of these people met or saw Cleopatra. Fun facts about the world.Trustworthy articles.Written by ex-journalists. Stories February 25, 2020. So yes, Cleopatra’s contemporaries considered her beautiful. These writers were Romans, and Romans were well-acquainted with Cleopatra. But while the legend of her beauty was based on the fact that she seduced two influential … Cleopatra VII is usually just known as Cleopatra, though she was the seventh royal Egyptian ruler to bear the name Cleopatra. ­Cleopatra was the last pharaoh of Egypt. All the ancient authors agree that she was beautiful. This was announced as a revelation. There remain no busts that can be reliably attributed to Cleopatra, but we do have various images of her surviving on ancient coinage. Coin portraits of Cleopatra show a countenance alive rather than beautiful, with a sensitive mouth, firm chin, liquid eyes, broad forehead, and prominent nose. There was this documentary on … Or maybe all we need do is move beyond beauty as a purely physical concept. While Roman historian Dio Cassius described Cleopatra as “a woman of surpassing beauty,” a number of modern historians have characterized her … The idea that Cleopatra VII (69-30 BCE), the famous last queen of ancient Egypt, owed her powerful position to her beauty persists. She placed most of her hopes, however, in herself and the charm and magic that attended her.”, “She had already seen for herself the power of her beauty to enchant Julius Caesar and Gnaeus, the son of Pompey.”, “Antony, struck by her intelligence as well as her appearance, was captivated by her as if he were a young lad, although he was forty years old.”, “To a woman [Cleopatra] who was conscious of her personal beauty and intensely proud of it.”, “She [Cleopatra] readied her quarters, set up a sumptuous couch, presented herself as if she did not care (for she looked stunning in her mourning clothes)…”, “She [Cleopatra]… sprang up as he [Octavian] entered and thew herself at his feet; her hair and face were in terrible disarray, her voice trembled, and her eyes were sunken... And yet her charm and the vigour of her beauty were still by no means extinguished…”, “Her beauty was no match for the virtue of the Princeps [Octavian].”, “He [Cornelius Dolabella] was by no means insensible to Cleopatra’s charms.”, Read more: What did Cleopatra look like? It's an irrelevant question, says biographer Joann Fletcher. Dio was a Roman historian who wrote 200 years after Cleopatra’s death. Cleopatra, who reigned as queen of Egypt during the 1st century B.C., is one of the most famous female rulers in history. See Her Statues and Coins, View 128 Ancient Coins That Show Cleopatra’s Face, What Julius Caesar and 14 Other Famous Romans Looked Like. She had beautiful, gorgeous skin, looks and body. Cleopatra’s Coins: Here are 128 Ancient Coins With Her Image, Was Julius Caesar Handsome? H.B. For example, ancient Greek depictions of the beautiful love goddess Aphrodite invariably show a full-bodied woman with a prominent nose; a woman who modern society would probably advise to lose weight and get a nose job! When Ptolemy XII died in 51 bce, the throne passed to his young son, Ptolemy XIII, and daughter, Cleopatra VII. An Inside Look at the Historical Evidence. Registered Address: HeritageDaily, 41 Belsize Road, Luton, Bedfordshire, England. Cassius Dio. No, Cleopatra VII Philopater, the last pharoah of Egypt, was not the most beautiful woman on earth. Newly published research reveals how GUARD Archaeologists have discovered evidence of Iron Age inhabitation on St Kilda from over two thousand years ago. 2008. Plutarch. In 48 BC, after the murder of his political adversary Pompey, … Dated to 32 B.C., this coin bearing a portrait of Cleopatra has renewed the debate over whether she was actually beautiful. Cleopatra VII Philopator often referred to simply as “Cleopatra” was known for her outstanding beauty, as countless works of art depicted her as an attractive temptress, with many modern beauty parlors named after her. Cleopatra’s Ethnicity: Was She Black, White, or Mixed? The Siege of Masada was one of the final chapters during the First Jewish-Roman War, where Sicarrii rebels and their families were besieged in the mountain palace/fortress of Masada, overlooking the Dead Sea in Israel. The Stonehenge Landscape contains over 400 ancient sites, that includes burial mounds known as barrows, Woodhenge, the Durrington Walls, the Stonehenge Cursus, the Avenue, and surrounds the monument of Stonehenge which is managed by English Heritage. Life of Antony, Parallel Lives, Loeb Classical Library, 1920. HeritageDaily is a dedicated, independent publisher of the latest research and discoveries from across the academic community with a focus on archaeology, anthropology, palaeoanthropology and palaeontology. And Julius Caesar had placed a gigantic statue representing her in a temple in the very city of Rome. As for the Romans that did not get to see her personally, they still knew what she looked like. It is also important to keep in mind that ancient ideals of beauty were quite different to those of the modern Western world. Ptolemy took the reigns of Egypt after Alexanders death in 323 B.C., and he launched a dynasty of Greek-speaking rulers that lasted for nearly three centuries. The deliberate portrayal of Cleopatra with masculine features not dissimilar to her ancestral male rulers the Ptolemies was not an attempt to capture a true likeness, but rather to help legitimise the rule of a young female queen. She asked therefore for admission to his presence [Julius Caesar’s], and on obtaining permission adorned and beautified herself so as to appear before him in the most majestic and at the same time pity-inspiring guise.”, “Cleopatra, relying on her looks, came to him [Julius] looking sad but not crying, carefully arrayed in pretended grief, as much as was attractive, with her hair in disarray as if she had torn it.”, “And the queen [Cleopatra], her dangerous beauty enhanced by cosmetics… She wore riches on her head and neck and felt the weight of her jewelry.”, “As much as the Spartan woman routed Argos and Troy with her baneful beauty, to the same degree, Cleopatra contributed to the furor in Italy.”, “Cleopatra, the king’s sister, threw herself at [Julius] Caesar’s feet and asked for the restoration of part of the kingdom.