Egypt
Oxford University Press blog (Duane W. Roller)
- Book Review: Cleopatra: A Biography
Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Reviewed by Josiah Osgood) Duane W. Roller, Cleopatra: A Biography. Women in Antiquity. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Cleopatra is a familiar name today for one reason above all: Shakespeare. But so memorable...
- Angelina As Cleopatra Causes Backlash
I was waiting for this. It is a highly emotive topic. These are just a small sample of what's landing in my inbox. Deadbolt News Although Angelina Jolie has amassed millions of fans and is up for the role of Cleopatra in an upcoming film about the...
- Book Review: Cleopatra
Forbes (Review by Hannah Elliott) Cleopatra: A Biography By Duane W. Roller (Oxford University Press, $16.47) Forget what you think you know about Cleopatra. She wasn't a voracious seductress who led men to their doom. She never wore bangs à la Liz...
- Book Review: Cleopatra, Last Queen Of Egypt
STLtoday (Allen Barra) Cleopatra has generated more fame — in the form of poems, paintings, books, plays and films — per known fact than any woman in history. As Joyce Tyldesley phrases it in her fascinating and irresistible biography, "Cleopatra:...
- Was Cleopatra Black?
http://www.thewestsidegazette.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=64481&sID=4"Watching a local television program recently, I heard Spike Lee express his belief that Queen Cleopatra of Egypt was Black. The African American hostess of the TV show agreed...
Egypt
Cleopatra’s True Racial Background (and Does it Really Matter?)
Oxford University Press blog (Duane W. Roller)
Racial profiling and manipulation have been around for a very long time. It has become an issue in contemporary politics, and over 2500 years ago the Greek historian Herodotos wrote that ethnicity was regularly turned to political ends. Cleopatra VII, the last queen of Egypt and a woman of great ability, is often a victim of racial profiling, as today people can be more interested in her racial background than her many accomplishments. Such concerns have recently come to the forefront with the announcement that in at least one of the several Cleopatra movies currently planned, a white (instead of black) actress would play the role of the queen. It is hard to imagine that race would be more important than acting ability, but clearly others disagree.
It has been suggested – although generally not by credible scholarly sources – that Cleopatra was racially black African. To be blunt, there is absolutely no evidence for this, yet it is one of those issues that seems to take on a life of its own despite all indication to the contrary. What follows lays out the evidence for Cleopatra’s racial ancestry, but one must not forget that this is of little importance in assessing the legacy of the queen in world history.
Let us consider exactly the evidence for Cleopatra’s racial background. It’s a little complicated, so do follow closely!
- Book Review: Cleopatra: A Biography
Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Reviewed by Josiah Osgood) Duane W. Roller, Cleopatra: A Biography. Women in Antiquity. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Cleopatra is a familiar name today for one reason above all: Shakespeare. But so memorable...
- Angelina As Cleopatra Causes Backlash
I was waiting for this. It is a highly emotive topic. These are just a small sample of what's landing in my inbox. Deadbolt News Although Angelina Jolie has amassed millions of fans and is up for the role of Cleopatra in an upcoming film about the...
- Book Review: Cleopatra
Forbes (Review by Hannah Elliott) Cleopatra: A Biography By Duane W. Roller (Oxford University Press, $16.47) Forget what you think you know about Cleopatra. She wasn't a voracious seductress who led men to their doom. She never wore bangs à la Liz...
- Book Review: Cleopatra, Last Queen Of Egypt
STLtoday (Allen Barra) Cleopatra has generated more fame — in the form of poems, paintings, books, plays and films — per known fact than any woman in history. As Joyce Tyldesley phrases it in her fascinating and irresistible biography, "Cleopatra:...
- Was Cleopatra Black?
http://www.thewestsidegazette.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=64481&sID=4"Watching a local television program recently, I heard Spike Lee express his belief that Queen Cleopatra of Egypt was Black. The African American hostess of the TV show agreed...