Posted on 02/14/2007 8:59:15 AM PST by blam
Coin shows Cleopatra's ugly truth
The images of Antony and Cleopatra are less than flattering
Antony and Cleopatra, one of history's most romantic couples, were not the great beauties that Hollywood would have us believe, academics have said. A study of a 2,000-year-old silver coin found the Egyptian queen, famously portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor, had a pointed chin, thin lips and sharp nose.
Her Roman lover, played by Richard Burton, had bulging eyes, thick neck and a hook nose.
The tiny coin was studied by experts at Newcastle University.
The size of a modern 5p piece (18mm or 0.7in), the artefact from 32BC was in a collection belonging to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, which is being researched in preparation for the opening of a new Great North Museum.
Clare Pickersgill, the university's assistant director of archaeological museums, said: "The popular image we have of Cleopatra is that of a beautiful queen who was adored by Roman politicians and generals.
"Recent research would seem to disagree with this portrayal, however."
The university's director of archaeological museums, Lindsay Allason-Jones, said: "The image on the coin is far from being that of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
"Roman writers tell us that Cleopatra was intelligent and charismatic, and that she had a seductive voice but, tellingly, they do not mention her beauty.
The Hollywood couple may have perpetrated a Hollywood myth
"The image of Cleopatra as a beautiful seductress is a more recent image."
The silver denarius coin would have been issued by the mint of Mark Antony.
On one side is the head of Mark Antony, bearing the caption "Antoni Armenia devicta" meaning "For Antony, Armenia having been vanquished".
Cleopatra appears on the reverse of the coin with the inscription "Cleopatra Reginae regum filiorumque regum", meaning "For Cleopatra, Queen of kings and of the children of kings".
The university hopes more forgotten treasures will come to light before the Great North Museum opens in 2009.
The Roman coin is on display in Newcastle University's Shefton Museum from 14 February.
oh lord
Cleopatra was a direct descendant of Alexander's general, Ptolemy I Soter, son of Arsinoe and Lacus, both of Macedon. A Greek by language and culture, Cleopatra is reputed to have been the first member of her family in their 300-year reign in Egypt to have learned the Egyptian language.
Brilliant!!
My Lord Sunken...that pic...you owe me (and I suspect a bunch of others), a new keyboard. OMG....lol!
At least someone was willing to rake the sand away every couple thousand years, in the case of the actual Sphinx...
"It's possible that the Cleopatra on the coin is a few decades older than the 19 year old beauty queen fixed in our minds."
Yes, I think you're 100 per cent correct. Still, she looks like she was an ancestor of Charles de Gaulle.
Hey, that's just an actual historical-type portrait of the Pharaoh Tutonthomas.
Bravo! :'D
I guess Velazquez wasn't the first artist to portray inbred nobles as they truly were.
...to Helen back.
/Outstanding
If she indeed looked like that, she was the real beauty.
"The Secret History is by Procopius, a contemporary of Justinian and Theodora (who supposedly was a courtesan before she married Justinian). Petronius, the author of the Satyricon was much earlier, a contemporary of Nero."
Exactly right. Theodora was a bear-keeper's daughter.
Even if he had some Numedian/Berber blod, this is not black. We are talking about Mediterranian Semites.
The guy spoke a dialect of the same language used in Tyre and the alphabet is the same as in Phoneocian, Canaanite, Ancient Hebrew, and Samaritan. His name means "Graced by Ba'al the Fleet."
would not take the portraits on that coin at face value. In the Roman world of that time, a strong chin and a big nose were considered attractive. If you look at most coins from that era you'll find those same exaggerated features on almost everyone.
Exactly. Minting a coin with crude methods means you will always exaggerate things like ears and noses, otherwise the dude would look like some amorphous blob without any body parts whatsoever.
We ain't talking a Rembrandt here.
Emperor Trajan88 proclaims thumb's down to not-so-hotties like Ms. Cleopatra...
...and thumb's up for HOTTIES like Ms. Moynahan!
Lot's of different historians over the years, some I see I've misremembered, LOL, ie., Petronius for Procopius for example. Sometimes contemporary authors (more or less) that mine the classics for story material like L. Spague DeCamp (sp?) or Robert Graves, the authors of "Lest Darkness Fall" and the Claudius books, respectively. Ribald gossip has a long and honorable tradition! And then there's plain erotica, try the Decameron by Boccaccio or an unexpurgated version of the Thousand and One Nights translated by Burton.
You're right of course, middle age and forgetfulness are getting the best of me!
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