Why do Some Call Cleopatra Ugly? By Robyn Antanovskii. No doubt the legend of her beauty is based in part on her famous seduction of both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, both powerful Roman leaders. There were public, realistic paintings of her in the Roman world. An Inside Look at the Historical Evidence. Hist.9.58.1), implying she owed her position of wealth and power because she prostituted herself to Mark Antony (83-30 BC) with her wanton physique. What the Sources Say, What 15 Famous Romans Looked Like- Caesar, Pompey, Brutus, Octavia…. Is there any solid basis to the claims of unparalleled physical beauty? This was announced as a revelation. Cleopatra, who reigned as queen of Egypt during the 1st century B.C., is one of the most famous female rulers in history. Cleopatra was no beauty queen, said the reports. And Julius Caesar had placed a gigantic statue representing her in a temple in the very city of Rome. Or maybe all we need do is move beyond beauty as a purely physical concept. What the Ancients Said About Her Looks. Was She? “The nose of Cleopatra: if it had been shorter, the whole face of the earth would have changed,” the French philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662 … 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. Also, on the writings of her contemporaries. Cleopatra wasn’t just some incredibly beautiful woman hellbent on having affairs with Roman rulers. But what did she really look like? bcfadmin January 18, 2021. Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt is considered one of the most beautiful and attractive women in the world. As if that were not enough, she knew how to dress for impact. While Cleopatra was born in Egypt, she traced her family origins to Macedonian Greece and Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander the Greats generals. 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”. So yes, Cleopatra’s contemporaries considered her beautiful. To be honest, Cleopatra was not exceptionally beautiful in any way, at least according to present beauty standards. Augusta Bilbilis is an ancient Roman town, founded on the heights of Cerro de Bambola in the historical province of Hispania Tarraconensis, in present-day Spain. She wasn't beautiful, but if she was to stand among beautiful women today, you surely would be mesmerized and impressed by her. 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. All the ancient authors agree that she was beautiful. 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. For Pliny the Elder, Cleopatra was no more than a “harlot queen (regina meretrix)” (Nat. She had amazing beauty routines. Let’s have a look at what the historical and archaeological evidence tells us. c. 100 CE. These writers were Romans, and Romans were well-acquainted with Cleopatra. She was the last of the Ptolemy dynasty to rule Egypt. There remain no busts that can be reliably attributed to Cleopatra, but we do have various images of her surviving on ancient coinage. But was she beautiful? 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! Book XLII, Roman History, trans. Her Family Tree, Spanish Flu: What Worked Against It, and What Stopped It, What did Cleopatra Look Like? 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. Let’s find out if the ancient authors considered Cleopatra physically beautiful. 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. She had Roman bodyguards, the other soldiers saw her at public events, and the senators and officials dined with her. Goldsworthy, A. Plutarch, the Greek biographer of Mark Antony, … 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. Spanish Flu: The Real Origin of the 1918 Pandemic, Key to the Spread of the Spanish Flu: the War. For the first time in more than 17,000 years, three mellifluous musical notes - close in tone to C, D, and C sharp - have reverberated from a conch shell modified to serve as a wind instrument. All that made for a heady combination that easily seduced men. 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. Apr 4, 2019 Justina Howell. She spoke several languages, was a mesmerizing conversationalist, and she was loads of fun. During the height of the Greek Bronze Age, a volcano erupted on the ancient Greek island of Thera (modern Santorini). She was clever and had sex appeal and knew how to … Life of Antony, Parallel Lives, Loeb Classical Library, 1920. So when the historians wrote about the queen, they could rely on the testimony of witnesses. Fletcher, J. It is also important to keep in mind that ancient ideals of beauty were quite different to those of the modern Western world. These are Cleopatra’s Dazzling Ancestors. And some of these authors saw her paintings and realistic statues themselves. The idea that Cleopatra VII (69-30 BCE), the famous last queen of ancient Egypt, owed her powerful position to her beauty persists. It's an irrelevant question, says biographer Joann Fletcher. Dated to 32 B.C., this coin bearing a portrait of Cleopatra has renewed the debate over whether she was actually beautiful. However, it must be remembered that coins in the ancient world were a powerful piece of political propaganda. 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. 6 Traits That Made the Spanish Flu Unique, The U.S. Presidents That Were Impeached and Why. Even the writers that dislike her call her beautiful. 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… 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. From Statues and Coins, Amazing Kenya Like You Have Never Seen It (In Pictures), Hiroshima and Nagasaki After the Bomb (In Pictures). She was a perfect combination of beauty with brains and was very talented. “Being brilliant to look upon and to listen to, with the power to subjugate every one.“. Many women in the history of the world have given the example of their domination. She had a dazzling family tree full of famous ancestors, was incredibly wealthy -and she was a queen. H.B. 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. Archaeologists Suggest Early Stonehenge was a Rebuilt Stone Circle from Wales, Earliest Known Conch Shell Horn Plays its Tune for the First Time in 17,000 Years, Was Cleopatra beautiful? Cleopatra was born Cleopatra VII Philopator in Egypt as a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a Greek family of Macedonian origin. However, the Egyptian Cleopatra was the most powerful and most discussed even after she left this world. In fact, she was apparently not very beautiful at all. She did however have a commanding presence and was highly educated. What’s more, casting Cleopatra as an evil beauty conveniently downplayed her competence and significance as a ruler. Experts from the Natural History Museum, The Francis Crick Institute and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History Jena have joined together to untangle the different meanings of ancestry in the evolution of our species Homo sapiens. Yes. 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.