What did Cleopatra look like?
In contrast to the romanticized portrayals of Cleopatra, the extant artistic depictions and coinage of her profile provide a more realistic, albeit stylized, representation of her appearance. Coins minted during Cleopatra’s reign depict her with a prominent nose, a strong chin, and deep-set eyes.
She likely wasn’t the beautiful beauty depicted in movies. No one knows; we only have coins to go by. She might have resembled the images below—a guestimate of her from Egyptian reliefs, coins, and statues.
One of the most prominent, a marble bust dating to the third quarter of the 1st century BCE, is housed in the Old (Altes) Museum in Germany.
This so-called Berlin Cleopatra depicts her wearing a royal diadem (headbandlike crown). Ringlets of curly hair frame her face, and the rest of her hair is arranged in a “melon” style (divided into segments that run like the ribs of melon from the forehead to the back) and gathered into a bun behind her head.
Her eyes are almond-shaped. Although her nose is prominent, her features are softly modulated and have been described as reflecting her intelligence and charm. (From Britannica) Her body was never found. She was 38 years old when she died.
But I’m answering this story because a few people have asked me to repeat ‘The Cleopatra Story.’
Here it is. When my older sister Tracy was fifteen, her idol was Cleopatra. She had Egyptian statues in her room—the movie poster of Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor on the wall and books on Cleopatra.
Tracy was her girl and was way ahead of everyone in fashion.
Back then, she sometimes wore baseball caps (mine) with peaks slightly askew on her head long before girls wore baseball caps. She wore jeans with rips on the knee long before they were fashionable. Wearing them to school one day, she was sent home to change by the teacher. The next day, some other girls wore ripped jeans at the knees. They, too, were sent home.
Anyway, one morning, Lori, Tracy’s twin, and I, their younger brother, had breakfast before school. Tracy came downstairs and sat at the nook. We had kind of a breakfast nook shaped like a horseshoe, a table in the center, and a padded bench around it, like in a 1950s restaurant. We had breakfast and lunch there. Tracy had put her eye makeup on Cleopatra’s style. It was pretty stunning, and she looked good wearing it. Mom and Lori complimented her.
So we went to school. Tracy’s Cleopatra look took the school by storm. Well, the high school, anyway. Tracy and her sister Lori seemed to set the fashion trends at school. I guess I did, too, because when The Beatles came out, I was the first to sport a Beatle cut. Soon, many guys sported the same cut.
So, going back to Cleopatra, the day after Tracy sported her Cleo look at school, many other girls wore the Cleopatra look. That day, Tracy had her everyday makeup on. However, she sure started Cleopatra’s makeup trend with the girls at school. At dinner that night, she told us that the teacher walked in, looked around the class, saw several girls with Cleopatra’s eyes, and said, “Good morning. Welcome to the Nile.”
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The art that survives is ambiguous – Egyptian and Hellenistic styles both tend to idealize, though of different kinds. Generally, the Egyptian work produced for domestic consumption is so stylized it provides almost no individuality at all
Many coins of Cleopatra’s date from her period with Marc Antony, when she was considerably older than the bust above, so that may be part of the difference. The more detailed coin at the bottom is also from a Syrian rather than an Egyptian mint so that local customs might have influenced the design.
Exceeding all, there’s the variation in artistic style and competence; with so few surviving pieces to work from, it’s hard to know.
There’s not a lot of disinterested contemporary literary evidence, either. Friends of Augustus found it convenient to portray Cleopatra as an irresistible seductress for political reasons, regardless of personal tastes. For example, Lucan compared her to Helen of Troy.
Caesar, unknowingly, entered Egypt’s shame, the fury of Latium, to the bane of Rome Unchaste. As the Spartan queen of yore, By fatal beauty Argos urged to strife And Ilium’s homes, Cleopatra roused Italia’s frenzy. The most often cited text is this, from Plutarch:
Her actual beauty, it is said, was not in itself so remarkable that none could be compared with her or that no one could see her without being struck by it, but the contact of her presence, if you lived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person, joining with the charm of her conversation, and the character that attended all she said or did, was something intriguing. It was a pleasure to hear the sound of her voice, which was like an instrument of many strings.
