[The Great Yazoo]

She was also regarded as a great builder, he claims, responsible among other things for a canal to supply Alexandria with Nile water.

Which is kinda like crediting George Washington for building a canal to supply Mount Vernon with Potomac water.

Did he mention that Cleopatra was black?

[happyathome]

'Zackly. I don't know why Arabs are claiming her, as the pre-Islamic Egyptians were not Arabs.

[real saxophonist]

Did he mention that Cleopatra was black?

One of the funniest things I ever saw was a call-in section on the Macon Telegraph editorial page, where someone said Cleopatra was African-American. So I called in, said how could Cleopatra be African-American when America hadn't been discovered yet? Cleopatra was from Egypt, so would that make her African-Egyptian? Wait a minute, Egypt is in Africa, so would that make her African-African?

Of course, they never published my comment.

I know a real African-American. Born in Rhodesia, now lives in Arizona. He's a white guy. 8~)

[Salamander]

I thought they said she was actually Greek.

[Jimmy Valentine]

"Did he mention that Cleopatra was black?"

She may or may not have been. The first Ptolomey was the half brother of Alexander the Great, a Macedonian. Macedonians would tend to look like northern Greeks or Yugoslavians, being fair skinned and tending to blond hair and blue eyes (like Alexander).

The Ptolomeic Dynasty was inbred as they wished to keep their line "pure" which is why by the time they got down to Cleopatra they were degenerate, physically.

So, maybe she was black, but most likely not. Probably looked liked Anwar Sadat's wife, a light skinned mixture.

Regards,

[SunkenCiv]

;')