Source: Cleopatra and Egypt (Wiley-Blackwell) 2008 A.D.





This source adds vital context to the subject regarding Cleopatra’s ethnicity. First, it establishes that some ancient scholars classified her as being an Egyptian, not as a Greek so that immediately sets the tone for how she was viewed culturally. The rest of the source provides evidence that there were black Egyptians and Egyptians were often viewed as being black in the Greco-Roman world. The source also does a great job of presenting the idea that Cleopatra was a woman of both the Grecian and Egyptian world, so in my opinion, both sides should be represented. All in all, I don’t believe it is impossible Cleopatra was ethnically (racially) mixed so she could have resembled the features of a middle to light skinned black woman like Halle Berry or an “ethnically” ambiguous person.