A study has found that the last Egyptian pharaoh, Cleopatra VII, was of Macedonian stock and contrary to popular belief not a beauty. I wonder how much that cost
Oh goodness, they're just now figuring out that Cleopatra was Macedonian? Of course she was, she was a Ptolemy!
When Alexander the Great, who conquered Egypt, passed away in 323 BCE, the country was passed to a Macedonian nobleman named Ptolemy, who became the founder of a dynasty famous for intermarriages.
We knew the rule of Egypt passed to Ptolemy after Alexander. That's probably why they called the dynasty "the Ptolemies," in fact. The dynasty itself wasn't all that out of the ordinary in Egypt for its intermarriages, since that was the way Egyptian royal families kept the throne within the family. Succession passed through the female line, and the most successful brother got to marry one or two or more of his sisters. That accounts for the prevalence of hemophilia and buck teeth and other odd characteristics among Egyptian royals. The custom was frowned on for the common folk, but in colloquial Egyptian language husbands and wives referred to each other as "my brother" and "my sister." How much did the study cost, again? Can I get in on it for a few bucks?
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica 'the Macedonian-Greek character of the monarchy was vigorously preserved' and 'Cleopatra VII was of Macedonian descent and had no Egyptian blood'.
The study relied on the Encyclopedia Britannica as a primary source? Which high school conducted the study? If brother and sister and sometimes father and daughter were in the habit of marrying each other, then it's likely none of them were of actual Egyptian blood. On the other hand, there were lotsa dancing girls and the occasional concubine to be had, and the occasional daughter would be sent to the royal household to cement this or that deal, so I'd guess -- even without rooting through the Ptolomy family bible or Book of the Dead or whatever they used -- that some few of the Ptolomies did manage to mix the royal blood with some of the locals.
The first Ptolemaic pharaoh to learn the Egyptian language, Cleopatra, was also the last pharaoh of Egypt, after whom the country became a Roman province.
She was the heiress, but having hooked up with Caesar and produced a single male offstpring (Caesarian) and then with Marc Anthony, introducing an asp to her bosom before any results could show up, there wasn't a good candidate to take over the throne -- I believe she was 18 when she met Julius. She also made the mistake of siding with the losing side at the Battle of Actium, hence the asp, so her kingdom kinda sorta became spoils of war.
Despite the general belief that Cleopatra was a stunning beauty, the Greek essayist Plutarch describes her as 'by no means flawless or even remarkable' and writes 'her beauty was not in and for itself incomparable'.
Other writers are quite complimentary of her nose and her hair, which if I remember correctly was red.
The coins remained from her time show her as having a fat neck, a hooked nose, long ears and a prominent chin, ABC reported.
The art of coinage portraiture wasn't up to our modern standards way back then, so it's kind of an open question.
The queen's intelligence however is an undeniable fact. She was highly educated, could speak nine languages, had a compelling charisma and had a powerful regal presence from an early age.
She was also good looking enough to seduce Julius on the first try, and he was not only no dummy but could pretty much have his pick of the girlies.
Though he pretty much nailed any woman he could ...
The French leader Napoleon Bonaparte looted the mummy case of Cleopatra VII, which was found by workers in the 1940s, and emptied it into the sewers.