Lol
/pol/ - Politically Incorrect (Anonymous)
The race of Cleopatra VII, the last active Hellenistic ruler of the Macedonian-led Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, has caused debate in some circles.[2][3] There is a general consensus among scholars that she was predominantly of Macedonian Greek ancestry and minorly of Iranian descent. Others, including some scholars and laymen, have wondered whether she may have had additional ancestries...For example, the article "Was Cleopatra Black?" was published in Ebony magazine in 2002.[6] Mary Lefkowitz, Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at Wellesley College, traces the main origins of the Black Cleopatra claim to the 1946 book by J. A. Rogers called "World's Great Men of Color", although noting that the idea of Cleopatra as black goes back to at least the 19th century
Lefkowitz refutes Rogers' hypothesis, on various scholarly grounds. The black Cleopatra claim was further revived in an essay by Afrocentrist author John Henrik Clarke, chair of African history at Hunter College, entitled "African Warrior Queens."[9] Lefkowitz notes the essay includes the claim that Cleopatra described herself as black in the New Testament's Book of Acts – when in fact Cleopatra had died more than sixty years before the death of Jesus Christ.
Some early twentieth century scholars speculated Cleopatra was part Jewish, but this hypothesis didn't last into later twentieth century historiography.[5]
Scholars have generally identified Cleopatra as having been essentially of Greek ancestry with some Persian and Sogdian Iranian ancestry, based on the fact that her Macedonian Greek family (the Ptolemaic dynasty) had intermarried with the Seleucid dynasty.[10][11][12][13][4][14][15][16][17] Cleopatra's official coinage (which she would have approved) and the three portrait busts of her considered authentic by scholars (which match her coins) portray Cleopatra as a Greek woman in style
Generated by RSStT. The copyright belongs to the original author.