Plutarch’s judgment — that Cleopatra’s personality rather than her person that entranced both Caesar and Antony has long been the most common. Still, there’s room for some personal opinion. He says in one place that his grandfather was friends with Philotas, a doctor who worked for Marc Antony’s son in Alexandria. Presumably, his information was from someone in a position to know.
Was Cleopatra Actually ugly?
I find today’s beauty standards horrifying. If you’re wondering why, look around you! Multiple examples are walking around today. Have you heard the phrase, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?” In today’s society, it has changed to “Beauty is in the eye of who society as a whole perceives as beautiful.” Society decides who is beautiful and who is not attractive. Society holds high expectations for men and women to be called beautiful or handsome.
A Roman painting in the House of Marcus Fabius Rufus at Pompeii, Italy, depicting Cleopatra as Venus Genetrix and her son Caesarion as a cupid.Cleopatra look like
Why did some people think that Cleopatra was beautiful?
- Cleopatra, unlike women of her time, studied math, philosophy, astronomy, and even warfare, and she spoke at least 12 languages despite being remembered mainly for her beauty today. She managed to rule Egypt at the age of seventeen.Cleopatra look like
- Cleopatra, though ethnically Macedonian Greek, is only self-identified as Egyptian. She made great efforts in her youth to study and understand Egyptian culture. She was the only one who learned the Egyptian language when no one in her family tried to do so in the 300 years they ruled the country. Though she was not Egyptian by birth, studying Egyptian gods, culture, and ethnic sensibilities made her the most empathetic of queens. The way she worked on her image by projecting herself as a goddess and her son Caesarion as a young god helped her gain weight with Egyptians who did love the queen and brought them prosperity and safety.
- Cleopatra ensured that the women in her kingdom had rights, unlike many other great kingdoms. She confirmed that the collection of taxes and its redistribution into the economy was well thought out, if not fair and transparent, and she promoted trade and learning.
- Cleopatra has shown unparalleled prowess as a strategist, thinker, and political tactician. Her image building for herself, her positioning of her son Caesarion as a powerful future ruler, her ability to foresee the outcome of wars, even the one where Antony (and herself) lost, as well as her battle strategies of trying to get the more vigorous opponents on their weakest ground, all prove her brain strength.
- Cleopatra was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean. Cleopatra liked to dress well in inexpensive muslin, do her hair in pretty exotic braids, and spend much time on grooming and hygiene, but so what? She was not the fluff brain that did only that!
- Cleopatra was physically beautiful by the standards of her time. She captivated and seduced two of the most powerful men of her time – Julius Caesar and Mark Antony!Cleopatra look like
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According to the ancient historian Plutarch, writing in the first century CE, Cleopatra’s beauty “was not of that incomparable kind which instantly captivates the beholder. But the charm of her presence was irresistible, and there was an attraction in her person and her talk, together with a peculiar force of character which pervaded her every word and action, that laid all who associated with her under her spell.”
“It was a delight merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another, so that in her interviews with barbarians, she seldom required an interpreter but conversed with them entirely unaided, whether they were Ethiopians, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, or Parthians.
- Cleopatra implemented several grand public welfare schemes during her time, giving Alexandria world-renowned splendor.
Why did some people think that Cleopatra was ‘ugly’?
- Though the history that Roman sympathizers and misogynists have colored has taken great pleasure in portraying Cleopatra to be a sexpot, almost all historians unanimously concur that this was most certainly not the case. Though Cleopatra was married twice before her liaisons with the Romans, she seems to have slept with only two men in total. Her relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony also appear to have been started on a note of strategy rather than real lust or passion. Whether one or both affairs progressed into affection and love (at least the one with Antony seems to have grown into something more genuine) is still debatable. For a great queen to have been deemed a slut by anyone and everyone did not sit well with several historians, though, and many have worked hard to separate this myth from fact with actual documented as well as archaeological evidence.Cleopatra look like
- In a life that spanned less than four decades, Cleopatra executed many of her family members, as was the norm of the time. Knowing she did it for her safety and right over the throne sounds brutal. Still, many historians agree that contrary to popular belief, she only resorted to murder when it proved to be necessary. Many documentaries paint the Egyptian queen as a cold-hearted killer, especially after the remains of her murdered half-sister, Arsinoe, were found during archaeological investigations. Yet, many historians concur that considering her family’s tradition for the same, her siblings would just as quickly have killed her if she hadn’t gotten to them first. Of course, the dead would disagree, but it would seem to be the norm of the times to kill for power and the lust for a throne.Cleopatra look like
According to the standards of today’s societies that worship flesh over the brain, Cleopatra may not be the best kind of beauty. But, in reality, Cleopatra was an influential leader with both opposing sides. Sides a human being. I mean, she is, in my eyes, a stunningly beautiful human being.
