Free The Murder of Cleopatra by Pat Brown

their supernatural connection to the gods. The relief of Cleopatra on the Temple of Hathor at Dendera shows her as Isis, which the other Cleopatras, I through VI, also had their “likenesses” sculpted as. No one has questioned the heredity of the other Cleopatras as being any lineage other than Macedonian, so there is no reason to suddenly assign African genes to the last Cleopatra simply because the relief said to represent her displays some African features. Even Plutarch, who wrote of Cleopatra’s features, did not attempt to portray her as a member of a black or brown race, nor did he infer that she was not a true Ptolemy and not a fully Macedonian-descended queen. He could have used her mixed race in either a positive or a negative way—to downplay her acceptability to Romans and Greeks or to paint her as an exotic, sexually promiscuous siren, a woman from one of those supposed “races with looser morals.”
    For her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her. 1
    In fact, we can see from this simple statement of Plutarch’s that Cleopatra was quite normal to look at; there was nothing particularly unusual to be noted about her appearance. She was not a great beauty and had no unusual skin color, nothing to make her stand out from other Macedonian women, from the other Ptolemaic queens, and certainly not to men seeking sexually exciting experiences. Cleopatra was just average in appearance to those who met her. It was how she enhanced that appearance—her very alluring personality, her exceptional mind and palaver—that raised her above other women of her time, that entranced the men who spent time in her company.
    Plutarch goes on to explain what was special about Cleopatra:
    For her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her; but converse with her had an irresistible charm, and her presence, combined withthe persuasiveness of her discourse and the character which was somehow diffused about her behaviour towards others, had something stimulating about it. There was sweetness also in the tones of her voice; and her tongue, like an instrument of many strings, she could readily turn to whatever language she pleased. 2
    Some will point out that Plutarch stresses her beauty at another point in his writing of the Life of Antony with this quote:
    Judging by the proofs which she had had before this of the effect of her beauty upon Caius Caesar and Gnaeus the son of Pompey, she had hopes that she would more easily bring Antony to her feet. For Caesar and Pompey had known her when she was still a girl and inexperienced in affairs, but she was going to visit Antony at the very time when women have the most brilliant beauty and are at the acme of intellectual power. 3
    Interestingly, Cassius Dio also speaks of Cleopatra’s beauty:
    For she was a woman of surpassing beauty, and at that time, when she was in the prime of her youth, she was most striking; she also possessed a most charming voice and a knowledge of how to make herself agreeable to every one. Being brilliant to look upon and to listen to, with the power to subjugate every one, even a love-sated man already past his prime, she thought that it would be in keeping with her rôle to meet Caesar, and she reposed in her beauty all her claims to the throne. 4
    However, it is important to recognize that young women with incredible access to the most beautiful of gowns and jewels, and endowed with an artistic skill in the use of makeup as Cleopatra was known to possess, could be made to look quite lovely with all those accoutrements. In fact, all one needs to do now to understand this is to watch a makeover show on television; a good wardrobe and a top hair stylist and makeup artist can make a not-so-beautiful woman quite stunning. Cassius Dio points out that Caesar was past his prime at age fifty-four,and a girl