What does Cleopatra really look like? Many people's first impressions are inseparable from the beautiful, deadly Nile Queen played by Elizabeth Taylor in the movie "Cleopatra".
But how far is this image from reality? In the long course of thousands of years of history, how do Western artists depict the legendary life of Cleopatra?
Cleopatra ( 1888 ) by John William Waterhouse
A few days ago, Paramount Pictures announced that they would shoot "Cleopatra" again, and the heroine chose "Wonder Woman" Gail Gadot, which was originally a very ordinary entertainment news, but it detonated social media, and many foreign netizens angrily shouted: she is not black, not worthy of playing the Queen of Egypt in Africa.
Wonder Woman poster
For a time: imperialist white women! Hollywood whitewashes black culture! Cleopatra is black! And so on.
But is Cleopatra really black?
Let's start with a painting and see how the artists paint it.
Cleopatra is well known for her many anecdotes, such as her jewel-laden, silk-satin, wrapped in an embroidered carpet and smuggled into Caesar's room—a subject that artists certainly don't let go of.
Cleopatra and Caesar, 1866, Jean Leon Jerome
The nineteenth-century French academic artist Jean-Léon Gérome depicts this moment. Clad in tulle, Cleopatra looks at Caesar in the corner in a sculptural dignified posture, and the flower carpet at her feet and the dark-skinned slaves around her not only set off the queen's snow-like skin, but also hint at the way she smuggled in here, pointing out the theme of the painting.
There is no doubt that this painting is in line with the classic image of Cleopatra in the eyes of the public: using her posture of falling into the country, she seduced the monarchs of the Roman Empire and made them fall under the pomegranate skirt to fight for their lives.
At the same time, the queen in the picture also has a fair skin - this can not be said that the painter is not based on scribbles, in fact, although Cleopatra was born in Egypt, her family blood originated in Macedonia.
Cleopatra meets Antony 1885 Lawrence Alma-Tadema
She was born in Alexandria, and her throne also originated in Alexandria,
In 334 BC, Alexander the Great of Macedon defeated the Persians who ruled Egypt and took over Egypt. When the Emperor fell ill and died, his empire was divided among his subordinates, and one of the generals, Ptolemy, was proclaimed king in Egypt, known as Ptolemy I.
For nearly 300 years, Ptolemaic descendants ruled Egypt, a "Hellenistic period" in Egyptian history: the Ptolemaic dynasty, the specific source of Cleopatra's succession to the throne.
In other words, according to the available information, Cleopatra is not necessarily black...
Let's look at another story: in addition to the rolls of carpets delivered to the door, painters also especially loved the "pearls".
The subject also belongs to the category of literary creation, derived from Epicurus's Naturalist: Antonio, Cleopatra's lover and ally, indulges in Cleopatra and hosts an extremely lavish banquet for her. The conqueror from Rome boasted on his toes at the banquet that a banquet of this level could not be surpassed, and Yan Houwen said that he would bet on a better banquet.
At that time, there were two pearls in Europe that claimed to be the world's largest and most precious pearls, either of which could feed the whole country of Egypt for a hundred years, and this pair of pearls was made into earrings by Caesar and given to Yanhou.
Kitty Fisher, Cleopatra Dissolves Pearls, 1759 Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792)
The banquet began, in full view of everyone, Cleopatra calmly took off a pearl earring and threw it into a vinegar cup, the dazzling pearl melted in an instant, and then Yanhou drank it all up and won the gamble.
As for the other surviving pearl earring, according to Epicurus's "Naturalism", it was divided in two and decorated on the statue of the Roman emperor, and of course there is nowhere to be found.
Cleopatra Dissolves Pearls by Tijepollo
Given the extent to which this story was widely circulated, especially after the advent of Shakespeare's widely circulated tragedy Antony and Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt became a new popular idol for Westerners, and naturally made various female aristocrats and celebrities keen to use the image of the queen to create their own portraits.
Therefore, looking back at the history of art, we can see cleopatra played by various races, placing pearls on top of wine glasses.
Lady Elizabeth Howard (1656–1681) as Cleopatra 1678–1689 Benedetto Gennari
The subjects painted by these artists are, of course, based on pure literary creation. However, the difference between history and literature has always been which part is the most influential, such as the relationship between the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In Cleopatra, there are also a large number of literature, legends, and anecdotes that obscure her true side, and her legendary incense and jade death are also favored by artists.
The Death of Cleopatra c.1640-1649 Serco Bravo (1607–1661) Bose Museum
In Western culture, the witch who seduces others is always accompanied by a snake.
Around 1606, Shakespeare's tragedy Antonio and Cleopatra was officially staged, and at the end of the play, it showed Cleopatra's most widely known classic way of dying: committing suicide with a cobra.
The Death of Cleopatra 1890 John Collier (1850–1934)
Since then, this literary scene has gradually become an unquestionable history, and artists have become keen to depict this scene, and often express it routinely as the death of a snake and scorpion beauty who has fallen into the country: half-naked, reclining on the bed, even if dying (or has died), artists have racked their brains to show the seductive body of women and the so-called exoticism in the eyes of Westerners through this theme.
The Death of Cleopatra (1796-1797), by Jean-Baptiste Renault
Pompeii murals around the first century AD depict Cleopatra dying of poisoning
Of course, there is no historical basis for the suicide of a cobra, at least in this Pompeii mural around the first century AD, Cleopatra died of poison - but think for the artist, there are thousands of people who take poison, how to reflect cleopatra's identity without painting a cobra?
What kind of person was Cleopatra?
We can look at the work of the African-American sculptor Edmunia Lewis.