What made Cleopatra so desirable?
Many sources on Cleopatra are rife with bias; even the historians that seemed sympathetic to her, like Plutarch, betray their own patriarchal beliefs. Romans did not like powerful women.Cleopatra look like
Marc Antony was a beloved son of Rome, even despite taking up with Cleopatra. To justify taking him down, Octavian needed to give Rome a boogeyman, and who better than the exotic, mystical, she-devil temptress Cleopatra? Octavian went hard on a smear campaign that influential Romans were glad to carry. They did not love a foreign queen taking good Roman men from their respectable wives or eyeing Rome with perceived power lust.
To be the boogeyman Octavian needed and to not make Antony and Caesar look like fools, she had to be extravagant. She used all the magic, spells, and wicked feminine wiles and must be beautiful because how else could she be so assertive? The mythology of Cleopatra is in the context of making her a monster, albeit a sexy, clever one.Cleopatra look like
When Cleopatra was born, the Ptolemaic dynasty was essentially a joke. Her father had to beg for assistance from Rome to keep his throne. She watched her sister be executed for treason, saw the incest, saw a bunch of ‘royals’ who couldn’t even be bothered to speak the language of the land she ruled, and she took notes.
Cleopatra was given an education befitting a prince and eventually learned from her father’s side as both his presumed favorite and his choice to be the future queen alongside her brother Ptolemy. She knew seven languages and was said to pick them up remarkably quickly. It pissed off the advisors later because instead of having to rely on an interpreter who got a power kick off this position, she was like, ‘Nah, I got this.’
She made an effort to know and respect her people. One of her first moves as queen was participating in a significant religious ceremony that hadn’t been honored in ages. The Egyptian people loved it. So, from this point, we already know Cleopatra is knowledgeable, was raised for the rule, knows the value of good PR, and genuinely cares about her people.
She is not into Ptolemy or his advisors and is a practical co-ruler. A specific group at court murdered someone, and the advisors were ready to let them get away with it even though it would piss the victim’s people off. But Cleopatra handed the murderers over to let justice be done.
She almost certainly didn’t come to Caesar all half-naked and from a carpet. She’d been living as a fugitive in an uphill battle, and Caesar was essentially her last chance. It’s possible they had sex at their first meeting. But it’s more likely she laid out all the benefits she’d bring compared to her badly advised little brother-husband and played on the fact Ptolemy had foolishly had Pompey beheaded.
At this point, Egypt was a stone’s throw away from being conquered by Rome, and Cleopatra knew that she needed Caesar’s help to take her throne back and that it would be best to keep him on her side. Did she ever love him? She was fresh out of her teens, and he was in his fifties; she came to him with her life on the line. He was a man who liked many women. They were both shrewd. They may have loved each other in a way, but it doesn’t seem to have been ‘in love.’ She knew Egypt wasn’t down for pure female rule and married another little brother for duty’s sake. Cleopatra tends to think with head over heart. Although there was a hot minute where she followed Caesar to Rome, probably twice, they made some mutually bad decisions. During this period, she didn’t rule Egypt as well as she could have.
When he died and Antony started trying to bring her under his thumb, Cleopatra knew she needed a Roman ally and not to be bossed around by Antony. She pulls a power move on him at their first meeting; she plays to his quirky fantasies, and it seems like they end up being ‘in love.’
From here, Cleopatra ups the leadership she’s been giving since she first took rule. The Ptolemies had lived in decadence while their people starved. Cleopatra was not about it and made changes that enriched her people and caused a surplus rather than a shortage. She boosted education, practiced more Egyptian rites, and became a queen of the people while also deifying herself as the incarnation of Isis. She became the wealthiest person in her era. She made allies of territories that wanted war and could speak to them in their language.
