Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which was entirely Greek. The dynasty was founded by Ptolemy Soter, who was one of the Macedonian generals of Alexander the Great and his successor in Egypt. The Ptolemies, as deified pharaohs, adopted the custom of marrying only members of their own family. Occasionally, the Ptolemies would marry members of other Greek dynasties like the Seleucids, who had some Sogdian ancestry (via Seleucus’ wife Apama, daughter of Spitamenes, the Sogdian enemy of Alexander). So, Cleopatra didn’t have a single drop of native Egyptian blood. The Ptolemies only spoke Greek, and Cleopatra VII was the only one who learned the Egyptian language. Despite being culturally, linguistically and ethnically Greek, they adopted the Egyptian gods in a syncretism with the Greek ones.
Cleopatra picture and description done by Joan Francesc Oliveras
you made a good point and the worst image to represent it
ninjad912 on
What do you mean “modern person” the vast majority of people were upset with Netflix’s documentary claiming cleopatra was black due to its historical inaccuracy. Also why is she celtic in the “what she really looked like here” she was Greek who typically have black hair and a darker skin than most of Europe(still not very dark but way darker than celtic)
Substantial-Win-6794 on
Thanks for the clarifying comment. This was common knowledge for a couple of thousand years.
In the 1970s someone supposedly found a description of one of Cleopatra’s ancestors as Black. The Black Irish aren’t subsaharan African either! Neither are the Black Thai.
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Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which was entirely Greek. The dynasty was founded by Ptolemy Soter, who was one of the Macedonian generals of Alexander the Great and his successor in Egypt. The Ptolemies, as deified pharaohs, adopted the custom of marrying only members of their own family. Occasionally, the Ptolemies would marry members of other Greek dynasties like the Seleucids, who had some Sogdian ancestry (via Seleucus’ wife Apama, daughter of Spitamenes, the Sogdian enemy of Alexander). So, Cleopatra didn’t have a single drop of native Egyptian blood. The Ptolemies only spoke Greek, and Cleopatra VII was the only one who learned the Egyptian language. Despite being culturally, linguistically and ethnically Greek, they adopted the Egyptian gods in a syncretism with the Greek ones.
Cleopatra picture and description done by Joan Francesc Oliveras
[https://www.instagram.com/jfoliveras/](https://www.instagram.com/jfoliveras/)
you made a good point and the worst image to represent it
What do you mean “modern person” the vast majority of people were upset with Netflix’s documentary claiming cleopatra was black due to its historical inaccuracy. Also why is she celtic in the “what she really looked like here” she was Greek who typically have black hair and a darker skin than most of Europe(still not very dark but way darker than celtic)
Thanks for the clarifying comment. This was common knowledge for a couple of thousand years.
In the 1970s someone supposedly found a description of one of Cleopatra’s ancestors as Black. The Black Irish aren’t subsaharan African either! Neither are the Black Thai.