Do you think the hype around Cleopatra's beauty was justified?

This a reconstruction of cleopatra as she appeared in life. Do you think the hype around her beauty and how easily she could get men to fall in love with her matches her appearance?

I think it was probably a combination of her beauty and social station as men would want the power that comes with being with her. The histories romanticised it to be about love or just pure attraction.

Different times different beauty standards.

She had a natural beauty I'm sure, these days we live in a much, much, much more shallow and vain society by comparison.

I always heard that based on coin images, that she was ugly...but if that's what she looked like then she was gorgeous.

I'd shoot my shot.

I dont know what Julius Ceaser liked about her, but it must have been something.

Agreed.

if that's what she truly looked like, she would get interest from lots of men regardless of era

Oh yeah

She was probably beautiful for the time. A lot of higher up people were products of incest, her family definitely was.

Also; Netfilx told me this woman is black. Why this reconstruction lyin'

Cleopatra was also considered to be one of the smartest women of the age and was apparently the only member of the Ptolomic dynasty to learn to speak and read Egyptian. Being wealthy she also had a library and loved reading, to the point where she could speak multiple languages fluently.

I suspect that rare trait made her even more desirable at the time.

She looks like a human being. Damn.

Considering she lived in egypt (really hot there), makes this reconstruction even more questionable. It doesnt suit her skin color. She is, too white to be someone from egypt.

Its the same with Jesus, scientist reconstructed him to be with more darker skin than the usual white skin what you see in churches.

She was Greek and Macedonian, born when the Ptolemaic Dynasty ruled Egypt. She is not from the middle east originally. Living somewhere does not automatically turn your skin a different color, otherwise Elon Musk would look like Idris Elba and vice versa.

Jesus is depicted as white and fair haired in the western world because the majority of people that come from there are white and he is portrayed by them to look like them. Much how he is depicted as asian in the eastern world and black in Christian parts of Africa.

I believe this something nutters on twitter and Reddit call "representation".

Wait, she was greek and macedonian? Now it makes sense.

I thought she is originally from egypt. Nice i learned something now.

@methusalem: Ptolemic greek, which are macedonian. Although she was also probably at least partly middle eastern. Her grandmother isn't listed in her family tree which was really well documented, meaning her grandmother was likely a mistress.

Still, she wouldn't have been very dark. The kardashians, or sssniperwolf for example are not very dark, and they're Persian. She is also portrayed as having red hair, but I would argue her could be dark but sun bleached. I have dark hair but live a sunny place. When I spend a lot of time in the sun, my hair darkens.

An empire.

Overhyped

@jacdec: Probably wanted to ensure good relations with what was the breadbasket of the Mediterranean at the time.

Even though Ceaser marks the end of the Roman Republic, Rome was already an Empire when he became ‘Dictator’ . It was only after Cleopatra’s death that Egypt became a province of Rome and by that time Julius Ceaser was dead.

Overhyped a bit

@methusalem: 👍

I'd smash

Love the realism

I think the real Cleopatra was not my type and I don't find her attractive. Overall her facial features were nice but the main thing standing out was her big nose. The big nose makes her less attractive. Also, her body shape was not voluptuous. I think her status, power and wealth made her more attractive to men at the time. But on purely looks, I think her looks are overrated. Even back in her time, there would have been more aesthetically better looking women that went unnoticed. Yeah I think her looks have been overhyped. I would rate Queen Cleopatra as a 6/10 in looks. Princess Catherine Middleton and Meghan Markle look more attractive than Cleopatra (even though Meghan Markle is a bit of an annoying person), for example.

I agree. There are men who are drawn to the intellect and academic ability of a woman rather than her looks alone. Personally, I am more into the looks of a woman...but I can see where those men are coming from.

I agree :-)

Cleopatra was not black.

Yes she was originally Greek and Macedonian.

I thought Cleopatra was black

@wushu59: No. She was greek and that isn't even questionable. Her family was inbred for at least 6 generations back. Her father was Ptolemy VII and cleopatra V or VI who were siblings; and their parents were siblings, etc.

https://www.thoughtco.com/queen-cleopatras-family-tree-4083409