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She gets accused of having a bunch of lovers, but there’s no evidence she slept with anyone other than Caesar and Antony. Meanwhile, Caesar and Antony were all about the sexy times.
She seems to have genuinely loved her children, which isn’t always valid for royals.Cleopatra look like
There is a point where she’s accused of crying to get her way and throwing jealous tantrums over Antony being with his wife, but we have no way to say if that is true. It sounds out of character, but who knows if she was a woman in love or just trying to be manipulative [or both]?
Antony makes many bad decisions and turns into a drunken lout. Cleopatra has a country to save and can’t keep babying him, but she has no choice. At the Battle of Actium, either she and Antony plan an escape, she mistakes the situation as she needs to leave, or she sees a chance to escape and abandons Antony. Each says something different about her character.
Back in Egypt, Antony is a mess, and Cleopatra sends Octavian a letter, testing out if he’d be cool with accepting Antony and letting her live in peace in Egypt. When that falls through, Cleopatra deliberately sends a messenger to tell Antony she’s dead, or he mistakenly says that. One story is that she regrets it quickly and sends a messenger to stop the other messenger, but it’s too late.
He doesn’t kill himself properly, and Cleopatra, having either caused this or not, sends for him. One story is she won’t open the door to the tomb, so someone has to hoist him up and inside, where he dies in her arms. Supposedly, she becomes wildly distressed and upset.
Cleopatra agrees to leave her tomb [where she’s been keeping her riches, ready to burn them to spite Octavian] so she can bury Antony properly, and Octavian agrees. They may have a meeting where she either comes to him in queenly radiance or looks like a disheveled older woman—either trying to decide or seduce him.
Then comes the extensive historical mystery/mythology. Did she kill herself, or was she murdered at Octavian’s behest, and how? Rumors said Cleopatra would test poisons on enslaved people to see what killed them and in what way, etc… it’s unlikely it was an asp snake for a variety of reasons, and likelier it was some poison. She kills herself to maintain her dignity rather than be paraded by Octavian. Zenobia, a future queen of Syria, when defying the Emporer of Rome, notes, ‘Remember that Cleopatra had rather died a queen than live as less.’
She also arranged for her ‘traitorous’ sister and her second brother-husband to be executed.
So. We have a woman raised to rule, who is noted as a highly intelligent polyglot even by the people who hate her. She grows up in an unstable court surrounded by men-children, incest, ruthless wives, family murder, and people constantly ready to rebel.
She’s brutal and practical and makes decisive choices even when it makes her enemies. She decided not to be a greedy, decadent Ptolemy and instead fashioned herself into a people-loving, true Queen of Egpyt. She advanced her country and brought it from the brink of ruin to being ridiculously prosperous. Cleopatra was able to make allies of two mighty Romans. She wasn’t considered particularly beautiful, and it was written about her to the effect that while she wasn’t physically all that desirable, she had a quality of charisma and intelligence that made her company irresistible.Cleopatra look like
If the negative stories were to be believed, she could betray her lover when it was practical. She could throw temper tantrums. She could try to move men to her cause using tears. She was prone to jealousy and lavish decadence. If the negative stories are to be believed, she was all about sexy times and seduction and even tried to seduce Octavian, who ‘nobly’ turned her down.
Cleopatra might have faded from history without Octavian’s smear campaign and her immense love story. But she might have also got the credit she should have been given for being a competent ruler and far exceeding the circumstances she was forced into
What did Cleopatra look like?
Popular culture over the centuries has made Cleopatra (specifically Cleopatra VII Philopator) out to be a great beauty. Considering that she was able to woo two great Roman leaders, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, that assumption is founded.
But, when Caesar entered Egypt to follow Pompey during the Roman Civil War, Cleopatra was a co-ruler with her brother, Ptolemy XIII. Being a female meant that she was expected to sit on the sidelines while her brother did all the hard work of being a ruler. However, Cleo wasn’t about to have any of that, and after three years of economic failure, she pushed her brother (also her husband) to the side. She began leaving him out of all official documents and having her image stamped only on Egyptian coins.