In his 1876 death of Cleopatra, Lewis showed rare sympathy for the Queen's life, not the serpent that belonged to literature. On the contrary, on both sides of the throne, he also carved two sphinxes with the faces of children to represent the twin children born to her and Antonio.
The Death of Cleopatra, Edmonia Lewis, 1876
At the same time, Yanhou herself is also sitting on the throne fully clothed to emphasize her identity as a queen, and more critically, although it is suicide, but the queen is frankly welcoming her own failure, and died cleanly at her own hands. Therefore, his work does not overly whitewash the flesh of the Queen of Egypt to please the audience, and in the end, Cleopatra is not an inflammatory vassal who will only seduce men and only blindly curry favor with the victors.
The yanhou in history is obviously closer to this image.
Like any pharaoh in Egypt, the situation she faced inevitably required her to become a talented strategist and manager.
Cleopatra Stills
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 69 BC, Cleopatra faced a stormy dynasty: her family ruled Egypt for nearly 300 years and established a Greek-speaking state. Although Cleopatra was not Egyptian, she believed in many of the ancient customs of Egypt and was the first of the Ptolemaics to learn the Egyptian language, but unfortunately she was also the king of the dynasty.
Cleopatra and Octavian (1787-1788) Louis Gauffier
In fact, in the Middle Eastern, Arab accounts she has another lesser-known face: she is known for her intelligence rather than her appearance; as a child she was educated in mathematics, philosophy, speech, and astronomy, and was fluent in many languages: in addition to Greek, she spoke Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Egyptian.
Not only that, but she was also a highly respected scholar in the Annals of the Arabs, contributing to alchemy, philosophy, mathematics, and the urban planning of Alexandria, and medieval Arab scholars often referred to her as a "scholar of goodness."
Cleopatra tests poison on convicted prisoners 1887, Alexandre Cabanel, oil on canvas (1823-1889)
But there is no doubt that as a victor, all the narratives of Cleopatra's death were completely controlled by the Romans, so over time, all the talents and qualities of a normal female ruler were erased by the label of "snake and scorpion woman".
Subsequently, the fabulous literary and artistic works have deepened the public's understanding of her, especially her so-called love.
Cleopatra in Battle, By Charles S. S. Ricketts (1866–1931)
In fact, Cleopatra's imaginative love story is essentially a very pure political strategy, after all, to survive under the eyes of the Roman Empire, so it does not need to be interpreted as a little girl, a little woman's blind desire to conquer, or a worship of power.
This identity is partly depicted in Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's paintings: she is more like a Renaissance female ruler, strolling gracefully on a ship, accompanied by clowns and servants, showing off her wealth and majesty, and subjecting the Roman general Antonio to her personal charm.
The more central problem she faced, of course, was that, although ruling Egypt, Cleopatra's dynasty was financially stretched and therefore highly dependent on the Romans' usury.
Not only Cleopatra herself, but even her father gained the support of the Romans by paying bribes and extravagant gifts to Roman politicians in order to maintain dynastic rule and avoid direct annexation by the Roman Empire. It was precisely because of Ptolemy XII's profligacy that he was forced to borrow usurious loans from the Romans and become a complete puppet: first ceding the land of Egypt, and then remaining silent about the murder of his brother by the Romans, Ptolemy XII was expelled by the Egyptian subjects.
With such a pure dependency, Cleopatra's operating space was obviously extremely limited, and at the same time, she had to fight against the agents supported by various Roman forces.
Therefore, Cleopatra's crown must be stained with blood: she first killed her two brothers, her titular spouse, the regent with the help of Caesar, then plotted to execute her sister Assino, and in 31 BC, bet on the Roman general Antonio, only to be defeated by Octavian at the Battle of Actium.
Antonio and Cleopatra on Voyage, 1897
Of course, this scene of naval warfare was also created by many painters in their fantasies – but not by a commander-in-chief, but by a unique vase that still exudes charm on board.
After the naval battle, Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt and committed suicide, and her death also marked the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, which was completely annexed by the Roman Empire.
Antonio and Cleopatra at the Battle of Yaksing by Johann Georg Platzer (1704–1761)
Over the millennia, many painters have been attracted to the stories of the queens, but obviously, most of them are lace, anecdotes, and story clubs. Looking at these pictures, it is not so much the cleopatra that is painted, but rather that the artists and heroines express themselves through the identity of Cleopatra: what kind of Cleopatra do you want.
This induction, which cannot be summarized, is rather the true face of Cleopatra in history: a thousand faces.
It can even be said that the snake and scorpion beauty who relied purely on the face was false: looking back at history, the scholar-type Queen, the inventor Queen, and even the one who was originally closest to the real: the Queen with flexible diplomacy and the ability to govern the country have disappeared.
Statue of Cleopatra in the Berlin Museum, Germany
What did the real Cleopatra really attract the Roman courtiers? In the museum in Berlin, there is also a portrait of Cleopatra that is rumored to be true or false: whether true or false, there is no doubt that this version of the queen does not have the charm of the country, and the hair is simply bunded, the style is simple, and it looks like an ordinary woman.
I wonder if Caesar and Antonio were looking for the Queen or the land of Egypt?
After looking at cleopatra from the previous people, there is a final photograph of the Work of American artist Chris Ofili.
Cleopatra (1992) by Chris Ophely
Dark skin, royal blue eyeshadow, green tulle robes, all the elements that should be there after the show have - except for not looking like people.
Of course, the artist's painting is also very reasonable: after all, she has been enchanted for thousands of years, poisonous snakes for thousands of years, since everyone is making up for the brain, then why can't I, the "Oreo" model, be beautiful?