what color was Cleopatra? Accurate answers please.?

Answer 1

Cleopatra was a descendent of Ptolemy, one of the generals of Alexander the Great. After Alexander's death, his empire was split up between three generals (with most of the east falling away). Ptolemy originally got Egypt and what westerners refer to as the Holy Land, but the dynasty subsequently lost the Holy Land to the Seleucid empire.

The Ptolemy family was Macedonian. They did adopt the Egyptian practice of the pharaoh marrying his sister. This practice goes way back. The Egyptian gods Isis and Osiris were married but were also siblings, and the pharaohs emulated that. Cleopatra herself was married to two of her brothers (at separate times, of course). The Ptolemys were fairly isolated from the Egyptian people. Cleopatra's first language would have been Greek, although I think (don't quote me on this) that she did learn some Egyptian.

From my reading and my own understanding, Cleopatra was most definately Greek-looking. She was no great beauty, mind you. The few images we do have of her are in the Egyptian fashion, and those are idealized anyway. She did issue a coin earlier in her reign that features her in profile. She seems to have had a long, rather aquiline nose and rather harsh features. She certainly was not the great beauty that we imagine when thinking of Cleopatra.

Answer 2

Though Queen of Egypt, she was not ethnically Egyptian herself and most certainly was not brown. She had the light complexion of her ancestors from the Balkan peninsula. Though she bore the ancient Egyptian title Pharaoh, her primary language was Greek; for several centuries preceding her rule, Egyptian kings had been of Macedonian (i.e.Hellenistic) origin rather than Egyptian origin. The establishment of a Greek-speaking aristocracy in Egypt had come with Alexander the Great nearly 300 years before. Cleopatra is reputed to have been the first member of her family in their 300-year reign in Egypt to have learned the Egyptian language. The Ptolomies did not intermarry with the Egyptians. To maintain the blood line, brothers often married sisters. The high degree of inbreeding among the Ptolemies can be seen from the ancestry of Cleopatra VII. She only had four great-grandparents and six (out of a possible 16) great-great-grandparents (furthermore, four of those six were descended from the other two).

Answer 3

Cleopatra was of Greek ancestry (descended from Ptolemy, a general of Alexander the Great), and her ancestors tended to marry within the family (with their sisters, after the pharaonic custom) or to other ladies from Hellenistic royal families.

So, she would have been pure caucasian, probably very pale, as noble ladies dutifully avoided the sun until ca1950 AD, with the dark hair common among people of the Mediterranean, though blonde hair is not completely impossible, as it was known among the Greek.

Answer 4

Cleopatra was a Roman-sponsored monarch, whose Greek ancestors had ruled Egypt since the death of Alexander the Great.

Answer 5

Scientists have reported here as a lighter skinned black with Mediterranean features and slightly coarse dark hair.
But really, how accurate can anybody be?

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Answer 6

it doesn't matter if she was from africa. i did a book report about her once. the books i read said that she was greek and a descendant of alexander the great. so if she was pure-Macedonian she should be white, right?

Answer 7

Well, she was daughter of Ptolemy (Greek dynasty ruling at the time).

Answer 8

Cleopatra is Egyptian. Egypt is IN Africa. She had dark skin and coarse hair.

Answer 9

well she is from a greek dynasty,so i would say she was probably a pale egyptian.

Answer 10

she is the princess of egypt, but she also have some greek blood in her, so i guess she's dark skined