She ended up pissing off several compelling people and eventually was forced from power and into exile while her brother/husband took sole control of the country.
When Caesar showed up, Cleo figured this would be a perfect opportunity to one-up her brother and regain her power. She sneaked into Caesar’s apartments and presented her case. Here is a clip from the 1999 movie…
Caesar, more focused on hunting Pompey and ending the war, probably wasn’t keen on getting involved in a family dispute, except for two things…
- Cleopatra was willing to make a deal with Caesar, which would give him significant control over Egypt, which was considered the breadbasket of the Mediterranean. Securing control of this resource would make Caesar hugely popular. All he had to do was help Cleo wrest control from her brother.
- Ptolemy also wants Caesar’s help getting rid of his sister, caught and murdered Pompey. This had the opposite effect of what Ptolemy expected and aligned Caesar with Cleo when she finally arrived to meet him.
After a campaign against Ptolemy, the two forces met in the Battle Of The Nile, where Ptolemy was drowned. This left Cleo as sole ruler.
Cleopatra was eager to gain Rome’s alliance, so she married Caesar and had a son by him. She hoped that Caesar would name her son, Ptolemy XIV, his successor to the Roman throne.Cleopatra look like
The Romans didn’t quite like this idea of a foreigner possibly ruling Rome, which was one of the grievances leading to Caesar’s assassination.
After Caesar’s death, three co-rulers of the Triumvirate took power in Rome. One of these Triumvirs was General Mark Antony, while another was the adopted son of Caesar, Octavian, who later became Augustus Caesar. After some problems, the three rulers split the empire, with Mark Antony getting Egypt. He met and eventually married Cleopatra; their tragic end is well-documented history.
In the ancient world, and even sometimes in our modern one, people of power marry to consolidate their power. This is why wealthy people often marry other rich people, and marrying a less affluent person is often frowned upon. So, it was fortunate that the ruler of Egypt was a woman who could be married, consolidating both countries’ powers.Cleopatra look like
By all contemporary accounts, Cleopatra wasn’t all that exceptional in the looks department. Her images in coins and sculptures show a very plain-looking woman.
It wasn’t until later generations, romanticizing her tragic love to Caesar and Antony, that her looks became legendary. Believing they married for love and looks rather than power is more romantic.Cleopatra look like
This isn’t to say there wasn’t love. Both were taken prisoner after Cleo’s and Antony’s failed campaigns to take the Roman Empire. After hearing of the death of Mark Antony, it’s reported that she had an ASP smuggled into her rooms, where she let it bite her on the breast.
Despite the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor’s fantastic portrayal in the Oscar-winning film, the honest Cleopatra was not gorgeous. Plutarch wrote that “she was not a striking beauty.”
Cleopatra, like most women in her family, had rolls of fat under her neck, plump sides, and a hooked nose; however, being of Greek descent, her prominent and curvy figure was desirable, unlike Egyptian women’s willowy, thin ideal figure.
From the History Channel show Ancients Behaving Badly.
Since she’s not quite the looker, how did she bed two of Rome’s greatest generals?
Her inner beauty. Cleopatra was brilliant, spoke nine languages, and studied mathematics and astronomy. She was also charismatic and had a lovely singing voice. Whenever she spoke to a crowd or walked into a room, people would stop what they were doing and gaze at her in awe, not because of her beauty but because of her cunning and wisdom.
Modern reconstruction of Cleopatra by Joe Geranio, an academic who studies ancient Roman coins, based on coins and sculptures from her time.
Cleopatra VII, the last pharaoh of Egypt, ruled from 52 B.C. until she died in 31 B.C. In the modern age, she’s been portrayed as a great beauty and played by actresses like Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren in various films.
In real life, Cleopatra was said to be a captivating woman and one who had affairs with two of the most powerful men in the ancient world, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Her relationships with such vital men have led many to believe she must have been a great beauty, but was that the truth?Cleopatra look like
The movie versions of Cleopatra model her looks on 20th-century beauty standards and have little basis in historical fact. But based on portraits made in her time and the writings of her biographers, it’s likely that Cleopatra looked very different in real life from the way Hollywood depicted her.
Depictions By Cleopatra’s Contemporaries
This Roman portrait from the 1st century A.D. depicts Cleopatra as a redhead.
