The first illustration in this sequence depicts Cleopatra VII circa 45 BC in Greek and Egyptian dress. She is shown top left in her habitual Greek style as a Ptolemaic queen. Her hair is worn up in the segmented ‘melon’ design that Cleopatra made popular in Rome and bound with the white cloth Ptolemaic diadem. The saffron robe is combined with a Romano-Egyptian clamshell design necklace and snake-form arm bracelet. On the left she wears the traditional costume of an Egyptian queen as the living embodiment of Isis with golden vulture headdress and horned sun disc above a tripartite wig. This is modelled on Cleopatra's costume depicted on temple reliefs at Dendera. The second image shows Cleopatra leaving Alexandria in a carrying chair to welcome the return of Julius Caesar whilst nursing their son Caesarion. These pictures are based on known likenesses in sculpture, coins and frescos dating from the first century BC. Cleopatra's features are based on a 3D scan of the head of the Berlin bust.

Cleopatra has often been described as ‘the queen without a face’. In fact, several representations of her dating to the first century BC including sculptures, coins and Roman frescos have been identified. All of these representations were made in diverse media for different purposes and differ accordingly.The problem with identifying her features lies not in a lack of imagery but in deciding which is the real face of Cleopatra. Recovering the original appearance of a historical subject is fraught with difficulties. Images have to be reviewed according to their context, style (in this case Egyptian, Hellenistic or Roman} and usage to identify where the features depart from the reality of her appearance. Cleopatra's image has been reinvented continuously over the past 2,000 years; she was a consummate politician who managed her public image as a means of establishing her identity as a Ptolemaic queen, pharaoh and living goddess. Subsequent eras portrayed Cleopatra as a femme fatale and the myth that was created after her death has continued into the modern era, which continues to eroticise, exoticise and politicise her image.

In order to discover her real face we need to start with the most reliable representations. Among the earliest likenesses we have of Cleopatra are coins issued under her authority and with her own approval. These productions follow the Greco-Roman tradition of naturalistic portraiture required for coinage although they appear to have emphasised her likeness to her father’s profile in order to confirm her legitimacy and authority (fig. A). Later coins produced with Mark Antony on the reverse have a more exaggerated profile that replicates his features, it being customary for queens to portray themselves in the image of their consort.

Contemporary sculptures produced during her early association with Julius Caesar display features that differ to the coins but, although untitled, are still recognisable by the proportions (figs. B, C). As would be expected for portraits commissioned for display in private villas or Roman temples, they conform to Classical tradition and follow the Greco-Roman taste for naturalism. Where the features are individualised in ways that are not consistent with a Classical paradigm of beauty they are likely to be derived from her actual appearance, especially when they reappear across disparate works of art. Many scholars dismiss the scupltures as idealisations yet the treatment of the features is remarkably consistent, including: the tied-back ‘melon’ hairstyle; large, slightly aquiline nose; plump cheeks; narrow mouth with protruding lower lip; and unusually large, round eyes. The latter appears to have been a trait common to the Ptolemaic line, possibly due to an inherited thyroid condition. Indeed, Cleopatra may not have been conventionally beautiful although there are many examples of models renowned for their beauty who have unusually proportioned faces. In creating this portrait I have incorporated these features and taken into account both the tendency towards both caricature on the coins and idealisation on the statues.

Cleopatra lived in Rome for two years as Julius Caesar’s guest prior to his assassination in 44BCE. Julius Caesar installed a life-size gilded nude statue of Cleopatra as his divine ancestor, Venus Genetrix, in the goddess's temple, a copy of which is now in the Vatican Museum. A first century BCE fresco from Pompeii and a painting from Herculaneum dated to the following century both show Cleopatra with auburn hair and a light complexion (fig. D). The facial features of both accord with the early sculptures so there is no reason to think the colouring is not correct. The Berlin sculpture also has traces of dark red painted hair that may be the original colouring. Being mainly of northern Greek descent, it is possible that Cleopatra was naturally fair or redheaded like earlier Ptolemies. She may have dyed her hair with henna; pharaohs and queens had used henna dye for centuries before Cleopatra including Rameses II and Hatshepsut. It was also common for aristocratic women from both Greece and Egypt to lighten their complexions with cosmetics such as lead white and colour their lips with rouge, iron oxide, or cochineal made from crushed beetles.

Cleopatra was of the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty descended from Alexander the Great’s general and likely half-brother. The Ptolemy family tree is largely documented and includes a small amount of Persian ancestry as well as northern Greek. The Ptolemies formed a ruling caste in Egypt, retaining their Greek language and identity and intermarrying to preserve their hegemony. Cleopatra VII’s mother has not been unidentified with certainty although the majority of scholars believe her to have been Cleopatra V. Her paternal grandmother is unknown, leading some authors to suggest that she may have had some Egyptian blood, although her known ancestry is Macedonian Greek with a dash of Persian. Much has been made of Strabo’s comment:

This has been taken to mean that Cleopatra was illegitimate and therefore, born of a non-Greek mother. However, Strabo is clearly referring to the fact that Berenike would be the legitimate successor as the oldest child and has nothing to do with the ancestry of Cleopatra or her other siblings. On religious and public monuments Cleopatra was depicted in the traditional style of an Egyptian goddess or pharaoh (fig. E). These images are iconic representations that conform to a traditional formula rather than portraits of an individual and identical images were made of her predecessors including Arsinoe II on whom Cleopatra is believed to have moulded her own image.

With her suicide Cleopatra lost control over her public image. Roman pro-Augustinian authors exaggerated her beauty for propagandist reasons in order to portray her as a scheming seductress. She became known as the ‘serpent of the Nile’, described as the ‘fatal monster’ by Horace and the ‘whore queen’ by Propertius. Her fatal beauty became a necessary attribute to explain her seduction of the ancestral heroes Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. However, the Greek author Plutarch records that it was her charm and intelligence that impressed her famous lovers rather than her beauty.

As a woman who exercised the power of a king, Cleopatra has become a contested image who occupies a nexus between ancient and modern, European and African, male and female. The image above is an artist's impression drawn mainly from visual representations of Cleopatra as she chose to present herself. Of course, there can never be a definitive portrait of Cleopatra as each age will continue to reinvent her in its own image.

For more information on Cleopatra

http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Cleopatra