What did Cleopatra really look like?
Cleopatra was often described as an unmatched beauty. For example, this was the opinion of Dion Cassius, an ancient Roman historian of Greek origin. However, Plutarch wrote differently about her They say that her physical beauty was by no means extraordinary, but she conversed with irresistible charm. On the one hand, her appearance combined with her seductive speech; on the other hand, her character, which inexplicably manifested in all her actions, greatly captivated those around her. Her voice sounded gentle.
Cleopatra’s reputation as a femme fatale was mainly established by Octavian Augustus. Unwilling to acknowledge her political talent and intelligence, he attributed Cleopatra’s influence over Julius Caesar and Mark Antony solely to her feminine charms. There are three preserved sculptures, presumably depicting Cleopatra, but they do not match each other at all. There are Egyptian coins with Cleopatra’s profile, where the queen has a prominent nose that makes her resemble a man. Historians suppose this was done intentionally to give the queen’s appearance authority and strength.
Sally Ann Ashton, a Cambridge-based Egyptologist, recreated a possible image of the famous Egyptian queen. She used several authentic depictions of Cleopatra, including a cameo from the 1st century BCE. The resulting portrait, created through three-dimensional computer…
