|
'Cleopatra was not fat and ugly'
05/04/2001 12:10 - (SA)
Cairo - So what if Cleopatra was short and a little rounded?
But fat and ugly?
No way, according to Egyptian researchers who were both amused and piqued over a British newspaper story suggesting she was far from the beauty of legend.
The Egyptians are convinced their ancestor of 2 000 years ago must have had great seductive powers to conquer the hearts of two
powerful Romans.
"If the queen was ugly, as the British say, why did Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony after him, fall in love with her?" Zahi Hawas, a leading antiquities official, asked.
Other researchers say that not only is beauty in the eye of the
beholder but beauty standards are set by the culture of a given
time and place.
The debate erupted after The Sunday Times published a story on March 25 about an exhibition at the British Museum, featuring an
unflattering image of Cleopatra on its front page.
The real Cleopatra was rather plain, even severe in appearance,
with noticeably bad teeth, according to the accompanying story. She was probably no more than five feet (1.5 metres) tall and with a tendency to plumpness.
It quoted Susan Walker, the curator of the British Museum
exhibition, as saying the reputed beauty that drove men to madness was "myth and probably mostly nonsense."
The museum stands by the quote but not the way the story was
presented.
The cover picture, which is not featured in the exhibition opening on April 12, was computer generated from images of Cleopatra on coin portraits and "we are almost certain that this is not a true likeness", Walker said.
"However, the picture on the cover of The Sunday Times is certainly attention-grabbing and saying that Cleopatra was ugly sells newspapers," she said in a statement.
Days after the story appeared in London, the main Egyptian
government newspaper Al-Ahram published both remarks from Hawas and a separate opinion piece that dismissed the claims.
Hawas, who was also interviewed by AFP, said there was plenty of
evidence of her legendary charms.
"The engravings on the temple of Dendahra in Qena show Cleopatra
breastfeeding her son Caesarion, who was fathered by Roman emperor Julius Caesar, showing her beauty and her charm," Hawas said.
"We also find these same characteristics in a statue of her in the San Jose museum in California," he added.
"It is true she was not a rare beauty but she was beautiful and
attractive," he said. "She was an intelligent queen and a sly
temptress, as Greek documents indicate."
Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, had a brief affair with Caesar before forming a political and
romantic alliance with Mark Antony.
The pair eventually came into conflict with Rome and were defeated at the naval battle of Actium in 31 BC. She was later believed to have committed suicide by allowing herself to be bitten by an asp.
Azza Shehata, a sociology professor at Ein Shams University, said
there would have been nothing unusual about Caesar and Antony
running after Cleopatra.
"Researchers have shown that standards of female beauty during the time of the Romans was clear skin and roundness, while their
Italian descendants today reject such criteria," she said.
Gehan Zaki, a specialist in Greco-Roman history at Helwan
University, said Cleopatra combined both political astuteness and
seductive charm, though she was not an "exceptional beauty".
Her image has only been enhanced by screen goddesses who have
depicted the legendary femme fatale, from Elizabeth Taylor and
Vivien Leigh to Sophia Loren.
Glorified portrayals of her also date farther back.
"It's true that her portrait in the temple at Dendahra is a bit
idealistic but there are others, like a white marble relief in the Greco-Roman museum in Alexandria, which show her to be pretty and delicate," Zaki said.
"She was a charming and seductive woman," she said. "As a
Mediterranean woman she was obviously a little plump. That does not mean she was fat or ugly."
Walker agreed on the last point.
"There is no evidence of Cleopatra having been fat, she certainly
would have been curvaceous," she said.
However, Walker added: "It would be almost impossible to recapture a true version of how Cleopatra looked as she often changed her appearance to suit her political message...."
For these reasons there are varying representations of her. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
|