For starters, the famed Egyptian queen was of Greek descent, the last ruler in Ptolomy’s line, who led Egypt for 300 years. This means her skin was likely on the fairer side. One Roman portrait of her made just a few decades after her death even depicts Cleopatra with long red hair pulled back in a bun.
A bust believed to have been carved of Cleopatra during her lifetime in 35 B.C. also shows her with long hair pulled back in a low bun and a long, slightly hooked nose. While she was attractive, she didn’t look much like Elizabeth Taylor. As Plutarch wrote a century after her death, “For her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her.”Cleopatra look like
Bust of Cleopatra carved in 35 B.C.
However, Plutarch was quick to admit that Cleopatra had other charms. He said, “Interaction with her was captivating…her tongue was like a many-stringed instrument.” Indeed, she’s said to have spoken a dozen languages and been well-educated in mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy.
The Vatican has a full-body statue of Cleopatra in its collection, also made during her reign.
This statue also shows Cleopatra with her hair in a low bun and a relatively long nose.
We get another view of the queen from Egyptian coins minted during Cleopatra’s reign. These depict her in profile, likewise with a large hooked nose. However, other Egyptian depictions of her are more stylized and thus reveal less about what Cleopatra looked like.
Her looks aside, Cleopatra also famously loved perfumes, and an ancient site where Cleopatra’s signature scent may have been made was recently discovered. According to legend, she even perfumed the sails of her ship so that Mark Antony could smell them when she arrived in Rome.
A stylized Egyptian bust of Cleopatra.
Many historians today believe that the myth of Cleopatra as a lusty beauty was Roman propaganda, meant to paint her as a temptress who used her sex appeal to gain power. Thanks to Hollywood portrayals, that myth is now firmly in the popular imagination.
Cleopatra Goes To Hollywood
The modern image of Cleopatra with straight black hair, blunt bangs, skimpy outfits, and indelible eyeliner didn’t come into being until filmmakers realized that her story was a cinematic goldmine. However, in telling Cleopatra’s story, filmmakers initially drew from contemporary fashions to create the queen’s look, while later films blatantly copied her appearance from the movies that came before.
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In 1917, Theda Bara became one of the first actresses to play Cleopatra in a feature film.
Unlike the Vatican statue that depicts Cleopatra wearing loosely draped robes, Bara wore an art deco bikini top that reflected the coming flapper trend more than it harkened back to ancient Egypt. Unlike depictions from her time showing that Cleopatra preferred to wear her hair in a low bun, Bara wore hers down in tight curls.
In 1934, Cecil B. DeMille brought his take on Cleopatra to the big screen with it-girl Claudette Colbert in the title role. Colbert’s bangs and straight hair have since become the standard styling for Cleopatra in everything from cartoons to Halloween costumes.
Best known for her role in It Happened One Night, Claudette Colbert wore bangs long before she landed the part of Cleopatra.Cleopatra look like
DeMille’s version of Cleopatra’s appearance builds on Theda Bara’s portrayal of the Egyptian queen as a sort of ancient flapper, and again, the influence of Art Deco in the film’s costumes and scenery is evident.
1963, Elizabeth Taylor played the most iconic Cleopatra yet, delivering a dramatic yet unforgettable performance opposite Richard Burton.
Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. Her on-set affair with Richard Burton scandalized Hollywood at the time.
The 243-minute epic nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox, but it canonized the image of Cleopatra that we’re used to today. Mention the Egyptian queen to the average person; they’ll most likely picture Elizabeth Taylor’s straight dark hair and elaborate costumes.
In 2019, rumors of another movie version of Cleopatra sparked controversy, as Angelina Jolie and Lady Gaga were said to be in the running for the title role. However, a theory that Cleopatra’s mother may have been a Black Egyptian woman spurred activists to speak out against casting another white actress for the part.
Despite the controversy, many scholars still maintain that Cleopatra’s mother was her father’s sister, Cleopatra V, another Greek. And, because her remains have never been found, it’s hard to know precisely what Cleopatra’s heritage was.
However, if archaeologists can ever locate the lost tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, perhaps we’ll finally glean a clear picture of what this ancient queen looked like.